Liaden universe

[alias_sqbr]

After being recced them a bunch of times I finally got around to trying a Liaden Universe novel. They're by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller.

Specifically, "Local Custom", which was written something like 5th in the series but is first chronologically. It was a lot of fun, somewhere between Anne MacAffery and Lois McMaster Bujold on the girly space opera continuum.

The setting doesn't bear much scrutiny but is well designed for satisfying light romance science fictionyness. There are three groups of humans in a mixture of conflict and uneasy alliance with each other: the Terrans, who are Earth in the future (sort of but not?), the Liadens, who are space traders whose society is sort of a cross between Regency England and Edo era Japan but with gender equality (all clans and complicated customs and pretty dresses), and a Scary Warrior Race I haven't met yet.

"Local Custom" is about the complicated star crossed relationship between a Terran linguistics proffessor and a Liaden guy whose mother (the clan head) has set him up with a politically expedient arranged marriage. Much cross-cultural drama ensues. It didn't really hit my buttons as a romance but I enjoyed it as an engaging light drama with a happy ending. I liked that the relationship is bi-racial not only by their standards but by ours since the Terran woman is "brown" (nobody cares about this, the problem is that she's Terran, eg amongst other things she's like a head taller than the whole planet of Liadens)

I do wonder about the class and sexuality issues: what's life like for the lower members of the clans? How do gay/asexual etc Liadens feel about the rules saying EVERYONE needs to marry (at least for a few years) and have babies? On the plus side noone says you have to love or be faithful to your partner, there's a bunch of changes like that which make the society more likeable than the actual past. And what about the various cultures of Earth, the protagonist of this story was from "New Dublin" but is Africa etc homogonised into the same generic America-lite Star Trek-esque future?

I've started the sort-of sequel (it came from the library as a double set) "Scout's choice" which is also pretty fun so far.

Comments

[stephbg.livejournal.com]

These have been recced to me several times, but I haven't got a round tuit. Sounds like my kind of light reading, if it doesn't try to be too wacky. I don't do wacky.

[bunny-m.livejournal.com]

Round tuits are tricksy, sneaky little buggers, and can be very hard to track down.

IIRC, I've read some very small pieces of the Liaden universe, and as Sophie stated, they tend to be light and fluffy with SF romance, but I don't recall any wacky in them at all.

[leecetheartist.livejournal.com]

No wacky in the Lianden universe.

[alias_sqbr]

Thirding the "not wacky".

[rdmasters.livejournal.com]

There are stories that cover the seedier side of things. Everything from mob rules, to abuse of clan obligations, to filial abuse and persons cast out of clans.

And what becomes of them, and the implications of those events. It is rather well realised.

There is also considerable exploration of the requirement to provide descendants - and the fall-out of such things for gay characters.

As far as the 'Terrans' go, there are many variations in the 'Terran' race, including clear cultural descendants of Australia. As for where they come from... well the prequels to the Liaden books, "Crystal Dragon" and "Crystal Soldier" explain the fate of New Terra. And give us a suggestion as to the fate of the original. They also explain the origin of Clan Korval.

And no, there is no homogeneous Trek-like future out there. Every planet is different, every culture has its quirks, and some of them are very much in the not-nice-at-all category.

I hope you continue to enjoy them - the ebooks of the entire series are available, and for some books this is the only way to buy them, due to various publishing issues.

[ariaflame.livejournal.com]

Provided you fulfil the legal requirement to provide the clan with an heir there does indeed seem to be very little fuss about relationships and there are several stories involving same sex couples where it is just another part of the story because it is not considered a problem by anyone. I don't know of any lifematings involving this though, but lifematings are much rarer than stories involving the members of clan Korval would have you think.

I am glad you are enjoying them so far.

[alias_sqbr]

Ok, cool. It felt like those sorts of things might be explored, but I've been disappointed before so felt like getting it off my chest rather than waiting and wondering.

Do we see people from non-Anglo/Western countries? So far the only ethnicities mentioned explicitly have been Australian and Irish, which for a start means the "dialect of Terran" they speak is plausibly an offshoot of English and I'm left wondering what, say, the descendants of the Chinese speak.

EDIT: Having read "Agent of Change", yes we do! Afaict it is implied that Terran=English, but only in an "official language" sense not an "everyone on Earth speaks this as their first language" sense. Which is a not impossible future scenario, even if it still bugs me a little.

[havocthecat]

There are some interesting short stories in the series which give hints of the lower caste Liaden's lives. I would check out Baen's Webscriptions bookstore. They sell non-DRMed ebooks in multiple formats, including RTF files, and you can get the two short story compliations there.

[alias_sqbr]

HMM. I always resist ebooks since reading on the computer sometimes gives me a headache, but if this is the only way to read them I guess I have no choice!

[havocthecat]

It's next to impossible to find them otherwise, unfortunately. They were mostly published in chapbooks by the authors themselves, during the period after Carpe Diem and before Plan B (which was a very long stretch of time while they were trying to find a new publisher for the novels).

I have some issues with a couple of the stories having feminist and/or racial fail (but only two of a dozen or more), and you should really read all the way through I Dare before reading the rest of them, because there are spoilers for the arc that starts in Partners by Necessity.

[alias_sqbr]

Amazon has the first 3 as a collection! I discover after buying the first as an e-book. But it was only $5 and cheered me up on a VERY bad day, so I still see it as money well spent :)

Which ones are Fail-y, so I can go in pre-prepared?

[pedanther]

The small press that published the chapbooks has also produced a couple of dead-tree compilations, of which copies are still available - if you don't mind international mail-order. (Or you could track down a local Liad fan who has copies - I know I saw a copy of the first collection at Swancon this year - and persuade them that Necessity requires that you be permitted to borrow them.)

Either way, I second what havocthecat said: You should be cautious in approaching the short stories at this stage, because many of them presuppose that you've read one or another novel that you haven't read yet, and in no incarnation do the story collections include spoiler warnings.

[alias_sqbr]

Amazon has a collection of the first 3, woot!

[pedanther]

Pretty much the entire series is set to come back into print over the next year or two, in convenient mass-market editions, if I remember correctly.

[alias_sqbr]

Awwwwwesome