Into the Fire

January 22, 2018
Nebula-winner Moon extends her long-running Vatta’s War military SF series (after Cold Welcome) with a middling installment set on Slotter Key, the Vatta family’s home planet and center of their commercial empire. Former Admiral Ky Vatta, having escaped a dastardly assassination attempt in deep space, has found herself nearly penniless and blamed for major crimes, with her former crew members either dead or far away. She and her fiancé, Rafe, seek evidence to clear her name, but soon they are embroiled with an insurrection. Grace’s youthful actions have brought on conflicts with other powerful families, who are plotting vengeful sedition against the government. Holding the line are her redoubtable aunt Grace, Slotter Key’s powerful rector of defense, and cousin Stella, CEO of the Vatta family’s vast holdings. This story’s domestic tensions and volleys against military and civilian bureaucracy don’t achieve the heights of Moon’s typical space operatics, though about halfway through, the action heats up. Moon’s powerful female characters send the unmistakable message that whatever men try to do, these women can do much, much better. Agent: Joshua A. Bilmes, JABberwocky Literary.

February 1, 2018
In this sequel to Cold Welcome (2017), itself part of a long-standing military science-fiction series, ex-Adm. Ky Vatta must confront a murderous conspiracy against her family and the government of her home planet, Slotter Key.In the previous adventure, Ky overcame sabotage, treachery, and abandonment to bring her inexperienced troops safely home and reveal the outlines of a simmering plot against the Vatta clan and business empire. This time out, Moon emphasizes cloak-and-dagger intrigue rather than her heroine's specialty, space combat. Ky learns that her troops have been seized, drugged, and held incommunicado, while all the evidence of the conspiracy that she so carefully collected has disappeared. And, along with her love interest, Rafe, CEO of a corporation that manufactures instantaneous communicators, she finds herself tied up in legal knots, cut off from her finances, and threatened with arrest and imprisonment. Clearly the conspirators reach to the highest levels of Slotter Key's government--but who bears Vatta such vicious, long-standing ill will? Ky must discover the whereabouts of her troops before their jailers can permanently dispose of them, while other family members--Grace, the planet's Rector of Defense, and CEO Stella, whose relationship with Ky has often been prickly--lead the resistance. Once again Moon's adherence to the military honor code drives and binds the plot's mechanics while providing a mute and perhaps ironic commentary on modern public affairs. Sadly, we get only a few glimpses of the opposition, one of whom, rather feebly, is motivated solely by old familial grudges and rivalry while another--quite implausibly--disagrees and prepares to betray his own family. And, somewhat deflatingly, it proves to be a yarn that, rather than working up to the conclusion, winds down.There's always so much to admire in Moon's work that, even when she's not fully engaged, readers will be gratified.

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February 15, 2018

Former Admiral Kylara "Ky" Vatta has been rescued from her cold landing on Miksland and is resting on her home planet of Slotter Key with her fiance, Rafe. However, the base that she and her crew uncovered on Miksland wasn't meant to be found, and powerful Slatter Key families and their corporations are willing to do almost anything to keep the base a secret. Grace, Ky's aunt, takes the brunt of the attacks, almost being killed by poisoners, but other surviving members of Ky's crew are imprisoned and drugged. The strongest characters in this sequel to Cold Welcome are, refreshingly, the women, especially the matriarchal Vatta family members who act decisively in the most dangerous situations. VERDICT Longtime fans of Moon's "Vatta's War" series will delight at the return of familiar characters and in seeing how threads are woven in from previous books. Newbies, however, may be intimidated at being dropped into the long-running, complex series at this point. The ending sets the stage for the next volume.--Jennifer Mills, Shorewood-Troy Lib., IL

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