Audiobook: Trade Secret by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

Trade Secret
Author: Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
Narrator: Kevin T. Collins
Publication: Audible Studios, Nov. 6, 2013
Length: 15 hours

Description: Star-spanning galactic trader Jethri Gobelyn's story continues in the seventeenth entry in the Liaden Universe series by master storytellers Sharon Lee and Steve Miller.

In a universe full of interstellar intrigue and burgeoning commerce novice Terran trader Jethri Gobelyn, adopted by a Liaden clan after an ill-directed bow of honor insulted the scion of a major Liaden house, is alive and whole to tell the tale. Convinced that the adoption has saved his life and made his future he settles into a comfortable and even elite routine, a Trader's Ring his goal.

Even as Jethri's initiation into the mysteries and joys of Liaden Festival bring him to manhood, he's forced to face Necessity and the facts of life: his adoption has also invigorated a net of unfinished Balance far more complex and potentially deadly than a simple Terran blood feud. He must embrace his Terran birthright as well as his Liaden connections while leaving behind the safety of the great Liaden trade ship Elthoria to defend his honor and that of shipmates past and present.

Forced to sit Second Board as a back-up pilot on a Liaden Scout ship, Jethri's convinced he's already at wit's end - when several familiar faces threaten all that he knows of himself, and all that he wishes to do.

My Thoughts: This is the sequel to BALANCE OF TRADE and tells of the further adventures of Jethri Gobelyn on his journey to become a master trader. A lot of this story concerns politics begun by his father Arin Gobelyn and involves the mysterious Uncle and secrets that have been kept from Jethri all of his life.

When he is returned items he inherited from his father by the mother who threw him off his birth ship and seems to want to forget both Arin and Jethri, he comes into conflict with the Scouts who are devoted to locating and destroying all Old Tech and who would really like to know Arin's secret.

When the logbook and fractins he loaned the Scouts are stolen, he goes off with Scout Ter'Astin to try to recover them and to get Balance in the Liaden way. Of course, he is also dealing with his new partner Tan Sim who was sold off by Clan Rinork in the hopes that he would fail as a trader. Tan Sim drops a number of legal issues into Jethri's lap which requires him to contract the services of a Terran lawyer to sort them out and give Jethri a needed legal education as it relates to trade.

Meanwhile, Bar Jan chel'Gaibin is also busy trying to get Balance from Jethri and from Jethri's sister Khat and the rest of the crew of Gobelyn's Market for perceived slights which brings him into conflict with his mother's secret and probably shady plots and causes all sorts of problems for Jethri.

Luckily, Jethri is making friends of his own both among the Liadens and among the Terran traders.

This was an entertaining story which had a lot of politics in it. I like watching Jethri grow up during this one.

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