The Owner's Tale is full of surprises

I've already waxed lyrical about Holly Lisle's Tales from the Longview series and her two prequels, the Cadence Drake novels Hunting the Corrigan's Blood and Warpaint. Holly has just released the sixth and last novella in the Longview series, The Owner's Tale.

Here's the blub

When the truth comes out, who is left standing?

In this final episode of the series. the Longview reveals its secrets, Herog finds the path to protecting the City of Furies, and Melie discovers the truth about the ship she captains and the owner she serves.

***

I've read all the books in the series twice, so I obviously loved them. You can read my previous review here.

The final book delivered. The series is very well constructed, with each novella raising the stakes a little higher until the final battle in Viper's Nest, where Bailey's Irish Space Station (love the name) becomes the Longview's last ally against the combined might of the powerful Pact Worlds fleets. If that's not bad enough, the enemy's superhuman agents have infiltrated the space station itself. But against all odds the Longview and Bailey's prevail – at least for now.

The Owner's Tale is that final chapter of any good novel, where the loose ends are tied and the explanations are given. We're told the history of the Longview's owner and what the ancient ship, repurposed as a Death Circus which helps despotic planetary governments to get rid of free-thinkers, is really doing. 

The whole series is fascinating. The author has created a dystopian universe where powerful corporations and despotic governments control most of settled space. Added to that is the threat posed by the Legends, people with superhuman capabilities attained at a terrible cost. In many cases the Legends control the governments and corporations of the Pact Worlds. These formidable entities are opposed by individuals who ultimately must band together if they are to succeed.

One aspect of this future society that kept cropping up was the issue of sexuality. In this universe Humanity has accepted that 'male' and 'female' is a gross oversimplification. Same sex pairings are par for the course, no more unusual than heterosexual couples. Here's a short excerpt explaining what I mean. This is from The Philosopher's Gambit.

***

Laure was glancing at stats. “In her bio, she lists herself as Gender Three — female/female. She’s about the only one right now, isn’t she?”

“I’m G-5, not G-3, but close enough. She is the only female/female on the ship right now besides me. The fact that she’s uni and I’m poly, which would be a disaster, but fortunately it’s not going to be an issue.

“Confession here, though. When I hit rank clearance and got access to your rank-locked bio, I checked you out. I hoped…” Melie smiled. “Pretty and talented as you are, I’m sure everyone who hits rank equivalency hopes you might be available. Broke my heart when I saw you’re G-6.”

“I’m flattered that you looked,” Laure said. Then the other bio appeared, and Melie watched Laure look appreciatively at his holo. “Oooh, you’re so right about him. I can see that bit of dark you were talking about — he has fierce eyes. I love that in a man.”

***

Despite the fact that Tales from the Longview is dark and often brutal and confronting, the light of romance shines through much of the narrative. If you're a reader of SF with a romance arc, give it a try. 

Buy it at Amazon

This is my last post for 2018. I want to wish all of you a safe and peaceful Christmas and a great New Year. Here's a couple of my lorikeet friends saying it from the heart.

Looking forward to seeing you all in 2019.

 

I'm hooked - Tales from the Longview

Last week I reviewed the first two novellas in Holly Lisle's Tales from the Longview series. This week, I've read the other three and can't wait for the next one.

I had intended to devote a full post to each of the books, but while each novella is a stand-alone story, they are all interconnected and it would be hard to give a spoiler-free review. So I'll present the mini-blurb for each book and do an overall review.

I've already covered Born from Fire and The Selling of Suzee Delight. Here's the link.

The TALES FROM THE LONGVIEW Series Overview

Inhabited by a crew of misfits fleeing nightmare pasts, with a cargo of Condemned slated to die at the hands of the highest bidders, and with a passenger roster made up exclusively of people not who they claim to be, The Longview serves the hidden agenda of an eccentric recluse bent on playing puppet master to all of Settled Space. 

IN EPISODE 1: Born From Fire (originally Enter the Death Circus)

When love is crime, who will save the guilty?

After falling in love and fathering a child, a young criminal refuses to voluntarily throw himself into a lake of fire to gain his community's forgiveness. So he's sentenced to death and sold to the owner of a spaceship that buys criminals like him. But the ship and its crew are not quite what they appear to be.

IN EPISODE 2: The Selling of Suzee Delight

When slavery is virtue, who will fight for vice?

When Suzee Delight, famous Cheegoth courtesan, murders the five most powerful Pact Worlds' Administrators during a private summit, the owner of The Longview Death Circus struggles against conspiracy to win the bidding for her execution. Meanwhile, Suzee’s powerless supporters race to save her, while the leaders of worlds pull strings to guarantee her death.

IN EPISODE 3: The Philosopher Gambit

When the mighty are monsters, what will monsters become?

An exiled philosopher buys a pretty girl a dress for her execution, by doing so becoming a hunted, wanted man with a death sentence on his own head and killers on his trail. The secretive owner of The Longview intervenes, putting his crew in harm's way to bring the condemned into his inner circle—but the hunters are close behind.

IN EPISODE 4: Gunslinger Moon

When freedom is silenced, who speaks for it?

Ex-PHTF slave WE-39R (This Criminal, from Episode 1), renamed Jex, is part of a team the Longview’s Owner has tasked with finding the meaning behind Bashtyk Nokyd’s enigmatic final diagram. Drawing the most undesirable assignment, Jex and an unlikely ally fight their way to pieces of the truth.

 

IN EPISODE 5: Vipers’ Nest

When betrayal comes home, where does home hide?

With no place to run and their complete and utter annihilation the enemy’s only objective, Bailey’s Irish Station and the Longview’s crew stand together against the onslaught of enemies visible and hidden.

 

 

 

CONCLUDING IN EPISODE 6

With the lies revealed, what future remains?

The location of the City of Furies is discovered, Shay has to choose between the Owner and Melie, and the path to freeing Settled Space and protecting everything that matters falls on those who never sought the task.

Born from Fire wasn't the most compelling book I've ever read, but it did enough to intrigue me, and keep me reading. That's quite an achievement in itself. Apart from the Holly Lisle books (these and their predecessors, Hunting the Corrigan's Blood and Warpaint which are full, 100k word novels) I also started two other books, one fantasy, one cosy mystery, both well-written. They both hit the DNF pile. They couldn't grab my interest. As you can see, Holly's books did.

The Selling of Suzee Delight upped the pace. I was hooked. The series is brim-full of believable sci-fi tech. One example is 'origami points'. Most space operas have a way of moving quickly through space, be it worm holes, warp drives, or multiple dimensions. Holly's version envisages folds in space much as a piece of paper is folded in the Japanese art of origami. A point is a place where the layers are thin and ships can travel through them – with a considerable cost to the psyches of the travellers. Ship movements through these points are tracked using Spybees.

The ships use AIs and nanotechnology – for good and evil – is everywhere. There are no aliens but Humankind throws up the very worst enemies. Nanotechnology has been used to create the most monstrous, evil villains I've ever come across.

The books are full of twists and turns and unexpected shocks. The stakes are high for individuals and for groups of people we come to care about. And for those who'd like some diversity, there's plenty of that, and more than a smattering of romance. No sex, though.

After I finished my first read of the series so far (and leaving aside the two books I DNFed) I bought the two Cadence Drake books (Hunting the Corrigan's Blood and Warpaint) which set the scene for the Longview series. I'll tell you more about them next time. Obviously you don't need to have read those two books before you read Tales from the Longview. Indeed, each novella in the Longview series is stand-alone, with enough backstory added to make sense.

Did I have a favourite? After Born from Fire, they're all very good, with the odds raised in each episode. But I did particularly like Gunslinger's Moon, where Holly goes into a bit of sociology and discussions about what motivates people – but in a very entertaining way. I found myself nodding. A lot.

And now I've finished this blog post, I'll go and read the series again. Because I'm like that.

Tales from the Longview - not your usual SFR

Many of you will have heard of Holly Lisle, writer of many excellent books on how to write. She also runs courses for authors. I've bought a few of her 'how to' books and use them quite often because of her hands-on style with good ideas, presented in an accessible way with lots of examples. Visit her website to find out more.

But although I knew of Holly as a writing coach, I'd never read any of her fiction. I confess I've now read her books as a result of a clever marketing campaign she carried out via her mailing list. In a kind of game she asked questions designed to have the person answering lead themselves to the items in her catalogue which would best suit their needs. Which is quite legit. Nobody was forced to buy anything. In my case, I was enticed into a group which was supposed to be coming up with plot ideas – and I was hoping to learn a few tricks of the trade along the way. She used an existing series for which she already had a number of titles – and of course, to contribute any ideas, you have to have an understanding of the universe and the characters etc. She managed to pique my interest.

It's Holly Lisle's Tales from the Longview series. The series is set in a dystopian future where rulers rule and everybody else does as they're told. It's a hive society where any deviation from the rules results in public execution. That's where the Longview comes in. It's the name of a ship of a type known as a 'death circus' where the condemned are taken off to die publicly at the hands of the highest bidder, a bit like the Roman colosseum, or the more recent beheadings in the Middle East. I read the blurbs on a couple of the books and while I tend to avoid dystopian fiction, I decided I could afford $0.95 for the first book, Born From Fire.   

 When love is crime, who will save the guilty?

MEET THE LONGVIEW - An Ancient Spaceship Resurrected To Transport Conspiracy

Inhabited by a crew of misfits fleeing nightmare pasts, with a cargo of Condemned slated to die at the hands of the highest bidders, and with a passenger roster made up exclusively of people NOT who they claim to be, The Longview serves the hidden agenda of an eccentric recluse bent on playing puppetmaster to all of Settled Space.

Author's note: This story was previously published as ENTER THE DEATH CIRCUS.

EPISODE 1: When love is crime, who will save the guilty?

After falling in love and fathering a child, a young criminal refuses to voluntarily throw himself into a lake of fire to gain his community's forgiveness. So he's sentenced to death and sold to the owner of a spaceship that buys criminals like him. But the ship and its crew are not quite what they appear to be.

You'll find the book on Amazon.

I expected that this book would be about the hope of finding a better future. And indeed, it was. Our criminal is taken on board the Longview, expecting to meet his fate. But it wasn't what he expected. From there  we learn about the men and women who work on the ship, and their backgrounds, which fills in the details about a society dominated by rich corporations. It's easy to find here on Earth parallels, if not at the extremes in the novel. Think Nazi or Communist regimes.

As an author I was intrigued by the style of writing. It repelled and fascinated me at the same time. I tried putting it down here and there, but I kept going back to see what happened next. That is rare for me. I usually just note a DNF and move on. But I persevered. It's a dark story, and not an easy read but the concept sucked me in sufficiently to take on the second book The Selling of Suzee Delight.

When slavery is virtue, who will fight for vice?
 
When Suzee Delight, famous Cheegoth courtesan, murders the five most powerful Pact Worlds' Administrators during a private summit, the owner of The Longview Death Circus struggles against conspiracy to win the bidding for her execution. Meanwhile, Suzee’s powerless supporters race to save her, while the leaders of worlds pull strings to guarantee her death.

You'll find the book on Amazon.

This book is a winner. Perhaps you don't need to have read the first story to appreciate this one but it certainly helps to understand what Suzee and both sides of her struggle are dealing with. It's the haves versus the have nots, it's subjugation versus freedom, and at its heart it's a love story. Maybe more than one. Perhaps the underlying theme is that oppression doesn't work. There will always be resistance to tyranny. And there will always be love.

The author skilfully made me care about the characters. Kagen, who we met in Born From Fire, comes into his own in this story. He takes a chance that's unexpectedly offered and makes it work. Suzee Delight herself comes across as a strong, impassioned woman who is willing to do what she must for the greater good. We met Charlie in the previous book, too, but we learn much more about her in this story. We also meet the mysterious owner of the Longview and his personal representative, Shay. What is his motive? Indeed, what is hers?

Reading it I had a number of 'how will this play out?' moments, a few times when I wasn't sure how it would work and though a part of the ending is predictable, a lot comes out of left field.

Although the books are not strictly romance, I can certainly say that in my opinion without the romance the stories would fall apart. If anyone else has read these books, I'd love to know what you thought.