Crystal Soldier and Crystal Dragon make up the Great Migration dualogy, a pair of books unique in the Liaden canon by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller in that they take place entirely before all of the other books – in fact, before Liad existed. Because the "Great Migration" was a far greater, and stranger, migration than has ever been seen before.
Cantra yos'Phelium is a trader – a hard-bitten independent trader who plays in the gray-to-even-black market, because she has a number of secrets in her past that she really doesn't want looked into. Despite this, she retains her own iron-clad honor of commitment and personal conduct, making her one of the pilot-traders even the desperate could trust.
M. Jela Granthor's Guard is a soldier, a gene-designed warrior in the greatest war of humanity, against the sheriekas – supposedly once-human beings who have transcended normal limits of humanity and mortality and who now seek to conquer, or perhaps transform, the cosmos. Marooned on a distant world, Jela finds the one remaining living thing on the planet: a tiny tree, last sapling of a mighty line of trees which once stood sentinel on this unknown world, and who – somehow – stood off the sheriekas. He insists on bringing the Tree with him when rescue finally arrives.
The Tree exhibits almost-animate behavior at times, along with a strange telempathic capability to send feelings, images, dreams as needed. It is clearly intelligent, but not the same sort of intelligence, exactly, as human. Still, it is far closer to human than sheriekas, against which both will stand. But Jela discovers that entire sections of space have been… vanishing. Where once was a planet, a solar system, there is now nothing. The sheriekas and their servants have somehow found a way to decrystallize spacetime itself, to unmake existence, and it seems that their goal may be to decrystallize the universe and recrystallize it in their image.
But such an awful concept is too terrifying for most to contemplate; the military is being told to fall back, to prepare to defend the inner systems and let the others fall. The high command refuses to believe that this is a futile choice. Only a few believe the fight must continue regardless, and Jela is sent on a desperate mission to somehow find a weapon that might turn the tide of this losing war.
Cantra yos'Phelium, M. Jela, and the Tree are on a collision course – a course that will change the universes.
The prior Liaden books often referred offhandedly to the past, to some kind of migration, and both Liaden and Yxstrang have the legendary Jela as a figure in their distant pasts, Jela and his mysterious Tree. Here, at last, we discover the truth about them, and some other figures of the Liaden series.
Given that most of the Liaden books have more than a touch of romance about them, and that two of the main characters are a fine military man and a talented pilot, it's unsurprising that these two might end up in a relationship. But it's not a smooth course; Cantra is a badly hurt woman whose secret – that she, too, is an engineered human, from a line that was wiped out, in a universe where such engineered humans are considered lesser beings – makes her terribly wary of making any lasting connections with anyone. Only the necessity of Jela's mission and the pursuit of agents of the sheriekas keep Cantra together with Jela long enough for her to, as the saying goes, "grow accustomed to his face".
The fact that the Liaden, Yxstrang, and Terran languages shared a mysterious common ancestor was a major plot point in one of the earlier Liaden books (Local Custom). Here we learn that it literally originated in a different universe, as did (perhaps) all the people in that new universe.
We also learn a lot of other interesting trivia and not-so-trivia. For example, the Yxtrang are descended of engineered soldiers like Jela, but instead of being M-strain soldiers (thus M. Jela), they are descended of Y and X strain soldiers: Y-X Strain… Yxtrang.
Another element of far more interest and wide-ranging implications is that The Uncle existed in the original universe. Constantly reborn again into newer bodies – one might even say regenerated – and thus nearly immortal, the Uncle is not part of any particular faction other than his own, but in a general way ends up more a force for good than evil. Nonetheless he has his own agenda, his own resources, and is something like a cross between the boss of a crime family and The Doctor.
The main plot, of course, is focused on Jela and Cantra as they attempt to first discover who's trying to kill either or both of them, and as it becomes clear that this is associated with the sheriekas, then to seek out means to oppose these godlike beings. Eventually they are assisted in this by beings who were once associated with the sheriekas, but who decided they preferred freedom to perfect slavery.
Ultimately, the sheriekas will win. However they managed to go from human to gods or demons, the sheriekas have progressed beyond the ability of ordinary humans and their technology to oppose for more than a few more years. But there is one mathematician whose calculations offers one slim possibility of escape… named Liad.
These two books were excellent, as were the prior Liaden books. They also feel very Schmitz-like in their content and characters, and even specific things within them echo The Witches of Karres. In some ways, Uncle reminds me of Sedmon of the Six Lives – powerful in his own way, smarter than many others around him, but also smart enough to recognize when he's out of his depth. The sheriekas, too, are very Schmitzian villains, echoing something of the Nuri Worms and Moander as well as the titanic shadowy monstrousness of the vatch.
At the same time, they also echo the work of another famous SF author – A.E. Van Vogt. The sheriekas, also called the Iloheen, are monstrous enemies, cosmic in their power and scope, working partially from unknown and unknowable motives even if it is claimed they were once human. Van Vogt often had such adversaries in his work – the being in the Vault of the Beast, the Glis and Nijjan in The Silkie, and others. All of them share abilities to control and change space, time, and matter in a fearfully powerful manner beyond the easy comprehension of ordinary humans. Unlike these, however, the sheriekas are not, as far as we know, defeated, but are simply left behind in the universe they are reconstructing.
This does leave open the terrible possibility that the Iloheen/sheriekas may one day find the main Liaden universe…
As with the prior books, I enjoyed these immensely, and certainly recommend them to any fans of space opera!
Do you realize, you wrote that entire thing without once mentioning the author(s)?
Fixed. Though the link TO the article on the page did mention them.
When I discovered the Liaden universe a few years ago, I worked my way through it in chronological order, starting with these two. I think that was probably the wrong choice, as reading them in that order, you don’t really get any sense of connection between these and the rest of the series. But I think that by the time you get to “The Gathering Edge” having the full background from these two is worthwhile. Certainly you should read them before “Neogenesis”.
I recently re-read the entire series, and it was my first re-read of these two, and my…Nth re-read of everything after Fledgling. These two are well written, in many ways some of the best writing of the series, and yet somehow they lack the punch that brings me back to them when I have a “spare minute” and my kindle handy.