Trading in Danger

by Elizabeth Moon

294 pages

English language

Published Oct. 6, 2003 by Ballantine Books.

ISBN:: 978-0-345-44760-9
OCLC Number:: 53088989

(17 reviews)

Kylara Vatta is the only daughter in a family full of sons, and her father's only child to buck tradition by choosing a military career instead of joining the family business. For Ky, it's no contest: Even running the prestigious Vatta Transport Ltd. shipping concern can't hold a candle to shipping out as an officer aboard an interstellar cruiser. It's adventure, not commerce, that stirs her soul. And despite her family's misgivings, there can be no doubt that a Vatta in the service will prove a valuable asset. But with a single error in judgment, it all comes crumbling down.

Expelled from the Academy in disgrace--and returning home to her humiliated family, a storm of high-profile media coverage, and the gaping void of her own future--Ky is ready to face the inevitable onslaught of anger, disappointment, even pity. But soon after opportunity's door slams shut, Ky finds herself with a …

It's a simple assignment: escorting one of the Vatta fleet's oldest ships on its final voyage . . . to the scrapyard. But keeping it simple has never been Ky's style. And even though her father has provided a crew of seasoned veterans to baby-sit the fledgling captain on her maiden milk run, they can't stop Ky from turning the routine mission into a risky venture--in the name of turning a profit for Vatta Transport, of course.

By snapping up a lucrative delivery contract defaulted on by a rival company, and using part of the proceeds to upgrade her condemned vehicle, Ky aims to prove she's got more going for her than just her family's famous name. But business will soon have to take a backseat to bravery, when Ky's change of plans sails her and the crew straight into the middle of a colonial war. For all her commercial savvy, it's her military training and born-soldier's instincts that Ky will need to call on in the face of deadly combat, dangerous mercenaries, and violent mutiny. . . .From the Hardcover edition.

4 editions

gregorgross reviewed Trading in Danger by Elizabeth Moon

Good start to an interesting series about female starship captain

4 stars

I really liked it and will read on in the series, which is about Ky Vatta, a young female spaceship captain. She is the daughter of a famous trading company family, and just got stuck in a PR desaster that ruined her army career and now is off on her first voyage as a space trader captain.

Of course lots of stuff happens and of course Ky is doubly skilled in handling it, with her army training and her coming up in a family of space traders. Still, the story is very interesting, for at the end of this book it is still not clear who one of the attacker was, and some people suppose this was a test, and given who was attacked, these guys have more on their mind than just one planet in the universe.

I don't like too much all of Ky's self-overthinking, and I felt …

I don't like too much all of Ky's self-overthinking, and I felt that the action, the fights etc., was in some way predictable. Yet both is still plausible, so there goes.

laprunminta reviewed Trading in Danger by Elizabeth Moon

Review of 'Trading in Danger' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

The book's a little rough. Objects essential to the plot are remembered by the characters only a few moments before they're needed to serve the plot. The secondary characters such as the ship crew, aren't that distinguishable from each other, probably because we rarely hear the crew members talk to each other, just to Ky.

Despite all of that, I loved this.