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A review by paradoxically
Cold Welcome: Vatta's Peace: Book 1 by Elizabeth Moon
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.