Type of bind: Hardcover
Format: Bargain Price
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 320
Printing Date: December 01, 1999
Sale Popularity Level: 1177901
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THEIR UNIVERSE IS FALLING APART!
Rejuvenants fear the backlash caused by bad drugs; they want to ensure that nothing interferes with their pursuit of long life -- or the profit that comes from promising it to others. Neighbor states fear the aggressive expansion of the Familias Regnant, fuelled by population growth and extended lifespan. Within the Regular Space Service, those who have received experimental rejuvenations fear they may have been given bad drugs on purpose. Esmay Suiza's family fears that her marriage to an offworlder will damage their position. Barin Serrano's family fears that his marriage to a Landbride of Altiplano will damage his career and their reputation.
Fear begets violent reactions -- from foreign governments, from great Families determined to maintain or increase their power, from internal rivalries in the Fleet -- and nothing escapes the resultant bloodbath unscathed. As Esmay and Barin struggle to reconcile their families, others have more cosmic struggles to win.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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This is the very first Moon book I read, and it will also be my last. I picked it up at an outlet mall because I liked the cover. The book is basically a series of vignettes involving a lot of different characters so there is no major plot to the book. The few sections with Esmay and Barin were probably the most interesting. Moon was apparently wrapping up a bunch of loose ends from her prior books. Unfortunately, as a whole, it was a big disappointment for me. I guess I would recommend this only for diehard Moon fans.
Rated by buyers 
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Other reviewers commented on the book's choppiness and loosely interwoven plots, subplots, and storylines. Unlike the previous books in the series, there is almost no action. All the storylines are left open, so one must read the sequel to get "closure."
What irked me most was the absurdity of three subplots:
The military has an advanced weapons research station that is NOT in a secret location. Even though the military is known to have undetected traitors, the research facility has only 34 soldiers headed by a major of questionable loyalty and no combat experience. Also, even though plain old ship repair facilities have self-destruct devices, the advanced weapons research facility does not. How believable is this?
Rejuvenation drugs were contaminated without detection for years, and key noncommissioned officers are becoming senile. Did they lose liquid chromatograpy-mass spectroscopy analyses in the future? Can we believe that no one performed quality control analyses on such expensive and important drugs for years?
During a political/business/family power struggle, the villains manage to alter (without detection) stock ownership and bank records of key political families, depriving them of almost all assets. This hardly seems possible. It would require hacking into personal financial records, broker records, stock exchange records, and tax records and all their backups at the same time.
I hope future books in this series are better written and less absurd.
Rated by buyers 
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The book is very choppy and has many subplots. Its almost as if Ms Moon was trying to wrap up the Esmay series, though it could be used as a bridge to take the universe she created into new directions. I enjoyed the prior books in the series, but this one seemed to try and end it all. Not very satisfying.
Rated by buyers -
Once upon a time Moon wrote a great book, "Once A Hero." Get it and read it. It dealt with the concerns and exciting triumphs of a talented, growing woman of adventure. Then Moon wrote a story billed as a sequel, but which had little to do with Esmay or space adventure; i.e., the subjects than made the very first book so interesting. Still, it was well done, about another remarkable woman, and dealt with issues (however, depressing and outside the mainstream)that are important and need to be dealt with. Now we have another supposed sequel, which has little to do with either of the main characters of the prior stories, in fact has no main character, is disjointed, little excitement, and no point. The worse thing is that characters you admired in previous books of the truly enjoyable Heris Serrano series now display stupid values, irrational loyalties, and confusion. The devoted reader feels betrayed. Moon still writes well, but the only interesting activity dealt with a woman taking revenge on the murder of her husband. Even this would have been more satisfying if she has spent less time unnecessarily kissing up to him. This book seems obviously turned out only for the December Xmas market, and only to cash in on fans of her earlier space series books (no one else could find any interest in it). The publisher has simply been dishonest in the cover design and teasers.
Rated by buyers 
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My biggest disappointment with this book: I got to spend little time with Esmay Suiza, for whose sake I bought it. But that may not be a problem for other readers, particularly those who've read the Heris Serrano/Esmay Suiza books in order, because "Change of Command" begins a two-book process of bringing this political and family intrigue saga to its conclusion. Do NOT plan to read this one and stop, because you won't find out what happened without reading "Against the Odds" afterward.
What happens in "Change of Command"? Brun Meager goes home after her long captivity, and finds herself changed. She hasn't had time to get her bearings when her father's assassination throws the Familias Regnant into turmoil. Meanwhile, Barin Serrano's rescue of the Ranger families in "Rules of Engagement" is rewarded by Fleet's decision to take his pay - all of it - toward their support, since as far as Fleet is concerned they're not political refugees. They're the ensign's dependents. This complicates the already difficult situation Barin and Esmay face as they plan to marry despite opposition from both powerful families.
Moon's enormous cast of characters overwhelmed me at times, but I seldom had difficulty distinguishing and remembering each character once introduced. This book has some slow "set-up" passages that I found a bit of a slog, but when the action came it was well written and engaged me thoroughly. The uncomfortable questions this series asks set it apart from more conventional coming-of-age and military/political SF tales. What should age and youth offer to each other? Is one more valuable than the other; and if so, why? In our own era of genetic research and leapfrogging medical advances, these are issues it's difficult (if not impossible) for readers to dismiss as belonging only to the far, far future.
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