[Lady Fox]

Anybody else read these books? The authors are Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. They are a space opera with action taking place across many different planets and locations. There are some pretty cool aliens as well - Giant turtles who can "sing" knives out of stone and heal people with a single note. I just recently finished the latest book in the series, titled I Dare. I really enjoyed it and I'm hoping for more about Clan Korval.

[Keyoke]

I've never read it, but, from what you said, sounds like something I would love.

I'm at Amazon right now (Or later for you http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif) and it seems that are alot of books in the series..

Quoted from Amazon:
Partners in Necessity, an omnibus of the first three novels, another omnibus containing two prequels, and the fifth book, I Dare. But feel free to start here: Plan B stands alone, though previous books provide rich back-story.

[Lady Fox]

I love this series. It's really good space opera, IMO. If you are really interested in them, here's how I think they should be read:

Pilot's Choice - this is the omnibus edition of the two prequels. It was actually written after the orginal trilogy, but I think it would okay to start here. I read it after reading Partners in Necessity, but I wish I had read it first.

Partners in Necessity - this is the omnibus reprint of the original trilogy that was first released back in the mid/late '80s.

Plan B - sequel to PiN.

I Dare - sequel to Plan B.

[Keyoke]

I looked at them at Amazon, and from what you've said, and the reviews their I am very interested in ordering the series..

It's just that I have sooooooooo much to read.. But, these dont seem easily found either. So, I am in conflict. http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif

Can you give me more incentives to buy it? http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/wink.gif

Keyoke

[Lady Fox]

Hmmm, more incentive. Well, I'll give it a try. The original trilogy, as I stated before, was written quite a few years ago and then it went out of print. However, the Liaden Universe had quite a few fans who wanted MORE! One of these fans was Anne McCaffrey, and from the intro that she wrote for Pilot's Choice it looks like she basically hounded the authors to give it another try. They had stopped writing because they said they just couldn't make a living at it. Meisha Merlin publishers picked up their contract and we are now blessed with more Liaden adventures.
Liadens are like a sub-species of human who broke away and evolved when humans first started coloinizing space. They are highly intelligent (on the average), very skilled at business and commerce, have a complex social and government structure, and some have mental and healing powers. Wizards are know as Dramliza, and they can do any number of cool things depending on their strength. Liadens operate on the tenents of "Balance" and "Melan'ti". Balance is what is owed when someone does you a favor or directs an insult toward you. Melant'i is who you are in relation to everyone else and the responsibility therein, kind of like a vassal to a lord and vice versa, though not as fuedal as that. Clan Korval exists both within and outside of normal Liaden society because of their unique role as "protector of the Tree", a huge somewhat sentient tree that was part of the founding of their Clan when they crashed on Liad. The members of Clan Korval know how to find trouble, or maybe trouble finds them. It doesn't help matters that some of them aren't pure Liaden but are half human.

[Hope for Humour]

I love this series, the characters are all very engaging.

The Liadens, Terrans and Xtrang (sp) are all human. It's all race relations as opposed to cross species. The subtypes can all interbreed with no problems (other than what their Parents would say!).

[Lady Fox]

Actually, they are sub-species, as in from the same genetic base but diverged enough to be considered not completely alike. So technically, the Liaden at least are not completely "human" as we consider the species. I'm not sure about the Xtrang, but the Liaden have definitely diverged from the human norm. It's more that just different "races" as we regard the term. Small spoiler follows ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
spoiler space-----------------------------------------------------------------------------This was part of Anne's research and one of the reasons she was murdered. She had discovered the linguistic similarities between the sub-species and had uncovered some old manuscripts that supported the common origin for all three peoples before the diaspora.

[Hope for Humour]

Yes I know, therefore they are all human.

[Lady Fox]

You are missing the point. They have diverged enough to consider themselves different. So therefore, they may be all Homo sapiens, but the term "human" means something entirely different when taken in context. It's more than just a racial difference, it goes to the genetic level, especially with the Liadens. They have bred true for some characteristics that are outside of the normal human genome.

[cgw]

Who knows the actual order of Liaden books?
I bought Conflict of Honors because I could not remember Partners in Necessity. I thought I had screwed up but now I think it is the first of the three in Partners. Is that correct?