Engaging the Enemy

by Elizabeth Moon

Book Overview

"Marvelously compelling . . . consummate military-adventure science fiction."--SciFi

In the aftermath of the cold-blooded assassinations that killed her parents and shattered the Vatta interstellar shipping empire, Kylara Vatta sets out to avenge the killings and salvage the family business. Ky soon discovers a conspiracy of terrifying scope, breathtaking audacity, and utter ruthlessness. The only hope against such powerful evil is for...

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345447573
• ISBN13: 9780345447579
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: Random House Worlds
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 0.48 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Engaging the Enemy

this is the third book in the series and i've found it just as interesting as the others. one thing i really like is that each book goes straight into the next one I cant wait to get to book four. also the story line is great and keeps you interested all the way through, i haven't found one dull bit yet.

Best of the Vatta's War series -- compulsively readable

Elizabeth Moon's new space-opera series is really hitting its stride in this outing, which kept me up until the wee hours. Protagonist Ky Vatta is starting to get a handle on the bad guys who massacred most of her family on their homeworld, Slotter's Key. She's also getting comfortable with commanding the armed merchantman she recaptured from a rogue Vatta cousin -- the rogue leads her to the apparent mastermind behind the attack, and the newly-unified pirate fleet that's starting to attack and annex isolated worlds [1]. Ky is trying to organize a privateer response, but the privateers get off to a very rough start. To be continued.... Back home on Slotter's Key, Crazy Aunt Grace is hot on the trail of the bent politicians who let the raiders slip through the planet's space-defense net, and the trail is leading right to the top of the planetary government.... Moon's writing just keeps getting better -- in this book, the quality of writing, world-building and characterization are getting into the Bujold zone, high praise indeed. The catch for new readers is that _Engaging the Enemy_ definitely isn't a standalone -- in fact, the opening follows so hard on the heels of 2004's _Marque and Reprisal_ that these two books could be considered a single novel. While the first two books of Vatta's War were decent and worth reading, they never quite clicked for me. With _Engaging the Enemy_, Moon is back to writing something closer to pure mil-SF, her home comfort-zone, and the next volume is likely to be even purer. Newcomers may want to quickly breeze through the first two books to catch up to the Good Stuff. And, if you've already read the first two Vatta's War books, you're in for a real treat. ___________ Note 1) -- the first of which was the planet Bissonet, named after a street near the Rice University campus, where Moon & I both studied in the late Pleistocene.... Happy reading, Peter D. Tillman

Picking Up Steam

Engaging the Enemy (2006) is the third SF novel in the Vatta's War series, following Marque and Reprisal. In the previous volume, Kylara blows the Fair Kaleen's airlock with an EMP mine and then kills Osman Vatta. The Mackensee ships take out two pirate ships and capture some prisoners. Then they board the Fair Kaleen, take more prisoners, and turn over control of Osman's ship to Kylara. Kylara takes command of the Fair Kaleen and appoints Stella as captain of the Gary Tobai. They split the crew between them, leaving Quincy with Stella to help her learn to command a ship. Kylara takes the more adventurous members of the crew, including young Toby and the terrier Rascal. The mercenaries are suspicious of Rafe because of the timing of the Fair Kaleen incident. Kylara suspects that a shipboard ansible was responsible for the synchronization, but they ignore her suggestion. They still want to invade his implant for any evidence of his complicity. Kylara convinces them to let her query the implant. They interconnect the devices and Kylara scans the implant database; during this process, unfortunately, his implant downloads its ansible functionality to hers. In this novel, Kylara Vatta struggles to control her father's implant. It is giving her nightmares about the destruction of their home and the death of her mother. Rafe suggests looking for a sleep cycle enabler and Ky finds that it gives her eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. By the second night, she is finally able to start thinking about their future actions. At Garth-Lindheimer, Ky reports to Port Security and they demand that she appear before a court to determine the legality of her actions. Ky declines their invitation, delegates authority to Stella to collect their convoy fees and to pay the accompanying mercenaries, and takes the Fair Kaleen on to Rosvirein. At Rosvirein, Ky hires a full crew, including gunners as well as trade positions. She also arranges for Rafe to report his intelligence to the local ISC manager. Shopping for minor items at a chandlery, she come across some old crockery with Vatta Line logos and pays extra to have them delivered immediately to her ship. Unfortunately, a local criminal organization replaces the messenger who accompanies this shipment; the false messenger is tasked with passing a note to the sleeper agent among her new crew. Two of the new gunners notice the false messenger sticking microdots in goods destined for their ship, so they follow him back to the ship and warn ship security. The false messenger asks the dockside crew to page his contact. When the sleeper comes down to the dock, the crew tries to arrest both men. This sleeper is killed outright, but the false messenger prefers to surrender to them. The crew chemically interrogates their prisoner and learns the name of his big boss, but that name triggers a suicide circuit in the prisoner's implant. Ky arranges an earlier liftoff and barely clears the planet before

Great Detail and Interesting Wrinkles

My main reasoning for rating this high is that elements of the story are clearly going through major transition, and Moon doesn't skimp on details, truly adding data that makes you feel the story unfold. Subtle character "painting" making me feel I know the characters involved by discreetly placed description in the narrative was strong in this book. Not as adventurous and exciting as the prior two books, but I would have been disappointed to see the same formula and pace throughout the series. My largest complaint is waiting for the next one.

another fine chapter in the vadda series

In this third in the vadda series, ky vadda having taken her rogue uncles ship over after his attempt to capture her freighter the Gary Tobai. she runs into trouble when she refuses to let any court determine that it's rightfully hers. this forces her to move from system to system. her cousin stella in charge of the slower freighter must follow along in her wake and deal with the irate govenment officals ky has angered. With the attack on vatta transport and isc communications network still causing trouble she attempts to find weapons trained crew to put her new armed ship to use. an attempt to smuggle a messege to an enemy agent in her crew gives her a clue into who is behind the attacks. with a name and reason for the attacks she begins to organise her fellow privaters into a fleet. to avenge her parents deaths she will do anything even threaten the isc communications monopoly to save what's left of her family and vatta transport.