I’m generally a stickler for being on time. I hate the anxiety associated with not being timely.
It’s with great pleasure, however, that I find that however late to the party, I found a great reading escape this summer, to the Liaden Universe.
Science Fiction has been one of my reading passions since I first discovered Isaac Asimov, Robert Silverberg and Ray Bradbury in grade school. I generally enjoy “hard sci fi” and military sci fi the best, though the space opera that is the Liaden Universe has been a delight.
Sharon Lee and Steve Miller are the authors, and they struggled mightily to bring this work to their readers beginning in 1998. They found a way for readers to fund them with online subscriptions, chapter by chapter, until they found a publisher that would help them produce the series.
The books trace Clan Korval, seemingly, from this universe to the next over the course of several generations. From a telepathic vegetable to the coming of age story that is at the center of the last 3 books, I found the ideas fresh and the emotions pure. Loved the long-lived clutch turtles with names as long as their years!
These books are true to the space opera genre: the thoughts and emotions of the characters generally take center stage; the action and technology are secondary to the people.
The work itself has been published in several overlapping, confusing formats, which made figuring it out a bit of a problem. As is often the case, Wikipedia was a big help in identifying which edition was which.
Side note: I’ve resolved to never use the resources on Amazon.com to figure out the order of an author’s work again. Amazon does not seem to understand that reading book 3 before book 4 is the best way to read a series. Amazon just doesn’t understand that their customers often need help discerning which book is which.
Here, then, are the books as available from Baen Books, which are conveniently available for reading in electronic form:
- The Dragon Variation: contains Local Custom, Scout’s Progress, and Conflict of Honors
- Mouse & Dragon
- The Crystal Variation: contains Crystal Soldier, Crystal Dragon, and Balance of Trade
- The Agent Gambit: contains Agent of Change and Carpe Diem
- Korval’s Game: contains Plan B and I Dare
- Fledgling
- Saltation
- Ghost Ship
Note that Baen Books does not make their books available electronically through Amazon.com; you’ll have to purchase direct from Baen and upload to your Kindle. It’s very simple to do so with the directions on the Baen site. If you’re looking for traditional books printed on traditional paper, that’s also possible!
