Elizabeth Moon has changed me as a writer. She did something that I did in my half novel, only 100 times better. Plus, like Joss Whedon, she has the group thing down, where a group of people care about each other intensely. I don’t have that in my half novel. And I love that group thing, that sense of truly belonging. Also, Elizabeth Moon is a master at weaving plot together. The Vatta series is five books, and the Serrano/Suiza series is seven books. I think I’m going to cry when I finish these last two because the ride will be over, and I’ll miss the characters.

My favorite of the bunch thus far is Rules of Engagement. I find myself replaying events in my mind, like I’ve done with one other book, my favorite book of all time, Beowulf’s Children. Not as much as I did with Beowulf’s Children, but still! It was beyond engaging. As for the shock factor, the bad things people will do to each other, she wrote something here that I never even thought of. I was full of happy elation and desperate anguish when I finished the book. It was amazing, but my writing doesn't begin to compare. Yet. What she did with the Serrano/Suiza series is how I aspire to write, although not necessarily in the science fiction genre.

Still learning,

Delilah Rehm

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