Serrano Legacy Books In Order

Publication Order of Serrano Legacy Books

The Serrano Legacy series is a series of sci-fi and space opera novels written by the well known American fantasy and science fiction author, Elizabeth Moon. It is comprised of a total of 7 books published between the years 1993 and 2000. The series is also popularly known as the ‘Familias Regnant’ series. Author Elizabeth Moon began working on the series in the year 1993 when she published the first novel of the series titled as Hunting Party. She concluded the series in the year 2000 with the seventh novel after experiencing a stream of success with the publication of each of the novels of the series. All the novels of the series feature Familias Regnant which is the popular name of the government of a particular area of the galaxy located in a distant future. In the initial novels of the series, author Elizabeth Moon has described that the government is controlled by a monarchy. As the plots of the novels of the series progress, it is depicted that the King of the galaxy gets abdicated because of the Colonial Scandal. Due to this, the council, which is equivalent to the House of Lords in the U.K., was forced to elect and appoint an official for governing the area of the galaxy. Author Elizabeth has described the council to be made of members from the Ruling Families.

The families are depicted as having a number of business interests all over the known space of the galaxy. They are so much influenced by their particular interests that their political decisions are closely backed by their business requirements. The members of the council who are not from the Ruling Families have a very little or no control at all over the everyday functioning of the government or the choice of the leaders to run the government activities. It can be very well seen in the later parts of the series that the Ruling Families were essentially a business arrangement in the beginning, but took the form of the government of the known space as their business relationships kept growing and merging. The government of the Ruling Families functions according to a well-maintained set of bylaws which is formed by themselves. Their government does not have any form of constitution or any other type of framework for their working. They also have their own military forces that help them to protect from the enemies as well as allow the smooth functioning of the government.

For the ease of operations, the Military Forces of the Ruling Families are divided into 2 major forces, the Regular Space Service and the Royal Aeronautical Space Service. The first group of forces is better known as ‘Regs’ and form the professional section of the Military Forces of the Familias Regnant. They primarily contain space vessels and have very experienced set of crew members. The Regs also consist of combat elements of fighting against other planets. They are even responsible for enforcing the law and order in the space of the Ruling Families. Some of the notable members of the Regular Space Service include Commander Heris Serrano, Admiral Arash Livadhi, Ensign Barin Serrano, Lieutenant Esmay Suiza, and Admiral Vida Serrano. The second group of Military Forces of the Familias Regnant is mainly a non-professional force. The officers of this group are taken from the families who hold chairs in the government. They are known to be unprofessional and arrogant, and exist only with the intention of living a life full of luxuries. They are called as Royal Ass by the crew of the Regs.

The first novel of the Serrano Legacy series was published under the title ‘Hunting Party’. It was published by the Baen Books publishing house in the year 1993. The plot of this novel introduces the known space of the Ruling Families and their government, Familias Regnant in the galaxy of the distant future. It revolves around the lives of the main characters Heris Serrano, Lady Cecelia, Lord Thornbuckle, and Ronnie. In the opening sequence of the plot of the novel, Heris Serrano is introduced as a former commander in the Military Forces division of the Familias Regnant, the regular Space Service. After her resignation from her post as a commander, she is required to take up whatever job that comes first to her as she does not have much choice. She gets the job as the captain of a space yacht of a rich and old lady named Lady Cecelia, who is actually a horsewoman. The old woman does not like the military forces very much. Even the spoiled nephew of the rich old woman, Ronnie and his friends seem to be foisted on Heris Serrano after Ronnie’s folly had embarrassed the ruling family. The only interest of Lady Cecelia seems to be with horses. She even has the intention of going for fox hunting on a pleasure planet of one of her friends named Lord Thornbuckle. But, the events that follow take the form of a conspiracy to make it look like more than just a fox hunting activity.

The second novel of the Serrano Legacy series was published in the year 1994 by the Little Brown & Company publishing house. It was titled ‘Sporting Chance’. The plot of this novel is set in a distant galaxy just like the first novel of the series and continues to feature the main characters of Heris Serrano and Lady Cecelia. In the opening sequence of the plot of this novel, the author Elizabeth Moon has described the relationship of Lady Cecelia with mysteries as that of a fox with a pack of foxhounds. She has also shown how Lady Cecelia’s interference causes her disaster. But Captain Heris Serrano is a dedicated employee and will not let her employer suffer at any cost. She is also very close to her because the two have now become very good friends. Heris Serrano thinks of plotting a rescue with the help of Lady Cecelia’s nephew, Ronnie and his spoiled friends, along with the adventurous daughter of Lord Thornbuckle. Meanwhile, she also tries to bring back her own life on track and redevelop her relationship with her former crew members. In the middle of all this, Lady Cecelia and Captain Heris Serrano go on to bring the government down.