Fledgling

Fledgling by Sharon Lee and Steve Millar is a coming-of-age tale set partly in the academian world of Delgado, one of the Liaden Universe’s premier institutions of higher learning. It took me a little reading to become immersed in this setting and to be comfortable with these new characters after mostly reading about Clan Korval conflicts starring the fablous foursome of Val Con, Miri, Shan and Priscilla.

Theo Waitley as introduced here is a clumsy, awkward teenage who is being raised in a strict academic setting. It isn’t until she accompanies her mother on a trip to the planet Melchiza that she develops her abilities and that it is her destiny to become a starship pilot. While her parents spend most of the novel investigating a show more conspiracy involving fraud, Theo tries to understand what is expected of her and what she wants for herself.

By the end of the book I had a better understanding of the connections that are being made here. I suspect that I started this section of the series slightly out of order, but the connection to Clan Korval is now apparent. Fledgling is a character driven space opera with an interesting blend of adolescent and adult perspectives, and I am now quite eager to spend more time with Theo in the future. show less

At the age of fifteen, Theo Waitely is disconsolate at having to leave her Father's house in the suburbs to accompany her Mother to the Wall, the area occupied by the dedicated scholars of Delgado University. Even more disconcerting, she isn't allowed to call Jen Sar Kiladi, the man she's has always regarded as her father, as 'Father' anymore: according to the laws of Delgado a minor child is totally under a Mother's control. In her new home, Theo struggles more than ever to conform. Already flagged as having 'physical limitations', in reality nothing more than clumsiness, but limitations which in the safety conscious and stultifying world of Delgado are more of a problem than might be expected. A seemingly straightforward sporting show more accident starts to have menacing overtones as the all seeing Safety warns Theo: 'You need to have a serious talk with your mentor, Ms Waitley. You can't help having physical limitations. However you do have an obligation to society to ensure that your limitations don't harm other people.'

In the meantime, Theo's mother Kamele is wrestling with problems of her own, as discovery of some falsified documents in the University library suggests the presence of a conspiracy which threatens the integrity of the University as a whole, and necessitates a trip to the very different planet of Melchiza.

This is a fun read, but rather more of a YA book than the [Agent of Change] sequence which is where I began with the Liaden Universe. show less

(LT recommended)

Having read enthusiastic exchanges on LT about the books in the Liaden universe, I put the series on my TBR pile; but I was hard put to find the books at the library. I finally managed to get my hands on a few of them, of which [Fledgling], though not one of the first of the books, is, at least, the first of a sub-series within that universe.

Fledgling is set on Delgado, famous for its university and academics and which is deemed a 'safe world'; this means that everything is strictly regulated (to a point of ridiculousness, from a 21st century viewpoint), everyone is taught how to be a team player, and the culture is to conform to what is considered best for everyone as a whole.

For fourteen year old Theo Waitley, show more everything seems to be going wrong. All her life, she has lived in a house with a garden, with her mother, Professor Kamele Waitley, and her House Father, Jen Sar Kiladi. Suddenly, her mother decides to move back to the Wall, where most academics live, so everything Theo has ever known, including her relationship with Father, has to change.

Theo has always been considered 'physically challenged' or 'clumsy', and her mother is under constant pressure to put her on mild medication to control this. The couple of incidences of her 'clumsiness' in the story, however, indicate that the other person is at least as much at fault, but because of the notes in her file, Theo is the one who gets the blame - and more notes added to her file.

Then Kamele has to go off-planet on a research trip, and decides, in Theo's best interest, to take her along - and whole new worlds, both shipboard and planet-side, open up for Theo.

I found this an engaging book, with an intriguing concept of a futuristic society, and I enjoyed discovering other cultures with Theo. However (and this is more a fault of my expectations), I kept waiting to find out what the buzz was about the Liaden universe, but I never really did. There were a couple of times that Theo was identified on sight by other people as a Liad, but I couldn't tell how, or why it would make her special. Other than that, there was nothing that marked it, to me, as part of the Liaden canon, but maybe someone who has read the other books would spot it.

There's an amusing passage which (I hope) would be the opposite of a conversation I'd have with my kids, when Theo wants to make herself a cup of tea and finds a machine instead:

Kamele's frown got deeper, and Theo felt her stomach clench.

"This is the kitchen that most people eat out of," she said sternly. "It amused Professor Kiladi to bypass the kaf and cook meals from basic ingredients, and I saw no harm in allowing him to teach you something of the art, since you were interested. If I had foreseen that you would scorn plain, honest food out of the kaf-"

Unfortunately, though it is the start of Theo Waitley's adventures, this was probably not the best place to dive into the Liaden universe as a first book.

Another LT-er has pointed me towards the Baen website, where there is a free e-book of Agent of Change, which is the first Liaden book. I will certainly be investigating that.

Three and a half stars show less

I'm glad that Lee & Miller are back in Liaden, because their excursion into an origin story was disappointing.

Unfortunately, this book is for devotees only, maybe a side effect of the on-line publishing and revision by subscription.

It is great to be back in this world, but I wish we had a story. We follow Theo through the school day and various experiences (not quite "adventures") until she gets back. She makes a few decisions to defy her mother, but those turn out to be reasonable choices. She's exceptional and is still figuring it out. That's about it.

This feels like a vastly expanded character study for a later Liaden "thrills and romance" book. It is 100 pages until we get something that moves the plot forward and 200 until we get a show more twist. The last third of the book picks up tempo a bit.

Finally, I'm just not convinced about Theo. Someone who's lived in that society her whole life shouldn't be that clueless and Lee & Miller give some sort of "she's special" hint and go on. And how can she be startled by the spartan apartment when all her friends live in identical ones?

None of the Liaden background is explained, so a lot of this will go over the heads of people new to the series, an odd decision for their first book with a major publisher. You get that "Pilot" is special, but no one explains "Scout" or "Balance", and there is no indication that Theo has any idea what that means.

The non-Theo characters are better drawn than Theo and the worldbuilding is fine, if a little over-the-top.

I'm hoping that this new series will eventually lift off, but this first book is a ground-hugger. show less

Fun. It was actually a little difficult to read, since I'd read the first draft as it was written (posted chapter by chapter on the Web). The differences are major in some spots - like exactly what happened with Theo on Melchiza (there was no school in the draft), or the business with Roni and her mother, which never got concluded in the draft. Other things are just slightly different, like Win Ton's apology - in the final, he stretches out his explanation even more. Poor Kamele. The draft was a fun story, but it left a lot of loose ends, including some I didn't even realize - I saw no connection between Kamele's investigation and the Serpent, for instance, and thought Jen Sar's dealings with Roni were in the nature of Balance for her show more attacks on Theo. The book makes the connections I missed, ties up a lot more loose ends, expresses itself more clearly and elegantly, and remains at least as fun as the draft. It was great, and I'm glad I forgot about it until Saltation came out so I can read the two of them in one go. Fledgling ends nicely, with Theo readying herself to take the next step but with the storylines established here pretty well ended - or at least at a resting point. But it's nice not to have to wait, even a month or two. show less

I got this and another book in the series free as ebooks from the Baen Books site. If you google it, I think it's still available. I was unimpressed by Agent of Change. It was readable with likable characters but seemed to me rather generic space opera romance. Plus, it annoyed me by ending on somewhat of an unfinished note. I was left feeling happy I hadn't paid for the book and thinking I sure wouldn't pay for more. But I still had Fledgling on my iPhone so I gave it a shot.
I liked this book much more, It made me feel, yes, I would look for more of this author, of this series, and it would be worth paying for. This isn't high-concept science fiction with mind-blowing ideas, no. But I loved Theo Waitley--this works as YA in a lot of show more ways even if not completely from her point of view. And the authors play with interesting ideas about safety versus freedom and gender roles. I'm very glad I gave this a read. show less

Listening to this book made me realize that I should dip into straight up SF more often. I don't remember buying the book, nor did I realize that it's sort of "out of series order" when I listened to it, so I must've gotten it from one of Audble's many sales.

It took a while to get the hang of how things work in the Liaden universe, but the process of discovery was enjoyable. I'm particularly interested to learn more about how gender roles developed there to the point that young people might tell each other they need to "woman up" in the way those in our society say "man up." Clearly it's more complex than a simple reversal of typical gender roles.

I look forward to reading more of this series, but in the order recommended by the author!