It's nice to see the mass-market publishers noticing
Miller & Lee again after so many years (this volume is actually the first
half of Meishe Merlin's original omnibus
volume, Pilot's Choice). My recommendation
is to puchase the MM volume, though this one might make a nice give-away
to acquaint friends with the Liaden Universe though it's not the story i'd
choose for that -- Conflict of Honors (contained in
Partners in Necessity) would be my choice
in that regard, i think, were it available in a similar stand-alone
version.
"Local Custom" is the story of the parents of Shan yos Galen (Captain of
the Dutiful Passage in stories from Conflict of Honors onward): Terran
linguistic Scholar Anne Davis and Er Thom yos Galen, and the problems they
both face when Er Thom brings her home to the Korval Clanhouse and declares
her his lifebonded wife and accepts their son Shan as hsi true son and
heir.
In addition to the problems he faces in the ordinary way of things in introducing
a Terran wife and half-Terran son into Liad's haughty society, many of the
highest of whom look upon Terrans as little better than animals, there are
added problems and dangers. Scholar Davis's completion of the lifework of
a deceased Liaden colleague clearly demonstrates a common ancestor tongue
for Liaden, Terran and even Yxtrang, the language of the barbarous Yxtrang
raiders.
This is simply Not Acceptable to the snobs of the Liaden ton, challenging
as it does the assumption that Liadens are the highest form of humanoid life;
even less so is it acceptable to certain shadowy agencies whose isolationist
goal is to assure that Liad remain "pure", untouched by "inferior" alien
influences. |
