Crystal Dragon: Liaden Universe Books of Before, Book 2

Crystal Dragon continues the story (begun in Crystal Soldier) of Cantra yos'Phelium (the Dragon) and M. Jela (the Soldier), and of the great migration that creates the Liaden Universe. If you haven't yet read Crystal Soldier, stop now and read it first.

In Crystal Dragon, Cantra must transform herself to go deep under cover and save the mathematical equations of Scholar Liad dea'Syl. With these equations, and the luck, some may survive and escape the decrystallization of the universe by the sheriekas. That she succeeds, and that it leads to the founding of Clan Korval, is at no time certain while reading the book.

This is the second book in the Books of Before sequence on Audible. These three books are very much a prequel to the mainline Liaden Universe books in the Agent of Change sequence. The narrating of the Before books by Kevin T. Collins is superb. Each character has a distinctive voice, but the distinction is subtle and doesn't interfere with the narrative. The Liaden Books of Before are my first encounter with Mr. Collins' narration, but I certainly hope not my last.

This book is in the middle of the pack. I like the story but the performance badly damaged it for me.

This story concludes the founding of the Liaden universe and explains how a reasonable subsection of humanity came to a place far from their origins. Mostly the story is pretty well told, but sometimes the flaws in characters are beyond belief. A person who is a general expert on just about everything who can handle complex mathematics and espionage who is also bonded to a sentient alien that defended a planet doesn't seem like the sort of person who would dismiss its communications as an irritant. Hard to believe the people who associated with the alien never bothered to talk to it. Is it cargo or something? Are they supposed to be that stupid? Now I understand why people write fan-fic.

How a story is perceived and the opinion you form of the characters is hugely influenced by the voice that you give to each person. A character can be benign, or angry, or calm, or casual all while saying the same thing. I found the choices made in this performance to be very detrimental to the stature of the characters. Contra is almost always played with a southern US accent and on the edge of anger. If you actually went through your life always on the edge of yelling or threatening you'd get nowhere. It certainly isn't how a person of poise and capability presents themselves. In the Liaden universe character and poise are a big deal and these first books are supposed to be the foundation of that universe. When Contra is supposed to sound like a young woman of refined origins she sounds like a quavering seventy year old. Maybe the reader never met a couple of high end combat pilots, he'd have done himself a favor if he had. Certainly the RAF pilots I knew were all very assured and confident. When you do have the capacity to unleash mayhem you don't shove it in everyone's face. The text also says when she's turning on the accent, it isn't necessary to use the accent for everything she says and for all the narration. People's internal voices are not burdened with a thick accent.

When I read this book found some of it very touching, but listening to it on a long drive through CA, OR, WA and in to Canada... well now I'm sorry I didn't just hand my wife the book and let her read it. We spent a lot of time laughing at odd pronunciation. I'd have to listen to it all again to identify the particular words, but the problem is that it pulls you out of the story and suspends the disbelief.

Listening to the performers interview with one of the authors made me want to give him a break. Dude, you aren't baritone. You are tenor. But I just found the performance too disappointing. It spoiled the book and made me less forgiving of some of the issues in the story.

This is a grand book, with fascinating characters and delightful dialog. It is well read and the reader checked with the authors on pronunciation of alien words, so it flows nicely and un-annoyingly. It does require Crystal Soldier be read (listened to :) first. And from there I believe you will have to continue in the series to see what happens next, unless you are made of stone. I shan't give away plot. Science fiction /fantasy ( and this is a great blend) should speak for itself.

I get the feeling that Sharon Lee and Steve Miller are under pressure to make their books more raunchy. This is not their forte'. The story of the pilots in this book is well written but the story of the villains was too S&M sexually centric which is an odd quality for universe destroyers. I would picture such a culture with lack of interest or empathy for life.

I also love their books but am getting pretty worn out of hearing the word "Pilot" as an overused pronoun.

Yes, if you like fantasy this was one of the better ones

Everything

There were so many where would I start

Yes I found it very difficult to take a break - the narrator was great

You need to listen to Crystal Soldier the first book in Great Migration Series (only two books in this series) which I also thoroughly enjoyed.

I'm really sorry that there is not another book in this chapter of the Liaden Universe.

This is my least favorite of the Liaden universe series. Rool Tiazen and his lady - just different, and confusing if you haven't read the previous book (Crystal Soldier). Though this book takes place before the others, it was written later, and I think it is easier to understand if you have read the others first. In other words, read in order of publication, not chronological order. The narrator is excellent! Great job!