Heris Serrano

A most enjoyable three-book omnibus filled with bubblegum space opera:
- there are echoes of Vorkosigan novels (these books are not really playing in the same league though, imho)
- there is a bit of "Downton Abbey in space" :))) (the aunts, oh, the aunts!)
- lots of badass female characters (kudos to Elizabeth Moon for letting elderly ladies be badass in sci-fi)
- starships explode
- things work out in the end

Apparently, there are four more books in this series, which is good news.

This is a SciFi Book Club omnibus edition of the first 3 of the Familias Regnant series. The collection is named after the main character, former regular navy captain Heris Serrano. Heris was forced out of the space navy after an unfortunate incident and has taken a new job as the captain of a private yacht owned by a spinster aunt of one of the primary families. Immediately, small inconsistencies and incidents that are the legacy of the previous captain start to pop up, and Heris is thrown back into action more appropriate for the real navy. It doesn't hurt that she immediately starts collecting some of the best of her former navy crew.
Like every other Elizabeth Moon book I've read, this is very well written, though Moon has a show more tendency to force her characters (and the plot) to 'slog through the mud'. In this case, writing about what daily life on a space yacht might be like isn't really all that interesting and takes up too much of the book. Like many of her books, this results in 3 novels that are short on action. There's action in every book, just not much, proportionally. As always she's created interesting, quirky characters that tend to be female. Like most of her sci-fi, its light on the 'science', this is by no means hard sf. Also, unlike the cover blurb, this isn't space opera either. I realize the definition of 'space opera' has morphed a bit since the days of E. E. Smith, but there aren't even any aliens! This was still a good read, but if you pick it up don't expect blazing phasers and BEM's, just enjoy a well written story. show less

As a political space opera, this was fine but not outstanding. I do appreciate the strong female characters, and particularly the positive portrayal of a woman in her late 60s-early 70s rather than the usual 20s-and-hot. The part I found most baffling was the continuous digressions about... foxhunting. Yeah, like with horses. Don't get me wrong, I like horses fine, but it felt like the "spin" on the genre that never really fit or was entirely critical to the plot. Not bad for a big cheap three-in-one trade paperback, but not something I'll go back to soon.

I have to begin by saying I have read almost every book Moon has written. The first book in this collection was super, exactly what I expect from Moon. The third book seemed like she was in a hurry to finish it and of course given the caliber of work I expect from her- blame someone like the publisher!

I really struggled through this book. Not because it was hard reading but because the story just wasn't terribly interesting.
What makes this series unusual is that it is science fiction that has a lot of story built around horses. In fact this is what makes this series hard to read. The obsession of the author with horses is quite obvious and unfortunately that just wasn't for me.
The science fiction of the story was underdeveloped and while some of the characters good have been interesting they just weren't developed well enough.

This is a fun Space Opera, with multiple generations of amusing women. I'd give this to fans of the Vorkosigan books.

I am a big fan of fantasy and science fiction novels especially if they are long and have several books in the series. I really enjoy a series of books that I can immerse myself in and I first picked up an Elizabeth Moon novel because it was long and part of a multi-novel series. I continue to read her books because I find them engrossing and highly enjoyable.