Valor at Vauzlee

A Galaxy Unknown #2

by Thomas DePrima

A captured Raider officer, eager to secure his freedom, informs Space Command Intelligence of a planned attack on a convoy by a massive Raider armada. An effective spotter network and intelligence system usually allows the pirates to avoid SC warships, so for the first time in Galactic Alliance history, a task force of Space Command warships might have an opportunity to engage a fleet of pirate ships in mortal combat.

The Space Command Admiral at Higgins SCB pulls out all stops to surreptitiously assemble a force of ten ships, the most that can be secretly diverted, to face off against the Raider ambushers. One of those ships happens to be the Prometheus. Jenetta Carver, the newest Lt. Commander in Space Command, on her way to Earth for a medal ceremony for acts of outstanding valor, finds herself again caught up in a life or death situation. The Prometheus arrives at the rendezvous point, a month from Higgins SC Base, to await the arrival of the other ships, and a call for help from the convoy.

Only two other ships have reached the RP when the convoy is attacked. Captain Gavin of the Prometheus, in his capacity as task force commander, decides that they can’t wait for the others, so the three SC warships race off to face a Raider warship force they expect will number forty plus.

107,000 Words - 334 Pages

Genres: Science Fiction, Space Opera, Military Fiction, Space, Military Science Fiction, Adventure, Ebooks

344 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 5, 2010

Reviews

[Pablo Martinez · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, after a not much interesting start, I'm finishing with the second book of the series. I wont read another.

It follows the exploits of Lt. Mary Sue (Carver). A BORING INVINCIBLE HERO, CURSED WITH AWESOMENESS.

In this universe, SPACE IS AN OCEAN and the protagonist is in the SPACE NAVY.

Since almost everybody else (enemies and goodguys) are holding IDIOT BALLS, she's the only one who comes up with tactics that make a little sense.

A little sense if you consider that space is two-dimensional, like the author seems to do. If you consider the distances and speeds that the author describes, then they make no sense at all.

For example, deploying 7 ships set about 10km apart to cover an area in front of a target they have to protect.
Since they set them about 50.000km distance, thats a sphere of about 31.5 BILLION square km... Of course. The enemy attacks ONLY from that direction.

Well, don't worry about the protagonist. Everything she touches turns to gold and she is unkillable.

What I say is...if you want to do Hornblower....IN SPACE! be sure you know how to adapt Age of Piracy battles to a sci-fi setting.

[Cloak88 · Rating 3 out of 5]

More B-movie sci-fy fun.

Having been dealt a severe blow the raiders try to recoup their losses by plundering a secret convoy of archaeological ships. Unlikely for them Janetta Carver and Space Command are ready to jump in an ruin their plans. This novel follows in the same vain as the previous novel. More uncomplicated sci-fy space opera with hints of Harrington and Vatta's war.

If you enjoyed the lighter elements from previous novel you'll enjoy this one as well.
(This time no dark prison-like scenes)

[Robert Aries · Rating 4 out of 5]

Space opera at its finest.

While I enjoy all the machinations, I find DePrima is way too wordy. Instead of saying 'Count your chickens before they hatch', he's more like 'Enumerate your poultry prior to successful termination of the process of incubation'.

[Coyora Dokusho · Rating 3 out of 5]

ahahahaha... so this author uses this word: solecism, and I look it up with my trusty dictionary.com and it means:
1. a nonstandard or ungrammatical usage, as unflammable and they was.

and his writing's full of 'em... solecisms XD

*please* just kill all the big words and let me read about my Mary Sue in peace????

Also, I have discovered Insta-friend! like Insta!love, but more friendly with less kissing...

"otiose" all these random big words are "otiose" or redundant, worthless, pointless - IN LESS OBSCURE BIG WORDS... PUT YOUR THESAURUS AWAY... PUT IT AWAY!!!

why on earth would you use prospicience instead of prescience... why?!?

mantic instead of prophetic...

pernicious projectile >.<

he used solecism again XD

'tis naught but a flesh wound...

I still like it, I'mma read the rest of the books... but I have to wake up IN THREE HOURS...

[kenneth h jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Valor at valuzlee was action packed

Valor at valuzlee was action packed

this book was more than I expected after reading the first book of that series I think I shall keep on reading them as long as they keep coming. you will enjoy it or any of the series I'm sure.

[Jean-luc · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good follow up to the first book in the series. Similarities with the Honor Harrington series are again present but it doesn't detract from the reading. Jen Carver is certainly an interesting character.

[Nataša · Rating 5 out of 5]

So far I've only read two books of this series and am now in process of reading the third, but I am very satisfied with it. If you've read Weber's Honorverse and Moon's Familias/Herris Serrano/Esmay Suiza series and liked it you should read this series too... The main character Jen reminds me a lot of Honor Harrington and Esmay Suiza. I could without problem put it in the rank with Family D'Alambert series or Vatta's War... It is definitely a space opera- about 95% of book's content is in space. It's also definitely a military oriented book, virtually 100% of series so far is military oriented, which also makes it military fiction... There are holes, like universe itself not being clearly and completely defined, with holes in descriptions, and explanations (physics not having logic... FTL and sub-light movement are not clearly/fully defined/described/rounded communication as well, and torpedoes especially, and comparison of the scope of duties and responsibilities of space command, and it's size and actual functioning are in complete clash... the fleet academy is actually very stupid and ridiculous, and the tactical bord- retarded...)... The military and political structure is not fully developed or defined, Galactic Aliance not fully defined and/or explained, there is mentions of alien races being part of GA, but none of those races are fully described or explained, nor are there mention of any of them in either Space Comand or GA, so the situation is not very clear, since the only ones that so far appear are humans and Nordakians... But beside all that it is still (so far) one good series, well worth reading. It's attention holder, you can't put it down, characters are well developed, plot has depth, it has its own tension moments and comedy moments, the only major flaw is that it lacks romance. I am not a big fan of romance books but just like with Honor and Esmay I like seeing main character having life outside job and duty, finding love, and forming family, developing it slowly through the books (who knows maybe I'll be surprised as I continue reading series, and Jen might actually find love and make family...). There are also pirates-Raiders (the arch enemy) the only problem I have with them is that it doesn't seem real- functioning somewhat like a nation, military and corporation- all rolled in one, numbering in millions, and having limitless funds at its disposal, sometimes it looks to me like they are richer than GA... But then- having Jen kicking their asses again and again and again is fun reading😀

Amendment: I've now read a 5th book of series and I must say that most of the things I complained about, have been either described, defined, explained or expounded upon... I still think that their official battle tactics are demented, and that their academy is ridiculous, but hey, everyone has to hate something about the book...
The way things are being slowly revealed and explained, reminds me of Jordan's Wheel of Time, while you read the first 3 of his books you are very confused, you only get the immediate happenings, and bigger picture escapes you completely, you only get the beginning of the bigger picture in the last chapter of the third book, and really only start to get it in 4th book, and as you get further and further into the series, you get more and more complexity and details of the bigger picture... This series reminds me of that... As you get further and further into series, you understand more and more, in the first books only the immediate happenings are important, because the main character is very junior in rank, but than her rank grows and with it her seniority grows, and more complexity becomes necessary...
One fun fact- the division of medical rank and engineering rank, and officer of the line rank, and science officer rank...-it reminded me a lot of the Star Trek rank division- I've only read some 115 (or was it 116) books of the Star Trek series, but that's one similarity with that series that I noticed...
Another thing that I noticed, and I wonder who wrote the story first, and who read it and stole the idea- Thomas DePrima or David Weber? (And being huge Weber fan, especially honorverse fan, I know who I am huting for as the original...)... Anyway adding the trader Vix, is like adding the Anton Zilwicki, Nordakians have the same role as Greyson has in Honorverse, minor nation, that grows to be a major ally... Jen gets title from Nordakians (like Honor from Graysons), and citizenship... They are very feudal (like Grayson), she is promoted in their military ranks outside of her official rank in GA (like Honor), eventually put to command some or all of their fleet (like Honor)...

Good series, worth reading...

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

After their defeat by Ensign Jenetta Carver, the woman they genetically enhanced to be a sex slave, the raiders plan another major attack. They should know better by now, but they don’t.
Jenetta would give Honor Harrington a run for her money.

If you liked A Galaxy Unknown, this one will scratch the same itch.

[Vera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another breathtaking adventure for Janetta Alicia Carver!

This second book in the "A Galaxy Unknown " follows Jen as she is acting XO on her dream ship. The Raiders are busy and Lt. Commander Carver is in the thick of things. Now on to book 3, The Clones of Mawcett

[Bernard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again into the breach! The raiders are back and causing no end of problems. Jen is there and ready to take care of business. In this book, the character transistions from ensign thinking to command thinking.

Great read.

[Aeris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this one was even better than the first book!
The battle scenes - incredible! I just couldn't put the book down and read it all durring one night (yes whole night!)
Highly recommend!

[Rich · Rating 3 out of 5]

Valor at Vauzlee, the second in the series chronicling the adventures of military space officer Jenetta Carver, can most easily be summarized as more of the same. This is a good thing and a bad thing. The good thing is that I know I'm going to get plenty of spaceship fighting and hopefully some hand-to-hand action too where Jenetta gets to show off her martial arts chops. The bad thing is that she's pretty much the second coming. The girl can do no wrong--whether providing morale to a badly beaten crew, planning a strategy that runs contrary to the combined minds of the entire War College or getting every person she meets to believe she walks on water. I would have liked to have seen some missteps here and there to show she's human. A few things that really bugged me were:

The bad guys are stereotypes or stereotypes, when one bad guy has the drop on her he starts to monolog like a James Bond villain. It was almost comical.

After a space battle, she goes aboard a ship to help with the emergency repairs, and wastes valuable minutes listening to another officer gush to her about what a big fan she is of her. People are dying, the ship is on fire, but there's always time for hero worship. The hero worship thing popped up in a few other places too. I understand that the author is trying to illustrate how much hope she's given to a fleet that's been getting run ragged for years and years, but I think it can be backed down a notch.

In to different chapters the author wastes time commenting on how she's changed from wearing uniform slacks to the uniform skirt (who the hell cares!).

The obvious comparison for these books would be with the Honor Harrington books. This will likely come across as heresy to some, but I'll take the Carver books over the Harrington books any day of the week. The Harrington books are filled with chapter upon chapter of needless typing, often comparing the specific weight of missiles that one ship can throw against another, the qualities of their respective armors or computer defense systems, blah, blah, blah. Then there's Webber's ubiquitous and mind-numbing political behind the scenes nonsense where the liberal factions in the government make decisions that cause problems for our heroine to overcome. Don't even get me started on that damned tree-cat. The Carver books are the stripped down version, straight and to the point. Neither series is going to win any fine writing awards, but at least with the Carver books I can get right to the action without having to read 400 pages of backstory.

[Doc Johnny · Rating 3 out of 5]

I suppose it says something when I didn't hesitate to buy this as soon as it came out. I do wonder if the part of me that enjoys this book is the same part that enjoys beating grandma at Tekken or soloing the Deadmines at level 80. This is not your normal novel where the hero overcomes adversity to triumph at the end. This is a story where the main enjoyment is in seeing exactly how the hero will stomp the bad guys. The outcome is never in doubt.

It is a direct continuation of the first book. Our heroine (the supermodel-beautiful, immortal kungfu-master/tactician/strategist who heals like wolverine and feels pain as pleasure) is placed in situations in which she saves the day. Ancillary characters perform as expected to allow her to showcase her variety of skills. Her opponents are suitably evil and competent just enough to present the facade of a challenge. Her supporters show the requisite adulation, heaping praise upon her that she richly deserves. In due time, she even earns the grudging respect of the token holdout character.

The battle scenes are action-packed and fun to read. The pace is brisk and doesn't flag. The lack of any real dramatic tension is irksome, but I suppose this novel is more akin to a videogame than a traditional novel. It is probably difficult to generate dramatic tension when your protagonist is superman without the vulnerability to kryptonite. Mr DePrima has shown he can write pulp like a champion. I look forward to seeing what he can do once he gets a publisher and an editor.

An experienced editor could have added a lot. In my opinion, these books could have been a lot better without the unnecessary embellishments. Does the protagonists' immortality really add anything? Was her regeneration really necessary to the story? Did she really need to be transformed into a supermodel? Was the whole S&M thing really necessary to the story or her character development? If all this junk hadn't happened, the entire arc would have been a lot more plausible. The entire "genetically modified to be an S&M slave in a process that is somehow lost so that no one else will ever have it" thing just struck me as a bit of literary masturbation rather than real storytelling. Keep in mind all these events were from the first book and properly aren't objections to this book.

[Gallandro_83 · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 out of 5

This book starts right where the last book begins and unfortunatly it seems as if the author just continued writing and didn't try to do anything differently.

Once again our heroine is always in the right place at the right time to be the "big hero". She always does the right thing and never has any problems because she is now a "sex goddess" and doesn't seem to mind that her new mental conditioning is changing her values and femininity.

I am especially impressed that after being out of the loop for 11 years that she can still hack upgraded military software with no hassle and that nothing has changed to make her one of the "best". Overall it just seems odd that the "girl next door" that the author tries to model her behavior after can always seem to pull the rabbit out of the hat to save the day.

I also don't see how the raider organization if it is so massive hasn't yet met Space Command in any sort of battle or skirmish beforehand. I doubt that the government couldn't track the massive amounts of foodstuffs/materials that the raiders would need. How is it that the scope and scale of the organization wasn't guessed out and intelligence services hasn't found any indications as to their bases locations. They must need massive amounts of supplies are you telling me that they couldn't track one of probably hundreds of thousands of ships that went to the bases. And the thousands or millions of slaves they have the families and governments haven't made a effort to recover or retaliate against that behavior.

The more I read the more the "Raiders" seem to be beyond belief their is no way that the GA could be oblivious to a complete space empire that they elude to having control over.

I keep hoping that the story becomes more than adolescent wish fulfillment but will need to keep reading in order to find out, at least its fairly cheap.

gallndro

[Jorge Desormeaux · Rating 2 out of 5]

In the previous novel, Ensign Jenetta Carver wakes from an 11 year stasis nap to a world that has drastically changed. Her incredible space brain allows her to defeat the Raiders who attack her vessel and to devastate a gigantic asteroid base and its docked fleet, earning her respect and admiration from the general public and an unprecedented promotion. The downside? She was subjected to a DNA procedure that will make her "look like a goddess" and live for about 5,000 years, during which she will forever look 21 years old. Some people have the worst luck!

But that's only the start to Ensign Lieutenant Commander Carver's career. In this book she single-handedly devises plans to trounce the Raider organization once more, against the advice of Space Command's War College (which seems to be staffed entirely by trained monkeys), earning the starry-eyed admiration of virtually the entire command structure, from petty officers to the admiralship. But, let us be honest: given her talent and achievements, who could not love her? As the book points out, her sole flaw is that she might be just a little too modest. And since everyone who disagrees with Jenetta Carver's plans or assessments is proven wrong in short order, it would be rather silly of the Admirals not to follow her advice.

Jenetta Carver is brilliant, intuitive, charismatic, conscientious and drop-dead gorgeous; she's a capable martial artist with Wolverine's healing factor ability, destined to live for millenia, who hates senseless violence. She may well be the second coming of Jesus Christ (or the first coming of the messiah proper, following the Jewish tradition). The Galactic Alliance is fortunate indeed to have her.

No seriously, this is just comically bad.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Valor At Vauzlee

I strongly recommend you read the previous book in the series (A Galaxy Unknown) prior to reading this book.

What an outstanding second installment; I literally couldn't put this book down! It was exciting from start to finish and left me salivating for more!

As with the previous installment, the only negative aspect of this book is sometimes the author would drone on just a bit too long on the technical aspect of the story. After I finished this book, I felt like I lost my best friend. I already miss the characters, the excitement and adventure.

To those fellow dark urban fantasy readers, looking for a good SF but don't want to end up with space romance; I highly recommend this book to you, as the style of writing is similar to an urban fantasy read. I eagerly and impatiently await the next book The Clones of Mawcett .

I also recommend:
Song of Scarabaeus
Bitter Night: A Horngate Witches Book
Red-Headed Stepchild (Sabina Kane)
On the Edge (The Edge, Book 1)
Black Magic Sanction (Rachel Morgan, Book 8)

[Steven · Rating 2 out of 5]

Valor at Vauzlee is the second in a series that is a space western/opera. I enjoyed it though not as much as the first. That is certainly expected. The story focuses much more on tactics and maneuvering. It is nowhere near as personal as the first. That is sad because what made the first fun is the personal development that takes place.

Now I know that Thomas Di Prima wrote quite a few more in this series, so it has to have recovered from this severe drop off. Or perhaps not. I’m not sure if I will try to read more, as they aren’t available on nook. If that changes, I’ll probably try the third.

While I enjoyed it, I did not enjoy it enough to recommend it. I would give it 2.5 stars if half stars were available. But everyone knows you can’t split a star in half; you just get a smaller star.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Small girl saves the galaxy again; home in time for tea and medals.

A very easy read - I ripped through it easily inside of a weekend. Ensign Jen Carver, now promoted to Lt Commander is posted as 2nd Officer back aboard the Prometheus. While enroute for Earth, the ship is diverted to intercept a fleet of raiders...

My only criticisms really are that a bunch of (sometimes quite lengthy) descriptions get repeated from the first book, pretty much verbatim. Fine, you need to bring new readers up to speed, but at least try to find a new or different way to say it.. Also, once again we're inflicted with thesaurusitis.

[Ted King · Rating 5 out of 5]

I greatly enjoy books with a strong female character and Thomas has certainly created such in Jenetta Carver. As one might suspect from the title is is sci-fi, but in the believable category. Jenetta is definitely not a copycat version of David Weber's Honor Harrington although they share some characteristics. I highly recommend the Jenetta series (7 so far) for good entertaining reading. In this second book Jenetta further develops the characteristics that I enjoy: a strong, thinking heroine.

[Neal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this book is better written than the first, it still has its problems. First, why is everyone described by their height and hair color? Not only that but the description never has anything remotely to do with the context of the scene or even the thought being presented. If the writer was so concerned with height and hair color he should have put forth more effort to integrate those attributes into the thought processes of the protagonist.

Second, I'm having more Honor Harrington flashbacks.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading the first novel in the series, I was looking forward to seeing what the author would offer up in the next. It was more of the same - an enjoyable read, nothing extraordinary in the science or approach but again, not a bad job for a brand new author! It was entertaining and I finished the ebook on a positive note. The characters were engaging and the story hung together. Good for a light, fast read.

[Gab · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Sci-Fi epic. There are a few bits where the author gets a bit bogged down with detailed explanations when I just wanted to get on with the story [it's the author's fault for making the main storyline so exciting] but I just browsed/skipped these parts - the story/adventure is worth it.

Really enjoying this series.

[Jonathan Lupa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nom nom nom, more spacepulp hornblower.

DePrima continues to be very clumsy with some of his writing, mainly when he tries to explain things from prior novels, or work in explanations as dialog. I was hoping he would be better in book 2, but no such luck. Plenty more to get through though, so off I go...

[Plizotte · Rating 2 out of 5]

Second and last book I am reading in the series. If I have to read one more time about how wonderful Carver is I will go nuts. Skimmed the last 25% so I could avoid the repetitions of that and unnecessary repeats of the description of the battles (so we could hear how wonderfully Carver planned the action). And if you insist on using the big words, make sure you use them correctly.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another excellent book in the series. Straight forward story without over complicated plot twists and turns. Sometimes that can be quite refreshing. You know that Carver always going to come out on top, you just like to sit back, enjoy the ride and see just how she does it and how mad Admiral Hubera is after he hears about it.

Looking forward to the next installment

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great second book for a series, not that much time has pasted for you see the next step right after the end of her last adventure. You see Jen's growth in terms of the military aspect of her life and taking command of others in tough situations. Overall Space battles and assassins...whats not to love.

[The Pirate Ghost (Formerly known as the Curmudgeon) · Rating 4 out of 5]

See my review of "Galaxy Uknown." More of the same, just higher rank. I would say that I do like a thinking Hero(ine) and Janetta Carver is certanly more of a thinker than anything.

Things do blow up and get shot at so, there has to be some "good" qualities here.

[Rod · Rating 4 out of 5]

Number 2 (in the series, not a descriptive adjective!), the story line continues with our heroine turning out to be rather a good military strategist. She could become the female Jack Reacher of the Galactic Alliance.

[Marnee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh, not so creative space opera. Very predictable. I do think this one is a must read if you continue the series because everything that happens to Jenetta here continues to effect her throughout the next 4-5 books. Plough through it and then skip straight to 4.

[Scott Wozniak · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun story sloppily written. The grammar isn't what's sloppy. It's the overuse of obscure words, the pages and pages of dry exposition, and characters who baldly share their thoughts and motivations in every day conversations. But, as with the first, the main character is likeable.