Rules of Engagement

Amazon.com
"The Serrano Legacy," an entertaining SF sequence with strong female leads and a realistic space-military flavor, began with Hunting Party. Young lieutenant Esmay Suiza came to center stage in book 4: Rules of Engagement is book 5, continuing her story.

Suiza may be a fine leader and tactician, but she doesn't know how to handle falling for Ensign Barin Serrano, a man she outranks. Frictions in command training school worsen when well-born beauty Brun makes a play for Serrano: Suiza's explosion of temper blights her career. Then Brun falls into the hands of the series' most plausibly nasty villains to date, a murderous, Bible-thumping militia that controls several planets where women are kept down and--if they protest--are surgically deprived of their voices. Moon remarks:

... it would be not only useless but dishonest to pretend that the New Texas Godfearing Militia did not derive its nature from elements all too close to home, in Waco, Fort Davis, and even Oklahoma City.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Esmay Suiza and Brun Meager should be friends—they're both bright, brave, likable and adventurous. But true friendship doesn't run any smoother than true love. Brun thinks Esmay's a stuck-up prig, and Esmay thinks Brun's a spoiled rich brat who's making a play for Barin Serrano, Esmay's first love. So when Brun falls into the hands of a repressive religious militia movement, Esmay finds herself n disgrace, suspected of conniving at the capture. Even Barin, now being pursued by the beautiful and ambitious Casea Ferradi, has turned against her, and Brun's powerful family doesn't want Esmay anywhere near the rescue attempt.

Meanwhile, Brun has to figure out how to survive as a pregnant, barefoot prisoner on a planet where female captives are surgically muted to keep them from contaminating others. Her luck may have run out, but her courage hasn't—she's determined to free not only herself, but also other, younger captives. This burst of initiative imperils her own rescue, and it will take double her own luck to save her.

SYNOPSIS

An adventurous mix of action and emotional dilemma, as well as an intriguing study of training procedures and wartime skills, Rules of Engagement is the engaging sequel to Moon's military science fiction novel Once A Hero>. Rules of Engagement puts Elizabeth Moon with David Weber and David Drake on top of the military SF genre's most-wanted list.

FROM THE CRITICS

VOYA - Kat Kan

Up-and-coming young Lieutenant Esmay Suiza of the Regular Space Service has begun Command School after her spectacular leadership in saving the spacedock ship Koskiusco from the barbaric Horde (in Once a Hero [Baen, 1997]). At a disadvantage because she has started late, Esmay is determined to succeed. However, distractions in the form of her love (not her lover) Ensign Barin Serrano and Brun Meager, daughter of Lord Thornbuckle, a high government official, cause trouble. Someone has also begun to spread rumors that she is a traitor. When Brun leaves from Training Command, she is captured by the New Texas Godfearing Militia; they brutally, surgically mute her and systematically rape her to get her pregnant. She refuses to give up and continually looks for a way to escape. Meanwhile, Esmay is blamed for the kidnapping and now she has to find a way to participate in the rescue mission and clear her name. Esmay and Brun are both strong, tough, yet feminine heroines who meet their troubles with bravura. Moon manages to convey the horror of Brun's captivity without graphic description. The problem is that the book cannot stand alone; readers who have not read at least Once a Hero may feel lost, and cryptic references to Brun's past do not help (she appeared in Hunting Party [Baen, 1993] and Sporting Chance [Baen, 1994]). This will appeal mostly to Moon's fans, but older teens who like Esmay and Brun may be inspired to seek out the earlier books. VOYA Codes: 3Q 2P S A/YA (Readable without serious defects, For the YA reader with a special interest in the subject, Senior High-defined as grades 10 to 12 and adults).

Kirkus Reviews

Science fiction about the far future's powerful military families, a sequel to Moon's Once a Hero (1997). As Lt. Esmay Suiza—-she of the seriously bad hair and knack for getting into hot water—-joins her officer training course, she's requested to nursemaid the talented but wayward civilian Brun Meager, daughter of Lord Thornbuckle, the Familias Regnant's head honcho. Brun wants to party, but Esmay's taking double classes—-and when the red-hot Brun starts flirting with Esmay's beloved, Barin Serrano, the emotionally inexperienced Esmay explodes and bawls Brun out. Unfortunately, the media record the scene and Esmay finds herself vilified, reprimanded, and shunted off to the unglamorous Search & Rescue branch of the Fleet. Worse, Thornbuckle blames Esmay for Brun's plight, and she breaks up with Barin after accusing him of sleeping with Brun (he didn't). In a huff, Brun decides to tour her family's holdings in space, but makes the mistake of detouring through the system where the New Texas Godfearing Militia has just seized a freighter carrying illicit arms. The Militia consists of fascist religious crazies who kidnap and enslave women and children. They grab Brun, then beat, rape, and impregnate her, and murder everybody else. Esmay, executive officer aboard an SAR investigating vessel, finds debris and grisly remains, but it's a long time before she can track the crazies to their home planet. Poor Brun, meanwhile, gives birth to twins (for whom she feels nothing) and escapes just as Fleet's rescue gets under way. Esmay, back in favor after some manipulating by senior members of the Serrano clan (she finally gets a good haircut, too), gets in on the action—-and, ofcourse, Barin still loves her. Great female characters, vigorous plotting, a solid military-family backdrop, but not enough action to keep everyone on board. .