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Local Custom  By  cover art

Local Custom

By: Sharon Lee, Steve Miller
Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
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Publisher's summary

The first of the seven books set in the Liaden Universe tells a rich and sweeping story of warring families and star-crossed lovers in a fantastic, other-world galaxy.

©2001 Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Local Custom

Average customer ratings
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  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Classic Heyer-esque Romance with Cultural Clash

Think of a classic Georgette Heyer Regency, add in a big dose of language and cultural misunderstanding, a dash of real danger, and a healthy dollop of good characterization, and you have Local Custom. A wonderful Space Regency, if you will. Set fairly early in the of Clan Korval, Local Custom tells the story of Er Thom yos'Galan, Master Trader and thodelm of Korval, and Anne Davis, Linguistics Scholar and Terran.

This book can be read without having read any of the other books in the Liaden Universe, and is thus one possible entry point. It's a delightful story that I did not want to stop reading, and had me driving the long way around more than once. The reading is by Bernadette Dunne, and that's all you really need to know. Ms. Dunne is a superb reader and it's a pleasure to have her for the reading of the three Space Regencies in the Liaden Universe.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

One of my favorite Liaden novels

I was so happy to see that Audible hired Bernadette Dunne to read "Local Custom". It had been the only Liaden novel available on audio for a long time, and although it had been read with love by its first narrator, the art of producing audio books hadn't really reached the quality of current standards. I've listened to Bernadette Dunne read "The Sharing Knife" series by Bujold and I love her work. She does this one proud.

One nice thing about the Liaden books is the wide variety in plots and characters. While many are decidedly of the space opera variety, this one is focused on Liaden customs and is a romance. There is little "action" and lots of parlor room politics. If that is not to your taste, it is easily skipped. If it is, you will probably reread it many times, as I have.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Narrators make a big difference

I have read every book of this series. Bernadette Dunn is an excellent narrator. I have listened to many books she has narrated and her voice makes a big difference. She is clear and her characters are easily recognizable. I find that changing narrators change the books. In later books it gets disjointed as same characters are read so differently that they are barely recognizable from book to book with narrator changes. In this series she does "Local Custom" and "Mouse and Dragon."

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Character(s) is so stupid! Frustrating.

I'll likely read this book in its entirety, but 7 chapters in, I'm so frustrated by the two main characters that I'm moving on.

One character is a Laiden master trader and the other a Terran professor. Yet neither of them can seem to understand that there are other views outside their own world views. How can any person reach near the top of a professional hierarchy and be so frustratingly stupid? Not ignorant, just stupid.

While I like the writing of some of this series, I can't bring myself to continue at this time. Out of the 2700+ scifi books I've read, I've only dropped a book 6 times.

If you've read this book yourself and had similar issues, yet read it through, please comment and let me know if it got a LOT better or not. I dislike leaving stories incomplete and will struggle through if there is hope.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Slow, drawn out and quite boring

What disappointed you about Local Custom?

Progression of the story was slow and no real explanation as to why there are different families/houses.

Would you ever listen to anything by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller again?

I had such high hopes due to the extraordinary rating, however the writing, character development and explanation of the "worlds" left me feeling like so much was missing. If the first book in a series is set in this manner, I would not be encouraged to listen to more written by these authors.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

The narration was "ok". There were times where the voices were so similar that I did not know which character was speaking. This of course caused confusion and just left me frustrated.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment....I really was wanting this to be a grand "space" opera and the lack of description, character development and poor narration made me delete the book before finishing it.

Any additional comments?

While I understand that this book received high praises from many other listeners, the writing and narration simply did not invoke of a feeling of attachment or love for any of these characters

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Love! And Bernadette Dunne is fantastic!

Local Custom is a wonderful continuation of the Liaden Universe & it was great seeing/hearing Sean as a young boy. Ms Dunne is a master in her field- warm & wonderful performance.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant narration for star-crossed lovers

The narration really brings this story to life. I wish Bernadette Dunne could have done all the Liaden books! Wonderful worldbuilding, good characters, and sci fi romance at its finest.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Intrigue, romance, and family drama

Er Thom yos'Galan is well aware that Liaden law and custom require him to marry the contract wife his clan chooses for him, and produce an heir for his line. Unfortunately, some three years ago, Er Thom fell in love with a Terran woman, Anne Davis, a professor of linguistics on the world called University. He parted from her, giving her a farewell gift, but unfortunately has not forgotten her, as one is supposed to forget pleasure loves. His refusal to marry as instructed risks creating a scandal.

When Er Thom breaks ranks even further, and heads off to University to see Anne one last time, he discovers the makings of an even more dangerous scandal--Anne gave birth to a son from their affair, a son she has named Shan yos'Galan, in honor of his father.

A yos'Galan outside the authority and protection of Clan Korval.

What follows is an epic family conflict--between Anne and Er Thom, about taking Shan to Liad, and between Er Thom and his mother Petrelia, over whether Anne and her child will be accepted. Caught in the middle is Daav yos'Phelium, Delm of Clan Korval, who loves his foster brother, but respects Petrelia's rights as head of her line.

Lurking in the background is a danger they don't suspect, Liaden forces (an early manifestation of the Department of the Interior?) outraged by the research Anne and a Liaden linguist, Professor ter'Bana, have done, showing that the Terran, Liaden, and Yxtrang languages have a common root language. These purists are also, of course, outraged by the idea of Terran-Liaden intermarriage, a view in which they are not alone in Liaden society.

This purists are also, of course, perfectly willing to use Shan as an expendable tool to get what they want.

This is a nice mix of intrigue, romance, and family drama, and a great look at a younger Er Thom and and a younger Daav.

Recommended.

I bought this book.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

An entertaining delivery.

I very much enjoyed the narrators subtle use of an accent when speaking as Anne Davis, and her Shan sounded very child-like, which was very much appreciated.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A universe where manners really count.

If you could sum up Local Custom in three words, what would they be?

Interesting, compelling, rewarding

What does Bernadette Dunne bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Bernadette Dunne is fabulous in this recording. Her vocal rendition of the various characters is brilliant. Kept me interested and eager.

Any additional comments?

Bit disappointed at the hints of a sad deviation into fantasy and that will probably stop me moving further into the series which is a shame but while I love Sci Fi, talk of magic and fantasy stuff leaves me cold. It didnt really come into this story but does lay the groundwork and just seemed to be a cop out in a very science based story.

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