Audiobook: I Dare by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

I Dare
Author: Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
Narrator: Andy Caploe
Publication: Audible, Sept. 4, 2012
Length: 20 hours and 51 minutes

Description: The dynamic conclusion to the Agent of Change series in Lee and Miller's Liaden Universe!

Val Con yos'Phelium: a Scout, former Agent of Change, husband, brother to Turtles, and designated heir to Clan Korval's fortune and mission... Whether you considered him respectable or not, no one would call him a gambling man. When he reappears demanding Balance and retribution, he looks exactly like the kind of leader his clan has been producing for generations. On his capable shoulders the fate of his Clan, his world, and his civilization....

Pat Rin yos'Phelium: fond father, bon vivant, ne'er-do-well... and a professional gambler. The enemies of Korval have offered Pat Rin the Ring that would make all of Korval's holdings his own and a Juntavas Judge has offered Pat Rin a world....

When he appears with hired guns in tow, no one is expecting him and no one knows what he'll do. Pat Rin is a gambling man, and on his wild-card shoulders the fate of his Clan, his world, his civilization....

This long-awaited culmination of the Agent of Change sequence of Sharon Lee and Steve Miller's internationally acclaimed Liaden Universe novels pits unexpected friends and unexpected enemies against each other in a war that spans planets and races - and threatens to bring interstellar violence to the very surface of fabled Liad.

My Thoughts: This was a huge story at almost 21 hours of listening. It gathers together the plot threads from the four earlier books in the same time period and is told from a number of viewpoints and locations.

Pat Rin, believing that the rest of his clan is dead, has gone to ground on Surebleak with his pilot Cheever McFatland and Juntavas Judge Natessa the Assassin to forge his balance for the Department of the Interior. A lot of the action takes place on Surebleak where, first, Pat Rin has to become a Boss and consolidate power. Second, he decides that he has to do more than that and become the sort of leader who is good for all the people who live on Surebleak.

Val Con and Miri are still on Lytaxin and both are in need of Clutch healing. Joining them on Lytaxin are Shan and Nova yos'Galan. Nova bringing word of the existence of Plan B and the work of their enemies on Liad.

Daav yos'Phelium also rendezvouses with the Clan on Lytaxin after years of his absence while crafting his own balance for the loss of his lifemate on a variety of Terran worlds.

Anthora has been left on Liad to help keep Korval's presence there and to protect the tree that Korval serves. The Department of the Interior is very interested in capturing her as she is the only one of Korval who looks like an easy target. However, the Department underestimates the skills of the most powerful dramliza currently alive. And Anthora has the help of Ren Zel who is the First Mate on the Dutiful Passage and a dramliza of frightening powers himself.

The story culminates with a battle to destroy the Department on Liad which results in bombing a large hole in the center of Solcintra and exile for Clan Korval from Liad. Luckily, Daav had been sent on a mission to the Clutch turtles who think removing a mile high tree, a house, and various other belongings of Clan Korval is something well within their capacities.

Just as they are getting ready to leave Liad with their belongings in tow and take up their new residence on Surebleak, Daav's daughter Theo shows up with a problem that is "kind of complicated" and the story ends.

Rereading as I am doing now, I know what happens next. But I can still clearly recall the effect that ending had on me when I first read it in 2002. So many questions... So much frustration... It would be eight or nine years before the story would continue.

Again the narration was excellent both for developing unique voices for the characters and for suiting the mood of the various parts of the story. I didn't like Pat Rin's voice because I thought it was awfully nasal and had a bit of a lisp but it was unique to him and totally recognizable.

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.