Trading in Danger

Trading in Danger is the first book in the Vatta's War series by Elizabeth Moon. The first book I read by her was Remnant Population. I liked it, really liked it, and passed it on to The Younger Son, who read it and really liked it. He was on the look-out for something else by the same author and happened across Trading in Danger at Book Traders. When he finished it he recommended it to me, and I put it on the top of my stack.

from the back of the book:

Kylara Vatta is the only daughter in a family full of sons, a young woman who has chosen a military career instead of joining the family's shipping business. It's adventure, not commerce, that stirs her soul. But after a single error in judgment, she is expelled from the Academy in disgrace. The chance to captain a Vatta Transport ship gives her a face-saving shot at redemption.

It's a simple assignment: escort one of the Vatta fleet's oldest ships on its final voyage to the scrapyard. But keeping it simple has never been Ky's style. And even though her father has provided a crew of seasoned veterans to babysit the fledgling captain, they can't stop Ky from turning the routine mission into a risky venture. Business soon takes a backseat to bravery, when Ky's change of plans sails her and the crew straight into the middle of a colonial war. For all her commercial savvy, it's her military training and born-soldier's instincts that Ky will need to call on in the face of deadly combat, dangerous mercenaries, and violent mutiny...

I liked Remnant Population much better, perhaps because it's a stand-alone and this first in a series seems to be preparing for the next book. I'm sure this series will improve once they get over convincing us that Ky is a big girl now.... The main character did seem to have a lot of focus on how young she was for her to turn out to be such a capable warrior/businesswoman/supervisor/etc. Now that the character is formed the next book will be able to focus more on steady plot development, I would think. Not to say I didn't like it -it was enjoyable, a fun read.

And there must be more to that whole model thing.