Winning Colors

My first Elizabeth Moon, after years of wondering what she was like. I was pretty pleased; I'd use the adjective Heinleinesque in the best possible way. It's not surprising; she shares a background in the millitary and a love of fencing, and works a certain free-and-easy sexuality into the book.

To narrow the comparison to Heinlein down, I'd compare to say Starship Troopers or Moon is a Harsh Mistress she works in her ruminations on society and politics, but it doesn't overwhelm the narrative in the mode of a Stranger in a Strange Land.

All-in-all I enjoyed it, and I'll be looking to read more of Moon's work. ( )

Heris Serrano may be the captain of an old lady's space yacht, but her life is by no means complacent. Their recent adventures have left the government in turmoil, with rival planetary systems poised to take advantage. Fortunately, Heris knows she's no longer in disgrace within her former employers, the space military; indeed, her aunt--an admiral--has expressed confidence in Heris' abilities. She'll need that confidence and more as she's forced to defend a backwards agricultural planet against the invading forces of the Compassionate Hand.

This book carried more action like Moon's Vatta's War series, but it still didn't have that same consistent suspense and likeable cast. This is probably the strongest book of the three about Heris Serrano, but I was still left with questions and frustrated that some promising characters didn't have a larger role. A good read, but not phenomenal. ( )

http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2010/01/quote-of-day_20.html
It's interesting how the author can describe someone in just a few sentences and you know just how dispicable they are. Those paragraphs are always hard for me to read. I have to put the book down for a bit, but I always come back. Everything works out in the end, which is how I like my stories. ( )

As a result of the happenings in Sporting Chance Heris finds herself owner of Sweet Delight. Initially she takes Lady Cecelia as a charter but suddenly finds herself commanding what for all practical reasons is a Fleet operation.

Intertwined with this is the Famous Five style adventure of the youngsters, as they get sent out to do some covert investigations no adults would be able to handle.

With this as a backdrop there is some elaboration on what happens in a society when those in power never grow old, never turn things over to the next generation; or the stratification that results when the rich lives on forever while the working classes gets born, live and die, without ever getting a chance to change their situation without violence. This theme never grows very strong, though, and those wishing for a more complex padding to this adventure will wait in vain.

Despite this I really enjoyed this book, just as I enjoyed the previous two. ( )

http://rivkat.livejournal.com/124986.html ( )