A review by mary_soon_lee
Trading in Danger by Elizabeth Moon

4.0

It's hard to be certain now, decades later, but I think Elizabeth Moon's Paksenarrion books were the first fantasy novels I read where the heroine was a soldier. And it was partly because of that that they made such a deep impression on me. I had loved other women in fantasy, from Tolkien's Eowyn to Le Guin's Tenar, but, brave as they were, and even though Eowyn did fight, they weren't soldiers per se. Paksenarrion was, and that mattered to me. This book, "Trading in Danger," published in 2003, fifteen years after the first Paksenarrion book, is science fiction not fantasy, but it too has a heroine who is trained as a soldier, a heroine who is young and brave and fierce, but also compassionate, considered, even sensible. It's about thirty years since I met Paksenarrion, and there are now far more books with women as soldiers or spaceship captains, but I still appreciate them. Add in the fact that Moon is an accomplished storyteller, and it will come as no surprise that I found this a thoroughly enjoyable, thoroughly satisfying book. I've already ordered the sequel.

About my book 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).