This review was originally posted on www.thegeekgirlproject.comAgent of Change is the first book in the Liaden Universe series-- and the authors' first novel as well.Agent of Change is an exciting story with characters I fell in love with, and it takes place in a well-crafted, complex world. If you’re in the mood to oversimplify, you could say that Agent of Change is rather like James Bond, The Bourne Identity, and a classic space opera all rolled into one, with a thread of romance woven in for good measure.There are two main characters in Agent of Change (one man and one woman): Val Con yos’Phelium, and Miri Robertson. The point of view is evenly balanced between them, making them equitable main characters. As a writer, I appreciate this device; when done well, it allows both male and female readers to relate, thus maximizing the reading audience who might be interested. I have rarely seen this done as effectively as it is in this book. Both characters are likable, believable, and well-written. They each have a full history that is reflected in their actions and motivations. By the end of the story, I felt like I knew the characters personally, understood why they behaved/reacted they way they did, and felt emotionally invested in both of them—translation: character development is top notch in this book.Val Con and Miri are thrown together abruptly at the beginning of the story: each brings unique strengths to the partnership, as well as unique danger. Miri is being hunted by one of the universe’s larger and most powerful crime organizations, the Junatavas, and Val Con by the increasingly shady and sinister seeming organization he works for, the Department of the Interior. Miri and Val Con are strangely drawn to each other and, after a few hiccups, decide that sticking together will give both a better chance at survival.Over the course of the story they dine and stay in a hotel with a group of touring Clutch Turtles (think 800 year old, eight-foot tall, incredibly broad-shelled, slow-moving, talking turtles)— one of whom is the adopted brother of Val Con— get smuggled off planet by a troop of mercenaries, borrow a spaceship the size and shape of a large asteroid, manage to get captured (and released) by the Juantava’s, get marooned on a dead ship and dodge a Yxtrang hunting party (aliens with a completely military culture who view any non-Ystrang as inferior, and therefore, prey). Needless to say, the main plotline is exciting and faced-paced.That being said, there is one notable weakness I feel compelled to point out: the pacing of the first chapter is a bit too slow for my taste. Now, normally I would consider one slow chapter in an entire novel too insignificant to criticize. The only reason I am pointing it out is because of its placement… it is the FIRST chapter; a slow or awkward opening chapter can be fatal to a novel, because a reader may decide not to continue. This book (not to mention the entire Liaden Universe collection of books) is frankly too good to be missed, and it would be tragic if it were set aside because of the first chapter. The first chapter is written from the point of view of a non-essential character as he observes Val Con, and it reads a bit slow. The second chapter establishes the special agent/spy skill set of Val Con, and the introductory meeting of the two main characters, and the third chapter really seems to launch the main storyline. Other than the first chapter, the pacing is excellent. It is well-balanced, and suited to what is going on in the plotline at any given time It is possible the authors were trying to achieve a greater level of suspense and dramatic tension by creating a slow but steady build in pace until the beginning of the third chapter, but I think the first chapter stalls the story unnecessarily.Now that that’s over with… on to the good stuff! I absolutely love this series because of the rich alternate cultures that the authors have constructed. Each book in the series seems better than the last, and each adds depth and nuance to the fabric of the constructed universe. Agent of Change is a good opening to an excellent series. The world building is very strong: the authors did a commendable job of building a complex, believable alternate culture– without resorting to dense and heavy handed descriptive passages. Information about the world and various cultures is seamless woven into the action and dialogue. Agent of Change was a good science fiction story without neglecting character development and interpersonal relationships between characters.It isn’t practical to describe every culture introduced in this book, but I feel that I must mention that the authors have built a solid foundation for four separate and unique cultures within the world: Liaded culture, Terran culture, Yxtrang culture, and the culture of the Clutch Turtles. Each cultural group has different traditions and norms, and views the world differently, which makes for some intereting intercultural misunderstandings. Here is one of my favorite examples: relatively early on in the story, Val Con gives Miri a knife. They are about to go to an establishment that doesn’t allow guns, and he doesn’t want her to be unarmed. Due to the traditions of their culture, the Clutch Turtles see this as a marriage ceremony: a knife was offered and accepted. From that point forward, they believe that Val Con and Miri are lifemates—partners in a permanent, lifelong marriage.There are several other times where differing cultures come into play, and the inter-cultural interactions do much to further the world building.Overall, Agent of Change is an exciting, character-driven space adventure with a touch of romance. It is definitely worth reading!
There was so much I didn't remember about this one, that it was almost like reading a new book (which is never a bad thing). I must have only read this once and that right back when I started the series, which was after it first began, but still a long time ago.I do love Val Con and Miri and that's what I was expecting when I opened the pages, lots of Val Con and Miri, so I was almost surprised to rediscover that at the beginning of the book, really Val Con isn't the Val Con we've come to know in later Liaden novels. Having vague memories of upcoming events, I found myself very worried by the latter half of the book whether or not we were going to get the "real" Val Con back before the end. (And I have absolutely no memory of how they get out of the pickle they are in right at the end, so I remain exceedingly motivated to keep rereading the series.)It was a very enjoyable but slightly weird reading experience, shifting between the things I remembered, the many things I didn't and the things that I got the feeling were foreshadowing, but again, I couldn't really remember.Let me digress to say that, once upon a time, I had a very good memory. I was a highly academic A-grade student in the sciences. Then, 22 years ago now, I developed CFS/ME and one of the major symptoms of the illness is significantly decreased cognitive function. My memory has been getting worse and worse over the years, I suspect as a combination of both illness and age. (I have lists and noticeboards and set alarms everywhere to try to get stuff done without forgetting about it.) In terms of my passion for reading, this can be both good and bad. Given a bit of time, there is just so much I can't remember about the books I've read. People discuss them with me, commenting on so-and-so doing such-and-such a thing and I'm left looking blank. It's gone. I don't remember. I remember the emotions of reading a book but not the detail. (That's part of why my "reviews" here are really more emotional responses to the books, with some pretty much stream-of-consciousness comments, rather than true reviews - I couldn't manage the memory and cognition for those.) On the up side, it means I get to enjoy the book again without carrying the baggage of any "spoilers".But this lack of memory can be a problem when reading a series where book 7 refers back to something that happened in book 2. The chances of me remembering that (or even a character's name from one chapter to the next) are slim-to-none. It's another of the reasons why I love my ereader. My books are full of highlighted passages and short comments, usually specifically chosen as being something I'm likely to want/need to remember later. And because of that problematic memory, I have a huge list of books I want to reread. Books I remember really enjoying, but the details are all gone.So I'm really enjoying the Liaden ones, and since my copy of Dragon Ship arrived last week when I still haven't read Ghost Ship because I wanted to reread the earlier books first because I'd forgotten so much, I think I'm going to try carrying on with the series and getting caught back up.So getting back to Agent of Change, I loved rereading it and I loved reading it for the first time all over again. I can't wait for more Val Con and Miri, but I plan to enjoy re-meeting Shan and Priscilla all over again first.For a book that was originally published in 1988, it's stood the test of time pretty well. It is another clear case of the fact that, despite everyone's predictions of the future in the 1980s, the swift widespread use of the internet, mobile devices and cloud computing was missed by pretty much everyone. Val Con needs to go to an info booth to find out about shuttle time, and you can see the ship in-and-out information in a bar, but you don't have a mobile phone to check it on. The most interesting one was books: books are on "tape" (although that could fit digital media as well) and you need a book reader to read them. Lois McMaster Bujold has almost exactly the same situation in her Vorkosigan books. The idea of an ereader was possible, but the idea of the books being digital and downloadable and stored on the device itself was missed. Maybe we were just to hung up on physical libraries where you could actually SEE your books. Even as a total ebook convert, I do miss that I can't run my hands along a shelf of my ebooks.But that's a very minor quibble. The reality of 21st century information technology simply wasn't imagined in 1988. I mention it here not because it was a problem (although I admit I did keep noticing it) but because it's an interesting artefact of the passage of time that shows up quite often when reading SF written before at least the 1990s.Right, I shall shut off the aforementioned stream-of-consciousness typing before this gets too long and just finishing up by saying: Yay! Val Con and Miri! Next, Shan and Priscilla! Yay again!
What do You think about Agent Of Change (2002)?
Although I recommend reading Conflict of Honors first, this is the true beginning of the Liaden Universe. The characters of Miri Robertson and Val Com Yos'Phelium form the center, and heart, of the series.Miri, a tiny but accomplished mercenary soldier, retired, bodyguard, retired, ("have gun, will travel") finds herself in a life-threatening pickle when fate intervenes and brings Val Con to her aid. Against his better judgement, because of a hunch, he saves her life twice and helps her escape her foes. And thus begins and adventure that introduces an ancient telepathic tree, centuries old sentient turtles, genetically enhanced soldiers, a galaxy spanning crime syndicate and the concept of "lifemates", a mind-body-soul entanglement that is light-years beyond our own idea of "soulmates". But it is the characters that bring life to this universe. Miri has serious self-esteem issues, and Val Con has a life-threatening identity crisis that adds mystery and conflict to the story which is both romance and adventure, Jane Austen and Star Wars. This book does end in a cliff-hanger worthy of The Empire Strikes Back and I recommend buying the omnibus "Partners In Necessity" which includes the first three books in the series. (Note there are many chapbook/ebook short stories which add complexity and context to the series. Though they are variable in quality, they are also inexpensive and available both through Baen books and Amazon in ebook editions that include 2-12 stories, depending on where you get them.) The relationship between the characters and their separate natures and personalities informs the origin story "Crystal Soldier"/"Crystal Dragon" as well. This book is the basis upon which this Universe builds, and should be read first, along with "Carpe Diem" in order to have the proper context for maximum enyoyment. IMO.
—Kandi
Lee & Miller's characters, as always, are riveting. Val Con and Miri, and their friends the "turtles" are well fleshed-out. I particularly enjoyed the way the clearly delineated alien culture contrasted with the planetary culture of this book. Sadly, this book has two big flaws in the plot department. First, I found it hard to believe the plot in context of the Liaden culture as set up in the other books in the series. It's not consistent with the universe created that anyone on Liad would dare to put the heir of Clan Korval into this particular situation. Also, although the opening scene caused havoc that resonated throughout the book, its relevance to the remainder of the plot was never explained.In the end, I'm not sorry I read it, if only to put together continuity across the series. But Lee and Miller's other work is so much better. Go there.
—JoyfulK
An extremely quick and pleasant read, polished off in a day.This is space opera without melodrama, sf light on science (no more than a handful of science-babble words tossed around, actually), and a lighthearted romance between two intelligent people in a future world that is very careful to present gender equality. Faster-than-light space travel occurs with the equivalent of Hey Presto! and some fancy-sounding labels. The assassin assassinated, yet we are given no information on why he did what he did nor the political background that warrants his profession. Social organization for two of the four species (I do not yet know about the other two) seem to be Clans, but not much exploration into either. The one true alien race spoke in flowing periods like Victorian gentlemen, with manners to match, and account for much of the low-key humor in the story.The good guys are good and noble, the bad guys are not, but neither are they particularly evil.All this is to say, fluffy!!! soft!!! light!!! like a cloud-soft pillow to rest a pummeled brain after a hard day. Recommended.
—Princessjay
