From the cover:
Once a Hero - Esmay Suiza had surprised everyone by becoming the youngest and lowest-ranking member of Fleet ever to win a major battle. Finding herself the senior surviving officer in a mutiny against a treacherous captain, she’d had no choice - it was do or die. And she’d riser to the challenge, saving Heris Serrano and her crew in the process. But instead of congratulations, her actions lead to a court martial for treason…
Rules of Engagement - Esmay’s boldness continues to reap her as much trouble as reward, a very public argument making her an enemy at Fleet School. When her classmate is abducted by a fanatical sect, Esmay is suspect of collusion. She feels she can formulate a rescue plan - but will anyone in Fleet listen to her now?
Cannot wait to get the final two stories in this well written, action packed series. I thoroughly enjoy these - sort of like grown-up Heinlein but with real women for a change, something a lot of science fiction is missing. I discovered before reading this that Elizabeth Moon joined the Marine Corps, reaching the rank of 1st Lieutenant (that held by Esmay), which could well account for the realism in her writing.
Verdict - well written, not to be missed by aficionados of space opera, and would be enjoyed by anyone who wants a rattling good yarn.
From the cover:
Sometimes a family’s love can achieve the impossible…
On 12th October 1995 Mavis Marsh answered the door to the news every parent dreads most. “It’s your son” the policeman told her. “He’s been in an accident”. Only hours earlier, Matthew had been set for a dazzling future but, in one terrible night, a devastating tragedy altered everything.
Days later, Mavis found herself standing at her son’s bedside as doctors told her to give up all hope. According to them, the damage to Matthew’s brain was too severe for him to recover, and the boy she had known and loved was gone forever.
But Mavis and her husband Keith couldn’t give up on their only son,. And refusing to accept the diagnosis, they started to work with Matthew themselves, desperately urging their comatose son to fight. For months they tried, to no avail, then, almost half a year later, he suddenly started to respond.
I feel really bad about not liking this book. It is poorly written, and does not really tell you much. I finished it in about 2 hours, and feel I could have better spent my time ironing or something. I am glad Matthew managed to get some standard of living (albeit a poor one - with little short-term memory, he is always going to have a problem) but really, this book did not make me like Matthew or Mavis much. And that seems a pity and a waste.From the cover:
Mallory grips like a hand on the throat - The Times
A mutilated body is found lying on the ground in Chicago, a dead hand pointing down Adams Street, also known as Route 66, a road of many names. And now of many deaths.
A silent caravan of cars, dozens of them, drives down the road, each passenger hearing a photograph, but none of them the same. They are the parents of missing children, some recently disappeared, some gone a decade or more - all brought together by the word that children’s gravesites are being discovered along the Mother Road.
Detective Sergeant Kathy Mallory drives with them. The child she seeks, though, is not like the others. It is herself - the feral child adopted off the streets, her father unknown, her mother dead, their past a mystery. During the next few extraordinary days, Mallory will find herself hunting a killer like none she has come across before, and uncovering the secrets that have haunted her all her life.
She did not grip my throat, that's for sure!This book is just meh. Does not get exciting until you're half way through it, and even then it is only the What happens next that kept me going. This is, however, one of an on-going series starring Kathy Mallory, so I might have enjoyed it more had I read the others. But where Elizabeth Moon's army (even though in space) rings true, somehow Carol O'Connell's police and FBI do not.
I wouldn't bother with this, unless it is the only thing to read on a long flight.