Rating: 
Summary: Not Quite the End...
Review: An excellent book, you must read the rest of the series first, at least books 1,2,3 & 6. However, if you read 6, you can't *not* read this one! I can't wait for the next one!
Rating:
Summary: Great!
Review: Another great book from Lee & Miller.More information about all our favorite characters from the previous books, and a lot more details about Pat Rin, who turns out to be much more interesting than previously thought... Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: Clan Korval shines and shows once again its ability to make the best out of every situation. Two more members of Korval meet their matches. The aliens are good. The Yxtrang are intriguing. The cat is scary. The villains are properly punished. I cannot wait for more.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Science Fiction
Review: Do NOT start the Liaden Universe with this book! This is the culmination of several books and is really, really, excellent. I recommend instead that you start with the first book in the series "Conflict of Honors." Steve and Sharon blend traditional space opera with deep character development and throw in a dash of fantasy, meditation, and spirituality. These two are in the same league as Asimov, Heinlein, & Tolkein. Highest recommendation for their Liaden Universe books. I like them enough that I have signed hardcovers. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Science Fiction
Review: Do NOT start the Liaden Universe with this book! This is the culmination of several books and is really, really, excellent. I recommend instead that you start with the first book in the series "Conflict of Honors." Steve and Sharon blend traditional space opera with deep character development and throw in a dash of fantasy, meditation, and spirituality. These two are in the same league as Asimov, Heinlein, & Tolkein. Highest recommendation for their Liaden Universe books. I like them enough that I have signed hardcovers. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Pure reader joy awaits--highest recommendation
Review: Do yourself a favor. BUY THIS BOOK. Don't dither.
I DARE is the latest in an exceptionally fine series. Danged few series I'd recommend plunking down cash on the offchance of getting hooked, but Miller and Lee's Liaden achievement breaks the mold. As an individual title it's excellent enough on merit to suck in any discriminating reader. The characters and universe are so vividly, honestly crafted it's a pleasure to catch up whenever they're discovered. *Wonderful* things await, and this is just the latest entry point. It doesn't matter when and where one catches the ride, just don't miss it! Newcomers, prepare to swoon and loose sleep. Miller and Lee's Liaden universe is the real deal in a world of dreck, wannabes and hype. It's writing done RIGHT: sweep, imagination, wit, craft, humor, insight, hard-edged, high-minded and huge of scope. It feeds the brain and heart--and isn't that the point?
I cannot fathom why Miller and Lee still remain a somewhat underground passion. (Maybe because they don't ride the "book-a-year-word-factory" grind?) No matter, I DARE fully vindicates every stubborn loyalist out there. I'm sick to death, having to pan books by promising authors who've gotten sloppy. Steve Miller and Sharon Lee are still firmly, suavely in control of the world they created. Old friends, new characters: they jump right off the page, full-fleshed, vivid and REAL. Not many are *human* but they're all comprehensible and...instructive. It's hard to write a review of beloved books w/o spoilers. Says something that the "facts" of plot are the least of outcomes. Pat Rin, the most inscrutable of Korval wild cards, occupies a goodly part, to effective part. Shan, Priscilla, Miri, Val Con, Daav, Anthora, Edger....feh. Summaries beggar the whole. Forget this review. Some of the best minds and wordsmiths in SF already said it all. From a purely reader's standpoint, you can't do better if you want pure, sustained quality. If you love to READ, SF or otherwise,--ideas, blasting story-telling drive, gut-pure funny, wrenching, "what if" mental and heart blasts--this is as good as it gets. This is a book--and series--that poses great questions, considered and lived by some of the most vivid charaters to be found in fiction of any sort. Pass it by at your loss.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous!
Review: Even though I didn't like the ending either, this book - and indeed the whole series - is FABULOUS! This is a shining example of series that has intelligent plots, wonderful world-building, great, interesting characters that drew me in. As one other reader has said, I never much cared for Pat Rin, either, but once I started the book, I found myself rooting for him, more and more. Lee and Miller have a wonderful ability to evolve their characters without resorting to cliches or stock appearances - their characters are always nuanced, and grow with the series. I also really enjoy the plot twists, although I would have liked to know more about why the Commander of Agents acted as he did. Val Con's reaction at the end of the book threw me - I'd never seen anything in his character that led me to believe that he'd be that happy at the Council decision - but, other than that, a really wonderful story. I hope they write other stories with these characters, because they are wonderful and their world is sublime. (It was delightful to see Daav again, too, since I really liked his character).
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous!
Review: Even though I didn't like the ending either, this book - and indeed the whole series - is FABULOUS! This is a shining example of series that has intelligent plots, wonderful world-building, great, interesting characters that drew me in. As one other reader has said, I never much cared for Pat Rin, either, but once I started the book, I found myself rooting for him, more and more. Lee and Miller have a wonderful ability to evolve their characters without resorting to cliches or stock appearances - their characters are always nuanced, and grow with the series. I also really enjoy the plot twists, although I would have liked to know more about why the Commander of Agents acted as he did. Val Con's reaction at the end of the book threw me - I'd never seen anything in his character that led me to believe that he'd be that happy at the Council decision - but, other than that, a really wonderful story. I hope they write other stories with these characters, because they are wonderful and their world is sublime. (It was delightful to see Daav again, too, since I really liked his character).
Rating:
Summary: Excellant!!!
Review: Excellent doesen't do it justice. the book answers all the question (ok I do have a couple on captain"s judgements) and set the stage for a lot future stories.
Technical this has got to be the best since the orginal stories
with tight editing and not a word out of place. I was laughing
all night long. I started at 1Am to read for an hour and ended at dawn. (Short of sleep is the smallest of price to pay for this much fun)
Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended - this and the whole series.
Review: First, this is my favorite book of the series (I really like the character Pat Rin). It is the last of the "Agents of Change" series of stories, but judging from the ending not the last of the Liaden Universe books (which counts as a very good thing!). I only discovered this series at the end of May (2 months ago). I saw two mass market books -luckily the first two chronologically - at a used bookstore, was intrigued, and devoured them both before my plane landed.) Those two are still available in most bookstores, by the way... I proceeded to order the rest from Amazon when I found out they were hard to get. I had to wait for shipping (personal choice - not Amazon's fault) but I read all 5 additional books in about 5 days once I got them. They're a lot of fun. By the by, they are all being released (slowly) in mass market editions, so if you're patient, you'll save some money. But frankly, I recommend diving in if you are at all interested in: Space Opera -- an imprecise term which I assume means: stories very light on science, very strong on characters and relationships, and tending toward "mystic" - i.e., unexplained an apparently inexhaustible psychic powers -- I know, not my favorite either, but really, it's worth it because the people are so much fun! Great characters, very good dialogue and interesting stories mean quite a bit in any type of book! The writing is very good, although I wish the editors had caught the use of "insure" instead of "ensure" more often. Also, there was an increase in typos in the most recent two books (Plan B and I Dare), but not bad by modern standards. Back to what you should look for and/or have a preference for:
Romance -- notably Regency novels like those of J. Austen and G. Heyer, who I consider the best of that genre -- it is a strange combination, but I read somewhere (probably in reviews here on Amazon when I was searching for the other books)and it is true -- the society described is highly stylized and formal in order to prevent everyone from challenging everyone else to a duel. (Also reminded me strongly of the Darkover books by Marion Zimmer Bradley.) I have to say it doesn't hurt that they have Anne McCaffrey (Pern is one of my favorite worlds) strongly (and I mean very strongly) recommending their books. And the Clutch Turtles are now on the short list of my favorite aliens. I will stress that they aren't meant for hard science sci-fi fans, but for those of us who enjoy stories about characters we care about trying to do their best against what the universe (or the Department of the Interior)throws at them, they are extraordinarily enjoyable. Read them all -- it is worth it!
| 
