Saturday, January 30, 2010

The Sorceress of Karres by Eric Flint and Dave Freer

Captain Pausert has been on a constant ride ever since he helped two young Witches of Karres. First it was against the Worm World, and the Nanite Plague, but now a new mission has come up needing his attention. The Chaladoor region of space has just had something strange and unexpected show up there. A series of ships that don't look anything like any other ship ever made, which are attacking any ships that venture into a set area of Chaladoor space, and destroying any intruders.

Pausert's Uncle, Threbus, is hoping that since Pausert's ship is equipped with the Sheewash drive, which folds space around the ship and enables it to move faster than any other drive ever made, will enable him and his ship to escape these strange attackers and bring a report on just who and what they are back to Karres, to determine if they are a threat to anyone and why these ships are chasing anyone out of that section of Chaladoor space.

The Leewit will be accompanying him on this trip, but her elder sister, Goth, will not. Goth is being sent on a special mission that must be conducted in the utmost secrecy, but when her mission is done, she will rejoin Pausert and the Leewit through the Egger Route. Meanwhile, Pausert gets a small chance to rest and reconnect with Maleen, Goth and the Leewit's elder sister, whom he also rescued long ago. Now, she is married and expecting a daughter, for whom she has chosen the name Vala. This gives Pausert a start, for he once knew a red-haired girl long ago named Vala, back when he was young, and he cared for her a lot. Goth is a little jealous when she hears this, because she has designs on marrying Pausert when she is old enough, but she is able to overcome her jealousy fairly quickly.

However, when she is pulled aside and given her own mission, it is to travel back in time and go to Nikkeldepain, Pausert's own planet, and look into an event that she must prevent, dealing with Captain Pausert when he was just a teenager, something that if she doesn't prevent it, might cause a great and horrible change in the history of the galaxy and great calamity. To disguise her, they dye her red hair an even deeper shade of red and curl it, then send her back in time and space to Nikkeldepain.

Goth arrives near Pausert in the botanical gardens where his mother works. His mother should own the botanical gardens, as they once belonged to her brother, Threbus. But when he disappeared somewhere in space, Nikkeldepain, who is a planet of Bureacracy gone amok, wouldn't release his estate to her without his actual body. Nor can it release his holdings without her paying off Threbus's debts, which she can't do without the holdings, leaving both Pausert and his mother in a neat catch-22. As a result, they are always teetering on the edge of poverty, and boys in his class at school bully him and beat him up.

But even as Goth works to help Pausert deal with his bullies, someone else is out looking for him, with more sinister designs on him and his mother. Because Threbus left behind some old artifacts, when he disappeared, and a famous archaeologist, Mebeckey, is desperate to obtain them. But not in the normal way, no. He means to get them by theft and kidnapping, believing that one of the artifacts, is a treasure map of an alien cache.

With him is a hairless woman who speaks almost mechanically, and seems to have no problem with killing Pausert or anyone else who gets in her way. But even as Goth finds the artifact they were seeking and makes plans to hide it, the archaeologist and his hired goons are on her, and she has to run while looking for a place to stash the artifact so well that it won't be found. But can she find a place before the villains find her? And will she resist the urge to go further than a mere kiss with Pausert, especially since it's under her assumed name of Vala?

Meanwhile, back in the present, Pausert rescues a lone man from a planet where he was abandoned by his crew, and it turns out to be the man with the same name as the Archaeologist who was bent on stealing the artifact from his home long ago. But Mebeckey is not the man from Nikkeldepain. Instead, he claims that his first mate may have taken the name when Mebeckey was stranded here 20 years ago.

But there is something strange about this Mebeckey as well- he's prying into everywhere on the ship, picking locks not at all well, and leaving traces that he's been there, especially at the weapons locker. But before Pausert has time to do more than remonstrate with the man, the strange ships are back chasing them again, and this time, they aren't giving up. Mebeckey says he recognizes the ships. They are a design of one of the first races in this part of the galaxy, thought long extinct.

But when Pausert's ship is damaged, he is forced to make landfall on a planet owned by a race of cannibals. The planet is poor in certain minerals needed for them to survive, but while they could get these from animals, the cannibals believe that eating such poor prey would make them prey as well. So they capture and eat humans, which they feed on plant matter. Pausert, the Leewit and the others are captured and imprisoned, but manage to escape, whereupon they find that Mebeckey has been host to an alien plant.

This plant is an alien lifeform that takes over whoever it is attached to, but it cannot reproduce without the bodies of one of the first races, although other races can be carriers. And the woman who was with Mebeckey on his expedition is the current host, and it seems that she is the same woman who tried to kill Pausert when he was a teenager. Now, she controls the largest criminal gang in the galaxy, and is still after Pausert, in order to get the map she sought long ago. But when she captures Pausert and infects him, Goth and the Leewit are going to have to get him back and cure him. but how can they when they don't even know for sure what the plant is vulnerable to? And when the plant-creature invades the planet of the Cannibals while they are there, they will have to find a way to assume leadership of the Cannibals to get them to fight the hordes of plant-infested goons. But how can two girls find a way to do that? Is there any hope for Pausert and the two Karres witches?

I've never read the original book, The Witches of Karres, but have enjoyed these new adventures by two entirely different authors. The stories are sharp and interesting, and well-plotted. And despite the many characters introduced, you never get confused over who is who and what is happening. Most of the concepts are well-explained, with the exception of things like the sheewash drive and how it works, but then, I don't think the characters know exactly how that works, only that it does.

Tension is well-maintained in both threads of the narrative, with the threads switching off over the course of the story, so that while one plot may be going slowly, the other is advancing swiftly, with lots of things happening. I also liked the interactions between the characters, especially between Goth/Vala and young Pausert. Seeing him as a teenager made Goth better able to connect with him, and she got a much better understanding of the man she loves, and who certainly has a great deal of affection for her, even if she's too young for him to do anything about it yet. As an adult, he does seem to love her, but the authors never squicked me out by making him hunger to do anything physical about it, which was a relief.

I love this series, and these characters. In fact, I may have to seek out the original book to see how it differs from the new volumes. You will definitely find yourself enjoying these books and the story. Very well done, and Highly recommended.

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