Crystal Dragon

Having escaped the enemy for the moment, Cantra, Jela, and the Tree have to make some big decisions--the first of which is whether they're sticking together while Jela keeps his promise to Rool Tiazen and his lady, to get and distribute Liad dea'Syl's equations that hold the only hope of defeating or escaping the Sheriekas. Once they're all committed, things start to go a little haywire. Liad is inside a scholars' tower, Osabei, on Landomist. It's an inner world, and has harsh laws about the genetically engineered, like Jela. Getting in to Osabei is going to take Cantra taking on a whole new identity--and believing it, right down to the core. Jela knows why they're there; Cantra doesn't even know who they really are.

And the Sheriekas show more are still after them, and there's an enemy from Cantra's past inside, and then Tor An yos'Galen young Trader pilot whose home star system has just been destroyed by the Sheriekas, shows up looking for an old friend of his grandmother...

As they gather their allies and their enemies close in, Jela, Cantra, and Tor An all learn unsettling things about themselves, their own pasts, and what they're really willing to do. The Tree, too, is learning, sharing its ideas via images, and engaging in unauthorized biopharmacology without prior discussion.

The Great Migration is about to happen, if they can live long enough, and get enough of the human species moving.

This is another enjoyable Liaden adventure, and some of the fun in this one is recognizing people and things that will be important in the history of the chronologically later books and stories.

Recommended.

I bought this book. show less

The universe is being folded into crystal, all life drained away and frozen into sterile shards by the Iloheen. Whole solar systems are disappearing, and humanity is fighting a losing, ever retreating battle. Only a handful have the courage, strength and intelligence necessary to fight back, but at some point they too will need to turn and run... but where, and how....

The second book of the Liaden Migration, this probably would have made a shade more sense if I'd read the first installment first. Nevertheless, once past the first chapter - which does set things up for later, but confused me royally initially - I settled in to enjoy the relationship between Jela and Cantra, to snicker and cringe as Tor An gets a lesson in the real world, show more and laugh as Cantra and politics learn to cope with one another.

Great world-building, and even the habitual odd wording reads normally after a while. After all, language shifts a bit over the millennia, right? show less

I enjoyed listening to CRYSTAL DRAGON. It is one of the Liaden books that I don't reread very often. I find the sections that have to do with the formation of the dramliz and their conspiracy to defeat the Iloheen hard to understand and hard to connect with. Once the story switches to Cantra and Jela and to Tor An yos'Galan, I enjoy the story much more.

This continues the story begun in CRYSTAL SOLDIER and concerns itself with trying to find the mathematician Liad dea'Syl who might have the math that will let some humans survive the war begun by the Iloheen - called the sheriekas by the humans.

Cantra and Jela have to infiltrate an assemblage of scholars which requires Cantra to forger herself and assume the personality of a traveling show more math scholar. they find a situation filled with treachery and self-interest. It is also the location where they meet Tor An who has come to report that the Ring Stars have disappeared. Since that is where his whole family lives, Tor An is devastated and wants someone else to also care. He finds the military uninterested in one more loss of planets and concerned with withdrawing into the inner worlds in hopes of surviving.

Jela has long been associated with one part of the military that sees what is happening and is still trying to do something to stop the enemy's invasion.

This is also the story where the planned evacuation of Solcintra occurs and tells about the contract with the houses of Solcintra and the formation of Clan Korval. It introduces some family lines that still continue into the rest of the books including the dea'Gauss.

I liked the action in the story. I liked the characters especially Jela. I liked that he becomes the Founder of the Clan despite falling in rear guard action that lets Cantra, the tree, and his unborn child escape. I really liked Cantra who is both smart and honorable and who keeps her promise to Jela to guard his tree.

The narration was well done and really pulled me in and kept me listening even to the confusing parts. show less

Crystal Dragon by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller. Second novel in the huge tome I'm wading through The Crystal Variation. This one was a bit less put together than the first - I still have no idea how the Liaden Universe got 'found' or 'made' or what - and I did reread pieces more than once. It never quite jelled for me what the 'dramliza' energy beings were doing...... but oh well..... the story/situation/characters were all terrifically fun, so I'm not going to be a spoilsport - so yeah, the science is fluffy, but that's not really the point of space opera, now is it? Should add that I read this as part of a huge book, 3 in 1 - Crystal Variations ****

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!

Excellant conclusion to the chronologically first two books of the Liaden universe., Explainaing how Liad came to be, the status of the high families and all the following stories.

Jela and Cantra meet some strange allies, rebels of the universe destroying aliens. The dramliza of future books. With their aid, and cantra's revelation that she is more than just a simple smuggler they manage to sneek onto philosophical world in order to setal some advanced mathmatical prrofs that may aid their sucessful escape form the enemy. The Dramliza however arenot all in accord and many options are open to them.

High action - for Liaden novel anway, and good fun. I'm still not convinced that this was a totally necessary plot to explain the Liaden show more universe - matter destroying aliens seems to be taking things a little far, but it is internally consistant which is always the hallmark of a dedicated author. Well writen exciting and fun. show less

Lee, Sharon, and Steve Miller. Crystal Dragon. Liaden Universe No. 2. Baen, 2006.
Crystal Dragon is the second of the Great Migration duology, Crystal Soldier and Crystal Dragon, that gives the origin story for clan Korval, whose stories comprise much of the Liaden series. Over the years, I have picked up a Liaden book from time to time, paying no particular attention to publication order or narrative chronology. I believe that you need to have read some of the clan Korval stories first to appreciate the tropes that clutter Crystal Soldier and Crystal Dragon. The story lines of both books are muddled enough, even if you know where some of them are headed. In the end, I think that Balance of Trade, the third book in the chronological show more order, is a more reasonable place to begin reading this long series. Later books fill in the back story piecemeal, which for me has always been good enough. As for Crystal Dragon itself, it brings together the clan founders, Jela and Cantra, to rescue a mathematician who may have the key to saving the universe from an ancient alien race that is accelerating entropy. Jela still has his telepathic tree that will become the clan totem. It is science fiction that crosses the line into pure fantasy, and it all seems vaguely familiar, echoing such better writers as J. G. Ballard, C. J. Cherryh, Lois McMaster Bujold, and Roger Zelazny. Three and a half stars. show less