Rating: 
Summary: At Long Last - - Liad Lives Again!
Review: As soon as I heard that this book was available to order (back in December) I put my name on the list.I received the book yesterday and finished it today. (Sleep? What's Sleep?) Val Con, Miri, Edger and a lot of my favorites from the first three books (Can't give away too much) are back and their story leaps off the pages into my imagination. The story is told from many viewpoints which all mesh and weave together perfectly. The characters are "real", the world setting believable and the story is just fantastic. I Dare... where are you?
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Summary:
Two wars long in the making; a clan up to the task.
Review: Val Con, after years of Department of Interior conditioning to be the perfect Agent of Change, discovered the lies on which his training was based, and so broke free to embrace the passions of life again. This unforseen defection from the Department of Interior has put him at the top of the agency's hit list and he is now on the run. Miri (Retired Mercenary, Have Weapon Will Travel) is the partner and lifemate of Val Con. In their escape across space, she is fleeing towards a family she never knew and old friends from a life she thought she left. Still in shock from her newly found history, she is plunged into military command in a centuries-old, three-cornered galactic war that threatens to destroy the world she only now has touched. Val Con's family is racing to find them before their enemies do. Unfortunately, there are more enemies than just the Department of Interior, and the invasion was well planned. Even the clan's surprisingly capable flagship is vulnerable to sabotage. And yet, Val Con and Miri both have friends in unexpected places, and lessons painfully learned are now vital to their clans' survival. Ten years is a long time. Long enough for some people to lose hope. But time brings new life to an old story - human spirit is stronger than despair.
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I read Plan B in one sitting, and came away with that great feeling of knowing that talented people can outhink The Establishment. Also, it's nice to see closed-minded enemies might be convinced to recognize a better solution. Not many authors try to combine magic and science fiction because of the challenge of incorporating the two into the same people and situations. Rather than force the two together, Lee and Miller blend psychology and magic, bringing that combination to influence action and combat rather than participate in it. While hard-core sci-fi readers may find this story light on the technical details, Miller and Lee incorporate a lot of little human touches that engage the reader and make the action that much more compelling. ------- C.R.
Rating:
Summary: plan B is A+
Review: plan B opens with Miri and Val Con in space and headed to the planet Lytaxin. They've put the word out to Val Con's clan to rendezvous there. There is also an invading force of alien warriors that is converging right along with them. plan B is full of widescale destruction, ironic humor and justified paranoia. It will have you ride a wave of human emotions as you are caught up in the story.
I did not know this was book six of the Liaden universe. But if you haven't read the other books, like myself, you won't have too much trouble following the events of plan B, I may have missed some subtly points by not having a background to pull from. But I still found it a very entertaining read and could not put it down.
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Summary: Absolutely Wonderful - I Loved It!
Review: Val Con yos'Phelium is future Delm and member of Clan Korval of Liad, lately deadly agent of change for the Department of the Interior. The only thing that saved his sanity was the loving song of his lifemate, Miri Robertson, half-Terran, half-Liaden former mercenary. When last we left Val Con and Miri (in Carpe Diem), they had just commandeered a spaceship and escaped a backwards world. While they were stranded, Nova yos'Galan, First Speaker of Korval, invoked Plan B - retreat strategically, trust no one, prepare for all-out war. Val Con and Miri know that the Department of the Interior will still be hunting them so they flee to Lytaxin and Miri's kin. Val Con knows that Miri fears meeting her newly discovered family, but he needs a safe meeting place where his brother and sisters can find him. Unfortunately, the planet Lytaxin, home of Clan Erob, Korval's longtime allies, is not what one would exactly call a safe place for the bloodthirsty Yxtrang are attacking. Within a day of their landing, Val Con and Miri are stranded planetside once again with no ship, no radio comm, but a slightly better chance of survival. Luckily, some mercenaries from Miri's old unit were stranded on Lytaxin as well, so she takes up her old Captain's duties and trains volunteers and recruits to meet the enemy. Meanwhile, Shan yos'Galan, Val Con's brother and his lifemate, Priscilla (met in Conflict of Honors), are searching the galaxy for Val Con, as are Nova yos'Galan, his sister, and his Clutch brothers, Edger and Sheather. But finding Val Con quickly becomes one of a number of problems as they deal with espionage onboard the Dutiful Passage, Shan's ship, attempts to murder Nova, and the seemingly impenetrable Yxtrang ring around the planet Lytaxin. However, Clan Korval is nothing if not resourceful and, as all the family pits their formidable intelligence and skills against their various foes, one almost feels pity for the enemy... Plan B is the 6th book in the Liaden series if you read the series chronologically. As with the other books, I simply loved Lee & Miller's characters and world building. They spend time on the details and it shows that they have carefully thought out and executed another masterpiece. I really feel as if I know the Korval family and am taking a remedial course on Liaden etiquette, these books are that well written! If you enjoy any kind of science fiction or space opera then this book has something for you - great characters, lots of action, enemies on all sides, high tech battle sequences, romance, family relations, honor, and much, much more! You can read this book as a stand-alone novel, but I would not recommend it as you will miss a lot of background and spend the first part of the book just trying to keep track of who everyone is. Also, you definitely should not miss out on any book in the wonderful Liaden universe - all of them are very highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Story!
Review: First full disclosure: I have fallen in love with the Liaden universe! All these wonderful stories have been a godsend and a comfort. Marvelous tales of adventure, romance and daring do! There isn't a bad one in the bunch. Now specifically lets look at "Plan B," the third in the Agent of Change series. But maybe it would be better to look at them as two parts of one story separated into two sections each. "Agent of Change" is nothing without "Carpe Diem" and "Plan B" is nothing without going on to "I Dare." "Plan B" is the continuation of "Carpe Diem" so you know where it's been. By the way if you haven't read "Agent of Change/Carpe Diem" do it now! Don't wait. In fact you can buy both of them along with "Conflict of Honors" in one volume called "Partners in Necessity", without a doubt the best buy around. Anyway the whole cast is there as you follow them throughout their various exploits. I will grant you that my two favorites are "Carpe Diem" and "I Dare" but you can't skip "Plan B." You just can't! You can't skip tot he middle of a book and that's what you would be doing! Given the total Plan B/I Dare, they really should have been one novel, you just can't beat it. Not only do I recommend this book but I HIGHLY RECOMMEND it.
Rating:
Summary: Enthraling
Review: A great surprise for me. I missed there original releases this was my great loss. Superb writing on a par with Weber or Asaro.
Now I must go back to locate the beginings. Please tell us the story will continue !!!!!!!!!!! shooter83
Rating:
Summary: Hits like a tornado,sighs like a summer breeze
Review: "Plan B" is, quite simply, the deeply laid plans of the Liaden Clan Korval to see to the safety of their entire clan, in the face of a catastrophic enemy. And then there's that little Liad matter of Balance. Liads, "within human mutation tolerances" but almost homicidal without their highly developed and nuanced Code to keep them in line, use Balance for everything from minor insults to death attempts. The secret Department of Interior (so secret, most of Liad doesn't know it exists) has decided that if they cannot recover their Scout and Agent of Change Val Con yos'Phelium, heir to Korval, then it's time to squash the entire clan. But Korval doesn't squash easily. Born of a line founded by a space pirate, a soldier, and the scion of a merchant house, Korval has become something strange and wonderful, a line of master merchants, pilots and telepathic wizards. But first, last and always, Korval is ships. They buy them, use them, mothball them, give them as gifts-and never, ever forget that there must always be a back door, even to a planet. There's action and adventure galore-but never mistake the Liad Universe for just another space opera. This is literate, witty dialogue, brilliant characterization, excellent construction of cultures and aliens who are truly alien even as many of them seek bridges between each other. Liad books tell stories of people who depend on their friends, and who make bad enemies. Here are characters that inspire others to search a galaxy for them. You'll fall in love with Sheather, the huge Clutch turtle, as he stands with great eyes dreaming upon the scarred wood of a real door, accepting the awful dignity of the barrier. How could you resist an 8-foot alien built like an all-terrain vehicle who is fascinated by humans, and constantly trying to learn how to interact with them-no matter how small. "Closer to hand, another music spoke. 'The lady gone away.' Carefully, for he was well aware of the fragility of even full-grown humans, Sheather turned. Carefully, he looked down. A human eggling stood by his knee, face uptilted like a flower, brown eyes opened wide." Warning-if you liked PARTNERS IN NECESSITY, maybe you'd better order I DARE before you start PLAN B. It's not exactly a cliffhanger, but Lee & Miller like to slice their tales right out of a vast history. You will want to know what happens next!
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