Crystal Soldier

by Sharon Lee

Other authorsSteve Miller (Author)

Paperback, 2007

Status

Available

Call number

Fic SF Lee & Miller

Publication

Ace (2007), Paperback, 352 pages

Description

Centuries in the past, mankind fought a seemingly unbeatable adversary from sector to sector across the Spiral Arm until the war ground to a standstill and the Enemy withdrew. Believing that they had won, the citizens of the galaxy rebuilt. The Inner Worlds, which had escaped the worst of the war's ravages, became even more insular, while the Rim worlds adopted a free and easy way with law and order. Now, hundreds of years after their withdrawal, the Enemy is back--and this time they'll be satisfied with nothing less than the extinction of the galaxy.

User reviews

LibraryThing member rocalisa

A few hundred years ago humanity fought a great war against an implacable Enemy. That Enemy then withdrew and most believed they were gone. Unfortunately, this is not true; they were only biding their time and building their strength and plans. Now they are returning.

Jela is a soldier,

specifically bred and trained to fight the Enemy. As the book begins, he is forced down during a space battle and finds himself stranded on a harsh, desert planet. He follows at long line for dead trees down a dry river to an equally dead sea. At the end, almost dead himself, he finds a small, barely living bush. Sharing his last water with the plant, he vows to save it if he possibly can, and when he is rescued he insists of taking the tree with him.

He soon finds himself on a special mission, tree in tow, in an attempt to discover the turn extent of the Enemy's plans and weapons. Trying to make a contact, he instead finds himself in the company of pilot Cantra, a trader of somewhat dubious intent. They soon find themselves caught up in murder and mayhem, forced to rely on each other, despite their secrets and necessary distrust, first to survive and eventually to save the galaxy.

To both the characters in and the readers of Lee and Miller's Liaden series Jela and Cantra are figures of legend, the couple who headed the Great Migration, founded Liad and established both Clan Korval and its famous tree. In this latest edition to their growing mythology, Lee and Miller go back in time to tell the "true" story and Jela and Cantra. Both a real people, different from how myth has painted them and fascinating to met, both in their successes and their failings.

This is the first half of a single story and it reads as one. While the immediate issues are solved within its pages, more is set up and the reader is left wanting more. As with all Lee and Miller's novels that I have read, they refuse to spell things out for the reader, instead laying out all the pieces of the puzzle and trust their readers to put it together. Because of this, I always feel a little stupid after reading one of their books as I'm never sure if the picture I have created is the one they intended. All the same, I know I "got the drift".

I was both delighted and frustrated as I tried to figure out who each group of characters introduced were both in the current story and who their descendants must have morphed into in the Liaden universe I am familiar with. The Yxtrang and the Dramliza's origins (and the latter was a much bigger surprise than the former) are perhaps the easiest, but there are also hints to the ancestors of the Scouts, Traders and other groups we've met before, including Jethri's father's family in Balance of Trade.

As for the main characters, I love them all. Jela and Cantra are fascinating people and discovering their strengths, weaknesses and secrets was a most pleasant pastime. All the same, by favourite character of them all had to be Jela's Tree. It might only be a shrub in a pot at present, but already there are hints of the majestic and enigmatic specimen it will become.

All in all, this was another great Lee and Miller novel and I'm now hanging out for its other half to make it complete. I don't think I would recommend it as a place to begin. I think the story does stand well on its own, but the reader will miss the delights of fitting the pieces together to match the picture already created in the previous books.

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LibraryThing member amf0001

I love the Liaden series and re-read it often. I'm falling into this world too, I find it interesting to see how the characters/cultures differ from the ones we are so familiar with in the 'now' as opposed to that universe's ancient past when these books are set.

LibraryThing member Black_samvara

The Liaden Universe back story which means nothing to those people who haven't read and don't care but means everything to those of us who have learned to love this complex, beautiful world. I think it would also stand alone. Jela and Cantra are enticing characters, his mission to try and save the

galaxy combined with her determination to preserve self and ship at all costs makes for a fun story. Besides, Fate of the Galaxy! Wizards! Genetically enhanced super soldiers! Psychic vegetation! Cats! Mathematician death matches!

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LibraryThing member reading_fox

Very very first prequel and a suggested starting place for the series. This features one Jela, engineered human soldier, one his last mission against a faceless enemy - who may have provided many of the technologies that helped engeineer him. However these aliens/enhanced humans have renouced their

mortal stance and live as pure energy beings. They are attempting to destroy all matter in the universe, and despite suffering some early set-backs are now having notbale sucesses through the out arms of the galaxy - heading towards the centre where uhummanity is concentrated. Jela picks up a sapient tree en route, the last survivor of it's species that too has been fighting to preserve existance. Shortly afterwards he meets Cantra, a smuggler but ith enough if a sense of honor to aid given in kind.

Exellant story telling, and a full explanation of how Liaden came to be. Worthy addition to the series and well worth reading.

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LibraryThing member crazybatcow

I didn't even have to look at the author(s)... as soon as I started the book I knew it was a sci-fi written by a woman. Way more character development than my usual military sci-fi fare, and way too much "lollygagging at the views" for my personal tastes. Yes, it is all lovely to be thoughtful and

present during a scenic event, but... I went in thinking this was a military sci-fi where stuff got blown up and people swore at each other. There is a lot of coddling and hand-holding here. Oh, perhaps it is the "mystical" component that I didn't like... something anyway.

The story is kinda interesting - and the characters are well-developed. It just doesn't really fit into the genre I thought it was trying to fit into. I see now that it is a prequel to a more advanced series, which is fine (it read like a stand alone book), but I don't think it has enough action to stimulate a reader to keep reading in the series... nothing very thrilling occurs, and I finished the book wondering why I really care what they do in a future adventure.

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LibraryThing member LisCarey

M Jela is a soldier, genetically engineered, of the "M" strain. He's still young, but a hardened warrior, and very nearly gets killed in space battle with the Sheriekas, humanity's enemy returned after centuries of absence. The Sheriekas' distant ancestors used to be human; that hasn't been true

for a very long time. And the Sheriekas' plans for the galaxy, and the universe, are not compatible with human survival.

Cantra yos'Phelium is a jump pilot with a surprisingly well-armed ship, and a murky background.

They meet up by chance when Jela is trying to hook up with his intended contact, on a detached assignment intended to bring the war to the enemy, and Cantra is just seeking some enjoyable downtime on a stopover before taking off with her new cargo. Events lead to them fleeing the planet together, in Cantra's ship, with Dulsey, a batch-grown slave of the owner of the restaurant they dined at. Oh, and Jela's tree, a sentient tree he rescued off of the planet where he nearly died.

And their adventures have barely begun.

This is fast-paced space opera, with Lee & Miller's typically excellent pacing, mood, and character development. It's also a peek back at the origins of the Liaden Universe their fans have come to know and love. You don't need to be familiar with other books in the larger series, but if you are, there is some extra fun along the way in recognizing things that will be very significant to later generations.

What can I say but great fun, and highly recommended.

I bought this book.

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LibraryThing member kmartin802

This story is the beginning of the Liaden Universe. Characters who are legends in the new (in the timeline) Liaden books are the main characters in this one with all their strengths and flaws.

The story begins with an M series soldier named Jela on a planet that is dry and desiccated. His ship was

damaged and he was forced to land and hope for retrieval by his own forces. M type soldiers are generalists and explorers which means that Jela decides to explore while waiting for pickup and begins following a trail of fallen trees. He follows and watches the trees become smaller and smaller on their way down from the hills to what was once a river and now is just a dry bed. There at the end of his trail, with him running out of food and water, Jela comes upon a living tree - the sole survivor of its species.

When Jela is finally rescued, he brings the tree with him. He made it promises as they waited for pickup by his crew. Jela feels that the tree is able to communicate with him. It also provides him with edible seedpods.

Jela and the army he is part of have been fighting the enemy for all of his life. They are losing the war. The enemy has weapons that eat planets and they are determined to remove all life from the universe and remake it to their specifications.

Jela is chosen to be part of a last-ditch effort to slow the enemy down. It is on this mission that he meet Cantra yos'Phelium.

Cantra is a smuggler and the last of a line that was eliminated by its creators. She is on the run from those creators and trying to keep a low profile. She stops on a planet and decides that she needs some company which leads her to having dinner with Jela who was expecting someone else to dine with him. Warned by one of the servers that they are under observation, they end up having to fight off various enemies before they are able to escape from the planet bringing the server - a batch created slave named Dulsey - and Jela's tree with them.

After visiting the planet where Cantra has a cargo to drop off and running afoul with her buyer, they decide to take Dulsey to the one place where she might be safe. Cantra knows where the Uncle makes his home since he helped her get away from the creators who wanted to repossess her. The Uncle is trying to find a way to make the enemy's tech into weapons that humans can use to defeat the enemy. Jela doesn't believe that is possible or desirable. Uncle doesn't want to let either Cantra or Jela go since they could be useful to his plans. This leads to still another fight and another narrow escape for our heroes.

The story was filled with danger and action and intriguing characters. I loved seeing Jela and Cantra as humans rather than as icons. The narration was well done. I also enjoyed the interview of Kevin T. Collins done by Steve Miller which gave a lot of interesting information about how narrators work and also about how authors work.

The cliffhanger ending mean that CRYSTAL DRAGON has just gone on my "read NOW" list.

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LibraryThing member leslie.98

This entry in the Liaden series gives the reader the story of how Cantra yos'Phelium met Jela (and how Jela found his tree). It works well as a background to readers already familiar with the series or as a starting point.

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