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elsazetterljung's review
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
rafial's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
cosmith2015's review against another edition
4.0
I’m surprised I enjoyed it as much as I did. I’ve never read military fiction before, much less one set in space (granted it was on a different planet and not so much space space). I haven’t read the first series (Vatta’s War) featuring this main character, but I’ll probably pick it up now.
I would like to note that it was written oddly. There wasn’t a lot of emotion involved and all of the characters were pretty one dimensional. It didn’t bother me surprisingly.
I would like to note that it was written oddly. There wasn’t a lot of emotion involved and all of the characters were pretty one dimensional. It didn’t bother me surprisingly.
eliasfallon's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
mary_soon_lee's review against another edition
3.0
"Cold Welcome" begins a new military science fiction adventure centered on Ky Vatta, heroine of the earlier five-book Vatta's War series. As with the earlier series, I find Ky a likable, impressive, highly competent heroine. While Ky is the central figure, there are a number of other point-of-view characters, and it pleased me that these include her (highly competent) great aunt. I like reading about intrepid and capable older women.
Spoilers ahead.
I found the latter half of the book consistently engaging. It lacked, however, fuzzy warm moments to soften my heart. There's little kindness or comfort to be found. Moreover, the rather appealing animals that briefly appear toward the end of the book meet a brutal end.In place of cuddliness, "Cold Welcome" offers competence and a compelling plot.
3.5 out of 5 capable stars.
About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).
Spoilers ahead.
Spoiler
The book includes a lengthy chunk where Ky is in charge of a group of military personnel trying to survive in freezing conditions. I found this section mildly enjoyable, but not hugely so. Later, the book takes a couple of turns, one involving Master Sergeant Marek and another involving the original builders of a vast underground facility. Both these turns upped my interest in proceedings.I found the latter half of the book consistently engaging. It lacked, however, fuzzy warm moments to soften my heart. There's little kindness or comfort to be found. Moreover, the rather appealing animals that briefly appear toward the end of the book meet a brutal end.
3.5 out of 5 capable stars.
About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).
ammbooks's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed the return of K. Vatta and the motley gang. This was basically a set up for the next book. As always I enjoy Ms. Moon's military structure and set up in her novels.
jmkemp's review
4.0
Cold Welcome is the first in Vatta's Peace, a new series following on from the Vatta's War series. This first book takes Admiral Ky Vatta to a new and unfamiliar place, away from her space fleet and into a desperate survival in arctic waters after a shuttle crash.
You don't really need to have read the Vatta's War series to get Cold Welcome. The book recaps the main elements of Vatta's War. The start scenario is that Admiral Ky Vatta is returning to her home planet of Slotter Key. She is met by the Commandant of the Space Academy that she last met when she was asked to resign at the beginning of the Vatta's War series.
Like the previous series Cold Welcome is based around a conspiracy that the Vatta's and their allies are on the wrong side of. The mistrust is front and centre and several characters come under suspicion to both Ky and the reader. The shuttle taking Ky and a couple of dozen other local military personnel to the surface is sabotaged, giving the Cold Welcome of the title, and also landing them into arctic waters next to a mystery continent marked only as "Terraforming Failure" on maps and atlases. The sabotage extends to keeping the survivors in a comms blackout at the maximum extent of the Search and Rescue operational range.
Both pilots, the Academy Commandant and half a dozen others are killed by booby trapped survival suits, Ky Vatta and her aide survive because they wear the ones they brought rather than the ones provided. When they launch the life rafts they find that the transponders and other kit has been removed.
Much of Cold Welcome is a very well researched survival story. There are loads of details on the situation, the drills and how the various survivors cope (or not) with their situation. Various mishaps occur, and Ky slowly pieces together aspects of the conspiracy. In a parallel track we see her Aunt Grace as Rector of Defence and chief civilian in the Dept of Defence. Grace is doing her own digging to find out why the shuttle went down and who was responsible. Into this mix Rafe Dunbarger, Ky's lover and CEO of the Interstellar Communications Corp appears to help find Ky.
Between them a clearer picture of the conspiracy is built up. It's an ancient centuries old cover up, and predates Slotter Key's war of unification (in which Grace Vatta was a clandestine agent). There's a major showdown as a finale, but it's also clear that this is really just the curtain closer on Act One.
Overall I really enjoyed Cold Welcome. I stayed up late one night to read it, taking advantage of it being a four day holiday weekend. I'm looking forward to more episodes in the Vatta's Peace series.
You don't really need to have read the Vatta's War series to get Cold Welcome. The book recaps the main elements of Vatta's War. The start scenario is that Admiral Ky Vatta is returning to her home planet of Slotter Key. She is met by the Commandant of the Space Academy that she last met when she was asked to resign at the beginning of the Vatta's War series.
Like the previous series Cold Welcome is based around a conspiracy that the Vatta's and their allies are on the wrong side of. The mistrust is front and centre and several characters come under suspicion to both Ky and the reader. The shuttle taking Ky and a couple of dozen other local military personnel to the surface is sabotaged, giving the Cold Welcome of the title, and also landing them into arctic waters next to a mystery continent marked only as "Terraforming Failure" on maps and atlases. The sabotage extends to keeping the survivors in a comms blackout at the maximum extent of the Search and Rescue operational range.
Both pilots, the Academy Commandant and half a dozen others are killed by booby trapped survival suits, Ky Vatta and her aide survive because they wear the ones they brought rather than the ones provided. When they launch the life rafts they find that the transponders and other kit has been removed.
Much of Cold Welcome is a very well researched survival story. There are loads of details on the situation, the drills and how the various survivors cope (or not) with their situation. Various mishaps occur, and Ky slowly pieces together aspects of the conspiracy. In a parallel track we see her Aunt Grace as Rector of Defence and chief civilian in the Dept of Defence. Grace is doing her own digging to find out why the shuttle went down and who was responsible. Into this mix Rafe Dunbarger, Ky's lover and CEO of the Interstellar Communications Corp appears to help find Ky.
Between them a clearer picture of the conspiracy is built up. It's an ancient centuries old cover up, and predates Slotter Key's war of unification (in which Grace Vatta was a clandestine agent). There's a major showdown as a finale, but it's also clear that this is really just the curtain closer on Act One.
Overall I really enjoyed Cold Welcome. I stayed up late one night to read it, taking advantage of it being a four day holiday weekend. I'm looking forward to more episodes in the Vatta's Peace series.
jennchandler's review against another edition
3.0
The premise is good, and I liked most of the characters, but the book itself is stuffed full of very unimportant and boring details. If you’re a good skimmer, you’ll be fine, but if not, I don’t know that I would recommend this.
booksandlemonsquash's review against another edition
4.0
A welcome return to the Vatta universe, and it’s anything but cold! I really enjoyed reading this and re-immersing myself in this world - I’d forgotten just how good and complex Moon had made these books, and it was brilliant to go back to.
The start is a little slow, but that was good as I was desperately trying to remember what happened in the Vatta’s War series. Realistically, this is a set up book, but the mystery of the base, the plots against Vatta and the military conspiracies are all great fun and well written.
I will be picking up Into the Fire very soon, I’m sure!
The start is a little slow, but that was good as I was desperately trying to remember what happened in the Vatta’s War series. Realistically, this is a set up book, but the mystery of the base, the plots against Vatta and the military conspiracies are all great fun and well written.
I will be picking up Into the Fire very soon, I’m sure!
paradoxically's review against another edition
4.0
Every once in a while I wander back in the direction of military science fiction (usually with a female MC because I'm predictable like that), and imagine my delight when I realized that Elizabeth Moon continued on Kylara's adventures in a brand new series. While I feel like any newcomer can pick up the book and be okay with reading it, I do think it's better if they read the prior series first (if only because then maybe someone would understand my endless crying over how much I love Rafe and Ky together [get together already please], but I digress).
In this book you have Ky going back to her homeworld for some nonsense, even though she doesn't want to, and suddenly finding herself in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of soldiers she doesn't know (and the one person she does know, her aide, is a royal pain in the ass). Somebody tried to kill her. The environment is definitely killing her. And who knows who she can trust in the end? On the other side of the spectrum you get the people on the flipside--mainly her great aunt Grace who is head of the planet's defense (though with all the sabotage, what's even the point), Stella (her cousin and head of the Vatta conglomerate), Rafe (sorta boyfriend), and MacRobert (military... spy... Grace's lover).
While I really enjoyed the book, it didn't quite tip over into loving it. Almost odd, really, considering how much I appreciate survival in books, and taking charge of a situation and turning it around, but it left me--PUN AHOY--a bit cold, Ky's interactions with the people she was with. She never really developed the type of camaraderie with them that I really wanted, and her aide drove me up a wall. While I did appreciate the little side views into what the rest of the cast was doing, I did want to read more about Ky herself than anyone else (except maybe Rafe, but again, my love for him in the previous series was big). I still don't like Stella all that much. I appreciate the character she grew into, but she seemed largely superfluous in this book.
The ending was also a bit more of a whimper than a bang. I felt like there was this somewhat large set up and then...that was it. There was bits of excitement here and there, but it felt over really quickly, and with little that Ky did other than just keep forging ahead. While it did set up well for the next book (mysterious conspirators that never get unveiled), I wanted a bit more excitement here. Somewhat unfortunately it seems like it's gearing up towards more a political plot than anything else. A bit of a slow start, but it was a solid book. 4 stars.
In this book you have Ky going back to her homeworld for some nonsense, even though she doesn't want to, and suddenly finding herself in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of soldiers she doesn't know (and the one person she does know, her aide, is a royal pain in the ass). Somebody tried to kill her. The environment is definitely killing her. And who knows who she can trust in the end? On the other side of the spectrum you get the people on the flipside--mainly her great aunt Grace who is head of the planet's defense (though with all the sabotage, what's even the point), Stella (her cousin and head of the Vatta conglomerate), Rafe (sorta boyfriend), and MacRobert (military... spy... Grace's lover).
While I really enjoyed the book, it didn't quite tip over into loving it. Almost odd, really, considering how much I appreciate survival in books, and taking charge of a situation and turning it around, but it left me--PUN AHOY--a bit cold, Ky's interactions with the people she was with. She never really developed the type of camaraderie with them that I really wanted, and her aide drove me up a wall. While I did appreciate the little side views into what the rest of the cast was doing, I did want to read more about Ky herself than anyone else (except maybe Rafe, but again, my love for him in the previous series was big). I still don't like Stella all that much. I appreciate the character she grew into, but she seemed largely superfluous in this book.
The ending was also a bit more of a whimper than a bang. I felt like there was this somewhat large set up and then...that was it. There was bits of excitement here and there, but it felt over really quickly, and with little that Ky did other than just keep forging ahead. While it did set up well for the next book (mysterious conspirators that never get unveiled), I wanted a bit more excitement here. Somewhat unfortunately it seems like it's gearing up towards more a political plot than anything else. A bit of a slow start, but it was a solid book. 4 stars.