Trading in Danger by Elizabeth MoonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I’m not certain when I first read this series – the date I input for first read was a guesestimate, I knew I’d read the book just not when. Looking at the dates again, I know they are wildly out of alignment with reality considering they imply I read the series out of order. No matter. I know why I started a rereading of the series – the author had ‘restarted’ the series, and/or continued the series under a new name. And I wanted to read that series. But it had this insane initial price so I kept putting it off. Suddenly the price fell within reason so I rushed in and bought it. Then sat there realizing I needed to read the 5 prior books, again, first. Pfft.
Right, so, while reading the series, or at least the first two books so far (and I’ll only include stuff for series in this paragraph) – I’ve noticed that the series could easily have been a LGBT one. While Kylara Vatta, the main character, had a ‘strongly attached male friend’ in the military academy – they had exchanged rings – she hadn’t had sex with him and, throughout the first two books, keeps making comments like ‘not interested in boys/men/sex’. So Ky could easily be asexual/bisexual (she did show affection towards Hal, that military academy friend)/lesbian. But it’s a mainstream big publishing house book and . . . well. You know those million and one lesbian books that have one of the characters, main or the one being lusted after by main (if solo POV book), that have the character say something along the lines (or think it) that they had noticed boys growing up, dated some because expected, but never fancied any, never wanted to fuck any – and she didn’t realize why ‘until now’ *she says or thinks while gazing at another woman* (or, if straight fiction – the next line would be ‘I’d never been interested in boys, but you aren’t a boy are you? You are a man, a real man, and something about you really does something for me that no boy ever could hope to do’). Well, while there are several ‘handsome men’ on the ships Ky has been on (there’s a comment where she says that in the second book – for reasons – she also says that, while there are several handsome men on board, she’s not attracted to any of them), there aren’t much in the way of attractive women on board (her cousin is described as gorgeous, but cousin; the engineer is a woman but matronly and about 100 years older than Ky; there are a few younger women running around but Ky hasn’t mentioned what they look like). *shrugs* possible the right woman would have made Ky ‘realize’ things – though I’ve a vague recollection that Ky does/might end up with one of the men on board in a later book. Might be mixing series there. And characters.
Right, but this specific book here. Kylara Vatta is the daughter of a prominent shipping family (space-shipping, she calls it being a space trucker, or something like that, which is goofy since I don’t think there are any trucks on Ky’s planet). Somewhere fairly early on, pre-13 years old, Ky decided she was going to go into the military. No prior Vatta had done that (though it is later revealed . . . well, that’s revealed in another book and of no importance in this one (view spoiler)), gone into the military, and the family was quite annoyed by Ky’s desires. So they had sent her off to apprentice on a merchant ship for a year or so at the age of 13. It matters later, but the book actually opens when Ky is in the last year of her time at the military academy – it’s not earth and it’s not structured like earth, so I can’t really guess age, but let’s pretend that that would make her roughly 20 to 22 years of age at the start of the book. So that’s how the book opens – with Ky in that military academy.
Actually, the book opens with her being dishonorably discharged from said academy. Because she helped a fellow cadet contact a chaplain (which lead to reports spreading to the news which embarrassed the academy, the military, and the government). So that’s how the book opens – Ky being told, reacting, and being taken back to her massively huge super expensive and rich family home. Whereupon, before she could blink too hard, her father immediately, practically the first thing he tells her is that Ky will be put in as captain on a ship being sent to the scrapyard. Will take about a year (or 10 months) – enough time for the ‘scandal’ to die down in the news. Hereabouts is when Ky made a comment about space-trucker.
And so off she goes, captain of a barely functioning spaceship – tiny, way out of date merchant ship with a mostly aged veteran and experienced crew.
Things go about as Ky expected to and at the first planet they reach. Whereupon she moves from the plan and takes the initiative to take on a contract – some farm equipment is desperately needed and Ky could go buy some and bring it back. Use the money to either make needed repairs to the ship, or, at least, keep the ship running long enough to make those repairs. Vatta captains have the ability (some not all) to do things like that, and first time Vatta Captains kind of a reputation to do this kind of thing. So it’s not so much expected as not outside expectations of possibilities.
Whereupon Ky gets to another planet. Goes about getting some farm equipment. Runs into some trouble because she noted she was doing the contract herself, not as Vatta transport, etc. etc. The communication satellites (not the word used) explode, warships enter the system and . . . well, it’s a war.
Quite interesting and exciting book.
Rating: 4.63
November 30 2017
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