Tag Archives: Bova Yenkoa

Dragon Ship – Chapter 14

Tradedesk

In which Theo explores the shopping district and her options.

That’s two different ways the authors have signalled the correct pronunciation of “Bechimo” this book, when most of the names in this series are lucky to be accorded one. I remember thinking when I got this far the first time that the authors must have fielded a lot of queries about it, or had to put up with a lot of mispronunciations, to expend so much effort on making it clear. Or maybe only the first time was for the benefit of the readers, and this time is an acknowledgement that if people who are unfamiliar with the name are liable to get it wrong in the real world the same is true of characters in the story.

I’m going to make note of the bit about the Department being able to implant a hidden course of action into a person’s mind, in case it comes up again later. Well, it has at least once, I guess, if that’s what Agent bar’Obin used to reel in Rys in the written-later Necessity’s Child. And, of course, we might already have seen it in action without knowing it. Though I figure they didn’t use it on the guy they sent to assassinate Miri at the party, or he wouldn’t have been deflected by his personal qualms.

The sections of the story told from Theo’s point of view are increasingly including explicit references to Theo’s temper and the effects it has on others, which indicates an increased amount of self-awareness on her part.

Another interesting moment reflecting Theo’s personal evolution is when, without apparently thinking anything of it, she uses the phrase “back home” to refer to returning to Bechimo.

Ghost Ship – Chapter 23

Bechimo

In which Theo and Bechimo come to an agreement.

It’s a good thing for Theo (and, as she reminds us, Win Ton) that Bechimo agreed with her reasons for venturing out into the dangerous universe again. There doesn’t seem like there’s much she could have done if he hadn’t.

One hundred twenty-six years is a long time to be waiting in an empty patch of space with nobody to keep one company. Though perhaps, when it comes down to it, not that much worse than the other three hundred plus years spent waiting in more occupied patches of space with nobody to keep one company. When we get reminded how long Bechimo‘s been waiting for Captain and crew, the wonder is maybe that he’s not even less well-adjusted than he is. It’s probably a testament to how much care the Builders put into adjusting him in the first place.


Tomorrow: “Hidden Resources”, then “Kin Ties”, “Code of Honor”, then back to chapter 24.

Saltation – Chapter 30

Administrative Hearing Room One
Anlingdin Piloting Academy

In which Theo is pushed out of the nest.

I’m not sure which is a less fair event to claim as evidence of Theo’s “continued association with violent activity”, the one where she was attacked unprovoked or the one where her entire “association” with the activity was to get out of the way as it went past and do her level best not to get involved. I’m inclined to think the latter, with the additional note that the actual violence on that occasion was being done by official representatives of the lawful authorities, which makes it particularly unfair for those same lawful authorities to count it as an inappropriate event to be involved with.

(Although… was it these same authorities? There’s clearly been a shift in power since then, and it may well have gone as far as a complete change of government. We never did find out what cause Hap Harney was a martyr to; for all we know, the people who are now tarring Theo with his death were his people.)

Either way, they’re definitely being disingenuous in claiming the general unrest as justification for tightening their grip on things, considering who the actual restless people have been.

Saltation – Chapter 24

Diverse Cultures Celebration Team
Anlingdin Piloting Academy

In which Theo and Kara discuss custom.

The healer Theo met before puts in another appearance, with the moment when he settles Yberna confirming both that he’s a Healer and that Theo doesn’t know enough about Healers to recognise one at work. His name is el’Kemin, a name which is not unfamiliar; there was a Syntebra el’Kemin in Local Custom, who through no fault of her own was briefly affianced to a pilot who wanted her no more than she wanted him. She was made uneasy, not to say terrified, in the company of pilots, an affliction it would seem is not shared by all her kin.

The Young Pilots of Eylot sound like trouble, and not just for the Culture Club. History has a bad record with patriotic organisations called the Young Whatever; that’s almost as bad a sign as “Democratic People’s Republic”.

Saltation – Chapter 23

Erkes Dormitory, Suite 302
Anlingdin Piloting Academy

In which Theo receives the key to her future.

This is one of those chapters that’s difficult to talk about because I’m not sure how much of what I think of it right now comes from what I know about future chapters from the first time I read the novel. I think it is at least safe, given what’s already come up on this re-read, to suggest that when it comes to old tech it might not be just Theo’s imagination that the pendant Win Ton sent her is responsive to her emotions, nor even that it actually has a personality.

The closing remark of Win Ton’s letter, about hoping to share a breakfast with Theo, follows naturally from what he’d been saying earlier in his letter about the breakfasts he’s been having lately, but it does make me wonder if she ever told him about her first conversation at the Culture Club.

Saltation – Chapter 20

Piloting Praxis
Anlingdin Piloting Academy

In which Theo is not going home for the holidays.

There is a saying: If you can’t be a good example, perhaps you can be a horrible warning. The price of fame is that Theo’s teachers seem inclined to use her as one or the other.

Being of a mind to look for connections with other stories, I idly wonder if any of the master-adjudicated piloting errors the students are set to study is the one that was at the centre of “Changeling”. The odds are not necessarily good, though, even if the timing does work out right (which at this point I’m not sure it does); in the wide universe, there are surely more than enough piloting errors to choose from.

Saltation – Chapter 18

Diverse Cultures Celebration Team
Anlingdin Piloting Academy

In which Theo meets friends new and old.

It hadn’t occurred to me that yos’Senchul referring to Korval and Ixin by their nicknames might be a test of Theo’s knowledge of Liaden clans — at least partly, of course, because my own knowledge of such is at least solid enough that those two nicknames are transparent to me.

I wonder if Theo would have thought to look up Line Kiladi in the Book of Clans if Kara hadn’t interrupted — and what she would have found if she had.

Win Ton’s courier ship, Torvin, built in a Korval-affiliated ship-yard, has a name with history behind it: Clan Torvin was the clan of pilots that Cantra yos’Phelium was the last survivor of before she founded Clan Korval.

The bit about Liadens and Terrans disagreeing over which side of the ship things like entrance hatches go on is just a colorful detail here, but it will be significant later.