SPOILER THREAD: Dragon Ship eArc

[rolanni]

In case you missed yesterday's excitement, the eArc for Dragon Ship, the Fourth Book of Theo Waitley, is now available from Baen. To recap:

Download it here.

Dragon Ship art by David Mattingly

This topic is for those ambitious souls who have already read the book and who are bursting to talk about it.

There will be spoilers here! You have been warned.

I ask those who wish to discuss Dragon Ship, to, please, keep to this topic and not spill out into others. Your courtesy is appreciated.

Comments

[robotech-master.livejournal.com]

I'm personally wondering if Bechimo will stop in at Tinsori Light, or perhaps Tinsori Light will pop into the "real" universe like the debris and lost ship apparently summoned by the faulty drive.

One of the many interesting things about this series is how many little forgotten odds and ends will resurface out of nowhere, like lost teapots from another universe.

I wonder if Daav and the presumably-to-be-re-embodied Aelianna will adopt Spiral Dancer as their new personal starship to replace the lost Ride the Luck? Some would say the thing belongs in a museum—or in the hands of the Scouts given the Old Tech in it that was "iffy" even back in Cantra's day. But Korval is ships, and ships gotta work.

I wonder if the ship still has any of Cantra and Jela's old personal effects in it? Doesn't seem like there'd have been time to unload much when they sent it off for decoy. I wonder if Cantra's logs have the story of the seedling in them? It could make for an interesting chapter, or several such chapters. Jelaza Kazone joyfully greeting the lost seedling, and communicating its story to those who bring it. Daav and Aelianna going through Cantra's effects, perhaps shedding light on bits of lost history that never was recorded in the logs. (And I'll bet the seedling ends up a member of Theo's crew, as Jelaza Kazone was of Cantra's, rather than being settled planetside somewhere.)

And oh how I ache to find out what happens to Kamele on Surebleak. The book ended just when things were getting the most interesting! (But then, so did Ghost Ship, so it wasn't unexpected.) I'll bet Korval ropes her into organizing the state of education and founding a university there. Or, more likely, once she sees the state of Surebleak, she ropes Korval into the project. It can't be coincidence that Kamele's special academic field is the history of education itself, so she knows the most about such things of anyone. (Heh. Though come to think of it, one of the things about the Liaden universe is that any time you're inclined to say "it can't be coincidence" you're generally right. :)

The Kamele parts of the story really had me on the edge of my seat. As Theo said, she's entirely too trusting of strangers. But that clever scout Daav prepared her without even meaning to—and Kamele is nothing if not an advertant scholar. Imagine that, the lessons of a pilot can serve a non-pilot too!

And I'm really looking forward to what happens when she meets Daav and Aelianna. It could be like something out of a romantic comedy of errors. How is down-to-earth Kamele going to accept the explanation, "Actually, she was with us all the time I was on Delgado. It's just that she was a disembodied spirit living inside my head"?

How is Uncle going to re-embody Aelianna anyway? Wouldn't the rebirthing unit need a genetic sample from somewhere? (Though I suppose if health care is the same on Liad as it is here, there would have been dozens of tissue samples taken during her lifetime, and any still-preserved specimens might well be available to someone with Uncle's connections.) Or did the tree put such a sample in its seed pods somehow? How does Uncle even know about Aelianna inside Daav's head?

As for Win Ton, will he perhaps need a Clutch Turtle healing to restore to him his pilot's reflexes? Or even just a standard Liaden healing? Or a seed pod from a friendly tree? Or will he have to adjust to no longer being a Pilot? It could go any direction.

Is this the middle novel in a trilogy with the last novel planned to tie up loose ends? Or will it be ongoing? I don't know, but I hope the Liaden series continues for a long, long, long time.

P.S. I was kind of annoyed by the spoilery nature of the cover art, but on reflection and considering how well it reflects the scene as described, I decided that it at least reveals the artist actually read what he was depicting, unlike a number of other covers (including some from Baen).

[doccolt.livejournal.com]

The note that Uncle's assistant? had the color eyes she usually prefered makes me think that it is not necessary to "transfered" into a clone of ones origional body. Perhaps any cloned body without life experience and having a basicaly blank brain can be the recepient of a transfered personality?