Tag Archives: Chonselta

Saltation – Chapter 9

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History of Piloting
Anlingdin Piloting Academy

In which Theo meets Kara ven’Arith.

Theo is learning a lot of family history without knowing it, lately. Although I suppose that was to some extent inevitable once she started learning piloting, considering how much the history of piloting is bound up with the history of Korval.

I think Inspector Johansen is being unfair, here: it would have been one thing to be down on Theo for not doing all the assigned reading, if that was what she had done, and I would even allow that it would have been reasonable to be somewhat disappointed by the class’s lack of initiative — but to mock them for not doing something they hadn’t been called on to do seems to me to be pushing it, especially since I get the impression that Johansen was counting on them to have not done it so she could be grumpy about it. Or maybe I’m being unfair now, and she was just in a bad mood about something.

Kara, with her own version of having grown up between Liaden and Terran cultures and a willingness to share her understanding, could be a useful friend for Theo to have. (Not that I’m saying, of course, that usefulness ought to be an only or a primary criterion for a friendship.)

Conflict of Honors – Chapter 50

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Shipyear 65
Tripday 287
Third Shift
16.00 hours

In which Shan and Priscilla consider the future.

I haven’t enjoyed re-reading Conflict of Honors quite so very much as I did some of the earlier novels in the re-read, but I think a large part of that may be that I’ve re-read it so many times already; the pleasure it gives me now comes from familiarity rather than the joy of discovery, which can be a bit of a problem when I’m using discovery to power the blog entries. There’s also the way it’s divided into so many little chapters, which can get a bit wearing at one chapter per day.

Tomorrow is the novella “Changeling”, and then we return to a distant, hitherto briefly-glimpsed part of the universe for the novel Fledgling.

Conflict of Honors – Chapter 42

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Master’s Tower, Theopholis
Viscount’s Hour

In which Shan receives more bad news.

It occurs to me that events on Theopholis are echoing events on Arsdred: a confrontation involving Collier, Priscilla, and Gordy; Priscilla taken into custody; Shan called away from a pleasurable negotiation to straighten matters out… Some of the echoes are deliberate on the part of the characters (Collier deliberately picking on Priscilla and Gordy together because it was Gordy who intervened last time), others not. Bookends.

I appreciated it being mentioned that Daxflan officially has still not arrived at Theopholis. After Arsdred, it would have been spectacularly foolish for Priscilla and Gordy to be wandering around by themselves if they had known Collier was also in port.

Conflict of Honors – Chapter 6

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Shipyear 65
Tripday 130
Fourth Shift
18.00 hours

In which Priscilla meets Shan yos’Galan.

Contrary to what I said last week, this must be where I first learned about Liadens and faces. It must be. Conflict of Honors was the first Liaden story I ever read, and certainly Gordy’s recital is the most detailed and explicit statement of the case to be found anywhere in the series. I don’t remember it, though. There is a difference, perhaps, between being told about a thing in the abstract and coming to comprehend it through being shown examples of it in action.

The dateline on this chapter is not consistent with a 28-hour day divided into four 7-hour shifts, in which 18.00 hours would be deep in Third Shift. It would, on the other hand, fit a 24-hour day divided into four shifts.

Conflict of Honors – Chapter 5

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Jankalim Spaceport
Local Year 209

In which Priscilla discovers the depth of her predicament.

Again, I’m having trouble coming up with anything to say about the present chapter without getting tangled up in anticipation of chapters to come.

Since I have in the past called out the authors for what I felt was a particularly blatant use of the old heroine-looks-in-a-mirror routine, it’s only fair that I credit this chapter with a much smoother implementation. If you must do it at all, this is the way to do it, with the plot seamlessly giving rise to a reason for the heroine to be looking in the mirror and paying close attention to her appearance.

This House

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In which Mil Ton Intassi tells a story, and it has an effect.

“This House” is one of a very few Liaden stories that have no connection with Korval and their doings, and few indications of where it fits relative to the other stories. (Though, speaking of relatives, Mil Ton Intassi has the same surname as someone who has appeared in connection with Korval, a fact which went right past me when I read the story in isolation but hit me straight between the eyes as soon as I started reading it this time.) The only time cue is that it must be set some time after “A Day at the Races”, since skimmer racing was a new thing then and is an established thing in “This House”. At that, it’s probably set further after “A Day at the Races” than I’ve placed it, but since it doesn’t connect with any other story, I decided that grouping the skimmer stories together would be more appropriate than being strict about chronology in this case.

The story was originally written for an anthology in which each story was inspired by a song, and is itself inspired by the song “This House” from Janis Ian’s album Breaking Silence. The lyrics of the song are on Janis Ian’s web site, if you’re interested in comparing them. (But watch out; that link goes to a page that autoplays music.)

Tomorrow: Conflict of Honors, picking up from the second chapter. (The first chapter/prologue, we did already, last week.)

A Day at the Races

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In which Val Con scores a victory over a field of skimmers and an aunt.

Speaking of families of consequence, here is Korval again. Anne and Er Thom have died since we saw them last, and Shan is now First Speaker, holding the clan in trust for when Val Con becomes Delm — though Val Con seems no more eager to do that thing and to give up the Scouts than his father was. (One suspects he’s going to find it harder to put off once the “your father was Delm at your age” card enters play, but he has a few years up his sleeve yet before he reaches that age.) For that matter, Shan is not keen on being First Speaker, and looks forward to being able to hand it off to Nova and head out on the Dutiful Passage. (Presumably there’s an age restriction of some kind, else Nova would be First Speaker already; she’s clearly better suited for it temperamentally.) And in the mean time, Shan races skimmers, and Val Con spends time with bartenders…

This is a case where the right ordering of a story is unclear, not because it’s not certain when it takes place, but because it’s certainly taking place at the same time as another story. I chose to put “Shadow Partner” first, since most of that story takes place before this one begins (and this ends after that does, if only by a paragraph or two), but they would not do badly the other way round.

Tomorrow: “Certain Symmetry”

Shadow Partner

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In which business at The Friendly Glass is done properly or not at all.

Some years have passed since “To Cut an Edge”. Val Con is now a full Scout, and a First-In Scout at that. (Our point-of-view character here doesn’t know what that means, but there’s an explanation in Chapter Ten of Scout’s Progress, where it’s mentioned that one of Aelliana’s students achieved that distinction.)

I see that Clarence O’Berin is still in business, which is pretty good going, considering the impression we were given in “The Beggar King” about the expected longevity of a person in his position. I know I read “The Beggar King” before I first read this story, because I did the chapbooks in publication order, but I don’t recall whether I noticed his name there before.

I get the impression that Ceola and Min are the only two members of their family; when one of their relatives is mentioned, it’s in the past tense. That would seem to suggest that Min, as the elder, would be the head of the family, but she doesn’t go any higher up the pole than elder sister, even when she’s trying to convince Ceola to sell the bar, and the right to make it an order for the best good of the family would be an obvious tool to use. Perhaps such things as delms are only for families of consequence, and not for families that are reduced to two people living over a bar in the lower Mid-Port.

Tomorrow: “A Day at the Races”

Mouse and Dragon – Chapter 31

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In which some people have a better time than others at Lady Kareen’s gather.

Kareen’s attempt to show Aelliana up in polite company falls completely flat, partly due to Lady yo’Lanna having taken her under her wing, but also in large part to Aelliana’s own actions preceding her; even people she’s never met know and respect her. And when Kareen abandons that course of action and hurries on to the sequel of introducing her to Daav’s former wife-to-be, that if anything falls even flatter. (And it strikes me that Kareen might have been able to foresee much of this outcome if she’d made an honest attempt to get to know Aelliana, or even just to learn about Aelliana, instead of writing her off as an obstacle. But then, of course, she wouldn’t have wanted to try to show Aelliana up in the first place.)

If I recall correctly, we will eventually see Scholar yo’Vestra again in “Daughter of Dragons”, the short story that gives Lady Kareen her day in the limelight. My memory is not entirely certain on this point, but I do recall that the story includes a scholar who is Lady Kareen’s colleague and close friend, and at the risk of doing her a disservice I have to observe that the number of Lady Kareen’s close friends doesn’t seem to be large.

I like Delm Guayar, both as a person and as an example of the authors’ craft; even on a short acquaintance, the family resemblance to Clonak is unmistakeable.

The narrator says of Samiv tel’Izak that she is “young enough to perhaps be Bindan’s daughter”, which reminds me that I don’t think we’ve ever been told what their actual relationship is. In contrast to Daav, who relates to his clan members as their kinsman first and their delm only when necessary, we’ve never seen Gath tel’Izak be anybody else to Samiv except her delm.

Mouse and Dragon – Chapter 30

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In which Aelliana proposes a solution.

Once again it’s Aelliana who gets to make the decisive move instead of Daav swooping in and rescuing her. (I may be labouring this point a bit. But seriously, how many novels are there where that happens?)

I am particularly interested by the part of Aelliana’s proposal which has her paying the blood-price for Ran Eld’s death when Sinit becomes Delm. There are several things going on here. For one, it gives Mizel an inducement to accept Sinit as nadelm, where her mother’s actions have cast doubt on the hope that she might accept as much simply because it’s the sensible course. It also serves a practical purpose in ensuring that when Sinit becomes delm there will be an amount of money she can rely on, no matter how the clan’s fortunes may have suffered in the mean time. There’s also some shifty work going on with the melant’i of the situation. I still don’t think that Aelliana truly owes Mizel anything for Ran Eld’s death, but by accepting the blood-price as her debt she’s making sure Mizel can’t try to stick it to anybody else (such as Daav); and by specifying that the payment will be made to Birin Caylon’s successor, the result will be that Birin Caylon gets the promise of an apology but never the apology itself.