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Heris Serranoformerly a commander in the Regular Space Servicemust take whatever job she can get after her resignation under a cloud. What she can get is the captaincy of a rich old lady's space yacht...a rich old horsewoman, who has little liking for the military, and whose spoiled nephew Ronnie (and his equally spoiled friends) have been foisted on her after his folly embarrassed the family. Lady Cecelia's only apparent interest is horsesshe intends to go fox hunting on the private show more pleasure planet of a friend of hers, Lord Thornbuckle. But events conspire to make it far more than a fox hunt. show lessTags
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IN A NUTSHELL
A fine start to an unusual Space Opera series. Engaging characters, well-sustained suspense, Odd juxtapositions of spaceships, space stations, advanced weaponry, neo-Edwardian societal structure, and, weirdest of all, fox hunting. Add protagonists ranging from their late teens to their early eighties, a truly wicked baddie, moments of extreme peril and the uplifting feeling of knowing the good guys will win in the end, and you have the foundations for a unique series.
After I’d spent a month binge-reading the seven books of Elizabeth Moon’s 'Vatta’s War’ and ‘Vatta’s Peace’ series and found myself still hungry for more, I raided Elizabeth Moon’s back catalogue and found 'Serrano’s Legacy', another show more seven-book Military-SF-with-a-twist series that she’d published a decade earlier.
I hesitated before I bought the first book, ‘Hunting Party’. 1993 feels like a long time ago now, but I reminded myself how much I’d enjoyed reading C. J Cherryh and Walter Jon Williams back then. I was also a little put off by the title of the series - who names the main character of a series after an Iberian cured ham? - but as it was Elizabeth Moon, I pressed the buy button anyway.
I’m glad that I did. ‘Hunting Party’ was an entertaining read. It was also not at all what I was expecting. Heris Serrano is not an earlier version of Ky Vatta, and 'Serrano’s Legacy' isn't aiming for the hard-edged, action-packed thiller territory that ‘Vatta’s War’ occupies. This is a gentler kind of story, still an adventure with lots of suspense as people I cared about were placed in peril, but with softer edges.
In terms of plot, ‘Hunting Lodge’ worked as a standalone story, with a crisis escalating and a resolution arrived at, but the pacing was a little slow for a standalone novel. It only made sense when the role of the book was to establish a cast of characters and a societal setting that laid the foundation for a series.
What I liked most about the book was how it twisted the typical Military SF tropes. Almost all the main actors in the story were women, and most of them were civilians. Even though Heris Serrano was formerly a military commander, in this story, she was forced to adapt to operating according to the rules of the civilian world.
The main characters ranged in age from late teens to early eighties. I liked the multiple points of view and diversity of experience and expectations that this produced. I especially liked seeing the young people reshape themselves as they worked to survive a life-threatening crisis.
The neo-Edwardian societal setting of the story, the wealthiest families serving under a King, but having considerable autonomy, provided many opportunities to bring class dynamics into play. Although Serrano comes from a military family known for producing Admirals, she isn’t from the same aristocratic class as her employer or her employer’s young guests, and her crew are from much more working-class backgrounds. I liked the way the class divisions caused the main characters to have difficulty assessing one another and forced them to have to put in the effort to create relationships that would work under stress.
For me, the most unusual aspect of the story was the time spent on fox hunting in the first half of the book. I enjoyed the vivid description of the hunt. It was clear that Elizabeth Moon knows horses and loves riding. Even so, I was wondering why, in a book I’d expected to be a Space Opera, the characters were spending so much time on a planet, riding horses to hunt genetically modified foxes. In terms of the series, this made sense. It gave Serrano an insight into the world of the very wealthy; it allowed her and her employer to bond over horse riding, and it established her employer as a renowned sportswoman who had persisted in and excelled at a sport that her family thought should not have been her priority.
Even so, I was glad when the dastardly baddie emerged, the plot took a darker turn, and I was back reading a tense, suspenseful adventure. I enjoyed the second half of the book both for the excitement of the action and for the pleasure of watching the main characters adapt to survive. Although the plot had bad people doing terrible things to people who didn’t deserve it, and although the main characters were almost constantly at risk and lethal force was used frequently, this never became a truly dark tale. To my surprise, I found that I was grateful for that. It meant that the novel was an entertaining and exciting but still comfortable read,
I can see that the Serrano’s Legacy series is going to be a quirky set of adventures, with a strong ensemble cast and some surprising juxtapositions. I’m looking forward to reading the next six books in the series, not just to see what Serrano does but to see how all the main characters develop. show less
A fine start to an unusual Space Opera series. Engaging characters, well-sustained suspense, Odd juxtapositions of spaceships, space stations, advanced weaponry, neo-Edwardian societal structure, and, weirdest of all, fox hunting. Add protagonists ranging from their late teens to their early eighties, a truly wicked baddie, moments of extreme peril and the uplifting feeling of knowing the good guys will win in the end, and you have the foundations for a unique series.
After I’d spent a month binge-reading the seven books of Elizabeth Moon’s 'Vatta’s War’ and ‘Vatta’s Peace’ series and found myself still hungry for more, I raided Elizabeth Moon’s back catalogue and found 'Serrano’s Legacy', another show more seven-book Military-SF-with-a-twist series that she’d published a decade earlier.
I hesitated before I bought the first book, ‘Hunting Party’. 1993 feels like a long time ago now, but I reminded myself how much I’d enjoyed reading C. J Cherryh and Walter Jon Williams back then. I was also a little put off by the title of the series - who names the main character of a series after an Iberian cured ham? - but as it was Elizabeth Moon, I pressed the buy button anyway.
I’m glad that I did. ‘Hunting Party’ was an entertaining read. It was also not at all what I was expecting. Heris Serrano is not an earlier version of Ky Vatta, and 'Serrano’s Legacy' isn't aiming for the hard-edged, action-packed thiller territory that ‘Vatta’s War’ occupies. This is a gentler kind of story, still an adventure with lots of suspense as people I cared about were placed in peril, but with softer edges.
In terms of plot, ‘Hunting Lodge’ worked as a standalone story, with a crisis escalating and a resolution arrived at, but the pacing was a little slow for a standalone novel. It only made sense when the role of the book was to establish a cast of characters and a societal setting that laid the foundation for a series.
What I liked most about the book was how it twisted the typical Military SF tropes. Almost all the main actors in the story were women, and most of them were civilians. Even though Heris Serrano was formerly a military commander, in this story, she was forced to adapt to operating according to the rules of the civilian world.
The main characters ranged in age from late teens to early eighties. I liked the multiple points of view and diversity of experience and expectations that this produced. I especially liked seeing the young people reshape themselves as they worked to survive a life-threatening crisis.
The neo-Edwardian societal setting of the story, the wealthiest families serving under a King, but having considerable autonomy, provided many opportunities to bring class dynamics into play. Although Serrano comes from a military family known for producing Admirals, she isn’t from the same aristocratic class as her employer or her employer’s young guests, and her crew are from much more working-class backgrounds. I liked the way the class divisions caused the main characters to have difficulty assessing one another and forced them to have to put in the effort to create relationships that would work under stress.
For me, the most unusual aspect of the story was the time spent on fox hunting in the first half of the book. I enjoyed the vivid description of the hunt. It was clear that Elizabeth Moon knows horses and loves riding. Even so, I was wondering why, in a book I’d expected to be a Space Opera, the characters were spending so much time on a planet, riding horses to hunt genetically modified foxes. In terms of the series, this made sense. It gave Serrano an insight into the world of the very wealthy; it allowed her and her employer to bond over horse riding, and it established her employer as a renowned sportswoman who had persisted in and excelled at a sport that her family thought should not have been her priority.
Even so, I was glad when the dastardly baddie emerged, the plot took a darker turn, and I was back reading a tense, suspenseful adventure. I enjoyed the second half of the book both for the excitement of the action and for the pleasure of watching the main characters adapt to survive. Although the plot had bad people doing terrible things to people who didn’t deserve it, and although the main characters were almost constantly at risk and lethal force was used frequently, this never became a truly dark tale. To my surprise, I found that I was grateful for that. It meant that the novel was an entertaining and exciting but still comfortable read,
I can see that the Serrano’s Legacy series is going to be a quirky set of adventures, with a strong ensemble cast and some surprising juxtapositions. I’m looking forward to reading the next six books in the series, not just to see what Serrano does but to see how all the main characters develop. show less
a blend of SF and fox-hunting. The writer is clearly a horse lover and I quite enjoyed the hunting scenes and the SF tweaks such as the riding simulator.
There seems to be a lesbian sub-text in places, which is actually more interesting than the low-key heterosexual romance near the end.
There seems to be a lesbian sub-text in places, which is actually more interesting than the low-key heterosexual romance near the end.
Starts well, but loses direction in the middle when it could have been quite good with a bit more tidying up, and then ends slightly unsatisfactorily.
Heris, our heroine has resigned her commission in the military, and taken employment as a captain on a luxury yacht, ferrying a rich old women between planets. The first port of call is to be as part of a pseudo fox-hunting party hosted by another eccentric on his own planet. Heris is dismissive of the complacencies that civilian crews take with safety regulations and appalled at the slovenly attitude present in this ship. However despite the owner's nephews, Heris feels a connection with the her. and admires the spirit that knows she can get what she wants. Trouble with the thoroughly show more spoiled nephews follows all the way to the hunting planet, but there Heris manages to put her former troubles behind her, and enjoy the horsemanship. Whether the reader does or not will depend on your view of horses. Heris' troubles haven't left her behind though, and she soon finds there is more happening on this world than just aristocrats amusing themselves with their peculiar hobbies.
I wasn't that keen on the fascination with fox hunting, it was never clear just how artificial the foxes were, but the implication was that they were real animals, gene edited to resemble foxes, which doesn't make hunting them any less cruel, and the unnecessary danger to the horses any more excusable. However my biggest problem was with the uneven writing and random choppy switches of POV to minor characters. Heris forms the majority of the prose, with interjections from the owner, and between them these work quite well. However throughout the middle and especially the ending portions we get very short excerpts from the various nephews, their friends and even just briefly the antagonists. None of which aid the plot in any means, and all serve to distract the focus and and any empathy we may have felt for Heris and the owner.
The rest of the plotting and worldbuilding was quite fun, and Heris is an interesting heroine. I can probably overlook the hunting as a hook on which to base the story, but the irritating intrusion of minor characters prevents this from being as good as it could have been. I may read one more of the series to see if it improves. show less
Heris, our heroine has resigned her commission in the military, and taken employment as a captain on a luxury yacht, ferrying a rich old women between planets. The first port of call is to be as part of a pseudo fox-hunting party hosted by another eccentric on his own planet. Heris is dismissive of the complacencies that civilian crews take with safety regulations and appalled at the slovenly attitude present in this ship. However despite the owner's nephews, Heris feels a connection with the her. and admires the spirit that knows she can get what she wants. Trouble with the thoroughly show more spoiled nephews follows all the way to the hunting planet, but there Heris manages to put her former troubles behind her, and enjoy the horsemanship. Whether the reader does or not will depend on your view of horses. Heris' troubles haven't left her behind though, and she soon finds there is more happening on this world than just aristocrats amusing themselves with their peculiar hobbies.
I wasn't that keen on the fascination with fox hunting, it was never clear just how artificial the foxes were, but the implication was that they were real animals, gene edited to resemble foxes, which doesn't make hunting them any less cruel, and the unnecessary danger to the horses any more excusable. However my biggest problem was with the uneven writing and random choppy switches of POV to minor characters. Heris forms the majority of the prose, with interjections from the owner, and between them these work quite well. However throughout the middle and especially the ending portions we get very short excerpts from the various nephews, their friends and even just briefly the antagonists. None of which aid the plot in any means, and all serve to distract the focus and and any empathy we may have felt for Heris and the owner.
The rest of the plotting and worldbuilding was quite fun, and Heris is an interesting heroine. I can probably overlook the hunting as a hook on which to base the story, but the irritating intrusion of minor characters prevents this from being as good as it could have been. I may read one more of the series to see if it improves. show less
As i said in an update this starts off like [b:Will Save the Galaxy for Food|30400208|Will Save the Galaxy for Food (Jacques McKeown, #1)|Yahtzee Croshaw|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1469403169l/30400208._SX50_.jpg|50923249], as they both feature awesome space captains who are forced to take a job running a rich persons private space yacht and have to deal with the owner and some annoying younger passengers etc.
However thats where the comparison ends... mostly due to this books (and its characters) obsession with 19th century fiction.
I mean if you thought ‘boy a sci-fi novel, I hope there’s lots of about horse-riding and foxhunting!’ , then first seek professional help.. a psychiatrist or show more horsetrainer either will do ;) and secondly this might be the book for you!
There’s so much upstairs/downstairs english classism here too, the whole first half feels like Downton Abbey in space (and not that much space either).
Suddenly the second half takes a wild left turn and turns into a sort of teen adventure tale. It does reference, although doesn't actually name the short storyThe Most Dangerous Game as an influence on these sections too.
However its still so heavily influenced by the 19th century that it feels like the [b:Coral Island|226800|The Coral Island|R.M. Ballantyne|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1343840889l/226800._SX50_.jpg|2167233] or some other very early adventure tale.
With the ‘main’ character, and i use that word lightly.. due to the amount of time she gets sidelined, becoming the focus again only for the denouement.
Its not.... terrible. The second half in particular is moderately compelling despite how little time we actually get with each character and the constant clash of timeperiods but i’d probably have given it 2 -stars if i wasn’t grading on a curve against some others things i’ve read recently like STEN. show less
However thats where the comparison ends... mostly due to this books (and its characters) obsession with 19th century fiction.
I mean if you thought ‘boy a sci-fi novel, I hope there’s lots of about horse-riding and foxhunting!’ , then first seek professional help.. a psychiatrist or show more horsetrainer either will do ;) and secondly this might be the book for you!
There’s so much upstairs/downstairs english classism here too, the whole first half feels like Downton Abbey in space (and not that much space either).
Suddenly the second half takes a wild left turn and turns into a sort of teen adventure tale. It does reference, although doesn't actually name the short story
However its still so heavily influenced by the 19th century that it feels like the [b:Coral Island|226800|The Coral Island|R.M. Ballantyne|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1343840889l/226800._SX50_.jpg|2167233] or some other very early adventure tale.
With the ‘main’ character, and i use that word lightly.. due to the amount of time she gets sidelined, becoming the focus again only for the denouement.
Its not.... terrible. The second half in particular is moderately compelling despite how little time we actually get with each character and the constant clash of timeperiods but i’d probably have given it 2 -stars if i wasn’t grading on a curve against some others things i’ve read recently like STEN. show less
Read from the omnibus. Really liked the strong women, learning about horses and fox-hunting, the survival on the island. Fun. Not so much SF as in 'what if' and 'sense of wonder' but more of an 'adventure in space,' like Star Wars.
I especially liked certain bits. For example, Heris's skin (despite the cover) is described in passing a few times as dark... so dark that a blush doesn't show. And semi-educated people still get 'I' and 'me' mixed up, as they try to speak as if above their class.
However, dnf'ing the second book for focus on political intrigue. Moon's work is hit&miss for me. I did manage to get through the entire Vatta's War series, and I want to reread [b:Remnant Population|973625|Remnant Population|Elizabeth show more Moon|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1287678634s/973625.jpg|92804]; "Speed of Dark" was def. interesting... but I didn't care for her latest, and this Serrano is very early and a bit clumsy, not to mention not quite my cup'o'tea. show less
I especially liked certain bits. For example, Heris's skin (despite the cover) is described in passing a few times as dark... so dark that a blush doesn't show. And semi-educated people still get 'I' and 'me' mixed up, as they try to speak as if above their class.
However, dnf'ing the second book for focus on political intrigue. Moon's work is hit&miss for me. I did manage to get through the entire Vatta's War series, and I want to reread [b:Remnant Population|973625|Remnant Population|Elizabeth show more Moon|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1287678634s/973625.jpg|92804]; "Speed of Dark" was def. interesting... but I didn't care for her latest, and this Serrano is very early and a bit clumsy, not to mention not quite my cup'o'tea. show less
Moon, Elizabeth. Hunting Party. Serrano Legacy No. 1. Baen, 1993.
The Serrano Legacy is a seven-book series first published between 1993 and 2000. It is classic adventure space opera that strongly resembles the Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold. Bujold’s series feature several memorable women characters, but in Moon’s work strong women play the most important roles. In Hunting Party, we meet the series lead, Heris Serrano, a spaceship captain who resigns her commission under pressure and takes a job captaining a yacht for Lady Cecelia, a famous 80-year-old equestrian. Together, they engage in enough military and political action to power the series. The interstellar empire of this series seems vaguely Victorian, with several show more other kinds of governments on its borders. There are several subplots, but the title alludes to the 1924 short story, “The Most Dangerous Game.” A rogue general and his paying guests hunt convicts for sport. Moon, like Bujold, is an excellent storyteller, and her characters are lively enough that we happily revisit them in later novels. show less
The Serrano Legacy is a seven-book series first published between 1993 and 2000. It is classic adventure space opera that strongly resembles the Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold. Bujold’s series feature several memorable women characters, but in Moon’s work strong women play the most important roles. In Hunting Party, we meet the series lead, Heris Serrano, a spaceship captain who resigns her commission under pressure and takes a job captaining a yacht for Lady Cecelia, a famous 80-year-old equestrian. Together, they engage in enough military and political action to power the series. The interstellar empire of this series seems vaguely Victorian, with several show more other kinds of governments on its borders. There are several subplots, but the title alludes to the 1924 short story, “The Most Dangerous Game.” A rogue general and his paying guests hunt convicts for sport. Moon, like Bujold, is an excellent storyteller, and her characters are lively enough that we happily revisit them in later novels. show less
Excellent book. Once I started reading it, it was so hard to put down. I'm now reading the next in the series. Great action, fresh plot, interesting characters. This might not be everyone's cup of tea but I like a strong heroine and use space as a way to play out the same kind of behaviors and political situations we see in the real world.
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Elizabeth Moon was born March 7, 1945, and grew up in McAllen, Texas, graduating from McAllen High School in 1963. She has a B.A. in History from Rice University (1968) and another in Biology from the University of Texas at Austin (1975) with graduate work in Biology at the University of Texas, San Antonio. She served in the USMC from 1968 to show more 1971, first at MCB Quantico and then at HQMC. She married Richard Moon, a Rice classmate and Army officer, in 1969; they moved to the small central Texas town where they still live in 1979. They have one son, born in 1983. (Publisher Fact Sheets) Elizabeth Moon was born on March 7, 1945 in Texas. She received a B.A. in history from Rice University in 1968 and a B.S. in biology from the University of Texas at Austin in 1975 with graduate work in biology at the University of Texas, San Antonio. She served in the United States Marine Corps from 1968 to 1971. In the early 1980s, she wrote the Florence News column for the county weekly newspaper. She is a science fiction and fantasy author. In 1986, she published her first science fiction story in the monthly magazine Analog and the anthology series Sword and Sorceress. Her first novel, The Sheepfarmer's Daughter, was published in 1988 and won the Compton Crook Award in 1989. Her other works include Remnant Population, Oath of Fealty, Kings of the North, and Echoes of Betrayal. She has won several awards including the Nebula Award for Best Novel for The Speed of Dark in 2003 and the Heinlein Award in 2007. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Hunting Party
- Original title
- Hunting Party
- Original publication date
- 1993-07
- People/Characters
- Heris Serrano; Cecelia de Marktos; Petris Kenvinnard; Ronald (Ronnie) Carruthers (Ronnie); Oblo Vissisuan; Brigdis Sirkin (show all 10); Brun Meager (Bubbles); Admiral Lepescu; Raffaele (Raffa) Forrester-Saenz (Raffa); George Mahoney
- Important places
- Sirialis; Rockhouse System
- Dedication
- In memory of Iola Jamerson Norris 1913-1990, and Lida Sloan Moon, 1911-1992, my mother and my mother-in-law. Two women who proved with their lives, and in their children, that single parents can be good parents, and that 'val... (show all)ues' are more than campaign slogans. They lived what other preach. And for all the single parents, past and present, whose hard work and good values have been slandered by those who never faced the problems they face.
- First words
- Heris Serrano went from her room in the small but respectable dockside hotel on Rockhouse Station to the berth of her new command convinced that she looked like an idiot.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"So do I," he said, and took her past his father and Ronnie's aunt, enjoying their reaction. "So do I."
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