Valor's Choice

This book is a little out of my comfort zone. I don't usually read Millitary fiction and I tend to lean toward fantasy over sci-fi. However, I was getting bored with my normal stuff and ventured out a little bit . . . and was rewarded. Valor's Choice is funny and interesting. In fact it is much funnier then I was expecting and much more touching. This is an extremly well written book that I would suggest to all sci-fi and fantasy fans.

This book really pulled me in. All the way through, I cared about Torin Kerr and what she thought and how she acted. I could barely put it down. Huff described the other species without going into long digressions, she wrote believable and snappy dialogue, and she worked from an unusual point of view and kept Kerr in character. This book captured my imagination, kept me riveted, and left me wanting more.

Valor's Choice is the first novel in a combat SF series. When attacked by the Others, the Confederation is unable to defend itself, since all the member species have evolved socially to the point of being unable to take another sentient's life. So the Confederation invites the Humans to become their defenders; subsequently, the Taykan and the Krai are also invited to join as defenders.One and a half centuries later, Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr, acting first sergeant of Sh'quo Company, is ordered to gather a platoon for ceremonial duty guarding a delegation to the lizard-like Silsviss, a newly discovered aggressive species. This presents some problems since all the platoons are short of troops due to casualties on the last mission, so she is tasked with choosing nine intact fireteams and three squad sergeants from the survivors. The composite platoon rendezvouses with the diplomats on the Confederation Ship Berganitan. The diplomatic party consists of four spider-like Mictoc, four massively humanoid Dornagian, and four bird-like Rakva.When the Confederation mission reaches Silsvah, the marines demonstrate their proficiency at close-order drill, firearms, and standing guard. The hot climate and boring duties soon send a party of six marines sneaking off to town to meet their counterparts. The ensuing bar fight seems to speed up the negotiations, for the Silsviss terminate the visit in Hahraas early and send the Confederates to their final destination. While enroute, the Confederate transport is shot down over a swamp within a Silsviss Wilderness Preserve. After escaping the ship, the party slogs out of the swamp toward two nearby buildings. There is some need for haste, since the Preserve is used to keep the Silsviss adolescent males occupied while their hormones levels gradually drop to civilized levels. The process also gets rid of some of the surplus male population as they fight each other and anything else that challenges them, including Confederation diplomats and marines.Most of the Silsviss adolescent males in the vicinity are headed toward the crash site, but several are near the buildings; these attack the slow moving Dornagian and their escorts, who promptly take cover in some rocks. Torin leads a sortie out to recover the Dornagian party and finds that the Silsviss adolescents don't run from, but rather toward, overwhelming fire. During the night, the marines pick off the remainder of the first group, but the next day thousands of adolescent Silsviss appear on the surrounding hills, some armed with Confederation weapons from the wreckage. The attacks continue for days.Although some might think that this novel is too stereotypical, I find that the characters are fairly true to real life. Soldiers usually are fairly superficial in their discussions; too much intimacy is frowned on for several reasons, not the least that it hurts more when the other guy is KIA. It also doesn't match the macho image that most soldiers try t

My reading habits seem to go in cycles, and my most current cycle is military s/f - space opera. Therefore, I was very pleased to find that one of my favorite authors had broken new ground. While I most heartily wish that Ms Huff would continue with her vampire tales (I really don't think that the relationship between Vicky and Henry has been played out), a series of novels set in this world would be very welcome indeed.What I found very enjoyable about the novel was that the author placed far more emphasis on plot and character development than on detailing the weapons and military ranks (which seems to be a failing far more common in male authors than female).The battle scenes were realistic and well described, and the characters, both major and minor were fully drawn (not cartoonish, as an earlier reviewer noted). I highly recommend - and I hope Ms. Huff keeps true to her pattern of writing several books around a set of characters.

A lively, engaging, and extremely readable book that brings a refreshing new viewpoint to military sf - the protagonist is not an officer! Instead, we see the troops and their struggles through the eyes of the person most intimately responsible for them and for their officers - the staff sergeant. I grew up an airforce brat and this story was a delightful breath of fresh air! Bravo, Tanya. Grunts from all eras salute you!