The Better Part of Valor

By: Tanya Huff

Narrated by: Marguerite Gavin

Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

Telling a two-star general what she really thought of him was the mistake Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr made with General Morris. But as a battle-hardened professional, she took pride in doing her job and getting her troops back alive. So after she'd saved the mission to bring the Silsviss into the Confederation - instead of losing them and their world to the enemy known only as the Others - she let the general know exactly how she felt.

And Torin's reward - or punishment - was to be separated from her platoon and sent off on what might well prove an even more perilous assignment. She was commandeered to protect a scientific expedition to a newly discovered and seemingly derelict spaceship of truly epic proportions. And Confederation politics had saddled her with a commanding officer who might prove more of a menace to the mission's success than anything they encountered.

Only time would tell if the ship was what it appeared to be or a trap created by the Others - or the work of an as yet unknown alien race with an agenda that could prove all too hostile to other life-forms.

©2008 Tanya Huff (P)2009 Tantor

Critic reviews

"This sequel to Valor's Choice, featuring a gutsy, fast-thinking female space-marine protagonist, establishes veteran fantasy author Huff as an accomplished spinner of high-tech military-sf adventure." (Library Journal)
"Torin is everything you want in an action heroine (or hero, for that matter), and this book will leave [audiences] anxious for her next adventure." (KLIATT)

Kicks Off The Main Story Arc For the Series

I enjoyed the first book in the Confederation series, Valor's Choice, but didn't love it. The story was decent yet it was also somewhat cold and impersonal. But wow, Huff really kicked up the story and characters in this second book and by the end, I was absolutely passionate about the entire series. Each book would end up getting better and better but the seeds for the overall story arc starts here in the second book.

Torrin is sent on a special mission after upsetting the brass - one with a great deal of uncertainty and unpleasantness. But in dealing with an unknown type of alien - as well as her greatest threat of all, having to work with civilians - Torrin will really have to use all her intelligence and military skills in order to survive what is about to be thrown at her.

Book two makes book one seem like a standalone or prequel to the series since it is here that we get to meet so many of the many characters who will end up in important roles in the rest of the series. Of course, there is also plenty of action and a heck of a lot of mystery for Torrin to solve or overcome.

I've listened to all the books in the series and admittedly didn't like the narrator in the beginning. But wow, what she does with the voices becomes canon (ah Prezit, I love you!) and she does them so well. I hope she will always do the narration for all future volumes.

This rapidly rose to become one of my favorite series - all begun here in this very important second volume.

great series

I really enjoyed this series, enough that even though I had read the books in print, I picked up the audible versions for a different take.

hum...a pattern..

I am growing to enjoy these books. For some reason, the 1st 4-6 chapters are slow to me and then 'bang' things take off and I can not put down the book. This book is definitely better than the last and I will be purchasing the next.

Much Better Than Series Opener

A Military Sci-Fi book that features furious battles with an unrelenting enemy. The officers are arrogant but incompetent. The soldiers are highly trained and their repartee is witty. The only one with common sense is the Sergeant.

The second book in the series and much more fun.

Good plot - Dialog just wears thin

10 hours of sarcasm wears thin after the first hour. By the time I finished the book, I decided to give up on the Marines of Tanya Huff.
I can't remember this deluge of diatribe when I was in the service 40 years ago. But sarcasm which seems to be 90% of what I hear when I listen to this book, is just not funny or worth listening to.

Gritty realism

Humor and characterization. The author must have been a grunt or knew one personally. The descriptions the characters were extremely well done

Better than book 1, still not spectacular

I only took a chance on this one because a reviewer said it was better than the first book, which I thought was just so-so. And they were right, this book is better. It’s still not great, but it was pretty good. Entertaining. I definitely liked the main character more in this book. She’s growing on me. I might take a chance on book 3, but probably not immediately.

The narrator did a better job, too, but she needs to learn how to pronounce “loll” and “timbre”. But she made Kerr a little more human in this one.

Imagination

The story was very good and the performance was great. I found, at times, the book was difficult to “read” as an audio book as it requires a good deal of imagination to help create the scenes in ones mind and I tend to listen to books while I’m driving, so I have to be careful how much my imagination takes me away! In my less “active” reading environment, I enjoyed the level of imagination and layers involved in traversing the story.

Getting The Job Done

Staff gets the job done, she brings her Marines home. in doing so she finishes the story of a hero and makes a brave man braver.

excellent book

Great book! delivery of voice was sort of off but I still liked it for my third time though the book