Moving Target is the second novel in Elizabeth Moon's Vatta's War sequence. The delightfully psychopathic Kylara is stranded light years away from her family and homeworld with a loyal crew but a crippled spaceship, while the Vatta trading family and their allies, InterStellar Communications, are decimated in a series of attacks which also destroy the ansibles, the FTL communication devices that hold the various worlds together.In the first novel Kylara faced down a series of enemies, including a shipload of mercenaries, with almost no weapons. This time she makes some effort to beef up the ship's defences but still has very limited resources, so she remains outgunned and has to apply brainpower and guts to come out on top. This is true underdog fiction and Kylara's plots and schemes continue to amaze. I can also report that the plot remains happily horse-free but points have been deducted for gratuitous puppy elements.
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2 comments:
Sounds like a fascinating novel. Being stuck on a dead ship could either be really boring or really exciting.
Oh it's not dead, just disabled and badly in need of repair. They're stranded at an out-of-the-way space station, as much by the politics, the communication failures and the mysterious threat to the Vatta family as by the technical problems. I'm really getting to like this series.
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