eBook Balance of Trade (A Liaden Universe Novel) download

I started this series down stream from the beginning, Crystal Soldier - Crystal Dragon and was cough up with the fasinating characters of Er Thom, Daav and Clan Korval family. This story occurres about 100 years after Crystal Dragon Cantra and about 200 years before Local Custom (my start, I strongly recommend reading this series in order). The Authors character development is from classic literature and their stories​ drama build slowly then pick up faster till you can't put the book down. This story is about to a young trader faced with the doom of his carrier until suff happens - typical drama and action of these most marvelous Authors - enjoy.

This is the tenth novel that I've read set in the authors' Liaden Universe, and the first of what I believe to be a duology of books centered on Jethri Gobelyn. I found both young Jethri and the book thoroughly agreeable. As with most of the Liaden Universe books that I've read, the story is easy reading, the characters well-drawn, the tone light. This book had an underlying warmth that made me feel welcome in the company of its characters. In this it reminded me particularly of another Liaden Universe book, "Conflict of Honors." Both books have a group of likable characters who help each other. Both books made me happy as I read them. This book felt slightly less exuberant and joyful than "Conflict of Honors," but that is a high bar to measure it against. Highly recommended.

Miller & Lee are among the few authors, along with Lois M. Bujold, whom I will purchase in hardcover the day they come out with a new book. I have not been disappointed in the past, and I'm not disappointed now.
If you haven't read others in their Liaden series, you can still read this and enjoy it - it's perfectly good cultural space opera (as contrasted to military space opera) in its own right. It's even more fun, though, if you read the other books as well. This one takes place in a setting slightly earlier, chronologically, than the books featuring Clan Korval, and has no characters in common - Korval is mentioned only once, in passing, as a clan that breeds pilots. So you don't have to know the back-story on all the characters in the previous books in order to know what the characters in this one are doing. There are some customs, however, which will strike you as odd if you haven't already been immersed in this universe.
Someone else described this as a coming of age novel, and in part it is, but not in a way that limits it to juvenile readers. (I recently read, and reviewed, a coming of age novel by another SF author, which was annoyingly juvenile, so I am pretty sensitive to the issue.) Our young trader apprentice is already a fully developed character in his own right, and the situations he faces are not simple, nor are the adults in the story merely bit players, nor buffoons when faced with youth, as is true of too many such novels.
Now, I have to get out of the way one thing I didn't like about this book: the cover art. I hate it. It makes the Terrans look awful, the Liadens look like short Episcopalian bishops in their robes, and further, doesn't seem to me to match the descriptions of the characters at all. There's a note about the artist in the back; I have to respectfully but firmly disagree with his conception of the characters. And with the really awkward poses he's got everyone in! OK, end of that little snit. Back to the story.
We start with Jethri Gobelyn, of the trading ship Gobelyn's Market. If you want to dash off and read Christina Rossetti's poem "Goblin Market" you can, but the connections are quite brief and tenuous; the poem won't give you any big clues to the story. There clearly are some clever details drawn from the poem, such as twin girls with names beginning with the same letter, but those details are in no way critical. So feel free NOT to go look up the poem if you hate poetry. Not knowing it won't make you miss out on any big poetic allusions in the book.
Jethri's family is slightly hillbilly - his name resembles Jethro not for nothing. They talk with country accents, they hold shivarees (spelled shivary here), and they have some risk of inbreeding... and I thought at first that I would be annoyed by that, because I don't like stereotypes like that - but they turned out not to be stereotypical hillbillies at all; they're great characters. Jethri's extended group of cousins are smarter than they look.
The last part of Jethri's secret becomes revealed only near the end of the book, although there are hints regarding it which may lead you to guess earlier. Let's just say that they make the question of "coming of age" more complicated.
There is also a family of Russians involved in slightly shady dealings, again not quite the stereotypes; Grigory, his sister Raisana (think Raisa Gorbacheva if you didn't recognize Raisana as a Russian name) and their uncle Yuri have some surprises up their sleeves.
Let's see, for those already involved in the series, some differences to note: no Yxtrang, not even a mention of them. Some technology from an earlier civilization that we haven't seen in the other books; this technology is described as unstable, so perhaps by the later books the last fractins have become useless. In some ways, I saw glimpses of the authors' other series, about Gem ser Edreth, in the Gobelyns - I could see the shipboard culture of these Terran trading ships sliding into the completely shipborn culture of the gen ships there, with both the culture and the physiology changing from the human norm. Even though these are two completely different series, there's a resemblance. There's also no noticeable romance in this book, no dramatic meetings of couples like Shan and Priscilla or Val Con and Miri. Closest to romance we get is Grig's girlfriend announcing she's pregnant, and we didn't get any details before that.
No military battles in this one; it's strictly trading and education. We don't even spend much time on ship, rather mostly on stations and on mud. When Jethri finds himself on a Liaden trade ship as an apprentice, he has to learn more Liaden than he knows, and has to learn all the various shades of bows. Those who are old enough to remember Keith Laumer's Retief series may remember the endless list of numbered facial expressions that the Corps Diplomatique had, after a while! Jethri runs across a Scout, with an odd sense of humor, as the Scouts always seem to have, but also meets a regular Liaden with a sense of humor, which is somewhat rarer. While Korval's always had an odd kick in its gallop, most of the other Liaden characters have been a bit humor-impaired; Tam Sin, however, has a full sense of the humor in irony and coincidence. For that matter, we do also meet a Scout with no sense of humor, also a rarity. Even Scouts, apparently, can be narrow-minded bigots more concerned with title, position, and perks than with curiosity.
There's a very nice cat in the book. Pay attention to Flinx, he's important!
I hope that's enough hints as to the characters and plot to get you reading. Trust me, this is not just a coming of age novel, and those of you who love developing detailed pictures of culture and language will have a blast with this book.

Well, Lee & Miller have done it again. Fans of Lee & Miller don't need me to convince them to buy this book. If you were somewhat disappointed with "I Dare", you certainly won't be disappointed with "Balance of Trade." You will be introduced to a very earnest (also honorable and likable) young man, terran Jethri Gobelyn, as he is apprenticed to liaden Master Trader ven'Deelin.
The story is set when terrans & liadens have recently encountered each others: well before the time of the recent Korval novels. Prior exposure to the liaden universe is not necessary for this novel.
The major plotline revolves around Jethri's apprenticeship as he attempts to learn both his trade and liaden culture. Other elements involve his relatives and his dead father's mysterious past.
Not only is this a welcome return to the liaden universe for old fans, but Lee & Miller do a great job in getting us to know Jethri. Quoting the introduction by Lee & Miller, "When Stephe Pagel at Meisha Merlin asked, 'what are you doing next?' Jethri jumped up and said, 'Me!'"
Well, Ms. Lee & Mr. Miller, we've greatly enjoyed Jethri's adventures. He feels like a good friend, and we are very much looking forward to seeing more of him and of Clan Ixin, which was foresighted enough to see in him what you saw (and wrote). You've told an excellent tale and told it well.

I had previously read 2 of the Liaden Universe stories covering other characters. This story is an excellent beginning of the whole Liaden series. I greatly enjoyed it because it filled in on some of the attitudes expressed in other of the series' books. I would like to see more stories which further explain some of the growing changes in attitude of public and clan members over what must be a lengthy time line. As an older adult who grew up reading Heinlein and others of the 1950's and 1960's, Lee and Miller are following in their footsteps. With all the philosophical/religious/political/political correctness and other problems in real life, this is an enjoyed respite.

In addition, it is a good beginning for young readers as an introduction to science fiction. One needs to start out with set rules before growing into the gray area of adult decision making. So too must science fiction readers. Speaking as a non writer,the Liaden stories lay a good foundation to explore future science fiction. To Ms. Lee and Mr. Miller - keep Liaden Universe alive for readers.