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    The Gate that Locks the Tree: Adventures in the Liaden Universe®, #30
    The Gate that Locks the Tree: Adventures in the Liaden Universe®, #30
    The Gate that Locks the Tree: Adventures in the Liaden Universe®, #30
    Ebook104 pages1 hour

    The Gate that Locks the Tree: Adventures in the Liaden Universe®, #30

    By Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    A cat may look at a tree

    This is especially true when the winds of change blow through the universe, leaving eddies of luck, uncertainty, and necessity in the strangest places – and surely Surebleak qualifies as a strange place, as Korval's Tree qualifies as a strange attractor.

    In the rough and tumble aftermath of Clan Korval's arrival, Surebleak attracts rude mercenaries, pilots galore, Scouts, grifters, and, from time to time, those who have lived under the promise of Korval's Tree, elsewhere. Chaotic change is in progress, daily.

    Bring together legitimate cabbies and fare-jumpers, a sudden Surebleak blizzard, a pregnant cat, and odd young woman with a mission; add the heat of promises made light years away, and you find the winds of change rocking the very roots of the Korval's house, blown against the very gate that locks the tree. It may be that not even the Tree knows what happens next.

    This is a brand-new novella set in the bestselling Liaden Universe® created by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller!

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPinbeam Books
    Release dateFeb 19, 2020
    ISBN9781948465083
    The Gate that Locks the Tree: Adventures in the Liaden Universe®, #30
    Author

    Sharon Lee

    Sharon Lee has worked with children of various ages and backgrounds, including a preschool, a local city youth bureau, and both junior and senior high youth groups. She has a bachelor’s degree in sociology and also in psychology. Sharon cares about people and wildlife. She has been an advocate in the fight against human trafficking and a help to stray and feral animals in need.

    Read more from Sharon Lee

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    Reviews for The Gate that Locks the Tree

    4.5/5

    17 ratings3 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Nice! Any story with the taxi-driver in it, I like. This is, in itself, a very minor story (as the title says) - there's a bad snowstorm (even for Surebleak), a couple groups heading up in the direction of Korval's Tree get lost/injured, they end up at the Clanhouse. There are some very interesting implications, though, and revelations about what the Tree has been up to outside of its work with Korval. It will be interesting seeing how things hinted here shake out in the next book or two.
    • 5/5
      It doesn't matter how many generations of Korval who have been raised under their great tree, there are still new things to learn. In the middle of a Surebleak blizzard with impending visitors including one very pregnant cat, new things are being discovered about the tree and its relationships.This is a novella told in chapters from a variety of viewpoints including a cab driver transplanted from Solcintra who has always used the tree as a beacon and a young woman who cares for cats and is on Surebleak to take the tree to task for not fulfilling a promise made to the cat in her care. Still other chapters are centered on Val Con and Miri who learn startling new things about the way Jeeves, the cats, and the tree communicate.This was an entertaining novella. It illustrates the depth and breadth of the Liaden Universe which is filled with interesting beings and stories.
    • 5/5
      Surebleak isn't just Clan Korval, and our leading characters here are Vertu Dysan, a cabbie formerly of Liad; Yulie Shaper, a farmer and neighbor of Clan Korval; Mary, his spouse; Anna, a kid with some unusual talents; Rascal, her dog; Chelada, a cat about to have kittens; Toragin del'Pemridj, also formerly of Liad; The Tree; and Jarome, also a cabbie.Vertu picks up her passengers--Yulie, Mary, Anna, and Rascal--and agrees to drive them home to Yulie's place in the building snowstorm. It' a bad storm, and this might not be entirely wise, but Vertu is sure she feels The Tree urging her on.Along the way, they encounter another cabbie and his passengers, who were trying to reach The Tree, but have crashed. Jarome, the cabbie, has been injured, and Toragin and Chelada can't help him without getting help themselves. They have no experience with serious snow, just for starters.What unfolds is a group of people finding a way to cope with a real weather disaster, and The Tree's efforts to fulfill an old, nearly forgotten promise, made light-years away on Liad.This isn't made easier by the fact that The Tree hasn't been in the habit of engaging in clear, straightforward communication with its "dragons," the members of Clan Korval, and now has to explain something that it feels guilty and embarrassed about.It's another lovely, enjoyable visit to the Liaden universe, this time without the fate of the universe at stake!Highly recommended.

    Book preview

    The Gate that Locks the Tree - Sharon Lee

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