Engaging the Enemy by Elizabeth Moon
May. 17th, 2006 09:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
desertvixenSince ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
joyeuse13 expressed interest, and I figure she may not be the only one on my f-list, I decided not to wait to review Engaging the Enemy.
Unspoilered version: I'd seen some remarks on amazon.com that this one dragged until the end. I felt entirely differently. The difference is that this one has more political/manuevering as opposed to more shiphandling/space combat. There's some at the end, but the big conflicts are on a personal level. Aunt Grace is still evil. Kylara Vatta is still trying to figure out exactly whose shoes it is she's trying to fill. There's a plot twist that went in a totally different direction than I anticipated, and one of the space station's societies is... um disturbing? I definitely recommend this one, unless what you were hooked on in the first 2 was the combat.
Spoilery version: There's more issues arising from her dealing with taking care of Osman - namely, his name and his ship are quite well known. The captain who was sent out to Sabine to assist Ky and tried to take over shows up again, and causes more trouble than bargained for, although he may have also been working with Osman. There's a huge revelation about Stella's parentage that comes out during that thing, and I am waiting to see if that causes issues later on. The political manuevering takes a step up, and I wonder if there's going to be issues later in the series with the Vattas that are isolated from Slotter Key and the Vattas working on Slotter Key - as they're not in contact with each other, and may not agree on the aims. Cascadia was a space station that brought new meaning to "kill them with politeness". I felt a little blindsided by what happened to Furman, but I can't say I'll miss him. The end bit with Ky trying to line up prvateers to form a space navy made me realize that this is one of the few SF things I've read that doesn't already assume some sort of interstellar naval force/cooperation. Also, she gets herself into a corner that I doubt she'll be trapped in again, although her age is still going to be a problem. Overall, I think I liked this one best of the three so far. Worth buying in HC for me.
DV
joyeuse13 expressed interest, and I figure she may not be the only one on my f-list, I decided not to wait to review Engaging the Enemy.Unspoilered version: I'd seen some remarks on amazon.com that this one dragged until the end. I felt entirely differently. The difference is that this one has more political/manuevering as opposed to more shiphandling/space combat. There's some at the end, but the big conflicts are on a personal level. Aunt Grace is still evil. Kylara Vatta is still trying to figure out exactly whose shoes it is she's trying to fill. There's a plot twist that went in a totally different direction than I anticipated, and one of the space station's societies is... um disturbing? I definitely recommend this one, unless what you were hooked on in the first 2 was the combat.
Spoilery version: There's more issues arising from her dealing with taking care of Osman - namely, his name and his ship are quite well known. The captain who was sent out to Sabine to assist Ky and tried to take over shows up again, and causes more trouble than bargained for, although he may have also been working with Osman. There's a huge revelation about Stella's parentage that comes out during that thing, and I am waiting to see if that causes issues later on. The political manuevering takes a step up, and I wonder if there's going to be issues later in the series with the Vattas that are isolated from Slotter Key and the Vattas working on Slotter Key - as they're not in contact with each other, and may not agree on the aims. Cascadia was a space station that brought new meaning to "kill them with politeness". I felt a little blindsided by what happened to Furman, but I can't say I'll miss him. The end bit with Ky trying to line up prvateers to form a space navy made me realize that this is one of the few SF things I've read that doesn't already assume some sort of interstellar naval force/cooperation. Also, she gets herself into a corner that I doubt she'll be trapped in again, although her age is still going to be a problem. Overall, I think I liked this one best of the three so far. Worth buying in HC for me.
DV
