Sporting Chance

IN A NUTSHELL
‘Sporting Chance’ was a fun read; imaginative, exciting, suspenseful and, for something where terrible things were done by terrible people, soft-edged. I liked that this story made full use of the ensemble cast from the last book while introducing a new baddy and deepening the worldbuilding. This is a comfort read series that I’m keen to read the rest of. want to read the rest of.

The action in‘Sporting Chance’ rolled straight on from the events of ‘Hunting Party’ (1993). The central cast of characters remained the same, but this was a darker and more political book than its predecessor. The focus was split between dealing with the very bad things that are being done to Lady Cecelia and the trouble that seems show more to follow Heris Serrano wherever she goes.

What was done to Lady Cecelia was truly horrifying. I admire Elizabeth Moon’s ability to get the horror of it across without making the book unbearably dark. The Lady Cecelia thread leads us deeper into how the ruling class of the Familias Regnant regime operates, which I suspect will open the way for much more political intrigue in the future.

I liked that the rich young people in ‘Hunting Party’ were key to the action in ’Sporting Chance’. I’m enjoying watching them develop as they face a variety of challenges. It was good to see that the two young women were the main movers. I think the story was richer because of the age range of the protagonists. The young people in their teens and early twenties, Captain Serrano in her forties and Lady Cecilia in her eighties all see the same events differently.

Although Captain Serrano isn’t Fleet anymore, she can’t step away from her military background. Her crew are mostly ex-military who have served with her before. She’s equipped her little yacht with weapons and scanning technology that shouldn’t be available to civilians, and she has trouble trusting even the best of the civilian members of her crew. I liked the way Elizabeth Moon used Serrano’s expectations and prejudices both to make it more difficult for her to spot and resolve an intrigue onboard and to hold her own in the inevitable space battle. The Serrano thread expanded the world-building to give a more detailed picture of the motivations and capabilities of the various alliances that border, and potentially threaten, Familiar Regnant space.

I was a little surprised to find that I’m enjoying this series more because of its soft edges. Bad things are done by very bad people, and the sense of threat is real, but the story is made more buoyant by the use of low-key humour, and by an underlying optimism. This series has become a comfort read for me. I know I’ll like the people, the plot will keep me engaged, and there will be a few surprises along the way. show less

Despite being the captain of an old lady's space yacht, life is anything but dull for Heris Serrano. She, her employer and crew survived their recent adventures, but there are two problems: contraband found on board means someone may be out for payback, and the royal figure they rescued may not be naturally stupid. Poison is suspect. However, when the owner, Lady Cecilia, suffers a quick stroke that Heris suspects may be poison as well, legal manuevuering keeps the two far apart. It's up for their friends to find a way to spirit Lady Cecilia to safety, and up to Heris to find a cure for her and the prince.

First of all--egad, the cover of this is awful. Baen outdid themselves with the badness here. Again, I found this book very slow to show more start out. Once Lady Cecilia was imperiled, though, the stakes became dire. The trauma she endures is worse than something even George R. R. Martin would inflict on his characters. The other plot wasn't nearly as gripping. This is still a good book, but the characters and situations don't grab me as Moon's Vatta's War series did. I own the rest of these books and will read on. show less

Do Lady Cecelia suffer from a real stroke or is she a victim of some plot for power? Why is it that a very competent crew-woman suddenly suffers from laziness and has started to make an unacceptable number of errors?

In this book we not only get to follow the same main characters as in the previous book - we also gets to learn a bit more about Familias Regnant space, and what surrounds them - the Benignity (a.k.a the Compassionate Hand), the Guerni Republic, and, to name at least, Aeathar's World. This adds, of course, texture, even if the character development lacks a bit. This is compensated for with plenty of action, and the story is well paced.

Like in the first book - Hunting Party - I sometime get a waft of Famous Five, and this show more time I think it's most prominent when the young people sits around talking; they're rich and spoiled and in some sense as naive as the kids in Blyton's books.

Despite this it's a good fun read, entertaining without being too shallow. show less

Heris Serrano is back, and so is lady Cecelia, my personal favourite so far in these books. This book starts just as the first book ends, with the yacht going back to the home planet with Mr Smith and his entourage. At the ship they realize that something terrible has happened to Mr Smith who is now as smart as a carrot.

Unfortunately that realization makes them a target for some powerful people and the book gets going.

It's a space adventure from the beginning to end and in many ways a more polished book than the first one.

Great adventure, good suspense, I couldn't put the book down at various points. I like the characters too; they were different enough from the usual space adventurers but also very sympathetic, especially Lady Cecilia.

Book 2 of the Serrano series, Heris is still a captain for the Lady Ceclia. Herris' fears for Lady Cecelia come true in the most awful of ways. I really liked how that was handled. I think this book further established the characters in a very convincing way but also showed Herris that her newfound security out side of the RSS was fragile, despite having good crew around her, esp when Lady's Cecilia's family band against her. The sub plot of Prince Gerel and what to do with him was less interesting to me, but it got them where they needed to go and by the end of the book, the start of the third book was well established. Engrossing second book, actually better than the first, I thought. This is reread for me.

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.