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Valor’s Choice
by
Tanya Huff
military science fiction in a Kindle edition that was published by DAW Books on April 1, 2000 and has 285 pages.
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Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Truth of Valor, The Wild Side: Urban Fantasy with an Erotic Edge, The Wild Ways, An Ancient Peace, Shadowed Souls, A Peace Divided, The Privilege of Peace, The Enchantment Emporium, The Better Part of Valor, The Shorter Parts of Valor, The Future Falls
First in the Confederation of Valor military science fiction series and revolving around Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr, a highly ethical Human.
My Take
The prologue is a handy introduction to Huff’s world of war. It takes place in a future far enough out that Huff has fun with a number of ancient devices and idioms, such as that rubber stamp, “using something for evil”, ”into the breach”, “it walks like a duck”, “a dog and pony show”, and more.
The major premise is the Confederation’s war with the Others. The Elder Races have “forgotten” how to fight and won’t re-learn and it’s why they recruited the Younger Races into their Confederation — so they can go out and get shot instead of them. Although that ambush does bring out the valor in the Mictok and the Dornagain.
The Silsviss are weighing whether to join the Confederation or the Others in the centuries-long war, and this ceremonial mission is intended to persuade them to “our” side.
Huff uses third person protagonist point-of-view from Torin’s perspective. A a cynical realist with cause, her focus is on getting her people out alive, and she takes the death of any one of them to heart. Damned politicians and military officers!
Huff has created an interesting world with vastly different species who work together. It’s one of the things I love about Valor’s Choice, the integration of Human, Krai, and di’Taykan. Each species is wildly different and yet they become family. I should warn those readers who may be offended by the widely accepted sexual come-ons of the di’Taykan. This society is NOT ours when it comes to sexual harassment.
Staff sergeants know everything, and if they don’t, they fake it.
I gotta say, I laughed my way through this . . . yes, there are plenty of grim events, as well . . . yet that military sense of humor got me every time.
It’s an opportunity for the Marines to “see new worlds, meet new life-forms, and not shoot at them for a change”.
I can understand the general sending these battle troops to Silsviss, as they are a militant race, who need to weed out the weak. Look at their customs relating to their young males. A custom the general is quick to take advantage of.
Valor’s Choice is so action-packed, you’ll get sweaty. It’s also packed with a wide range of characters — the species variety certainly helps with that.
Pace-wise . . . it varies. Sometimes Torin annoys the heck out of me with her constant obsessions, which slow down the pace. Then there’s the drama and tension of battle, of escaping the swamp, of surviving the boredom of ceremony, of the friendships that develop. It’s a pip.
Get it off me! Get it off me!
The Story
It’ll be some time before Sh’quo Company is back up to snuff, and General Morris has the “brilliant” idea of sending the Marines off as part of an honor guard on a ceremonial mission to the Silsviss.
The Characters
Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr, born on Paradise to a farming family, is the senior surviving NCO of Sh’quo Company and is Captain Rose’s acting First Sergeant.
Sh’quo Company is . . .
. . . a battle unit, a battered company of Marines, part of the Corps.
Morris has ordered Staff Sergeant Kerr to put together an honor team which will include Binti Mashona, who was supposed to be off to sniper school; Corporal Hollice is getting promoted to sergeant and loves those earth idioms; Second Lieutenant di’Ka Jarret is di’Taykan and new to the company (his family, the di’Ka, are high class and career military. His mother was Admiral di’Ka Tereal); Private Ressk is a Krai with a skill for hacking; Private First Class di’Stenjic Haysole, a di’Taykan, is a screw-up, on purpose — he bores easily; Corporal Grad Conn had been promised leave to see his daughter, Myrna Troi, the company’s unofficial mascot; Corporal di’Merk/di’Hern Mysho, another di’Taykan; Corporal Ng; Juan; Kleers; Blarnic; Sergeant (Sgt) Anne Chou, who will be senior noncom for the platoon; Sgt Mike Glicksohn; Sgt Trey, a di’Taykan; Sgt Aman; and, Sgt Sam Austin. Checya, Chandra Dar, and Juan are heavy gunners. Privates Drake, Damon, Eilsor, Stovak, Corporal Sutton, and Aylex. Aarik Slayir had been learning to play poker. Private Anderson.
Captain Fiona Daniels, a pilot, and Second Lt Ghard, a co-pilot, will fly the VTA on the mission. Trenkik and Esket are aircrew. Dr Planton Leo is an environmental physician assigned to keep the team healthy.
The Elder Races along include Strength of Arm, Walks in Thought, and Thinks Deeply, all Dornagains. Madame Britt, a Rakva, has an assistant. Gar’itac, a Mictok, is using his webbing to tie storage units together.
The Berganitan is . . .
. . . a Confederation ship that will transport the guard. Captain Carveg, a Krai, is in command. (She had previously commanded the CS Charest.)
General Morris is scum. Ambassador Listens Wisely and Considers All Krik’vir is a Dornagain. Well If You Insist Just One More is one of the ambassador’s assistants, and is, I think, a Rakva.
Captain Rose, using a regeneration tank, is based on the Ventris Station. Greg Reghubir is tanked for the foreseeable; Sergeant di-Garn Sagarha will take over what’s left of his platoon. Staff Sergeant Amanda. Algress can’t be part of this guard. First Sergeant Chigma, a Krai, didn’t survive the previous battle. Doctorow is no longer critical. The station includes Haligan’s, a bar.
The Elder Races . . .
. . . are highly advanced and consist of the H’san, who like cheese; the Mictok (spiders, whose art is greatly admired, are said to be great diplomates); and, the pedantic Dornagain with the unwieldly names.
The Younger Races . . .
. . . include the Humans; the oversexed di’Taykan, who are colorful with a head full of moving strands of sensory tubes (they have three stages of life, one of which includes an obsessive need for touch and/or sex in the di’ stage and qui, which is a breeding stage); and, the Krai, who are short yet mighty with a mighty craving for human flesh — they’ll eat anything.
The Silvsviss are . . .
. . . a race of giant lizards dominated by a powerful warrior caste teetering on the brink of joining either the Confederation or the Others who live on the planet Silsvah. They think the H’san smell like food. The cities include the very hot and humid Daarges, the pleasant Ra Navahsis, and Shurlantec. Cri Srah represents the Silsvah World Council. Ret Asslar is an NCO. Cri Sawyes will be their Silsviss liaison. Sooton and Hairken sneak a few Marines out to visit the bars, partly to study the social interplay between species. Some of the bar patrons include Hars, Ranscur, and Yrs and Plaskry who get up in the Marines’ faces.
The Others are the enemy and they take no prisoners. Susumi space is like a wormhole. Paradise had been the first of the colony worlds. It was over Staff Sergeant Guntah’s guts that Torin got her field promotion to Staff.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a range of oranges in the barren landscape to the brown of the Corps’ “sandbags” while three Marines, including Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr, in their combat suits battle the young Silsviss, including the one coming over the barricade. I think that leg in the lower left corner belongs to a Mictok, one of the pacifists who volunteer to carry the stretchers. At the very top is the author’s name with the title below it. Both are in white with a dark shadow around the letters.
The title is what the Marines choose, Valor’s Choice, to battle their way out against overwhelming odds.
