Against the Odds by Elizabeth Moon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I just finished reading the entire Serrano Legacy series by Elizabeth Moon, and I’m experiencing fiction letdown syndrome. You know, when you’ve been totally engaged in a marvelous world that’s so believable, and then suddenly, it’s over! It’s hard to come back to this world afterwards.
Moon mixes spaceships, horses, high-tech medicine, fencing, space battles, and religious fanaticism to create an amazingly believable universe. The Familias Regnant is a far-flung entity whose citizens follow many different belief systems. Its planets are tied together by ansibles and FTL ships, and protected by the Regular Space Service (aka the Fleet). Other societies mix more or less peacefully with the peoples of the Familias – Altiplano, The Benignity of the Compassionate Hand, various competing Texan worlds, and more. There are pirates, mutineers, assassins, and more, giving our heroes plenty of opportunities to shine.
Give this series a read. You will not be disappointed!
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Yes, I too have read the whole series of the Serrano adventures. I have always believed that no author can successfully write more than three books. Even Arthur C Clarke’s four book Rama series had me desperate to reach the end. However, Elizabeth Moon successfully avoided this problem by introducing the Suiza element, half way through the series. What a fantastic series of stories, developing the traits of the current societies on Earth.