• Full Title: Trading In Danger
• Author: Elizabeth Moon
• Year: 2003 (mine was a library hardback)
• Genre: Science Fiction, Adventure
• Publisher: Ballantine Books*
• ISBN 0-345-44760-3
• Wikipedia page (series)
• Author’s Wikipedia Page

(* The publisher was also listed as Del Rey, and elsewhere in the book, Random House.)

 

Summary

The first book of the “Vatta’s War” series, Trading In Danger introduces heroine Kylara Vatta, daughter of Vatta Transport’s CFO and about-to-be disgraced military cadet. Upon leaving the spaceforce academy, her family awards her a captainship on an old trading vessel, which she’s supposed to take to a scrapyard. Adventure ensues when very little goes according to plan.

Subsequent books in the series include Marque And Reprisal, Engaging The Enemy, Command Decision, and Victory Conditions — at least three of which sound like Tom Clancy titles to me.

 

What I Liked Least About It

There is very little to dislike about this book. I will nitpick and say (1) the opening is a bit underwhelming — though it’s a decent enough character introduction, and (2) I would prefer more backstory on the fictional civilization — Moon introduces planets, systems, and governments as if they are a normal part of the reader’s life. This latter is a complaint specific to the genre. In a present-day book, no author would bother explaining how the United States, for example, arose, or the history of Google. But in sci-fi, I’m accustomed to at least a little background, as if the narrator is aware that the readers haven’t heard of these future civilizations before.

 

What I Liked Most About It

First, since I’ve recently been on a John Scalzi binge, it was nice to encounter linear storytelling again. As far as I remember, the entirety of Trading In Danger is told in chronological order, with no going back to catch up. (I do not include the instances where a character recounts a memory or uses a past event as an example; these events occur in real time.)

The story is woven together well. Some reviewers complained of the many “irrelevant” details that fail to advance the story or the character arc, but to me these details (“fluff”) help fill in the world, help me to see it and understand it. They are also things noticed by Ky as she moves through this universe, so I think they are part of the character’s arc.

It reads quickly. The tension builds methodically and slowly until I had trouble putting it down near the end. Moon very expertly handles the difficult task of putting her characters in increasingly difficult and stressful situations until the reader’s tension is noticeable, and then expertly resolves the situations without resorting to deux ex machina. In the process, the characters change subtly, as real people would.

As with Scalzi, I noticed that Moon rarely gives physical descriptions for the characters, but there were a few noticeable exceptions.

Ky is young and a bit naive, something she struggles to overcome, but she is learned and competent. She knows her weaknesses and grapples with them while leaning on her strengths. I think the last time I relished a female-led sci-fi book this much was Friday by Robert Heinlein.

 

Other

After a couple of early mentions of religion, my brain raised a red flag that religion was going to be a significant factor in the story. But then they faded from view and Moon later explained through a character:

“It was easier in the olden times, when our ancestors believed there were magical beings in the sky who could intervene. Our modern religions are fine for destressing from the everyday, but it would be nice to have a real lightning-throwing god to pray to about now.”

— pg. 101

 

Conclusion

Filled with believable characters and realistic situations in colorful and interesting future civilizations, Trading In Danger was worth reading. If you like hard sci-fi wrapped in a good adventure story, you’ll enjoy this one.

(Note: I hadn’t heard of Moon before this book. I was browsing the public library, looking for science fiction authors I hadn’t read before, and my eight-year-old daughter pointed out a series of colorfully-decorated spines which turned out to be Moon’s books.)

 

 

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