Mouse & Dragon: Liaden Universe Space Regencies, Book 3

Mouse and Dragon is an immediate sequel to the events in Scout's Progress, and continues the story of Aelliana Caylon and Daav yos'Phelium. It is, in some ways, a bit easier to read than Scout's Progress, though we're still very much aware of the abuse that has occurred. If you haven't read Scout's Progress, you can still enjoy Mouse and Dragon, but they really are a pair and I recommend reading them that way.

In Mouse and Dragon, we have the ongoing growth of the relationship of Aelliana and Daav, and their eventual lifemating. More than that would be a spoiler, but we get a glimpse into the very beginning of what will be the Fledgeling (Theo Waitley) sequence.

The reader is Bernadette Dunne, and she does a superb job. Thank you, Ms. Dunne, for giving some of my favourite characters a voice.

This was such an emotional story, very strong and powerful not only for the main protagonists but also the side characters. The authors really don't let anything become weak or incidental, but never obvious. I have to confess at one point I had tears running down my face, it definitely has its tear jerker moment and one knew it was coming from the direction from previous books. It was well written and compelling and somehow, in spite of how it had to end, the authors left us with hope and continuation. Well narrated, and overall story enjoyable and hard to put down. Long live Korval!

This continues the story started in Conflict of Honors; the story of Daav and Aelliana, the parents of Val Con yos Phelium, the hero of Agent of Change. Well written, as usual, and Bernadette Dunne does a great job of narration. I do wish the entire series had the same narrators, but that is just a personal preference. SPOILER ALERT!!! I cried when I read about Val Con's reaction to his mother's death, as well as Daav's.