Orbital Aid 370
In which Grakow puts a word in.
Yes, I thought that was probably who Grakow was. Another not-very-difficult prediction, given the authors.
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The Gathering Edge – Chapter 5
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Tag Archives: The Rim
Scout’s Progress – Chapter 36
In which Delm Korval goes visiting again.
This seems like a good time to mention a thing I like about this novel: Aelliana rescues herself.
She has had help along the way, and wouldn’t have done as well without it, but her achievements are her own, seized with her own hands. This isn’t a story about how she needed someone to save her. It was her own idea and decision to seek an escape, her own skill that won her her ship and her license. And, in these later chapters, she escaped from the house by herself, after rescuing herself from the worst effects of the Learning Module.
I love the bit where Daav is politely but firmly establishing his intention to stand in Mizel’s hallway as long as necessary.
(And speaking of Daav, it’s interesting to note at which points in the chapter Daav is “Korval” and at which points “Daav” comes to the fore.)
Local Custom – Chapter 40
In which the last pieces fall into place.
I think, if memory serves, this is the first place (in publication order) that the lives and times of Cantra and Tor An were described in any detail. And the details given here, I can’t help noticing, differ in some significant respects from how the story was eventually told in the Crystal books. (One could suggest that the differences are due to the details here coming from Cantra’s logbook, which Crystal Dragon tells us she didn’t actually start keeping until after the War, when she would have been depending on a perhaps-fallible memory. Or perhaps she remembered fine, but chose to present things somewhat differently from how they actually happened; I note that one of the differences of detail is that the logbook entry quoted here presents itself as having been written during the War, before Jela’s death.)
A little detail that might easily be missed (in fact, I don’t recall having consciously noted it on any of my previous reads): Anne is now wearing the ring Er Thom gave her, the “never goodbye” present.
Tomorrow: Scout’s Progress
Crystal Soldier – Chapter 23
Spiral Dance
Jumping Off the Rim
In which the edge of forever is viewed from the outside.
There’s a lot of information in this chapter about how this version of interstellar travel works, which I frankly admit mostly goes over my head.
We also get a description of the geography of the galaxy, and an explanation of why this particular one of the galaxy’s three arms is the Arm. (Make a note of the number of arms; there will be a test on this later.)
Crystal Soldier – Chapter 16
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 8
On board Spiral Dance
Faldaiza Port
In which Cantra yos’Phelium goes for a meal and some company, and gets more than she expected.
Enter a new point-of-view character: Cantra yos’Phelium, independent cargo pilot running solo.
With the new point of view, we get an outside description of Jela. He has eyes as black as the space between the stars, and, yes, brown skin. He’s shorter than the breadth of his shoulders would suggest — and shorter than Cantra, though that’s not so indicative since her height is “not inconsiderable”.
We learn about Cantra’s height from her own point of view, as well as the fact that she’s not as young as she was. From Jela’s point of view, we learn that Cantra has green eyes.
Quite a bit of backstory threaded through this chapter: about Batchers; about world-eaters; about the Rim, its people in general and Cantra and Garen in particular. Also about the navigation beacons, which caught my attention when first I read this, because they don’t have (or apparently need) those in later novels. Other things they don’t have in later novels include the smart clothing on display here, that can scan rooms for danger, send messages, display images in the air.
And another thing that caught my attention the first time, as someone who’d only read the later novels, is the mention and description of Solcintra, that fabled origin planet, which apparently is rather less illustrious in its own time than it appears through the filter of nostalgia.