Local Custom

Liaden Universe, Chronological #6

by Sharon Lee, Steve Miller

Master trader Er Thom knows the local custom of Liaden is to be matched with a proper bride, and provide his prominent clan Korval with an heir. Yet his heart is immersed in another universe, influenced by another culture, and lost to a woman not of his world. And to take a Terran wife such as scholar Anne Davis is to risk his honor and reputation. But when he discovers that their brief encounter years before has resulted in the birth of a child, even more is at stake than anyone imagined. Now, an interstellar scandal has erupted, a bitter war between two families-galaxies apart-has begun, and the only hope for Er Thom and Anne is a sacrifice neither is prepared to make...

Genres: Science Fiction, Romance, Space Opera, Fiction, Fantasy, Audiobook, Ebooks

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 29, 2002

About the author

Sharon Lee has been married to her first husband for more than half her lifetime; she is a friend to cats, a member of the National Carousel Association, and oversees the dubious investment schemes of an improbable number of stuffed animals.

Despite having been born in a year of the dragon, Sharon is an introvert. She lives in Maine because she likes it there. In fact, she likes it so much that she has written five novels set in Maine; contemporary fantasy trilogy Carousel Tides, Carousel Sun, Carousel Seas, and mysteries Barnburner and Gunshy.

With the aforementioned first husband, Steve Miller, Sharon has written twenty novels of science fiction and fantasy — many of them set in the Liaden Universe® — and numerous short stories. She has occasionally been an advertising copywriter, a reporter, photographer, book reviewer, and secretary. She was for three years Executive Director of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc., and was subsequently elected vice president and then president of that organization.

Reviews

[Kasumi · Rating 3 out of 5]

En cierta manera recuerda a las novelas románticas históricas en las que la protagonista viaja en el tiempo y trata de adaptarse a una sociedad anticuada y mete la pata de manera estrepisa en cosas obvias para el lector, pero en el espacio. Se supone que la protagonista es una estudiosa de una sociedad de otro planeta, aunque su especialidad sea específicamente el lenguaje, por lo que no se explica que no capte cosas tan obvias como la importancia de los hijos o lo que puede significar que el niño sea presentado formalmente como hijo. A mi, como lectora, eso me parecía obvio, y sin embargo era ahí donde surgía el conflicto entre los protagonistas, y no en otras sutilezas que ella manejaba mucho mejor y que yo simplemente me dejaba llevar por las explicaciones. Así que, si no fuera porque el prota no dejaba de comprenderla y tratando de acercarse a ella, me hubiera cansado bastante entre eso y todas las veces que remarcaban las diferencias entre ellos como sociedad e individuos.