Another story out of the Liaden Universe, down-and-out Terran spacer Priscilla Mendoza, abandoned and then chased by a dishonest employer, teams up with Val Con’s brother Shan, who really doesn’t have any life-threatening problems until he meets Priscilla.
Betrayal, gunfights, homour, and romance, what’s not to like? Once again, the Liaden Universe features a book with the fast pacing and adventurous space operas reminiscent of the SF series. Priscilla Mendoza, an outcast of her world and sentenced as dead has been betrayed by her shipmates and left in an abandoned warehouse in a rarely docked spaceport. It’s only her luck, and the strange purposes of Shan yos’Galan which throws them together and allows her to seek revenge. However, even that may not be enough because her previous Liaden employer is certainly cunning enough…and crazy enough, to kill both her and Shan yos’Galan off.
This was a pretty fun read, but not really as good as “The Scout’s Progress”, another Liaden book I have. I was expecting something around it’s caliber, however, for an SF book, this doesn’t entirely disappoint. Like I mentioned, the fast pacing and the unexpected twists here and there does spice things up. And the romance peeking from the corners here and there, mostly coming from Shan, but sometimes from Priscilla, does make you turn pages just so you can figure out how they’re progressing in this unexpected tendre they find themselves in.
However, the drawbacks in the book are that the characters aren’t actually fleshed out all that well. Like with Shan, he’s mostly all flash and not enough meat. He blabbers on like a maniac while still making sense, however, he doesn’t really reveal much of his own character. All you get from the man is that he talks like a magpie, is incredibly rich and intelligent, and is half in love with Priscilla.
Priscilla, again, shallow characterization. Most of the time, she’s got no idea that Shan’s in love with her. She mostly gives off the feeling of every man for herself. She’s too closed off to be appropriately reciprocating. The hardest knot to loosen here is the romance angle they were trying to push. C’mon, it was a half-hearted effort at best. If all they were going to do was mention it here and there, then they should’ve just left it off altogether and concentrated on the fights and twists going on around them. All in all, an awkward book, but interesting enough to merit being read, but don’t expect anything more.
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