Saltation

February 22, 2010
Blazing into their 12th Liaden novel, Lee and Miller prove they can still deliver elegant variations on the theme in this coming-of-age story, a sequel to 2009's Fledgling
. Theo Waitley, half-Terran daughter of a Liaden pilot, escapes her stifling homeworld to attend pilot school, where her fierce attitude and extraordinary competence earn her enemies and friends. When her boyfriend's keepsake makes them both a target for galactic-level bad guys, Theo must head to Liad to ask for help from the leader of her father's clan. The story will not disappoint longtime Lee and Miller fans, but readers don't need to know the series to understand or care about the characters, who will also appeal to fans of Elizabeth Moon's Kylara Vatta and other strong young adult heroines.

April 15, 2010
The many fans of the Liad universe will welcome the latest from it, continuing young pilot Theo Waitleys adventures from I Dare (2002). She leaves her home planet, Delgado, to matriculate at a piloting academy. Complicating matters, shes sponsored by one Liaden Scout and falls in love with another. She wins respect and envy at the academy but is forced to leave, thanks to vicious planetary politics, though not before getting her pilots license. She maintains a long distance relationship with young Liaden Scout Win Ton, and an odd gift from him draws her into the aftermath of the war against the Department of the Interior, which is even more savage than descriptions in previous Liad books indicated. Enjoyable without knowing its prequel, Fledgling (2009), Saltation is still more pleasurable read after it. The third story in the series, Ghost Ship, is in the works.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)