author : Steve Miller

This is the first in the duology describing the origin of the Liaden universe: how the legendary figures of Cantra yos'Phelium and Jela met, and, of course, the origin of the Tree.

This is everything one would expect of a Liaden universe book: fun characters, breathless action, convoluted plots, and weird trees. I don't usually like prequels, because they are often a let down to the story one has imagined for oneself. But this doesn't suffer the typical prequel problem of being a historyless beginning: this story itself is embedded in its own deep history, with its own fascinating backstory that has been lost by later tales. This is what a prequel should be: illuminating the legendary characters, adding depth and interest, and making their legendary status well deserved. At the end the authors say they waited years before writing this to make sure they were advanced enough in their art to do the story justice: I'm glad they did -- it was well worth the wait.

This second in the duology describing the origin of the Liaden universe carries on the slam-bam action and great characterisation of the first. We see more of Cantra and Jela, and their growing relationship. We see the beginnings of the dramliz. We see more of the machinations of the Tree. And we see the signing of the contract between the Captain and the people of Liad.

This is a really great prequel. Loads of little details, like the first relationship of Korval with the dea'Gauss clan, all goes to build up the feeling that this is a real history, not a simple retcon. The thing that is most amazing to me is the plausibility of the origin of the Yxtrang name. Read the two Crystal books together, but read them after the other Liaden books, to enjoy all the revelations.

Jethri, just 17, is the youngest crew member on the family's trading ship. Liked by the rest of the crew, but inexplicably despised by his mother the Captain, he keeps his head down, and works hard. Nevertheless, his mother decides to apprentice him on another family ship, with a crew he hates. Horrified, he doesn't know what to do. But a chance good deed to a Liaden finds himself apprenticed instead into a strange family of traders. There Liaden politics, and dark family secrets, threaten both himself, and his old family.

This is a fun rites of passage story, with a young adult protagonist, unlike the more mature characters of the other, later, Liaden Universe tales. Jethri is likable: good without being prigish, vulnerable without being a wimp. The Liaden culture is as interesting as ever, and we get to learn more about it through Jethri's younger eyes. There is closure to the tale, room, but not necessity, for a sequel. I hope there is one.

At Albacon '91, on a table in the Dealers' Room, I saw three books by a pair of authors I'd not heard of before; the books appeared to be in a series. On browsing, they looked as if they might be fairly interesting, but not wanting to risk shelling out for all three, I determined which was the first (not an easy task -- I had to examine copyright dates), bought it, and started reading. Within about three chapters, I put it down, went back to the Dealers' Room, and bought the other two.

Val Con yos'Phelium is a spy dodging enemies from his last mission; Miri Robertson is an ex-mercenary and ex-bodyguard, dodging enemies of her ex-boss. They dodge right into one another, save each others lives a few times, and continue dodging bullets and enemies, whilst finding old friends in the form of Val Con's slow-talking turtle-brothers.

Grand rip-roaring space opera of the best kind -- lots of action, great aliens, lots of action, deliciously competent heroes, and (did I mention it before?) lots of action. Several coincidences drive the plot, but that's okay; there's enough characterisation, a splash of darkness, and some neat humour, to raise this well above the merely generic.

Priscilla Mendoza has been drifting since being outcast from her world: earning her living on spaceships, slowly gaining promotions, studying in any spare time to be a pilot. Then it looks like her luck has finally run out on the trade ship Daxflan: as Cargo Master, she becomes suspicious of the legality of their cargo, and is unceremoniously dumped on a backwater planet. But in reality, her luck is just beginning, for she signs on the Liaden ship Dutiful Passage, under Captain Shan yos'Galan, who has his own reasons for wanting revenge on the Daxflan.

Set in the same universe as Agent of Change, we discover more about Liaden courtesy, and Balance. No turtles this time, unfortunately, but lots of action, conflicts, cultures, empathy Healing, trading, action, polite insults, and languages.

WARNING: spoilers for Agent of Change and Conflict of Honors

At the end of Agent of Chaos, we left Van Con yos'Phelium and Miri Robertson stranded on an Interdicted world, Val Con only just freed from the tyranny of his agent's Loop implant. They must now survive on this backwater planet, Vandar, until they are discovered. And lots of people want to discover them: Shan yos'Galan must find his brother Van Con, head of his Clan Korval, otherwise he cannot life-mate to Priscilla; the sinister Liaden Department of the Interior want their Agent back, dead or alive; the crime cartel of the Juntavas just want Miri, dead. Everything and everybody is stirred up against everybody else, and by the end, Clan Korval have to employ their Plan B, just to survive.

The Clutch Turtles reappear, briefly, and are great fun. Lots of action again, and a lot more use of psi-powers. The Val Con/Miri part of the plot does have a partial resolution, but there is obviously meant to be a sequel.

WARNING: spoilers for Carpe Diem

Well, it was a long wait for a publisher to finally agree to continue with the Liaden books, but it was worth it. Fortunately, the style of cliff-hanger Miller & Lee leave at the end of their books is, "well, that's all that done -- now for the next thing that's grown out of it...", so there is enough resolution not to leave the reader feeling cheated, just panting for more. (That's just as true of Plan B as of their earlier books.)

At the end of Carpe Diem, Val Con and Miri have just escaped from the Interdicted backwater world of Vandar, sending a cryptic message to Clan Korval to meet them on Miri's home world. Everyone, friend and foe, has to work quite hard to discover that means Lytaxin -- but there's a problem: the dreaded Yxtrang have decided to invade. Poor Yxtrang...

Like Carpe Diem, Plan B has lots of plot threads running through it, as we watch various factions -- Clan Korval, Clutch Turtles, Department of Interior -- try to catch up with Val Con and Miri. But the majority of the plot revolves around that trouble-prone pair, as they help Miri's newly discovered Clan fight off an invasion, and discover surprising new allies.

I do love the way the action is portrayed. Sometimes the details of a fight are given, but sometimes just the events leading up to it and the aftermath are shown, which is very effective. Also, many of the non-central threads are shown as a few 'snapshots' of incidents. This makes for a lean, fast moving, but suitably complex plot -- so refreshing amidst so many ponderous doorstop novels with every plotline fleshed out in such excruciating detail it leaves the reader begging for less. The characters here are as engaging as ever (but I want more turtles!), and we meet many old friends in the sub-plots. Great fun. Next?

And here we have the sequel to Plan B, as Korval and the Department of the Interior launch full out war against one another. The DoI have a cunning three-pronged plan to smash Korval: to recapture and reprogram their reluctant Agent of Change, Val Con; to capture woolly-headed Anthora and strip her of her dramliz powers; to subvert the wastrel Pat Rin yos'Phelium. So. Obviously they don't stand a chance.

Exciting, breathless, non-stop action, cutting between the three major subplots, makes this another of the glorious roller-coaster rides we've come to expect of the Liaden tales. We see how all our favorite characters fare, and get the introduction of a major new character -- Pat Rin -- seen only fleetingly in previous tales. And there are turtles. Yay!

Again, all the main plot threads are neatly tied up at the end, giving a satisfying conclusion, but with just enough left dangling to allow a sequel. Don't start reading the series with this one, however -- read the others first, or you will be totally lost!

It's not Liaden, but it's still good.

Gem has been grought up a thief, after having been sold from his Ship as a young boy. Now his Ship wants him back, believing him to be the saviour Captain foretold in the Log, and has sent Corbinye to seek him out and return him. But he is not impressed, and refuses to go with her. Meanwhile, the powerful Vornet want him to steal an item for them; he refuses this commission, too. But both Cobinye and the Vornet are persistent, and soom Gem finds himself being blackmailed into the theft, and in danger of his life. And once he has stolen the artefact, life gets even more complicated.

After a slightly slow start, this has all the breathless pacing and action, complex characters, and rich background, that one expects from a Lee and Miller tale. There is a satisfying conclusion to the story, but obviously plenty of room for more tales set in this universe -- I'm looking forward to them.

Jerel Telmon seems a typical teenager, her time consumed by her engineering studies, her part time delivery job, and her friends, but she isn't. She is being raised by her uncle, because her parents were killed defeating the Oligarchy in a galaxy-spanning civil war, and now old enemies are trying to kidnap her to start the war all over again. She finds her life turned upside down, as she and her uncle go on the run, barely one step ahead of the bad guys. But she's been well trained by that uncle...

This is a new series from the Lee and Miller stable, and is a good page turner. It has a "young adult" feel, as it is narrated from the point of view of 15-year-old Jerel, who is frightened, bewildered, and finally angry at what's happening to her. There are some great alien characters, and Lee and Miller's trademark emphasis on politeness and ritual. It is also clearly the first in a series: not only does the cover say "Book One", but it doesn't end, so much as stop, on a cliffhanger, like a Saturday morning adventure show. But it's a rather longer wait than until next Saturday to get the next instalment...

A youthful indiscretion has left Rebecca Beauvelley physically maimed and socially ruined. So when Sir Jennet Hale offers for her hand, her family is delighted, mainly that they will be rid of their embarrassment. She is less so, not wanting to move to his frozen northern lands and leave her herbs and healing lore behind. When the Fey lord Altimere beguiles her, and shows her two futures, a miserable neglected one with Jennet, or a jewel-bedecked one with him, she chooses the latter. Of course, the Fey are not to be trusted, and she discovers too late that she has been ensorcelled and ensnared in his plot to overthrow the Fey Queen. Meanwhile the Wood Wise Meripen Longeye, himself sorely wounded in an encounter with the human Newmen, is also unwittingly caught up in the intrigue. Can the trees help them enough?

This is most definitely the first half only of the story, essentially getting Becca and Meripen to the core of the plotting, ready for them to do something. I hope they will do something. Although it is an interesting well-drawn world, this first half is curiously passive, as the ensorcelled Becca suffers violent degradation at the hands of Altimere's cronies, and Meripen gradually recovers from his wounds and trauma.

Actually, my main concern is for the Fey horse Rosamunde, who plays an important role for about the first half of the book, then seemingly vanishes. Oversight, or poised for subsequent revelation?

A superior anthology about the people of "Low Port", the people living on the edge of society, for whatever reason. The stories range from mostly high-tech space stations, via unspecified weirdness, to mediaevaloid fantasy, and they are uniformly good, thoughtful, and touching. Despite being about an underclass living in pretty bleak circumstances, they are pretty uniformly optimistic and life-affirming, too (and not in a gooey, sentimental way, either).

Contents (possible spoilers)

• Eric Witchey. Voyeur. 2002

• John Teehan. Digger Don't Take No Requests. 2002

• Holly Phillips. The Gate Between Hope and Glory. 2002

• eluki bes shahar. Riis Run. 2002

• Lawrence M. Schoen. Bidding the Walrus. 2002

• Laura J. Underwood. The Gift. 2002

• L. E. Modesitt Jr. The Dock to Heaven. 2002

• Ru Emerson. Find a Pin. 2002

• Alan Smale. Sailing to the Temple. 2002

• Mark W. Tiedemann. The Pilgrim Trade. 2002

• Patrice Sarath. More to Glory. 2002

• Sharon Lee. Gonna Boogie with Granny Time. 2002

• Chris Szego. Angel's Kitchen. 2002

• Edward McKeown. Lair of the Lesbian Love Goddess. 2002

• Nathan Archer. Contraband. 2002

• Lee Martindale. Spinacre's War. 2002

• Jody Lynn Nye. Bottom of the Food Chain. 2002

• Joe Murphy. Zappa for Bardog. 2002

• Paul E. Martens. The Times She Went Away. 2002

• Douglas Smith. Scream Angel. 2002