megmcardle's review against another edition
3.0
This was a re-read, as at one point I tore through a bunch of these - maybe even in college in the early 90s? Wow, so long ago, and there are some weirdly 80's style echos in the worldbulding! I can't imagine that this was my favorite, sadly. It was however the first in an omnibus I had around the house. I loved Anne, but the whole child in peril stuff didn't resonate with me. What the authors do well, they did well -- very tense emotional story. I'm sorry to say that I found the writing subpar judged on style alone. But wait! I read Scout's Progress immediately after and LOVED.
felinity's review against another edition
4.0
I should have known better than to reread some of the short stories because I wanted something quick... they always pull me back into the universe, and then I have to decide where to start rereading - chronological beginning, logical beginning, a central book, an edge book, a specific character or plot point...
Local Custom is a good entry point for those wondering where to start, and far enough in for readers already familiar with the series to know the players.
Local Custom is a good entry point for those wondering where to start, and far enough in for readers already familiar with the series to know the players.
mandeathome's review against another edition
3.0
Good book, but not amazing
Local Custom was a good start to this series. I do admit that I found it lengthy and extremely boring at times. The way the characters speak is uniquely their own, and while I enjoy that it made the book a little disjointed to read.
Anne's character and dialogue were very confusing as well. One minute she loved Er Thom and the next she wanted to run away. I found her a hard character to like.
I don't think I'll continue to read this series.
Local Custom was a good start to this series. I do admit that I found it lengthy and extremely boring at times. The way the characters speak is uniquely their own, and while I enjoy that it made the book a little disjointed to read.
Anne's character and dialogue were very confusing as well. One minute she loved Er Thom and the next she wanted to run away. I found her a hard character to like.
I don't think I'll continue to read this series.
wynwicket's review against another edition
5.0
I read this back in 2011, with a re-read this past week because I'd like to continue with the series this time.
This is utterly wonderful, compulsively readable, romantic space opera, and I loved it.
This is utterly wonderful, compulsively readable, romantic space opera, and I loved it.
glyneth's review against another edition
4.0
I reread this today, compelled to do so after a read/skim of Agent of Change yesterday. I definitely think this won me over more this time that my first read. I’m not sure if it was when I read it, the mood I was in to want to read the book, or possibly the reread gave me a better understanding of what was going on.
I distinctly recall not liking Er Thom much on my first read, but this time I really felt for him, trapped in all the ways possible between clan, family, melant’i, his love for Anne, and the son he didn’t know he had.
It’s a great book, but I think a poor starting choice to be introduced to the Liaden Universe. There’s almost too much going on and little explanation, for good reason, to really understand all the nuances. I still think Agent of Change is the best starting point.
I distinctly recall not liking Er Thom much on my first read, but this time I really felt for him, trapped in all the ways possible between clan, family, melant’i, his love for Anne, and the son he didn’t know he had.
It’s a great book, but I think a poor starting choice to be introduced to the Liaden Universe. There’s almost too much going on and little explanation, for good reason, to really understand all the nuances. I still think Agent of Change is the best starting point.
tita_noir's review against another edition
4.0
This is a great story with a lot of subtle layers.
It is at it's base a love story. A rather intense love story.
But then you add in some intercultural challenges. Er Thom is an heir of the prime clan on the planet Liaden. Anne is a simple scholar from Earth. They meet and have an intense relationship for a bit before he must leave Earth to continue on with his life and the duty of his station on his planet. Both Er Thom is drawn back to Anne, unable to forget her. As they reconnect he and Anne struggle with doing what is right for both of them and their child. But Er Thom has the added fillip of needing to fulfill the necessary obligation to his line, his clan and his honor.
Include a dash of soapy goodness. It is a secret baby plot! They have a child together. As per her 'local custom' she gives the child his father's surname. When Er Thom discovers he is a father, he has an obligation to make sure his child is acknowledged by his clan on his planet as per his 'local custom.' But they are unsuited as the Liadens generally look down on Terrans. And his mother is NOT pleased with his jumped up girlfriend. There are some a few great confrontational scenes that could be worthy of any glitzy soap.
Finish it up with some solid world-building. We learn a lot about the Liaden culture and peoples through their language. Anne is a linguist and she understands how the Liadens communicate and many of the nuances in their language are integral in how the society interacts. But even so, she manages to miss some cues and this causes some misunderstandings between her and Er Thom. I loved that the author used language as the way to convey the cultural differences between Er Thom and Anne. It was an elegant way to introduce a system.
This was a really good, solid science fiction romance that does what SFR is supposed to do, it balances very well both the science fiction and the romance and seamlessly integrates both into a wholly satifying story.
It is at it's base a love story. A rather intense love story.
But then you add in some intercultural challenges. Er Thom is an heir of the prime clan on the planet Liaden. Anne is a simple scholar from Earth. They meet and have an intense relationship for a bit before he must leave Earth to continue on with his life and the duty of his station on his planet. Both Er Thom is drawn back to Anne, unable to forget her. As they reconnect he and Anne struggle with doing what is right for both of them and their child. But Er Thom has the added fillip of needing to fulfill the necessary obligation to his line, his clan and his honor.
Include a dash of soapy goodness. It is a secret baby plot! They have a child together. As per her 'local custom' she gives the child his father's surname. When Er Thom discovers he is a father, he has an obligation to make sure his child is acknowledged by his clan on his planet as per his 'local custom.' But they are unsuited as the Liadens generally look down on Terrans. And his mother is NOT pleased with his jumped up girlfriend. There are some a few great confrontational scenes that could be worthy of any glitzy soap.
Finish it up with some solid world-building. We learn a lot about the Liaden culture and peoples through their language. Anne is a linguist and she understands how the Liadens communicate and many of the nuances in their language are integral in how the society interacts. But even so, she manages to miss some cues and this causes some misunderstandings between her and Er Thom. I loved that the author used language as the way to convey the cultural differences between Er Thom and Anne. It was an elegant way to introduce a system.
This was a really good, solid science fiction romance that does what SFR is supposed to do, it balances very well both the science fiction and the romance and seamlessly integrates both into a wholly satifying story.
jmartindf's review against another edition
4.0
Three years ago, Er Thom yos’Galan met and had a torrid relationship with Anne Davis. He hasn’t seen her since and has spent the last three years acting as a Pilot for Clan Korval. Duty requires that he take a wife and produce an heir for yos’Galan. But he hasn’t been interested in, or attracted to, any woman since Anne Davis.
In desperation, he decides to visit her one last time. He intends to declare his love (verbalizing it for the first time) and then return home. Once home, the Healers will dim his memories and he’ll be able to move forward, as a dutiful son to the clan.
His good intentions quickly go awry and he’s drawn right back into the torrent of emotion that he never left behind. Anne, it transpires, is still equally enthralled with him. She loves him too much to allow her love to stand between him and Duty. He loves her too much to allow Duty to take her from him without a fight.
The real problem is the fact that he’s Liaden and she’s Terran. He thinks he understands Terran culture and mores. And she, a professor of Comparative Linguistics, think she understands him and Liaden Culture. And, yet, they spend the entire novel never quite communicating on the same level. They’re constantly misunderstanding each other and those misunderstandings threaten to tear them apart.
This is a romantic tale, almost a comedy of manners. At times, it put me very much in mind of the conflicts central to all Jane Austen novels. The real conflict is between two lovers who struggle to transcend two very different Cultures and two different conceptions of Duty. In the end, of course, they do. But the journey is the interesting part. This is another enjoyable story in the Liaden Universe.
Read this review on my blog.
In desperation, he decides to visit her one last time. He intends to declare his love (verbalizing it for the first time) and then return home. Once home, the Healers will dim his memories and he’ll be able to move forward, as a dutiful son to the clan.
His good intentions quickly go awry and he’s drawn right back into the torrent of emotion that he never left behind. Anne, it transpires, is still equally enthralled with him. She loves him too much to allow her love to stand between him and Duty. He loves her too much to allow Duty to take her from him without a fight.
The real problem is the fact that he’s Liaden and she’s Terran. He thinks he understands Terran culture and mores. And she, a professor of Comparative Linguistics, think she understands him and Liaden Culture. And, yet, they spend the entire novel never quite communicating on the same level. They’re constantly misunderstanding each other and those misunderstandings threaten to tear them apart.
This is a romantic tale, almost a comedy of manners. At times, it put me very much in mind of the conflicts central to all Jane Austen novels. The real conflict is between two lovers who struggle to transcend two very different Cultures and two different conceptions of Duty. In the end, of course, they do. But the journey is the interesting part. This is another enjoyable story in the Liaden Universe.
Read this review on my blog.
cj_jones's review against another edition
3.0
Good, solid book, nice character work, interesting world building. I bit more romance-novely than I like, plenty of longing looks and throbbing bosoms, but the barricade that keeps the two lovers from their happy ending is an actual problem rather than something that could have been resolved with five minutes of conversation. And I admired that--it came believably out of a culture clash and assumptions from within those cultures. Our female lead's tendency to talk to herself in a New Dublin accent was passing annoying, but the structured, florid, and anachronistic Victorian-style conversations of the Liaden was a good way to indicate the highly structured and class-aware social strata of their culture. I'm going to attribute the psychic connection Shan and his mother share to his burgeoning magical powers. Summing up, a good place to start the Liaden stories, and I'm already reading the next book.
EDIT: Oh yeah, the whole thing with 'healers' cutting out 'bad' pieces of people's memories so it doesn't cause them any pain is really creepy, and I don't know if the author feels that way about it or if it's a convenient way to avoid dealing with emotional trauma.
EDIT: Oh yeah, the whole thing with 'healers' cutting out 'bad' pieces of people's memories so it doesn't cause them any pain is really creepy, and I don't know if the author feels that way about it or if it's a convenient way to avoid dealing with emotional trauma.
codexmendoza's review against another edition
3.0
Local Custom has a secret baby plot and space elves, so I was pretty much sold from the get-go. Jokes aside, the majority of the plot actually revolves around miscommunications caused by cultural differences between Anne who is a Terran (basically us) and Er Thom who is a Liaden (a race of humans with a highly stratified and formal clan culture and Aryan Nation levels of dislike for race mixing with Terrans). This had all the makings of a story about racism, xenophobia and cultural differences but, unfortunately, none of the bite. I thought the relationship between Anne and Er Thom was well developed and really liked how the differences between them were caused by the sorts of misunderstandings that arise between two people from very different cultures. However, everyone around them behaved in confusingly inconsistent ways and the major problem keeping our young lovers apart (the dude's mother being a bigot basically) was solved by the romance equivalent of a deus ex machina and none of the fucked up Lianden cultural attitudes were actually directly addressed—Anne was just absorbed into an honestly pretty fucking disturbing culture (I mean, ). While the book overall was enjoyable, it was such a disappointing use of the setup.
Spoiler
at one point the grown man's mother threatens to whip him in public as is her right to do as the leader of her Line, at another point the clan leader demands the dude have his memory of Anne wipedscribal's review against another edition
4.0
My number one Space Opera series!
On my first read I liked this volume in the series much less than the others because the romance element is dominant. Rereading the series I found it much more enjoyable because I now knew and loved the characters so well I could appreciate the details of the romance.
On my first read I liked this volume in the series much less than the others because the romance element is dominant. Rereading the series I found it much more enjoyable because I now knew and loved the characters so well I could appreciate the details of the romance.