Marque and Reprisal by Elizabeth Moon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Space Opera is never going to be Shakespeare, but that doesn’t mean I don’t stay up until one o’clock in the morning just to read another chapter (or three).

I like the questions that Moon raises, the choices she makes as an author. A woman kills in self-defense. That’s justifiable. But she finds out she really kind of… likes killing. And she has a hard time justifying it to herself, let alone talk to someone about it. That’s dark (but a brave choice, an interesting “flaw” to give an otherwise perfect character). Then she brings in a potential love interest… that Ky doesn’t really want to have anything to do with in that manner.

I like the relationship between the cousins, and I’m starting to like crazy old Aunt Grace more and more.

And I like the way Moon writes about engagements; not just the actual fighting, but subtle explanations of why someone (especially a woman) would want to fight. As someone who never wanted to join the military, it’s interesting to read why someone would make that choice (and someone sympathetic, not someone who is a murderous sociopath).

On to book three!

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