Tag Archives: Granthor

Crystal Dragon – Chapter 27

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Solcintra

In which Cantra takes Tor An on an excursion, Rool Tiazan takes Liad dea’Syl on an excursion, and Arin takes himself on an excursion.

Two things in this chapter caused me to look up from the book and say “Oh!” in that tone of great enlightenment that means my backbrain has just done something clever, like figure out whodunnit before the detective. Neither of them are super-important; I think they struck me because I didn’t notice either of them the first time around (or if I did then, unlike most of the other revelations in this chapter, they didn’t stay with me).

Thing 1: During Master dea’Syl’s conversation with Rool Tiazan, he says the math predicts or prescribes that the new universe they’re planning to escape to will be constantly expanding – unlike the steady state of the universe they’re in now. This is, of course, one of the hints that this duology is not set in our universe, but the thing I realised this time is that it’s also the base explanation for the differences between how interstellar travel works in the duology compared to later. Long-distance navigation through space is bound to be different when space itself behaves differently.

Thing 2: According to the timing mentioned when Cantra is inspecting Salkithin, the ship she inherited from Jela, Salkithin is none other than the ship Commander Ro Gayda mentioned when she recruited Jela way back near the start of Crystal Soldier, the one he was to be made Captain of for its voyage to a then-unnamed place of storage, as the excuse for being detached and placed under Ro Gayda’s command.

And the maintenance crew of Salkithin, getting back to things I did notice the first time around, are – apart from being the crew that Jela commanded on that voyage – the founders of Jela’s Own Troop, of whom we will be hearing more much later. (And they’re not just X Strain; there’s a couple of Ms, a Y, and “Ilneri, who was, as far as Cantra could make it, a natural human”. I don’t know how much that’s going to affect the bodies of Jela’s Own Troop – as I’ve had occasion to comment before, we’ve never been told anything about how the Yxtrang go about making little Yxtrang – but it certainly explains a deal about the shape of the Troop’s minds.)

To finish the chapter off, the event we’ve been waiting for all this time heaves into view on the horizon, as what passes for the leadership of Solcintra at the moment turns to Wellik after their actual leaders do a runner. (It’s possibly my favourite of the Solcintra-as-it-really-was details that, for all the status jockeying and High House politics the Liadens get up to, there’s not a single Clan on Liad that was High House before the Great Migration, because the High Houses all had the resources and the lack of scruple to take off on their own.)

(I wonder what happened to them all.)

(Maybe they got eaten by a giant mutant star goat.)

Crystal Dragon – Chapter 24

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Solcintra

In which Cantra receives a message from Jela.

I’d wondered how much vel’Anbrek had figured out of what was going on, so it’s good to have that established.

Cantra hadn’t grasped how much Jela regarded her, and perhaps had been resisting letting it count for anything; there’s a bit in one of the earlier chapters where she reflects that he doesn’t really know her, only her Rimmer pilot facade. In that I think she underestimated him: we know he’d seen through the grumpy part of the facade to the motivation underneath; what else might he have seen?

Crystal Dragon – Chapter 11

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Obasei Tower
Landomist

There’s another thing that I hadn’t been taking into account in considering why Tor An might seem like a good risk: the famous aelantaza pheremones. In the last scene, Scholar tay’Nordif is maintaining close proximity in the way Cantra habitually avoids, and it’s definitely having an effect.

I’ve been trying to figure out what the point of antagonising tel’Elyd and escalating with tay’Welford was, bearing in mind that mission control couldn’t have known it would be helpful with getting Tor An settled in. My best hypothesis is that the duel was intended as a general distraction that would get everybody, including Scholar tay’Nordif, out of the way and give Jela some space to snoop around on his own. Though if that’s what she had in mind, apparently she hadn’t counted on Jela needing to watch the duel himself and see that she was all right.

On the other hand, maybe it was just that she wanted to stop tel’Elyd before Jela was seriously hurt, and judged a stick duel to be an affordable cost to achieve that end. In which judgement she may have been underestimating Prime Chair tay’Welford. tay’Welford is clearly a rat bastard but I wonder if his conduct of the duel wasn’t at least partly tactical. Things would have been considerably simplified for him if tel’Elyd’s enthusiasm had unfortunately resulted in a fatal wound for Scholar tay’Nordif. If so, the luck was in it (again) that Tor An was on hand to raise a protest.

Jela’s remark that there’s no use trying to figure out whether the luck sent Tor An to the Tower or alerted Scholar tay’Nordif to his approach is a wise one, and I shall heed it henceforth.

The home garden in Tor An’s dream is very similar in purpose and philosophy to the home garden Korval is going to establish. I rather doubt, though, that the piata tree’s resemblance to Jela’s tree is drawn from memory; I suspect that’s a message of support coming in through the back channels.

Scholar ven’Anbrek is appearing quite helpful, but I’m not sure what his stake is. I can construct a reasonable motivation from the things he’s said, but by this point I’ve given up on expecting the inhabitants of the Tower to have reasonable motivations.

(Incidentally, I find myself softening toward Maelyn tay’Nordif somewhat. She’s still not a nice person, but it pales in comparison when she’s so much outclassed by the people around her.)

Crystal Soldier – Chapter 29

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Spiral Dance
Shift Change

In which the crew give thought to the future.

The tree has a lot to say for itself in this chapter. (I kind of wish I’d thought to tag for the chapters where the tree speaks. Too late to go back and find them all now.)

Crystal Soldier – Chapter 20

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On Port
Scohecan

In which the name of Commander Ro Gayda is mentioned again, and we get some idea what Jela’s been up to since we heard it last.

And so we finally get to see what Jela’s mission is, when he’s not being sidetracked. He’s “assessing local unit response readiness”, as the Commander put it, not only in the case of the Enemy attacking but in the case of the High Command deciding to throw the Outer galaxy to the wolves. Which is apparently something they’re planning to do, for whatever good it’ll do them. And the “consolidated commanders”, of whom Jela’s Commander is one, intend to keep the fight going, despite High Command if necessary. All of which means that the secrecy surrounding Jela’s mission is not just directed at the Enemy, it’s also directed at a not-insignificant whack of people who are officially on Jela’s own side.

Meantime, Jela is also asking seemingly-casual questions about left-over tech from the old war. He gives the impression that this is just a side project of his own, out of general (or Generalist) interest, but the narration helpfully points out that he’s giving this impression in a way that makes me suspect that this, too, is part of his mission. Wheels within wheels.

I’ve got an odd feeling that the old tech he asks about is not actually the old tech he’s looking for, if that makes sense. (The danger of asking about a thing directly, of course, is that then people know you’re looking for it.) But I don’t consciously remember where this is going, so I don’t know if this is just a feeling or if there’s anything to it.

I’m also feeling a mite distrustful about the learning toys Cantra picks up, but again I don’t remember whether there’s anything to it.

Before she gets to the learning toys, a bit more of Cantra’s past is filled in. We find out what happened to Garen — as far as Cantra knows. (This, I do remember what comes of it.)

Crystal Soldier – Chapter 16

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Spiral Dancer
In Transit

In which a course is charted.

I think this is the first time Cantra’s surname has been mentioned. Jela has doubts about its authenticity, seeing as “Phelium” bore an interesting similarity to the Rim-cant word for “pilot”. And “yos'” was the Inworld’s prefix for denoting a courier or delivery person, which is interesting, and since I first read this book I’ve occasionally idled time away trying to guess what other Liaden prefixes might have denoted in the Inworlds. dea’ might have signified a person who minds the business of another, given the examples of dea’Gauss, whose family business is handling the financial and legal affairs of other families, and dea’Judan, whose family business is storekeeping (but not owning the stores they keep). And I have a feeling, without having done a deliberate survey, that pel’ has a tendency to appear in the names of butlers and other such domestic servants.

We also get our first mention of the Uncle, and straight out of the gate the doubt about whether he’s (a) still around and (b) still the same man who used to be the Uncle in the old days, which is going to become something of a recurring motif.

Crystal Soldier – Chapter 13

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Outbound, Faldaiza Nearspace
Approaching Transition

In which it is not better to be locked out of the pilot’s tower than to be locked in.

Another short chapter.

We get a glimpse of Cantra’s childhood as she’s waking up, in a reasonably natural and unforced bit of exposition. Followed by that classic of unnatural exposition, The Character Looks At Her Reflection So The Reader Can Find Out What She Looks Like.

There’s an interesting bit near the end of the chapter. Apparently this is the first time Jela’s slept apart from the tree since they joined forces. The tree doesn’t appear to be at all bothered by the separation, though.

Crystal Soldier – Chapter 7

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Awaiting Transport

In which Jela heads off into the wild blue-green yonder.

Not that much happens in this chapter: a shuttle lands, Jela and the tree get in, it takes off again. The interest is in the details: about the technology of the shuttle, about Jela’s training, about Jela’s past (the intriguing description of his name as “nothing more than a quartermaster’s joke”).

Speaking of names, we learn the name of the Commander who recruited Jela to his present course of action: Ro Gayda. Absent further context, it’s not clear whether that’s all surname, or part surname and part personal name (and if so — he added, remembering Ro Laren — which is which).

There’s also an interesting description of Jela helping the tree gain a fuller understanding of flying machines.

Crystal Soldier – Chapter 2

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On the ground, Star 475A
Mission time: 9 planet days and counting

In which Jela conceives an interest in dendrology.

What Jela has discovered is the Trees, or what’s left of them.

While he’s following their trail, hoping to find one that’s still alive, we get some exposition about why he thinks they might be worth finding, along with a hint that although this may be a science fiction universe, it contains things that might well be indistinguishable from magic; and when his mind wanders, some more exposition about his own status as a batch-produced, gene-selected soldier. We also get the first mention of the more recent Strain, of whom we will be hearing more later, whose fashion is to wear their Batch tattoos on their faces instead of on their arms. (The voice of memory says, “On the right – insignia of born-to Troop…”)

Crystal Soldier – Chapter 1

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On the ground, Star 475A
Mission time: 3.5 planet days and counting

In which M. Jela Granthor’s Guard goes for a walk.

Here, for a change, we are introduced to a character who will be back again tomorrow: M. Jela Granthor’s Guard, Generalist, who is stuck on a desolated planet after his ship was holed in a space battle, and “being a generalist — and an M” has decided that while he’s waiting for rescue he might as well do some exploring.

It is not explained precisely what a generalist is, although one gets the idea that it’s whatever is the opposite of a specialist. (The idea of a Generalist goes at least as far back as a short story titled “The Solution” that Steve Miller wrote in the days before he and Sharon Lee began collaborating.)

Come to that, it’s not explained in this chapter what any of the rest of it means. From memory, “Jela” is his personal name, and “M.” is his Strain (“like R. Daneel Olivaw”, was the thought that flitted through my head). I don’t recall precisely about “Granthor’s Guard”, whether it was his first posting or is his current posting or what, but I expect that will be cleared up sooner or later.

What is explained is a lot of backstory about the sheriekas and the present state of the galaxy, which will no doubt be important going forward.

The chapter ends with Jela making a Discovery. I am nobly resisting the urge to peek at the next chapter and see what the discovery is. (Admittedly, this would be more noble if I weren’t pretty sure I remember what it is from the first time I read this.)