Against The Odds (Serrano Legacy) Hardcover – December 1, 2000
by Elizabeth Moon 
Book 7 of 7: The Serrano Legacy
 
IMPLOSION!

The worst has happened: Fleet is tearing Itself apart. Some of the mutineers see injustice in the unequal spread of the rejuvenation drugs that offer virtual immortality to the rich; others are simply thirsty for power, or for blood. The Loyalists, meanwhile, fight desperately to preserve the rule of law In Familias Regnant space.

But when Esmay Suiza-Serrano Is unceremoniously booted out of Fleet, the apparent victim of Family politics, she has no Idea of the whirlwind of conflict Into which she is about to be drawn. As the noose tightens on galactic civilization, great battles will be fought and greater loves affirmed ... and old friends will meet their destinies.
 
From Publishers Weekly
Members of the Familias Regnant's interstellar military service, Fleet, have mutinied, jeopardizing the fragile peace the Familias holds with its hulking neighbor state, the Benignity, in Moon's entertaining sequel to Change of Command. The Familias Regnant is a centuries-old, mafia-type political consortium built around families, territories, loyalty and protection, governing a vast collection of solar systems for the purpose of protecting trade. Returning hero Lt. Esmay Suiza is suddenly discharged from Fleet after her elopement with another officer and revelations about her religious status. Suiza hitches a ride with a cargo ship to reach Castle Rock, it is the seat of the Familias' governing body, the Grand Council, and the residence of an aristocratic council member Suiza had previously rescued. That council member is Brun Meager, who is consolidating her own power within the council amid heated debates over the effects the near-immortality of the "rejuvenated" rich will have on opportunities for the young. Fans of Moon's series (Once a Hero, etc.) will find the number of returning characters and plot threads satisfyingly complex; however, newcomers will likely be bewildered. Moon's description of a deeply layered political and military culture provides an engaging touchstone for the far-flung skirmishes taking place therein. Absent, however, is a similar attention to contextual details such as scenery, geography and dates. Still, SF readers will delight in the twisting, thorny adventure in the compelling continuation to this popular series.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Moon wraps up the Familias Regnant saga with a triumphant coda in which Esmay Suiza and Barin Serrano figure vitally in defeating a mutiny of the late Admiral Livadhhi's Nazilike supporters. Her role is that of ship captain, and his that of a jack-of-all-problems. Every other character in the saga also has a turn at bat, which occasionally makes the book more than a trifle confusing, at least to saga newcomers. Faithful followers, however, will find their favorite characters all there: Brun Meagher, turning into statesman after her mother dies while covering an escape from the mutineers; Lady Cecelia, riding high disguised as a "special operations admiral"; Heris Serrano, losing her lover in the mutineers' last stand, and so on. The epilogue will make strong military-sf lovers cry and leave them feeling that Moon could now rest on her laurels, though it would be a great loss to good reading if she did. Roland Green
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3.5