Partners in Necessity By: Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (Liaden Universe Series #9-11)

Whether you love Bujold's A Civil Campaign, McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series, or classics like The Prisoner of Zenda, you owe it to yourself to grab Partners in Necessity. You'll see why Sharon Lee and Steve Miller have gained devoted fans since the first three Liaden novels (collected here) first appeared; they helped bring the series back with the publication of Plan B 11 years after its debut. This is swashbuckling space opera at its finest, a blend of adventure, romance, humor, and terrific world building.
Meet Priscilla Delacroix y Mendoza, betrayed and stranded on a backward world by the Liaden trader she served as cargo master. Fortunately, another Liaden ship, Dutiful Passage, makes orbit and she applies for work. The captain, Shan yos'Galen, also has accounts to settle with Priscilla's former employers, and "among Liadens, revenge is something of an art form." Conflict of Honors is their story. In Agent of Change, Val Con yos'Phelium, Shan's cousin and foster brother, comes to the aid of Miri Robertson, former mercenary and bodyguard, who's being hunted by an interstellar crime cartel. Once a First-in Scout, he's become a spy for Liad, programmed to play the odds ruthlessly. He's just committed a murder. They flee together, aided by Edger, an alien shaped like a turtle. His "four-hundred pound bottle-green frame" is impressive to the Clans of Men, as are the beautiful, deadly knives of his people. He's considered a bit hasty by colleagues, but his appreciation of music is keen and he regards Val Con as a brother. In Carpe Diem, the stories of Val Con and Miri, and Shan and Priscilla come together and the story of Clan Korval, to which Shan and Val Con belong, unfolds further.

Once you've sampled Lee and Miller's Liaden Universe, you'll be delighted that Plan B and Pilot's Choice are available now, with I Dare still to come. Join SF and fantasy writers from Anne McCaffrey to Barry Longyear in badgering them for more. --Nona Vero

Goodreads: 4.47

Paperback, 2002