Tag Archives: ‘mite

Balance of Trade – Chapter 10

4 Replies

Day 65
Standard Year 1118

Kinaveral

In which Mr Rumor has been doing the rounds.

I like “at sevens and eights”, which is presumably the same as “at sixes and sevens” only worse.

Mac Gold seems like an unpleasant fellow, and I wonder how much of the rumor he recounts is what Mr Rumor is actually saying and how much is him putting his own spin on it for his own purposes. (I mean, people do talk, and people who talk don’t always need encouragement to assume the worst, but based on what we’ve seen of him so far I wouldn’t put it past him.)

Balance of Trade – Chapter 7

3 Replies

Day 42
Standard Year 1118

Elthoria
Arriving

In which Jethri begins to find his place in his new home.

I like the bit at the end of this chapter where Jethri finds that his new quarters are in some ways very different from the old quarters he left behind last chapter, and in some ways just the same.

Between Norn ven’Deelin and Gaenor tel’Dorbit, there’s probably quite a bit of information to be gathered about how Liaden differs from English in the matter of sentence structure and so on, if one is of a mind to gather that sort of information.

Balance of Trade – Chapter 1

4 Replies

Day 29
Standard Year 1118

Gobelyn’s Market
Opposite Shift

In which Jethri Gobelyn has one of those shifts.

In this chapter we’re introduced to the family-run trade ship Gobelyn’s Market and its crew, particularly young Jethri, who has some trouble fitting in, partly due to the usual issues of being the youngest, and partly on account of certain particular issues which will doubtless be revisited later.

We also hear our first about some actual Liadens, in both a lurid version and a more considered version which amounts to suggesting that the Liadens are more subtle than the lurid version indicates, but not necessarily any less dangerous. Presumably they’ve changed some from when we last heard about their ancestors, since that was a while ago (possibly even as much as 1118 years and 29 days).

It’s interesting that the first novel with Liadens, by chronological order, ended up being the one with the foreword laying out exactly how the Liaden currency and calendar work. Useful place to have it, if one happens to be reading by chronological order. I don’t know if that was something the authors had specifically in mind, though I’m pretty sure I remember them saying somewhere that this was deliberately set out to be a novel that would work as an introduction for people who hadn’t read any of the earlier-later novels yet.