Tag Archives: Korval is ships

Carpe Diem – Chapter 25

1 Reply

Liad
Envolima City

In which Tyl Von sig’Alda comes to a satisfactory conclusion.

There’s a notable omission from Tyl Von sig’Alda’s analysis of Val Con and Miri’s motives for joining forces: no mention of Miri’s trouble with the Juntavas which was, at least initially, the actual reason they stuck together.

One apparent possibility is that Agent sig’Alda doesn’t have knowledge of the Juntavas’ doings; they seem to be a Terran-only organisation, and they’re no doubt pretty short with strangers found sticking their nose into their business. But that doesn’t hold up; we’ve seen that the Department have ways of getting information they shouldn’t have access to, and in particular we’ve seen sig’Alda himself obtain information on this subject from a Juntava. It’s highly unlikely that Jefferson spent all that time talking about how they captured and stranded Miri and Val Con without ever mentioning why.

So the explanation seems to be that sig’Alda does have access to the information about the Juntavas’ interest in Miri, but has dismissed it as an insignificant Terran squabble irrelevant to the doings of Liadens.

(The other reason Val Con and Miri stuck together seems to be so far off sig’Alda’s radar as to not even occur to him as a possibility. Which is perhaps a bit shortsighted, given that there’s the example of Val Con’s uncle and aunt to show that it is possible that such a thing might befall one of Korval. But then, short-sightedness has ever been one of the characteristics of bigotry.)

I wonder how much of sig’Alda’s disdain for Terrans is original to him, and how much is a result of his Department training.

Carpe Diem – Chapter 19

4 Replies

Liad
Envolima City

In which Tyl Von sig’Alda seeks that which is lost.

The tour of the plot strands continues.

This is the only time I can recall Envolima City being mentioned. Most things that happen on Liad happen either in Solcintra or Chonselta.

The description of Korval as pursuing its own interests to the incidental benefit of Liad makes an interesting contrast to the Department of the Interior, which as will become apparent considers itself as working for the good of Liad but when it comes down to it defines “the good of Liad” as that which is good for the Department.

Saltation – Chapter 7

13 Replies

Mail Room
Anlingdin Piloting Academy

In which Theo passes the time in a queue by discussing literature.

I made a series of extremely undignified noises when Theo said who the author of Sam Tim’s Ugly Day was. I’ve mentioned that one of the joys of this re-read is discovering connections that went past me before, but I have no idea how I missed that one the first time through.

The story of Sam Tim and the family joke is interesting as an example of what Lois McMaster Bujold calls the author’s right to have a better idea later. The first time Theo appeared in a Liaden novel (which, in chronological order, is still some distance in her future), she said her father had taught her that if she were ever in really serious trouble she might take the matter to Korval, with the wording strongly suggesting that he’d said so outright. When the authors came to expand on Theo’s story, it seems, they came up against the problem that if Jen Sar Kiladi had said such a thing directly he would have consequently faced the awkward question of who he was that the troubles of him and his family might be of interest to Korval, and so instead there is this series of events which conveys the lesson to Theo indirectly. (The question is not entirely unanswerable, since Jen Sar is a pilot and we know from earlier books that Korval doesn’t mind taking a hand when a pilot is in serious trouble, but we saw at the end of Fledgling that even the fact of being a pilot is more about his past than Jen Sar would like to give out.)

Mouse and Dragon – Chapter 33

1 Reply

In which Daav decides to go into a possibly-hostile port without accepting backup.

Had this book been other than it is, the previous chapter might easily have been the last, perhaps with an epilogue in which Daav finally gets to hold his son in his arms. It is, after all, what the main plot line was building up to for the last two volumes.

But this is a prequel, which knows if any form of literature does that Peter Beagle was right about endings, and getting married isn’t the end of the story; it just means that Daav and Aelliana now have attention to spare for what else is going on in their lives.

I see a parallel between Daav’s decision to go to the Low Port alone, declining backup, and Aelliana’s decision last novel to go to the house of Mizel alone, declining backup, though in this case I’m not sure the decision is wrong; Daav does have a point about the advantages of working alone and under the radar. Still, one can wish he could have gone better protected. (Perhaps another Scout might have worked, if there were another Scout he could trust with this business. It’s a pity that Clonak is not available to be suggested as a possibility.)

Daav’s deliberately exaggerated worst-case hypothesis of “ghosts who lure the unsuspecting into the mists and steal their self-will” is not, after all, so far from the truth as one might prefer.

Mouse and Dragon – Chapter 17

1 Reply

In which yos’Galan advises Korval, for the good of the clan.

Ah, Daav’s famous toasted cheese sandwiches.

On this readthrough, it strikes me that they’re toasted cheese sandwiches, because the word that’s been used up until now has been “handwich”. (At the risk of self-incrimination, I admit that this is a thing I’ve been actively tracking.) Perhaps it’s a translation convention, where “handwich” is the Terran word and bears some etymological connection to “hand” and “sandwich”, but the Liaden word is so completely different that one might as well translate it as “sandwich” and have done.

I like the idea that every toasted cheese sandwich is a unique work of art, and that there is therefore no wrong way to make one.

Scout’s Progress – Chapter 15

Leave a Reply

In which one might expect tea to be drunk.

In the Binjali crew, Aelliana has found not only comrades but family. What Jon offers is, as Aelliana identifies, a paraphrase of what a clan is expected to offer its members according to the Code (as was quoted at the head of Chapter 4). Her description of what is asked of her in return is likewise, if memory serves, a paraphrase from the Code, and appears somewhere else in the series (though I don’t at the moment recall precisely where) explicitly identified as the duty one owes to one’s clan.

It almost goes without saying that Aelliana’s actual family is not a good model of either end of that set of duties.

Scout’s Progress – Chapter 12

7 Replies

In which Aelliana lifts as planned.

Another of Cantra’s log entries that doesn’t entirely accord with her history as revealed in the prequels. In particular, her claim to be “a sport, child of a long line of random elements”, considered from an in-universe perspective, can not be anything other than a deliberate lie.

Yardkeeper Gat’s declaration — “I don’t care what her name is or how good she can add” — is interesting. Even as he declares that Aelliana’s reputation cuts no ice in the present context (which is very likely true) he’s taking the time to show that he recognises the name and the reputation. Daav didn’t tell him she was a mathematician.