Accepting the Lance (22) (Liaden Universe®) Hardcover – December 3, 2019

As for most of their works Sharon Lee and Steve Miller again hit it out of the park with Accepting the Lance. I enjoyed the weaving of three story arcs back into one for this book, one can hope to read more of this in the future. 👍☕

In this 22nd adventure in the Liaden Universe a number of plot threads are tied off. It is a novel filled with changes.TerraTrade has sent a survey crew to assess Surebleak's potential as a trading hub. However, one of the crew is prejudiced against the planet because Clan Korval has settled there. He is convinced that Clan Korval are pirates who subjugated the world to Korval's desires which is almost true. Nonetheless the current plan is not to make waves while the inspectors are on planet.But Theo and Bechimo arrive being trailed by on overzealous scout who wants to decommission and reprogram Bechimo because he's a complex logic - a self-aware and self-governing space ship. But Val Con makes a judgment in his role as a Scout Commander that complex self-aware machines are people and may not be interfered with if they have jobs and are socially responsible. This is an epic, potentially universe changing idea.When a group of these complex logics, most of them war machines that survived the Old Universe, are pointed at Surebleak by the Commander of the Department of the Interior as the next phase in the DOI's plans to wipe-out Korval, Theo, her crew, and her ships are there to stop the invasion in a very Delgado sort of way. Theo teaches the invaders consensus building as a way of problem solving and averts the invasion without a shot being fired.While these things are going on at or near Surebleak, another plot thread begun in an earlier book has some survivors of the DOI going off to try to defeat it. It is a longshot attempt that is led by Rys Lin pen'Chela who was a former Agent of Change who was adopted by the Bedel who live secretly on Surebleak.Speaking of the Bedel, they have long been on Surebleak having been dropped off by their ship which never returned for them. Only now a message comes in and they find that they have been found and a ship will be coming for them. The problem is that most of the current generation of Bedel have made Surebleak their home and don't want to go back.Still another plot thread has a Boss Surebleak wanting to return things to the bad old days and wants to retire Boss Conrad (Pat Rin) and the Road Boss (Miri and Val Con). No one knows who Boss Surebleak is but our heroes are pretty sure he/she is another part of the plot set up by the DOI to eliminate Korval. The consequences of this lead to the development of voting as a way to indicate support for either Boss Conrad or Boss Surebleak which is an idea that is very new to Surebleak and not much more common on Liad.All of these plot threads and others I didn't talk about are wonderfully woven into a fascinating story that brings us up-to-date on many of the characters who have starred in earlier books in the Liaden Universe series. But I still want more! What about Shan? What about the children who are now young adults? What will happen as a result of Val Con's judgment? What is happening at Tinsori Light?

Book number 22 of a 29 book space opera series with psychic elves in space ! I count the series as 29 books as there are 24 novels plus 5 collections of short stories. I read the well printed and bound MMPB published by Baen in 2020. I have one more books in the series and I plan to order more as they come along in MMPB.Over a thousand years ago, the Liadens and several others escaped from a dying Universe to the present Universe with Terrans and such. The dying Universe is still leaking spaceships and other flotsam to the Liadenverse. Along with live people. And in the very recent past, the Korval clan, whose founder was the pilot of the universe traveling space ship, has been ousted from the Liaden planet to Surebleak, a harsh and underpopulated planet by Terrans and many others. The Korval clan is slowly rejoining the others at Surebleak. And other Liaden clans are moving themselves to Surebleak to follow Korval wherever they may go as the Captain of their destinies.The Clutch Turtles, a space born race, are big fans of the Clan Korval and their sentient tree. In fact, they moved the Clan Korval and their sentient quarter mile tall tree from the Liaden planet to Surebleak, a harsh and underpopulated planet by Terrans and many other races. All of the races in the new Universe are very careful around the Clutch Turtles due to their light year spanning powers and huge incredibly fast space ships. The Clutch turtles have just sent a newly hatched emissary to Surebleak with an important warning.And there is a Terran trade commission on Surebleak evaluating the space port and the surrounding community for a new rating. The Terran trade commission is very disturbed by the recent move of the Clan Korval to Surebleak and all of the newcomers following them.

The Department of the Interior launches attacks on Korval from all sides. The kompani’s ship has returned. The Clutch Turtles discover Surebleak’s core is unstable. TerraTrade are dubious about Surebleak port’s upgrade application. And Lady yo’Lanna asks Val Con to rent her a house on Surebleak. Will Korval and Surebleak survive as all these disasters pile up at once?Recent books have been setting up some of these events, or tying up a few lose ends. Now everything is happening at once. But Korval is resourceful. And lucky. And the Tree likes Emissary Twelve.So, much is resolved. But a few new threads are set running for the next book, too.

Whilst I do like the Liaden Universe,it has become recently VERY constricted and restricted,stories are set on Surebleak to the exclusion of the "Go Forth and Explore" that was a great feature of the earlier tales.There is a limit to the interest to be generated from the Bedel,the Road Bosses, and the general restriction of the MAIN plot lines to Surebleak and its problems,which are rather like a Wild West town being cleaned up by an incoming Marshal.There is a WIDER Liaden Universe out there,it is,with respect,time for tales that "Boldly Go Where No Person Has Gone Before" rather than just have a minor aspect of"An Everyday story Of Country Folk". Time for a Re-Direction of emphasis!

getting ready for a great finale? maybe collecting the lost colony in "the tomorrow log"? maybe huge confrontation with all the lurking enemies? this text seems like a big deep breath before the fight...collecting all the players, placing them, and preparing them...nice to check in with everyone, before the next event...looking forward to it....small quibble: the term "stalking horse" is used wrongly; it does not mean "the prey you are stalking"...

Adds interesting details to the continuing conflict between korval and the dept of the interior…elucidates the strength and power of the dramliza, gives insights in the culture of the bedel, and moves us towards the endgame…adding clutch turtles, interior politics, terran trade groups and the association of the intelligent and sentient machines…fun read, good stuff…do not start here…read them in order…

Hard to remember that I struggled for a while with the first Liaden book I tried. The Lee/Miller team has extended the story both backwards and forwards, and this particular episode of the history of Clan Korval seems even richer in ideas than its predecessors while remaing a coherent whole story within the single book. The more I look into this series, the happier I become that while I have read a lot of them, I have quite a few to go.