The Captain's Reviews > Trading in Danger

I was in the mood to reread these and so I binged the series.  I love it so.  I wish all military SF was so fun.  Kylara "Ky" Vatta is an excellent character to root for.  Part of what I love about the series is that she starts out being rather naïve but grows and changes into a lovely powerhouse.  But just because she is powerful, doesn't mean that she doesn't care about the greater good.  I also love Ky's cousin Stella and their goofy Aunt Grace, neither who end up being as originally expected.  The highlight of this series for me is always the characters, their interactions, and the way the author twists the plot with unexpected, but rational, consequences.  I have not reread the sequel series vatta's peace but now I want to.  Arrr!

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Ahoy there me mateys! I have been wanting to read a book by this author forever and was going to start with the novel, cold welcome. I heard about the book from the review by Sarah @ brainfluff and immediately added it to the list. Where it sat. It sat there long enough for Sarah to review the second book in the series. By luck or coincidence, I had just picked up cold welcome to read when I saw Sarah’s review of book two which ended with “This is recommended for fans of science fiction thrillers – though ideally, you should first read the Vatta’s War series and Cold Welcome.” I hadn’t realized there was another series and I trust Matey Sarah. So I immediately put cold welcome on the back burner and got ahold of this one instead.

I absolutely loved it. I sat and read avidly and completed the book in one session. The novel started out with a bang. The protagonist, Vatta, is expelled for military school but doesn’t know why. How cool is that? Sent home in disgrace, her wealthy family gives her a pity mission. She has to Captain a cargo ship to a port where she will deliver the cargo and then sell the ship for scrap. Her crew are all older and it is supposed to be a milk mission to let time pass and Vatta’s disgrace fade out of the media spotlight. But Vatta has other ideas which of course don’t go according to plan.

Vatta was a fantastic protagonist – intelligent, clever, calm-under-pressure, and resourceful. But she does make mistakes and has fears and concerns. I loved watching her grow during the course of the book. I thought the other crew members were excellent characters too if mostly in the background. The plot was excellent and fun. This was a perfect read in a perfect moment. I will certainly be reading more of this series. Arrr!

Side note: I thought this was the first book I had ever read by the author. But apparently she also wrote the Paksenarrion series. I read omnibus, the deed of paksenarrion, back in the day. Sadly, me only memories of these books were that I liked them. Nothing more in me noggin’ about it. Sigh.

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