STG's

Saltation, by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, is another book in the  Liaden Universe . I have read and reviewed  several of these before . Saltation is the sequel to Fledgling , and it starts as Theo Waitley is arriving at Pilot school. It then develops into what is mostly a teen prodigy school sequence, which is somewhat common in SF (still good, though) The story only has a few moments of action now and then, and ends introducing a problem with an AI ship and with Win Ton that will only be resolved in a sequel, and in almost the exact same scene for Theo from Korval's Game  . I was expecting something being solved in that area, but nope. The AI views in the Liaden Universe are kind of funny to me. Clearly they have near sentience or sentience in some devices (such as the repurposed war bot of Daav and Er Thom), but other than that they almost never appear, and even when they clearly should be doing a good work (piloting, for example) . It is a bit like they are...

Fledgling, by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, is another book in the Liaden Universe . I have read and reviewed several of these before . Fledgling focus on Theo Waitley, the daughter of Daav, although he has a different name - see the events of Mouse and Dragon for explanations. Reading it is not necessary but it helps. She lives in Delgado, a safe planet, with many cutely odd customs. She is very clumsy, which is a constant problem for her and her mother. But all of that is going to change... Fledgling is a nice book, albeit more "teen" than the others in the series. There are a few cutesy technologies added to the universe (AFAIK), such as the mumu for an advanced smartphone. It also starts a bit slow but speeds up along the way. Overall, I liked it, and it is worth reading if you are a fan of the series, and maybe even if you are not. You can get it DRM-free at Baen  .

Mouse and Dragon, by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller is another book in the Liaden universe. It covers Aelliana Caillon - who wins a ship and ends up with the Delm of Korval, Daav. The book was good, but the ending is sad, and feels a little silly. It is probably a good idea to read this first if you read Korval's Game - not strictly necessary, but some parts of it will make more sense. You can get it at Baen as an e-book .

Korval's Game , by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, is a SF/fantasy novel that takes place in the Liaden Universe. I have reviewed a couple of previous novels in the series ( Agent of Change  and  The Dragon Variation  . I have also read Mouse and Dragon, but neglected to review it), and I liked them both. Korval's Game takes place just after the events in Agent of Change, where The Department of the Interior of Liaden has decided to attack Korval and take over Liaden Government. I found this to be the best in the series, by far. Whereas most where romance novels with SF and battles thrown in, here the battles are more to the center. Pat Rin - which was a very minor character in the other books - has a nice side story which could almost be a separate novel, and ends up as a major player. It is recommended that you read the other book in the series first. It is probably not strictly necessary, but it would probably help to understand what was going on. The final ba...

  The Agent Gambit is another book in the Liaden Universe (I have previously read and reviewed The Dragon Variation ).   It focus on Val Con, from clan Korval, which is an Agent of Change - the term for a spy used by the Liaden ultra-secret department of the interior. They have very special training, including a mind tool called The Loop, and are very dangerous.   Val Con meets with a mercenary in trouble (from which goes to the somewhat excessive romantic theme in all these Liaden novels, it seems), and proceeds to get in trouble himself.   Interesting introdution to the Clutch (another race of aliens), as well as getting lost in a backwards planet - usually good fodder for SF.    Maybe a little too much time spent in the mind problems of Val Con caused by The Loop, but overall pretty good. I'm quite interested in seeing what will happen next to Clan Korval following the events in this book. Available on Baen, DRM-free

The Dragon Variation, by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, is a set of 3 stories set on the Liaden Universe. I don't think I ever heard of the Liaden universe before this book, but it came with a Webscription pack. As usual, I just dump all of them on my smartphone and whenever I finish all obviously interesting books, I look around at what else is available. These are quite on the side of love stories, but they were still good and quite enjoyable, even though the details of the universe's back story are a little confusing. There is also a mix of magic with the SF, but it works well enough. Recommended, and available DRM-free at Baen .