Tag Archives: Surebleak

Songs of the Fathers – Chapter 2

Aequitas
Hel’s Gate, Rannibic Station

In which there is a change of plans.

There are a couple of resonant names in the dateline of this chapter.

Wikipedia describes aequitas as “the Latin concept of justice, equality, conformity, symmetry, or fairness”. Also, I see from my notes, in the Liaden Universe aequitas is the name of those tokens used by traders to ensure a fair exchange of information. So Aequitas is a plausible thing for a trader to name her ship, and it also echoes the broader issues of justice in the situation in which Lomar finds herself in this story.
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Command Decision

In which Bjarni helps see in the New Decade.

Major Lizardi, from Surebleak, with the knack for recognizing the right person for the job at hand, has to be Miri’s friend Liz at an earlier stage in her career.
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Trader’s Leap – Chapter 37

Colemeno Port

In which Shan yos’Galan receives news of kin.

I’m not exactly surprised by the revelation about Trader Isfelm’s family; in fact, though I didn’t specifically see it coming, it had something of a feeling of inevitability about it as it unfolded.
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Trader’s Leap – Chapter 30

Colemeno
Portmaster’s Office

In which the Redlands prepare to welcome visitors.

I can see several potential problems with the Warden’s plans to keep the off-worlders and Civilization at arm’s length.
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Trader’s Leap – Chapter 28

Civilization

In which it’s too late to keep hiding under a bush.

This might be the last appearance in the book of the word “vas’dramliz”, the Liaden word for the “small talents”, so I’m going to take this opportunity to share an observation: given that we know what “dramliz” means, vas’ must be the part of the word that signifies “small” or “lesser” — so it’s curious that we know of at least three Liaden surnames with the same prefix. Mae Nir vas’Urbil, in “Degrees of Separation”, is a chef, which might suggest that families with that prefix tend toward lower class jobs. (Menolly vas’Anamac is a scout and Kin Jal vas’Tezin an appendage of the Department, so we don’t have any idea of their families’ social status.)
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Trader’s Leap – Chapter 27

Dutiful Passage
Rostermin Breakout

In which Shan yos’Galan reads his mail.

Shan’s statement about “our time in this space” implies that he thinks Lute can’t manifest on the ship while it’s in Jump. I can’t think of anything specific to give him that idea, and he may just be fishing, but on the other hand I don’t at the moment recall any specific event that contradicts it.
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Trader’s Leap – Chapter 24 (V-VIII)

Volmer

In which yos’Galan makes connections.

I can’t remember the last book in which we had so many bows in so few chapters. The last few books have either been set on Surebleak or involved people being off having adventures among the Terrans, so there hasn’t been so much opportunity for Liadens interacting.
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Trader’s Leap – Chapter 19

Dutiful Passage

In which Priscilla receives a history lesson.

Shan’s coaster that was a gift from Ambassador Valeking was introduced in Alliance of Equals and has appeared a couple of times, in that book and then in this one, during scenes where Padi has been meeting her father in his office.
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Trader’s Leap – Chapter 13

Dutiful Passage
Pommierport

In which there is an unexpected detour or two.

I think that when Priscilla talks about “ambient noise”, she doesn’t mean quite the same thing as the Haosa do when they talk about “the ambient”. If it is, it’s noteworthy that the course of action suggested by her training is to try to block it out.
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Trader’s Leap – Chapter 11

Dutiful Passage

In which Padi makes connections and Shan receives news from home.

The looper families Shan mentions are among those who have appeared or been mentioned in the Jethri-era stories: the Smiths were the first family to have norbears travelling with them, the Tragers were friendly with Jethri’s family, and the Wildes did that ill-fated bit of experimenting with Old Tech.
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