SPOILER THREAD: Dragon Ship

[rolanni]

This is for discussion of Dragon Ship; spoilers may abound.  If you don't like spoilers, don't, for the love of Ghod, open the door.

You Have Been Warned.

Comments

So confused

[debra-sthrnmom1.livejournal.com]

Okay, I am obviously going senile-- can someone help to unconfuse me? Last I THOUGHT in the timeline that I read of Daav was on the Clutch ship, still one with Aelliana... and I thought time wise was AFTER Dragon Ship, but events in it has me really confused. Here it seems obvious they are about to be separated or regrown, as it were, by Uncle. Since this seems to be prior to the Clutch ship (where I expected the next book to have the Clutch figure out how to give her a new body), I obviously am really mixed up.

Re: So confused

[gus fleischmann (from livejournal.com)]

End of Ghost Ship, Daav has been sent by Miri to "defuse" Pod 78, and he recruits The Uncle to assist, since apparently The Uncle sold the pod(s) to the clan long ago. The pod having been compromised/activated by The Department of the Interior, they ambush Daav who is able to deactivate the pod, and kill the three (?) department agents, but is grieviosly wounded - to the point of believing he is lying in Alliana's lap as he fades away. The Uncle is Daavs backup and had warned him of the impending attack, and hesitantly decides he must go see what happened... he finds Daav barely alive and calls Dulsey for a "field 'doc" as the last bit of the epilogue.

One hell of an ending, but since it leads to "remastering units" and not one but two seed pods from The Tree - well WEEE, this should be interesting! Really hoping for a scene where Daav has to say "Alliana, this is Kamele...:"

[debra-sthrnmom1.livejournal.com]

Oh good grief... yep I went back and read I Dare and now have things out of order. I should go to the chronological list and start anew.
I do wish that the books came out in e-format the same time as hardcover. You now have me addicted to my kindle.

[bbu26.livejournal.com]

Actually, Baen books generally come out in ebook format in the month before the hardcover. Check www.baenebooks.com.

[debra-sthrnmom1.livejournal.com]

Thank you. That's what I get for depending on Amazon for info. To Baen it is then.

re: ending

[intuition-ist.livejournal.com]

augh. want more now.

Dragon Ship had the feel of "here, let's do a bit of character weaving and storytelling and repositioning before the next Giant Plot Boulder falls upon Our Heros..."

And it does seem that the Clutch turtles are quickly learning how to deal with the mayfly humans, though that may just be Edger and his comrades. I love the fact that they're seeing Val Con's ongoing plot arc as a form of evanescent art.

Re: ending

[gus fleischmann (from livejournal.com)]

I don't think the clutch would be as interesting as a frequent character as they are as the occasional enigma. Explaining them enough to have them regularly present could diminish their uniqueness. But at this point I have no qualms about whatever direction Sharon & Steve takes things - they've been doing real well so far by me.

Re: ending

[muirecan.livejournal.com]

I see it more as Theo Waitley finishes growing up. In Dragon Ship she learns to take command and be incharge. From this point on she is the advertant captain.

[maiaarts.livejournal.com]

I love this book. The thing I am most questioning, is where did the Dept of the Interior come from? Could they be Shriekas in a new form? And is the tree in the ship.... really the original sent off by Cantra? Does that mean the Shriekas will be coming too?

[attilathepbnun.livejournal.com]

I thought the Original Tree, the one rescued by Jela, is the one at the house? And surely Spiral Dance wouln't've been allowed to fall out of service merely because Cantra died? Somewhere, in her post-Cantra adventures, there was a disaster that resulted in the ship's being left with only one of Jela's Tree's seedlings as crew ... I hope we find out in the next book!

[brock-tn.livejournal.com]

I suspect that the Department of the Interior is the creation of another AI, possibly one similar to Jeeves, and possibly working with an admixture of old tech.

But then, I could be entirely wrong about that. It wouldn't be the first time.

[rnjtolch.livejournal.com]

In the Great Escape, Cantra took the "passengers" to Liad, but she sent Spiral Dancer off as a decoy (to decoy the Shriekas) with the tree as a life form to set up the decoy-ness properly. So, the decoy apparently survived its mission and...and...and now I have to wait another couple of years for the next book to find what comes after "and."

[the wol (from livejournal.com)]

I was so upset about Aelliana's death -- after all she endured at the hands of her no-melan'ti rat of a brother, and her horrible first marriage, and now, she was finally with a man who treasured her and they were happy -- and bang! Yeah, I know she "lived on" in Daav's mind, and, yeah, a vicarious "uncorporate" existence is better than no existence at all, but still! Now that Uncle has his hands in the pie, I'll be very interested to see where that goes next and how Kamele figures into it.
I will also be very interested in how the relationship of Theo, Win Ton and Mara is going to shape up. Interesting ground work was laid for it. I hope you take it in what to me seems the obvious direction. Korval dares; do they?
And I would like to see more of Orn Ald yos'Senschul. I really like him. And the Turtles.

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

I loved where you dedicated the book to Anne.

When did I miss it?

[james parks (from livejournal.com)]

Ok, I admit I must not be paying attention. I thought Dragon Ship was the last in the Theo series. And therefore, I was less than thrilled with the ending.

Re: When did I miss it?

[debra-sthrnmom1.livejournal.com]

I see it as a trilogy of Theo and the ship-- from finding to bonding, not the end of her. :) Even if she isn't the main focus, not likely they will just forget her. :)

@martianmooncrab -- me too. Anne McCaffrey influenced us all.

@The WOL I started with Local Customs and was horribly sad to love then lose Anne and Er Thom. The short stories with Er Thom have both helped and made me sadder. :(

[saruby.livejournal.com]

I think part of the confusion here may be that until this week Sharon and Steve did not have a contract for any books in this story arc beyond Dragon Ship. Now they do, although we probably won't see any of them until 2014, based on previous experience.

As far as unfinished storylines, this "cliffhanger" stuff is such a hallmark of Sharon and Steve's work, that I have come to expect it. Frustrating? Yes. But forgivable, because I know that more will follow.

Baen ebooks

[doccolt.livejournal.com]

The lovely thing about Baen is once bought you can download copies in many formats many times!!!

[otterb.livejournal.com]

I look forward to wherever the main thread (threads) go after Dragon Ship. Am not invested in an particular direction or subthread past More! More!

I started to list secondary characters I wanted to see more of, but it was pretty much all of them. So no point in that. :-)

But I'd really like to see a short story set in the gap between when Kamele realizes she's being followed and doesn't go back to her ship, and when she shows up at Jelaza Kazone, having worked her passage.

[quotidian-c.livejournal.com]

Ooh, yes I want that story too!

I feel much the same about the future direction. I'm very curious about whether the 5(!!) sequels will be a more-or-less linear sequence or whether they will fan out with sub-series in different directions (this is where my money is). But I'm sure I'll enjoy whatever path they take.

[the wol (from livejournal.com)]

I thought that Bechimo's "maturation" in Dragon Ship cast an interesting light on AI's in that, although they are "artificial," like any intelligent entity they must learn and adapt if they are to survive, and hopefully they "grow" in the process. I'd like to see the relationship with Jeeves and Bechimo explored in future, and the relationship between Theo and Bechimo has some intriguing possibilities. An interesting emotional "tug of war" is being set up for Win Ton -- will his loyalties shift from the Scouts to Theo and Bechimo, or can he somehow manage to wear both hats (Scout and Bechimo's Copilot) -- The situation with Theo and Mara and where he fits into that is obviously going to be a big deciding factor. One hopes he's Scout enough to stay with Bechimo and Theo, and make the relationship work.
The finding of Cantra's ship was an interesting development. Now that they have another seedling, I'd like to see it planted at the site of the yos'Galan's new house. (One wonders if they will name their new house "Trealla Fantrol" or give it another name.) And what about planting a grove of Trees? and the Turtles having some seedlings?
Ichliad Brunner turning up on Surebleak, and the notion that Korval is going to monkey with Surebleak's climate to make it more temperate is definitely going to have an impact on Surebleak's sociopolitical climate as well. I'll be interested to see how that plays out. One thought, though. If they make Surebleak more hospitable, will they have to change its name to "Surenotbleakanymore?" or even "Surenice?" (Which to my eye begs to be pronounced as "suh-REN-ih-see" -- LOL!)
One implication of Korval's being kicked out/off of Liad and moving to Surebleak is that now Korval has become even more of a locus for the more liberal, tolerant, open minded and proTerran elements on Liad, especially given the intensity of the "kneejerk" reaction of the more conservative elements of Liad (and the DI in particular) to Anne Davis' book and the "theory" of Liaden, Terran and Ystrang all having a common origin. (Trading with Terrans is one thing, but would you want your daughter to marry one?)
Another interesting development is with the Scouts and how they are polarizing between Liad and Korval/Surebleak, and the DI's attempts to infiltrate and subvert the Scouts. Given that the ultraconservative elements of Liaden society already see Scouts as outlandish, radical and a bit declassé, one wonders if the council will disband the program and close the schools.
I also wonder what influence the very likely "Old Tech" thing that the Master of Agents is in kahoots with has over the stated goals of the DI. I believe I smell an Evil Machine. . . . . possibly Jeeves' Evil Twin? And that Loop thing -- !.

[jessie-c.livejournal.com]

It's strongly implied that at least some of the "befores" are actually Sherikas-designed, or at least -influenced. What happens if the Old Tech that the Department of the Interior collected has actually managed to influence The Plan, if not outright take it over? Note how the new Commander of Agents screams after the old tech machine infiltrates her brain. What if she were overwritten/reprogrammed by an agent of the Sherikas during her confirmation as Commander?

The Sherikas play a long game, planning generations in advance. The Department of the Interior seems to share at least some of their amoral viewpoint towards "lower" races. It's interesting to speculate at how neatly their methodologies seem to fit together.

The TreeS

[gus fleischmann (from livejournal.com)]

Remember that there are already a number of seedlings in other locations - at least one was specified as being planted at the home of the allied house in either Plan B or I Dare, and I believe it was strongly implied that this was sort of standard behavior.

Also it has been stated (I have no current recolection of where) that many/all ships of the clan have seedling(s) in stasis on board at all times.

I hope the Sherikas do not pass into this universe as I don't see how even clan korval could handle them, I see the Dept of Interior as being more than enought to occupy the clan for the upcoming 5 books.

[attilathepbnun.livejournal.com]

Hmn. I was under the impression that the reason flight was immeadiately needed was because a soon-to-be-unleashed weapon intended and likely to destroy the Sheriekas would ALSO destroy everything ELSE within a certain distance?

The Dept. of the Interior sounds, to me, as though some ... ultra-conservative elements of Liaden society(descendants of those who tried to leave the non-Clan people behind to die on the old world?) found, and perhaps adapted, some kind of (damaged?) Old/Sherieka tech? I somehow get the feeling that the Dept. is using tech it really doesn't understand
Also, to be honest, the Dept seems a little too ... subtle to be Sheriekas-controlled to me.

did I miss something?

[ednaemode.livejournal.com]

Forgive if this was discussed elsewhere, but when and where did Miri and Valcon's twins turn into a single girl child? It was hinted in Ghost Ship when Theo's talent revealed a "daughter pilot" but ?

Re: did I miss something?

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

When did Val Con and Miri have twins?

I'm away from my books at the moment, but I'm pretty sure that a girl-child was born at the end of Ghost Ship...