Hunting Party (2 of 2) [Dramatized Adaptation]

Written by Elizabeth Moon

Narrated by A Full Cast, James Lewis, Michael John Casey and 14 more

Heris Serrano—formerly a commander in the Regular Space Service—must take whatever job she can get after her resignation under a cloud. What she can get is the captaincy of a rich old lady's space yacht...a rich old horsewoman, who has little liking for the military, and whose spoiled nephew Ronnie (and his equally spoiled friends) have been foisted on her after his folly embarrassed the family. Lady Cecelia's only apparent interest is horses—she intends to go fox hunting on the private pleasure planet of a friend of hers, Lord Thornbuckle. But events conspire to make it far more than a fox hunt.

• Language: English
• Publisher: GraphicAudio
• Release date: Jun 3, 2020
• ISBN: 9781648813948

Elizabeth Moon

Former Marine Elizabeth Moon is the author of many novels, including Echoes of Betrayal, Kings of the North, Oath of Fealty, the Deed of Paksenarrion trilogy, Victory Conditions, Command Decision, Engaging the Enemy, Marque and Reprisal, Trading in Danger, the Nebula Award winner The Speed of Dark, and Remnant Population, a Hugo Award finalist. After earning a degree in history from Rice University, Moon went on to obtain a degree in biology from the University of Texas, Austin. She lives in Florence, Texas.

Reviews for Hunting Party (2 of 2) [Dramatized Adaptation]

[reading_fox · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Starts well, but loses direction in the middle when it could have been quite good with a bit more tidying up, and then ends slightly unsatisfactorily. Heris, our heroine has resigned her commission in the military, and taken employment as a captain on a luxury yacht, ferrying a rich old women between planets. The first port of call is to be as part of a pseudo fox-hunting party hosted by another eccentric on his own planet. Heris is dismissive of the complacencies that civilian crews take with safety regulations and appalled at the slovenly attitude present in this ship. However despite the owner's nephews, Heris feels a connection with the her. and admires the spirit that knows she can get what she wants. Trouble with the thoroughly spoiled nephews follows all the way to the hunting planet, but there Heris manages to put her former troubles behind her, and enjoy the horsemanship. Whether the reader does or not will depend on your view of horses. Heris' troubles haven't left her behind though, and she soon finds there is more happening on this world than just aristocrats amusing themselves with their peculiar hobbies. I wasn't that keen on the fascination with fox hunting, it was never clear just how artificial the foxes were, but the implication was that they were real animals, gene edited to resemble foxes, which doesn't make hunting them any less cruel, and the unnecessary danger to the horses any more excusable. However my biggest problem was with the uneven writing and random choppy switches of POV to minor characters. Heris forms the majority of the prose, with interjections from the owner, and between them these work quite well. However throughout the middle and especially the ending portions we get very short excerpts from the various nephews, their friends and even just briefly the antagonists. None of which aid the plot in any means, and all serve to distract the focus and and any empathy we may have felt for Heris and the owner. The rest of the plotting and worldbuilding was quite fun, and Heris is an interesting heroine. I can probably overlook the hunting as a hook on which to base the story, but the irritating intrusion of minor characters prevents this from being as good as it could have been. I may read one more of the series to see if it improves.

[phyllis2779 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent book. Once I started reading it, it was so hard to put down. I'm now reading the next in the series. Great action, fresh plot, interesting characters. This might not be everyone's cup of tea but I like a strong heroine and use space as a way to play out the same kind of behaviors and political situations we see in the real world.

[navelos · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read this pretty much in one sitting, and enjoyed it, but I don't think I'll continue with the series. I think I'd prefer to just re-read the Vatta series instead. This book had one too many coincidences or unlikely happenings or characters changing too quickly for my taste.

[thedivineoomba · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In this book, we have Heris Serrano, space captain extraordinaire who due to a difficult situation, resigns her post from the space agency and takes up the post of captain to Lady Cecilia de Markos's Yacht. Heris goes in with a resigned attitude, flying an old ladies yacht is not what Heris had in mind with her future. Throughout the book, Cecilia and Heris overcome a number of obstacles, including overcoming stereotypes. When Cecilia's Nephew gets caught up in an illegal hunt, the two have to work together to save him.I liked the story - it is solid, with very likable characters. It also fills in plot holes quite nicely. Many weaker stories will have the two main characters running out into the forest alone, but Moon's characters calm down, call for help. They do save the day, but it is done in a logical manor.Its a fast, entertaining read. I'll be looking up the rest of this series.

[ladycato · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

After Heris Serrano is forced to resign her space command, she finds employment as the captain of a wealthy woman's luxury space yacht. Though the nature of the job galls her, a job is a job, even if the owner's nephew and friends are obnoxious spoiled brats. Their jaunt through space becomes more interesting as the ship appears to have been used previously for smuggling, with several current crew members complicit. However, when they arrive on a remote planet to take part in the revived ancient tradition of fox hunting, it seems the dangerous part of their journey is over. Not quite. People are hunting more than foxes on this planet, and spoiled snobby children have a way of getting into a lot of trouble...I like this book, but I can tell it was written before Moon wrote her excellent Vatta's War series. That same "oomph" isn't here, and I wasn't even pulled into the book for a good 50 pages. The plot pace felt uneven, and sometimes major revelation came to Heris a bit too quickly in the climax. I didn't expect so many chapters to focus on fox hunting--not a bad thing, really--but it was a diversion from the main plot. It wasn't a bad book at all--simply not up to expectations. I'll continue to read the rest of the series; I have a lot of faith in the author, and the concept here is interesting.

[theonetree · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was so unstoppable, and not putdownable, that I raced out and bought the rest to read, and re-read at me leisure. Nice read, fast paced. The book equivalent of a chick-flick with action, but no hair flicking. Loved it.

[judithproctor · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

a blend of SF and fox-hunting. The writer is clearly a horse lover and I quite enjoyed the hunting scenes and the SF tweaks such as the riding simulator.There seems to be a lesbian sub-text in places, which is actually more interesting than the low-key heterosexual romance near the end.

[amf0001 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

First in a long series, I have them all. I like books with female protagonists, particularly in sci-fi war settings. This isn't as good as books which followed it but was a very good introduction.

[nakmeister · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Small time space opera set on a old lady’s luxury yacht, featuring a no-nonsense ex military officer who becomes friends with the owner, and helps out when her teenage relatives get in trouble.This was average fare, perhaps in a similar vein as Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan series, but not nearly as interesting or exciting. And the constant subject of horse racing and hunting really irritated me for some reason (though others might like it). Fairly well written, but overall distinctly average in my opinion.