Tag Archives: Ride the Luck

Saltation – Chapter 7

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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 37

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In which Daav and Aelliana go to the theatre, and Aelliana chooses to be late.

We’ve reached the moment which, this being a prequel, most of the readers knew was lurking in Aelliana and Daav’s future.

The authors might have avoided it by ending the book a couple of chapters ago, but I think they knew that if they were ever going to tell the story of this day there would never be a better place to tell it than here. It might have been told as a short story, an isolated event between novels like the one we had yesterday and the others we’ll have next week, but I don’t think that would have served it well: this is not an isolated event, and telling it here, at the end of the novel, allows one to look back and see all the things that have been leading up to it.

It’s also, in a sense, the capstone of this duology. I said a few chapters ago that we’d reached the destination of the duology when Daav stood beside his lifemate holding his son – but that was Daav’s destination, not Aelliana’s. For Aelliana, the journey is about taking control of her life, and I’ve pointed out several times that each of the major turns in Aelliana’s life during the duology came of Aelliana’s choice. Here again is a major turn in Aelliana’s life, and shape it takes is determined by the choice Aelliana makes to protect Daav.

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In which Dollance-Marie Chimra finds something with a price above rubies.

I didn’t like this story much the first time I read it. I found the plot utterly predictable, and none of the new characters particularly engaging. In the intersection of those two things, I didn’t care at all for Dollance-Marie Chimra, whose troubles are at the centre of the plot, since her troubles were by and large of her own making and I had less sympathy for her than for the various people whom she was putting to unnecessary trouble.

I enjoyed it more on this re-read. The plot wasn’t such a liability, because knowing what will happen next is what one expects on re-reading a story. And I find that I have more sympathy for Dollance-Marie on second acquaintance; this time through I got a better grasp of how her upbringing has produced the blind spots that result in the poor decisions she makes, and also I noticed more the indications that she does care about the people she’s caused trouble for — even if she doesn’t always understand the nature or extent of the trouble, when it comes to people outside the societal structure she’s grown up in.

That societal structure, where the intrusive-media side of celebrity has become a formal part of the life of the upper classes, was something I found some entertainment in even the first time I read the story. There’s aspects of modern social media, with trend-setters’ worth being judged by the number of their Followers, and echoes of the more old-fashioned paparazzi. And I noticed on this re-read that some of the names have a particularly English cast to them, which makes me think of the way the British Royal Family is arguably more important nowadays for giving the media something to pay attention to than for anything involving actually ruling the nation.

(The other thing some of the names remind me of is the Duchy of Grand Fenwick, but I haven’t visited that charming place in so long that I’m not sure if I’m just imagining things.)

Tomorrow, Mouse and Dragon chapter 37. Which brings to mind the thought that another thing this story has to offer, in the confrontation outside the Port, is a certain amount of foreshadowing.

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.

Mouse and Dragon – Chapter 28

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In which there is a Mouse in Aelliana’s new lodgings.

This is in some ways a chapter of pausing and taking stock of where things stand, with Master Kestra delivering her assessment of how far Aelliana has developed since they last met, and Aelliana telling Mouse the cat what she has learned about being a mouse.

I like the description of Mouse’s attitude when he first appears, which, speaking as one whose family has always had cats, strikes a very familiar chord: “There was something about the long muzzle that suggested at least temporary resignation; the very tippiest tip of the scruffy tail was twitching. Slowly.”

Mouse and Dragon – Chapter 25

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In which Aelliana takes decisive action in response to Mizel’s message.

I said in an earlier entry that one of the things worth noting about Scout’s Progress was the way it wasn’t a story about Aelliana being rescued, but a story about Aelliana rescuing herself. Even though she is now, for the most part, rescued, Mouse and Dragon has continued to be a story in which Aelliana makes the decisive moves in her own life. She was the originator and driving force of the idea of going for courier, and each time her personal relationship with Daav has tightened a notch, it’s been her making the move. (Which is an important thing, for a person whose life was for so long out of her control.) That continues here: the proposal that they cry lifemates comes from her, unbidden, when she’s ready and not before.

Mouse and Dragon – Chapter 24

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In which Aelliana receives a summons from her Delm.

The chapter quote is being pointed again, as seems to be its habit whenever Mizel’s qualities of kinship are displayed. Incidentally, this same proverb previously appeared at the head of Local Custom‘s eighth chapter, the one in which Er Thom, Anne and Shan showed themselves to be a family in truth if not yet in formal declaration.

Also reminiscent of Local Custom is the return of the dramatic device where the authors deliberately give a misleadingly incomplete account of a character’s intentions, in order to add extra suspense.

Mouse and Dragon – Chapter 22

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In which Aelliana is introduced to Jen Sar Kiladi.

Like many long-term Liaden fans, Mouse and Dragon was not my first introduction to Professor Kiladi; I already knew him from many chronologically-later events described in earlier-published stories. That inevitably affected my response to meeting him here, and I wonder how it reads to someone who didn’t have that background. (I’d ask if there was anyone in the audience whose first introduction to Professor Kiladi was Mouse and Dragon, if this blog had an audience.)

Somehow, I’m not surprised a yos’Phelium would make and win a bet like that. Though I do wonder who the other party in the bet was.

Speaking of yos’Pheliums, I detect the legacy of Cantra’s aelantaza heritage in Daav’s ability to immerse himself in character to the point of Kiladi seeming like a different person.

Mouse and Dragon – Chapter 21

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In which Hevelin is employed and Jen Sar Kiladi is recognised.

The fame of the Revisor of the ven’Tura Tables is spread far and wide; not even by travelling into Terran-held space has Aelliana avoided being greeted as that Caylon by the pilots she meets. (That implies that there are underlying principles shared by both the Terran and the Liaden methods of space travel, if the ven’Tura Tables are of use to both.)

The norbear with the rusty streaks in his fur is named Hevelin, in tribute to the authors’ friend Rusty Hevelin, who by all accounts was that happy person mentioned in the chapter quote who found a friend at every port.

Mouse and Dragon – Chapter 20

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In which there is a price to be paid by those who don’t know better than to interfere in an alleyway brawl.

This chapter is the one in which Daav says that it is the fate of the courier to catch glimpses of other lives and never know how they turned out, which I mentioned in an earlier entry is how I feel about some of the Liaden short stories.

Aelliana’s knack for intercepting projectiles is going to come up again.

Food watch: it is not said what was in the stew, but the fact of it being sold at a greens market suggests it was probably vegetables again.