We here at Geek Speak Magazine are quite fond of Sharon Lee and Steve Miller's Liaden Universe® (as evidenced by this and this and this and this. I think part of it is that we like being able to use the circle "R" thing when referencing the trademarked phrase "Liaden Universe®", but that could just be me. [It is. - Ed.] But in any case, upon the discovery of the month's topic of Traders, the little lightbulb went on (with a corresponding "ding" sound) and the idea of reviewing Balance of Trade was born (granted, due to the love of the Liaden Universe® here, there was quite the battle royale between the writers as to who got to review this book. What can I say, I'm a dirty fighter!).

This book is a standalone within the Liaden Universe®, having nothing to do with the escapades of Clan Korval that the others deal with. In Balance of Trade, we follow the story of young Terran Jethri Gobelyn, who is learning the ways of being a trader on board his family's trade ship Gobelyn's Market. As it is a small ship and his mother inexplicably does not care for him, he is about to be sent away to apprentice on a different ship -- one he does not care for. Through a possibly fortuitous series of events, Jethri soon finds himself instead apprenticed to a Liaden Master Trader. He then must deal with learning Liaden ways, fighting biases against Terrans (and shipborn), all while various events surrounding his birth and effective quest of his father's keep others occupied behind the scenes.

This book, I would have to say, is a stereotypical Liaden Universe® book, epitomizing all the good and bad that Lee and Miller stories entail. Meaning that this, as usual, is quite the engaging story. The characters are well thought out with interesting and engaging quirks, and the reader cares what happens. It is really quite distressing when the story ends, as the reader really wants there to be more.

This is both a blessing and a curse, however, and quite familiar to anyone who has read a Liaden Universe® book before. The entire book feels more like a window into a bigger story, rather than a complete story on its own. There are several loose ends that could have been fleshed out more and/or continued, and the conclusion that is reached at the end of the novel feels more like the end of the introduction rather than the end of the entire story. Alas. Expect much fist-shaking upon completing the book, possibly with exclamations of anguish and despair over the fact that the book ended. The amusing thing to this whole aspect, though, is that the novel itself is an expanded version of a previously written short story. So Lee and Miller heard the outcry that people wanted more of the story of Jethri, and thus provided. And it still isn't enough. We Liaden Universe® fans are never fully satisfied, I suppose.

There is one somewhat substantial difference between Balance of Trade and other Liaden Universe® books, that being there is not particularly any elements of romance inherent within. While (almost) all of the leads within Clan Korval have their various lifemates, poor Jethri has only the world of Trade to comfort him. Jethri is apparently the Nova of the Gobelyn family.

Aside from that, though, is the book worth reading? Of course it is. Will it leave you satisfied? Alas, no...as it does feel like there could/should be more, but that is to be expected with a Liaden Universe® book. [Happily, Lee and Miller are currently working on a Jethri sequel, tentatively titled Trade Secret and slated for a 2012 release. - Ed.] Should you read it if you haven't read any other books in this universe? Certainly, though it may take a bit to get used to the flow of the language used by Lee and Miller, and some quirks of the Liadens that Jethri must deal with may not make a whole lot of sense to the reader without having a Liaden-background that one would have were one well-versed in all things Korval from the other books.

I was going to end this review with some kind of attempted clever play on words of the title, about how you, dear readers, should go find balance by trading for the book, but I decided not to -- doesn't matter how you find the book, just go read it!

  -- K. Burtt