Book Log #74: The Heart of Valor, by Tanya Huff

[annathepiper]

Tanya Huff's Confederation novels are still maintaining combat readiness as of the third one, The Heart of Valor. This time around we've got Torin Kerr, newly promoted to Gunnery Sergeant, being grilled in depth about her adventures in Book 2--and leaping at the chance to escape endless debriefings even if it means she has to babysit a convalescent major and a platoon of Marine recruits on a training planet. Problem is, the planet's supposed to train the recruits, not kill them.

Heroine Torin Kerr has been compared a lot to Sigourney Weaver playing Ellen Ripley, and yeah, that's still about right. The level of military action in this series in general and this novel in particular is certainly comparable to what we see in Aliens, as is the romance. In fact, Torin and her love interest Craig Ryder spend most of the book apart. (Which is what demonstrates that yeah, Craig Ryder is clearly the Intended Series Love Interest; he gets extensive POV time and a whole subset of the plot to himself.) There are several stock character types that you get in any SF scenario involving Marines, but they're entertainingly executed. And while Huff doesn't top Julie Czerneda for me in her development of alien species, she's nevertheless got some fun going on with the species here, both with the di'Taykans in the platoon (complete with a particularly amusing excuse to take out the recruits' regular Staff Sergeant so Torin has to take command) and with the alien that's the driving cause of the plot.

A light read all in all, but it moves well and things explode on a regular and satisfying basis, and sometimes that's all you really need to ask out of a book. Three stars.

Comments

[callibr8]

Is this three stars of four, or five? And would it be okay if I send andpuff (aka The Author) a link to this? I think she'd like to see it.

[annathepiper]

That's three out of four, although I plan to be shifting to a five-star scale as of my 2009 book log, since Goodreads uses five stars and it's annoying to mentally maintain different ratings. ;)

Yeah, I've dropped occasional comments on andpuff's posts myself; I've been following her on my Google Reader. (Google Reader rather than Friending, since I can see that faster if I'm at work.) She's welcome to read this post if she likes though!

[gerimaple.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't particularly call Staff Sargent Beyhn's ... foolishness amusing. My opinion of the fellow is about the same as Torin's - i.e. starts at "selfish bastard" and descends south from there. Otherwise, I agree with your 3/4 review :)

Book 4 spoiler: it gets a little too deus ex machina (sp?) for my tastes, but I'm still glad I bought the hardcover :)

[annathepiper]

Eh, to be fair to Staff Sergeant Beyhn, it ain't like he was deliberately setting out to screw things up for his recruits, so I didn't really get "selfish" off of him. "Too caught up in the biological dictates of his species and should have done something to arrange he was already out of the way before the dictate hit", sure, but not really "selfish bastard". (More on this I shan't say, because Spoilers.)

Besides, my amusement with his subplot was more for how Torin ultimately has it dealt with, rather than him specifically as a character. ;)

I daresay I will check out Book 4 from the library but I have a lot of other reading to do first!

[maellenkleth]

heya, Anna, you going to keep that book or pass it onwards?

Mev

[annathepiper]

I'll be keeping it. :) Tanya Huff is consistently good and is definitely high on the list of authors I keep.

I do recommend this series in general for light entertainment, but you should start with Book 1 if you haven't read any of it yet. There is continuity between the books. Or at the very least, you should read Book 2, since that's where Craig Ryder comes in, and the events in Book 2 specifically set the stage for what's happening in Book 3. Book 1 is more helpful for a broad introduction to the universe.

[(Anonymous)]

Hee. Never hurts to ask. ^_^

I will order them for delivery to the farmhouse, and thus have curl-up reading for those slow lazy afternoons. Thanks for the recommendation.

Snowing like absolute dickens here now.

[annathepiper]

Heh, I very, very rarely get rid of books. Usually it's because I've completely run out of shelf space and have to lose some--in which case I take an armload down to Third Place.

I also don't loan books out often. This dates back to my having loaned books out in the past and never actually getting them back. It's also because I'm persnickety about the condition of my books; I like them to stay in as good a shape as possible. I even get annoyed with myself if they take a beating just from being carried around in my backpack. *^_^*;;

And hey, in general, I'd recommend buying your own copies anyway. Because, as an aspiring writer myself, I'm all for supporting the careers of excellent authors. And if you want to try before you buy, there's always the library. (I'm getting fonder of the King County Library every time I check a book out from them, I swear.)

[firni.livejournal.com]

Now read the latest one. More aliens.

[annathepiper]

Yeah, that'll be going onto the library hold list soon, but I want to clear out more of my To Read shelf first. Plus, I have a few library books ahead of it. :)

[firni.livejournal.com]

The library just informed me that "Princeps' Fury" is waiting for me, so I know what I'll be reading this weekend.

[annathepiper]

I've actually got a copy of this, now. It turned out that at the Times annual employee book sale on Friday, they had a copy of it for cheap. I scarfed it, since it seemed wrong to walk out of there without the Jim Butcher book.

Now I'm really rather obligated to pick up Books 2, 3, and 4 so I can read this one. ;)