Product Description

Lord Thornbuckle, Speaker of the Grand Council, has been assassinated. Battle lines are quickly drawn between powerful Families keen to control the new political order, and neighbouring states prepare to defend themselves. Even Fleet can no longer be depended on to keep the peace. Young Fleet officers Esmay and Barin want simply to marry. But nothing is straightforward in these difficult times - and especially not for the children of the powerful. For Barin is a Serrano, the most influential of Fleet families, and Esmay the Landbride of the planet Altiplano; their elders can see only disaster in the match. And as Esmay and Barin struggle to reconcile their families, the future of the Familias Regnant hangs in the balance ...Look out for more information about this book and others on the Orbit website at www.orbitbooks.co.uk

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #375744 in Books
• Published on: 2000-07-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 423 pages

Review
'A highly entertaining adventure ... thrilling' LOCUS 'A satisfying read, full of the finely detailed settings and excitement that Moon's readers have come to expect' Publishers Weekly 'Moon's mastery of contemporary science fiction is evident in every line. The characters spring to life on the page, the intricacies of societies are astutely explored, and the pace never flags.' Booklist

Publishers Weekly
`A satisfying read, full of the finely detailed settings and excitement that Moon's readers have come to expect'

Booklist
`The characters spring to life on the page...'

Customer Reviews

Didn't quite hit the spot
This book is definitely a sequel to "Rules of Engagement", but Esmay Suzia is practically relegated to a minor character in this one. To a certain extent this was true of RoE as well, which is a little disappointing as the character clearly has a lot of potential still.

This is also the first novel in the series that isn't self-contained and obviously leading up to another series of books. A number of new characters appear and are almost force-grown into their roles. There isn't really a main thread to follow, and the events taking place are somewhat forced along (there are some brilliant deductions taking place in the complete absence of any hard facts).

Overall, the book is very much a prequel to some very large distruptions in the Familias Regnent universe. In itself, the book is weak and not as good as the others in the series. As a lead up to the impending events, it shows great promise of things to come. In some ways its quite blatent in its scene-setting.

This is definitely one for fans of the series. I hope the next set of books fulfil the promise of this one, and also bring the Serrano Legacy to an ultimate conclusion.

Half a novel - but still worth it
Readers of previous Serrano Legacy novels (as well as new readers) may be disappointed by this one - but for reasons that have far more to do with their expectations than the actual quality of the novel.

Firstly, while Change of Command is very definitely a sequel to Rules of Engagement, the main character is not Esmay Suiza - as the reader might expect - though her story is advanced during the course of the novel. There are a number of different storylines in the novel (some with old characters, some with new), but the main character is almost certainly Brun Meager. In fact, it is possible to argue that Change of Command makes Brun into the central character of the entire Serrano sequence.

Also, while the story advances several plotlines left open at the end of Rules of Engagement, it closes at most one of them and opens several new ones, none of which are closed at the end of the novel. In fact, each of the last five chapters leaves one or more plotlines that will need resolution in the sequel - Against the Odds, which is firmly scheduled for American publication later this year (and, presumably, British publication sometime next). Together, though, the two will almost certainly be a satisfying read even to those who have not read the rest of the sequence.

But, apart from this, the novel is well up to Elizabeth Moon's usual high standard, and readers of earlier novels will be happy to be reacquainted with their friends (and enemies) from the Familias Regnant.

Change of command should have been more complete.
Change of command was good but moved from place to place leaving you to sort out what was happening. The main character is relegated to a minor position. It was a good set up piece but possibly should have been combined with the next book as this one does not resolve any of the questions it raised.