Rating: 
Summary: Balance of Trade
Review: I am a big fan of this series, (the Liaden Universe), but found the plot of this new book, which I waited for and bought in hardback, very thin indeed. I kept checking the cover to see if it was really by my favorite authors. I thought the plot was slow and simple, and without any real dynamic thrust. It had almost no tension to speak of, and although the characters were likeable, a novel really does require more than that. I was terribly disappointed and wondered what the authors were thinking when they cranked out this manuscript, or if their editors had any ideas other than just getting another book on the shelf. I hope the next book can develop some serious complexity which I really missed from this perhaps hastily written one.
Rating: 
Summary: At Last, They've Got it Just Right!
Review: I won't pretend I wasn't hooked so many years ago when I first started reading Lee/Miller's Liad books. I was one of those who waited loyally and patiently for the series to continue. They're great Space Opera. Those earlier books had minor flaws, though, which kept me from being quite as enthusiastic as L/M's other fans. With Balance of Trade, I've joined the ranks.I knew I'd really enjoy this book when I read the language used by the occupants of the human ship. It was a pleasure to finally see L/M hit their stride on this, since in their past novels human speech has been as subtle as a sledgehammer, with the result that all humans sounded like ham handed and stupid yokels. (To me, this was one of the major flaws of earlier Liad novels). Not so this time. All of sudden, their speech flows, with little humorous quirks and rough eloquence (sic?). And, of course, that makes the story flow better, too. Also, (again with the speech patterns), the Liaden's speech in anything other than their own language is quirky too, making you grin a little as you read it. It makes them a little more real and accessible. The story is just great, with a young man, who is inexperienced but NOT stupid (and how nice THAT is), gaining that experience under the wings of some pretty interesting people. L/M have come up with a Space Opera with grit and humor and human insight. I'd like to see them keep to this fast and fascinating pace.
Rating: 
Summary: Solid coming of age story
Review: I've enjoyed their past books, and it was fun to read a novel of the Liaden universe that introduced us to a whole new set of characters. Jethri is a compelling character, a human on the edge of manhood, who finds a new future for himself with a Liaden trading family, after his own family casts him aside. His adventures make for interesting reading as he becomes the first human apprenticed to a Liaden trader, and must deal with both prejudice and the dangers inherent in his new position, where his lack of knowledge of Liaden culture imperils not just his social standing, but possibly his life. The only flaw in this book was a complicated subplot that was never fully explained involving the activities of Jethri's father, which necessitated numerous scene shifts to the human shipmates that Jethri had left behind. On their own they were mildly interesting, but these scenes didn't feel connected to the overall story, and I found myself wishing that the authors had dropped this plot in order to focus on the protagonist. Still it was a good read, and should please any fans of their work.
Rating:
Summary: Solid coming of age story
Review: I've enjoyed their past books, and it was fun to read a novel of the Liaden universe that introduced us to a whole new set of characters. Jethri is a compelling character, a human on the edge of manhood, who finds a new future for himself with a Liaden trading family, after his own family casts him aside. His adventures make for interesting reading as he becomes the first human apprenticed to a Liaden trader, and must deal with both prejudice and the dangers inherent in his new position, where his lack of knowledge of Liaden culture imperils not just his social standing, but possibly his life. The only flaw in this book was a complicated subplot that was never fully explained involving the activities of Jethri's father, which necessitated numerous scene shifts to the human shipmates that Jethri had left behind. On their own they were mildly interesting, but these scenes didn't feel connected to the overall story, and I found myself wishing that the authors had dropped this plot in order to focus on the protagonist. Still it was a good read, and should please any fans of their work.
Rating:
Summary: A definite read that leaves you wanting more
Review: If you enjoy reading coming of age novels then this book in the Liaden Universe is for you. Jethri is a human living and working as a trader in a mixed human/liaden environment. His survival and success as an apprentice to a Master Trader who just happens to be Liaden makes for interesting and enjoyable reading. I literally read this book in one setting and wanted more when I was done. Do yourself a favor and buy the book today.
Rating:
Summary: A coming of Age and discovery novel
Review: Jethri Gobelyn is the son of a Terran trading ship, 'Gobelyns Market'. Inadvertently he gets caught up in a matter of Liaden honor and find himself transferred to the 'Elthoria' as Master Trader Norn ven'Deelin's new apprentice - and the first Terran ever apprenticed to a Liaden trader. This is an enjoyable new installment in the Liaden Universe stories. It is a change of pace from the previous novels and does not have love matching as the center story. Instead we are taken on a very interesting trip through Liaden and Terran trade methods and customs. This coming-of-age story seems to be set earlier than all the other previous novels and does not feature any of those characters, or even any of the Korval Clan. In short, this is a very good introductory novel for those wanting to see what the Liaden stories are like and it is suitable for younger readers at well. It is a welcome change of theme that expands what we know about the worlds the Liads and Terrans live in and is a very good read.
Rating:
Summary: Excellence, as expected.
Review: Lee & Miller deliver another excellent round of Laiden Universe adventures, only this time we get an entirely new set of characters to play with. Jethri is a lot of fun as a character, shaped as he is by the odd environment he grew up in (his (old) ship). The lovely, large, tangled, engrossing plot leaves you wishing... You wish to apprentice to a Master Trader on a Laiden ship. You wish to meet a glorious pair of halfling twins! You wish to see this Master Trader sit down to drink with Shannie. You wish, while the book is complete and standalone, for a followup. Or seven. Closer to _Scout's Progress_ than _I Dare_, it is a ripping good read.
Rating:
Summary: Another Great Liaden Adventure!!
Review: Lee and Miller have produced another great Liaden adventure with a whole new cast of characters! An excellent story well told!
Rating:
Summary: Woo-hoo! As always, a great story with great characters
Review: Miller & Lee are among the few authors, along with Lois M. Bujold, whom I will purchase in hardcover the day they come out with a new book. I have not been disappointed in the past, and I'm not disappointed now. If you haven't read others in their Liaden series, you can still read this and enjoy it - it's perfectly good cultural space opera (as contrasted to military space opera) in its own right. It's even more fun, though, if you read the other books as well. This one takes place in a setting slightly earlier, chronologically, than the books featuring Clan Korval, and has no characters in common - Korval is mentioned only once, in passing, as a clan that breeds pilots. So you don't have to know the back-story on all the characters in the previous books in order to know what the characters in this one are doing. There are some customs, however, which will strike you as odd if you haven't already been immersed in this universe. Someone else described this as a coming of age novel, and in part it is, but not in a way that limits it to juvenile readers. (I recently read, and reviewed, a coming of age novel by another SF author, which was annoyingly juvenile, so I am pretty sensitive to the issue.) Our young trader apprentice is already a fully developed character in his own right, and the situations he faces are not simple, nor are the adults in the story merely bit players, nor buffoons when faced with youth, as is true of too many such novels. Now, I have to get out of the way one thing I didn't like about this book: the cover art. I hate it. It makes the Terrans look awful, the Liadens look like short Episcopalian bishops in their robes, and further, doesn't seem to me to match the descriptions of the characters at all. There's a note about the artist in the back; I have to respectfully but firmly disagree with his conception of the characters. And with the really awkward poses he's got everyone in! OK, end of that little snit. Back to the story. We start with Jethri Gobelyn, of the trading ship Gobelyn's Market. If you want to dash off and read Christina Rossetti's poem "Goblin Market" you can, but the connections are quite brief and tenuous; the poem won't give you any big clues to the story. There clearly are some clever details drawn from the poem, such as twin girls with names beginning with the same letter, but those details are in no way critical. So feel free NOT to go look up the poem if you hate poetry. Not knowing it won't make you miss out on any big poetic allusions in the book. Jethri's family is slightly hillbilly - his name resembles Jethro not for nothing. They talk with country accents, they hold shivarees (spelled shivary here), and they have some risk of inbreeding... and I thought at first that I would be annoyed by that, because I don't like stereotypes like that - but they turned out not to be stereotypical hillbillies at all; they're great characters. Jethri's extended group of cousins are smarter than they look. The last part of Jethri's secret becomes revealed only near the end of the book, although there are hints regarding it which may lead you to guess earlier. Let's just say that they make the question of "coming of age" more complicated. There is also a family of Russians involved in slightly shady dealings, again not quite the stereotypes; Grigory, his sister Raisana (think Raisa Gorbacheva if you didn't recognize Raisana as a Russian name) and their uncle Yuri have some surprises up their sleeves. Let's see, for those already involved in the series, some differences to note: no Yxtrang, not even a mention of them. Some technology from an earlier civilization that we haven't seen in the other books; this technology is described as unstable, so perhaps by the later books the last fractins have become useless. In some ways, I saw glimpses of the authors' other series, about Gem ser Edreth, in the Gobelyns - I could see the shipboard culture of these Terran trading ships sliding into the completely shipborn culture of the gen ships there, with both the culture and the physiology changing from the human norm. Even though these are two completely different series, there's a resemblance. There's also no noticeable romance in this book, no dramatic meetings of couples like Shan and Priscilla or Val Con and Miri. Closest to romance we get is Grig's girlfriend announcing she's pregnant, and we didn't get any details before that. No military battles in this one; it's strictly trading and education. We don't even spend much time on ship, rather mostly on stations and on mud. When Jethri finds himself on a Liaden trade ship as an apprentice, he has to learn more Liaden than he knows, and has to learn all the various shades of bows. Those who are old enough to remember Keith Laumer's Retief series may remember the endless list of numbered facial expressions that the Corps Diplomatique had, after a while! Jethri runs across a Scout, with an odd sense of humor, as the Scouts always seem to have, but also meets a regular Liaden with a sense of humor, which is somewhat rarer. While Korval's always had an odd kick in its gallop, most of the other Liaden characters have been a bit humor-impaired; Tam Sin, however, has a full sense of the humor in irony and coincidence. For that matter, we do also meet a Scout with no sense of humor, also a rarity. Even Scouts, apparently, can be narrow-minded bigots more concerned with title, position, and perks than with curiosity. There's a very nice cat in the book. Pay attention to Flinx, he's important! I hope that's enough hints as to the characters and plot to get you reading. Trust me, this is not just a coming of age novel, and those of you who love developing detailed pictures of culture and language will have a blast with this book.
Rating:
Summary: Great balancing act!
Review: Miller and Lee have done it again! Return to the Liaden Universe, to an earlier time and place than the recent Korval books, where a thoughtful young Terran of limited prospects and a Liaden Master Trader of vision become the first bridge between two disparate cultures. There's plot layered upon plot, secrets spanning decades and generations, dishonor and False Balance-- It begins with a counterfeited business card, and ends with scouts, dramliza and Old Technology, and that's just the start of Jethri Gobelyn's story. BALANCE OF TRADE is intricate and fascinating, a door opening to another level of the Liaden universe. This book stands nicely on its own two legs, but I want more. More!
| 
