Been reading the hell out of the Liaden books. Eased into the series with Fledgling a while back, but never bothered with the rest of them until recently. I read like six of these books in the last month.
Great books, a lot of fun. The best description I could give is it's like Bujold's Vorkosigan series, with somewhat less action, more romance, and the politeness slider set to max.
As a huge fan of the Liaden series, I'm always happy to see someone else get hooked on them. The Liaden novels are about a space opera universe and a wealthy family of traders, Clan Korval, who are part of a particularly snooty culture but are themselves powerful outsiders. Things kick off when someone starts hunting down said family and from there it's time for romance, SF action, and all manner of derring-do. I've been recommending it to folks who have run out of Bujold to read and it seems to go over well as a romance heavy rendition of the Vorkosigan series. And, yes, the politeness slider is set to max. Also: Space turtles are completely freakin' awesome.
Tim the Wiz said:
You've perked my interest. Do you recommend going in publication order?
I got into the series via publication order and definitely recommend going that way. Here's a quick Liaden guide:
01 - Agent of Change
02 - Conflict of Honors
03 - Carpe Diem
These were the original three Liaden novels from the late 80s. Agent of Change introduces Val Con of Clan Korval and plucky mercenary Miri Robertson, then immediately sends them on the lam from insidious forces, which continues in Carpe Diem. Conflict of Honors is the first of many novels that will take a break from the main action to introduce another member of Korval; one of the strengths of the series is how the authors like to flesh out damn near everyone in sight. This is fine, so long as you expect diversions and aren't overly focused on wondering what's going on in the main timeline.
Unfortunately, sales weren't great and the series was canceled but people liked and remembered the series and, once the authors discovered this, they begin self-publishing chapbooks and rekindling interest in Liaden. This lead to the novels being put back in print and new Liaden novels being written a decade later:
04 - Plan B
05 - Local Custom
06 - Scout's Progress
07 - I Dare
Plan B picks up the main storyline where Carpe Diem left off and provides a conclusion. At this point, the authors begin delving into the backstory, with Local Custom and Scout's Progress helping flesh out the previous generation of Clan Korval. I Dare follows a peripheral character with events parallel to the action in Plan B. At this point, the main storyline stops and we go into more backstory.
08 - Balance of Trade
09 - Crystal Soldier
10 - Crystal Dragon
Balance of Trade is the only novel in the series I haven't read yet, and it's sitting on my bookshelf looking hurt and lonely as we speak. My understanding is that it's a set well before the main series and is aimed at a younger audience, so I haven't felt terribly left out. Crystal Soldier and Crystal Dragon are a way-back prequel that shows the origin of Clan Korval. They're pretty decent reads, but are strictly for the hardcore fans at this point. I don't reckon it would hurt to skip all three of these.
11 - Fledgling
12 - Saltation
13 - Mouse And Dragon
14 - Ghost Ship
At this point the series was back out of print, but once again the authors kick started things by self-publishing Fledgling and Saltation as serialized novels on their website. This got them a contract with Baen who have begun publishing new adventures and reprinting the earlier novels. Hurrah! As for the novels themselves, Fledgling and Saltation are straight-up
bildungsroman, but very pleasantly so. They introduce a new member of the family, Theo Waitely, and by the end of Saltation we're back to the ending of Plan B. Mouse and Dragon is a direct sequel to Scout's Progress. Then there's the latest novel in the series, Ghost Ship, which picks up from the ending of Plan B and kicks off the next phase of the Liaden series. The sequel, Dragon Ship, is being written as we speak.
In addition to the novels, there have been a whole slew of chapbooks published, each containing a short story or two, that provide fun if not terribly essential adventures that help flesh out the universe. Two omnibus editions, Adventures in the Liaden Universe Volumes 1 & 2, are well out of print, but digital editions are available through either Baen or Amazon. For the reading order and details, I'm going to punt and point towards the
Wikipedia entry.
TL;DR: Baen has the Liaden novels back in print as a series of omnibuses:
Omnibus 01 -
The Dragon Variation (Local Custom, Scout's Progress, Conflict of Honors)
Omnibus 02 -
The Agent Gambit (Agent of Change and Carpe Diem)
Omnibus 03 -
Korvals' Game (Plan B and I Dare)
You can start with either The Dragon Variation, which contains three stand-alone novels of SF romance that predate the main action, or jump straight into The Agent Gambit, where the plot proper kicks off, followed by Korval's Game, and then get back to The Dragon Variation later. I'd probably recommend the latter.
Whew! I didn't mean to ramble on about the Liaden series so much, but hopefully it'll help recruit some converts.
FnordChan, proselytizing for all he's worth
