Name: Trading In Danger
ISBN: 9780345447616

Elizabeth Moon

Thrown out of the Space Academy in disgrace, Ky Vatta, the daughter of a leading interstellar trading dynasty, is given the chance to redeem herself by captaining one of Vatta's oldest ships on its voyage to the scrapyards, but her journey takes on unexpected challenges when she finds herself and her crew trapped in the middle of a colonial war, in the first volume in a new military science fiction series. Reprint.

Trading In Danger

Thrown out of the Space Academy in disgrace, Ky Vatta, the daughter of a leading interstellar trading dynasty, is given the chance to redeem herself by captaining one of Vatta's oldest ships on its voyage to the scrapyards, but her journey takes on unexpected challenges when she finds herself and her crew trapped in the middle of a colonial war, in the first volume in a new military science fiction series.

Trading in Danger

Sheila

Solid 3.5 stars. Not terribly inventive or creative, but a fun space opera nonetheless! This book I feel is mostly set-up of characters to facilitate something more fun in subsequent books, but I’m intrigued enough to stick with the story. A gratifying, easy read all around!

4.25 stars - a very enjoyable story about the very young female captain of a trading vessel in space. She's supposed to take it on its last voyage, but can't resist the temptation to try to make enough profit to save it from the scrapyard - which strands her defenseless in the middle of a small war. If you enjoy realistic character-focused stories of clever problem-solving, negotiations, handling unfair accusations and some action, then I think this would be a good recommendation. 

I enjoyed it immensely and read it very quickly, feeling very engaged the whole time. But don't expect spaceship battles, this is more focused on contracts, commerce and dealing with difficult people and tricky situations while learning some hard life lessons (and a bit of hand-to-hand combat). Small negatives: a bit too much praise for the protagonist for my taste (though not unrealistic) and the effects of two weeks of reduced calories are exaggerated a lot, but that didn't really lessen my enjoyment of the story. I'm very happy to have found a new series to dive into.