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.