Orbital Aid 370
In which Grakow puts a word in.
Yes, I thought that was probably who Grakow was. Another not-very-difficult prediction, given the authors.
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The Gathering Edge – Chapter 5
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Dragon in Exile – Chapter 13
Jelaza Kazone
Surebleak
In which everybody’s going to town.
The island Shan is interested in is presumably an outcome of his search for a site for the new yos’Galan house, so this chapter has references to both him and Kareen looking for new housing situations. There’s room for them at Jelaza Kazone, and they’d be safe there, but “safe and well provided for” has never been the overriding priority of the children of Korval.
I have sympathy for Kamele’s temptation to call it quits rather than face further uncertainty with no assurance that it won’t turn out to be quits anyway. I’ve had situations where I’ve felt similarly, though obviously none quite like this.
I still have a bad feeling about this upcoming meeting of the Bosses. Hearing that the delm will be there as well as Boss Conrad – in fact, with Kareen and Kamele’s excursion pretty much the entire household is going to be in town today – this is not making me any less concerned about the possibility that there will be Drama.
Dragon Ship – Chapter 13
Tradedesk
In which Clarence explores the shopping district and his options.
When Joyita first announced himself, he had two rings on one hand. Now he has three.
Although I’ve read the book before, I don’t confidently recall who it is that Clarence has run into, but I have a sort of feeling that it’s not as bad as it might be. And it might be pretty bad, considering the last time Clarence unexpectedly ran into someone who recognised him, it was one of his old Juntavas colleagues, and he ended up having to shoot the guy.
Dragon Ship – Chapter 9
Frenzel
Chaliceworks Aggregations
In which Theo counts her blessings.
The placement of the scene with Kamele says something about the authors’ priorities. If it had appeared a few chapters ago, it would have contrasted obviously (perhaps a bit too obviously?) with the scene at Jelaza Kazone which reminds us that the person Kamele is going to Surebleak to see isn’t there, and nobody knows when he’ll be back. Placed here, it instead invites the reader to compare and contrast the strong-mindedness of mother and daughter. It also gives context, for readers who didn’t know it or had forgotten, for Theo’s musings about her family in the following scene.
Ghost Ship – Chapter 43
Jelaza Kazone
Surebleak
In which everything is going well…
Nearly the end of the book, so time to check in on everyone.
Things are going well for Val Con and Miri, with several items of unfinished business satisfactorily resolved.
And for Theo and Bechimo and Win Ton, though it’s soon yet to be sure exactly where things are going.
And for Daav – well, that’s the question, isn’t it? But even the first time I read this, I was confident we’d be getting an answer, and that it wouldn’t be the answer Daav was anticipating when last we saw him.
Ghost Ship – Chapter 3
Jelaza Kazone
Liad
In which Delm Korval considers Theo’s problem.
Not sure what to make of Theo thinking that Val Con looks familiar for some reason other than resembling their father. She hasn’t met any of the other relatives yet, and I’m pretty sure she’s never seen his mother — or has she? They talked about the Caylon at the Academy, but I don’t remember if it was ever mentioned them having pictures of her. (And of course if that’s it Theo wouldn’t be able to place the resemblance, because nobody’s mentioned to her who Val Con’s mother is.)
As for her assessment of Val Con as biddable and lacking in spark, it’s a choice between politely suppressed laughter and a wide-eyed Bugs Bunny “She don’t know him very well, do she?”
Until Val Con mentioned it, I don’t think I’d thought about the fact that Korval doesn’t just have its house and Tree to get off-planet, but all of the many ships it’s collected over the years (those that aren’t elsewhere already). I suppose it will have to allow its several shipyards to be seized – unless they’ve already been sold off or otherwise passed into other hands – but Korval never leaves a ship behind.
Plan B – Chapter 3
Delgado
Bjornson-Bellevale College of Arts and Sciences
In which Professor Kiladi suffers an interruption.
Now, this is a chapter where it really makes a difference whether you’re reading in publication order or internal chronological order. In published order, this is the professor’s first appearance, and the scene is full of enigmatic hints that only get paid off at the end of the novel, or even later, leaving us with the question of who he is and why he’s interested in Val Con. In internal chronological order, Professor Kiladi has already featured in several novels, and the same details are not so much enigmatic hints as reminders of things we already knew; we know who he is and why he’s interested in Val Con, and the question instead is what he’s going to do about it.
Tomorrow, a brief diversion from the novel to find out what he is going to do about it, in the short story “Breath’s Duty”.
Saltation – Chapter 32
Number Twelve Leafydale Place
Greensward-by-Efraim
Delgado
In which Theo’s parents receive her news.
There’s some looking-back going on in this chapter; not just to Theo’s recent activities, but further back to the events of Fledgling with the news that Kamele’s friend Ella has become the Chair of EdHist and is well advanced in repairing the damage there. (Ella professed to believe, back in Fledgling, that Kamele would be the next Chair, but I think this outcome was more likely and is more useful to all concerned, given their respective attitudes to office politics.)
And then, even further back, to Staederport, which we learned in Mouse and Dragon was where Aelliana first met Jen Sar Kiladi, coincidentally on the same day that she and her co-pilot introduced Hevelin the norbear to Bruce Peltzer of the Pilots Guild.
Like Mouse and Dragon, Saltation has a lapse of some years between chapters (specifically, this chapter and the next). And, as with Mouse and Dragon, I will be putting Saltation on hold while I read the stories set in the gap — beginning, tomorrow, with a return to Eylot for “Landed Alien”. After that, it’s back to see how Clan Korval (remember Clan Korval?) is getting on.
Saltation – Chapter 29
Anlingdin Piloting Academy
Eylot
In which Theo goes for a walk.
It’s approaching the long break, and the prospect of working at Hugglelans again, so it’s a whole year since chapter 20. A school year, that is, which is not a great deal of help for fixing the timeline without an idea of how the Anlingdin year lines up to the Standard Year.
I’m not convinced Theo’s solution to the problem of next year would have answered the case: moving out of the main quad into the DCCT dorm would have removed her from the immediate vicinity of the parochial and suspicious, but it would have only made things worse in the long run by making her seem to align herself with Them against Us. I suppose, had things been otherwise, it might have served to delay matters enough for her to finish her schooling. Might have. And the attack on DCCT makes it pretty clear that things are not that kind of otherwise.
Healer el’Kemin’s little exposition on the uses of vya expands our knowledge of it somewhat. We had known that it was used to stimulate passion, but previously we had only seen it used to stimulate passions of one particular kind. (And, come to think of it, the information that it has more varied applications offers a new angle on Aito-who-always-wears-too-much-vya.)
Saltation – Chapter 21
Howsenda Hugglelans
Conglomeration of Portcalay
Eylot
In which Theo is introduced to the Third Son of House Hugglelans.
The moment in Theo’s encounter with Brine Batzer where she makes the effort to shift her stance to one that’s aware but not aggressive is significant for two reasons. One is that it shows Theo is working on developing an awareness of how her body language will read to others and on adjusting it appropriately (though also that it still needs work). The other is that, as Theo notes, her shift to a less aggressive stance doesn’t get an appropriate reaction from Batzer. This suggests a few things about Batzer, one of which is that despite owning five ships and presumably flying them, Batzer is not a pilot.
(Though it’s not as simple as that; we’ve had other instances of non-pilots being calmed by a pilot’s choice of body language. They weren’t consciously aware it was the body language doing it, was the difference. So perhaps it’s not just that Batzer isn’t a pilot; taking the chapter as a whole, I think it’s safe to say anyhow that Batzer just isn’t very advertant.)