The Truth of Valor

by Tanya Huff

Reviewed by Ruby

After escaping the prison planet last book, Torin Kerr has since given up on the military life. She has now moved to the Promise with her lover Craig Ryder to eke out an existence as a Civilian Salvage Operator. It is a very different life style for Torin, who has always belonged somewhere, had something to believe in and someone to fight. The overall attitude of the independent salvage operators is ‘it’s not my problem’. Torin has a hard time dealing with their lifestyle and it becomes impossible when Craig is kidnapped by pirates.

Captain Cho has got the score of a lifetime when he steals an armoury from some salvage operators. Unfortunately they’ve locked it up tight with their own seal on top of the military one. For him to open it and not fry the entire armoury he needs a salvage operator. So he goes to get one…he just picks the one who happens to be involved with a former gunnery sergeant. Because when Torin can’t get the rest of the salvagers to ride to Craig’s rescue she calls in some former military buddies of hers to help her hunt pirates.

After the little bump that was book four, this one picks up the pace again. It was very enjoyable and I hardly put it down. Thankfully there weren’t that many new characters and I was able to keep everyone straight. Most of them were well written but there was one or two that fell a little bit flat. I also find it annoying when there are really interesting characters and their back story isn’t explored at all. And I mean not at all. I would have loved to know what made Doc go nuts. I know it wasn’t integral to the story but it still would have been nice to know.

I did find the plot a little forced though. I don’t really see why the pirate needed a salvage operator. It wasn’t as if they all used the same code or something.

But all in all I loved this book.

Grade: B