Rules of Engagement - Elizabeth Moon

Baen, 1998, 497 pages
ISBN: 0-671-57841-3

Read February 2016, age 37


Familias Regnant, book 5 of 7

I didn't much like this book - the pace was still good, and it was well-written, but I just didn't like to even think about the bad guys.  They took backwoods American Christianity to ISIS levels of radical:  women weren't to talk, were kept barefoot and wearing ankle-length pencil skirts.  All they could do was 'women's work' (weaving, sewing, and cooking) and it was abhorrent to me.  I just didn't want to get into that head space.  I did keep on it, though because, of course, these guys would get their comeuppance. And they did, but when they did, they got treated the same way as they had treated their women, and then got killed, off screen, I imagine.

It was horrible when people who at least thought that they were doing things the right way were doing terrible things, but it was worse when people who ostensibly knew better did horrible things anyway.  There was a missed opportunity - teach 'em better, sponsor rebellion, something better than cutting out voice boxes and then executing them.

Beyond the major plot, I didn't buy either the romance sub-plot (which was a major driving force through the book, though it mostly felt like the narrator had to keep reminding us that it was there, because there was no other way to tell),  or the 'disgraced' sub-plot and we fell into the 'say a few words and this all goes away' stupidity that can plague otherwise decent characters.

For the disgraced subplot, I didn't have enough familiarity with the culture to realize that chewing out a classmate, even one of a 'noble family' could have career-ending consequences.  The only people who seemed to take it seriously were the superior officers.  The whole book seemed a strain.

Even the fight scenes were lacking, since for some reason the bad guys were using super old tech, and there was basically no risk, other than by fiat.

The pacing was good, though.  So was the wordsmithing.  The rest was unusual for this series, and I hope it's just a one-off.

Rating: 2