Ties of Power

by Julie E. Czerneda

Book Overview

Sira, the most powerful member of the alien Clan, has dared to challenge the will of her people--by allying herself with a human. But can she hope to carve a new life for herself when the Clan is... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0886778506
• Release Date: October 1999
• Publisher: DAW
• Length: 496 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.7" x 1.3" x 4.2"

Customer Reviews

The Mystical One of Drapskii

Ties of Power (1999) is the second novel in the Trade Pact Universe, following A Thousand Words for Stranger. In the previous volume, Sira di Sarc chose Jason Morgan and passed the Power-of-Choice to him, thereby emptying herself of its urges. She informed her father of her awareness of his involvement in the establishment of Yihtor's colony on Acranam and the death of Kurr. Then she and Morgan passed through the M'hir to his hidden flyer and headed back to their home, the Silver Fox. In this novel, Barac sud Sarc -- Sira's cousin, Third Level Adept and former First Scout of the Clan -- is leaving Camos. After three refusals of Choice, Barac knows that the Clan Council will never allow him to breed. He follows the Silver Fox to Pocular. After three unsuccessful days of searching for Sira, Barac comes to the Spacer's Haven. Since the bar is warm and dry, he decides to rest a while. The Drapsk sitting next him at the bar convinces him to stay to see the Ram'ad Witch who owns the Haven. When the witch finally appears (out of thin air), Barac is surprised to recognize Sira. It seems that Sas'qaat, the previous owner, was not as good at Stars and Comets as Sira and she had won the Spacer's Haven from him. Now she poses as a local witch to attract customers to the gambling tables and bar. It brings in a tidy income, but she is beginning to be bored with the pretension. Jason Morgan, her Choice if not her Chosen, is out in the backwoods hunting for truffles. Premick, his native hunting partner, prefers to hunt for furs even if they bring in only a tenth as much by weight. They are stalking game when Morgan receives a summon from Sira and calls off the hunt. Sira signs over the Spacer's Haven to Barac so that she can return to being Sira Morgan, the Hindermost of the Silver Fox. Leaving Barac in charge, she visits Premick's hamlet. The Poculans throw a festival, with eating and dancing. After a few drinks, Morgan and Premick settle a dispute with their fists over who will serve Sira; meanwhile, someone attacks the hamlet from fliers and takes Sira away. Morgan finds her hours later in the woods where she has been dropped and brings her back to the hamlet for treatment of her wounds. Once Sira regains consciousness, she passes her anger on to Morgan and sends him off to regain what has been taken from her. As she is recuperating, her sister Rael visits her in the hamlet. Sira flees through the M'hir as far as she can to escape her presence. Sira comes to her senses aboard the Drapsk ship Makmora far from Pocular. The Drapsk are small, eyeless humanoids with large upstanding plumes. They are known to believe in magic and have tried to entice Sira with elaborate gifts to come to Drapskii for a festival to select the most magical personage. Now they are overjoyed to find her on their ship. They will do anything for her except take her back to Pocular. In this story, Sira discovers that the Drapsk know more about the M'hir than

The Sensual World

In this, the second in Czerneda's rollicking "Trade Pact Universe" series, Sira Di Sarc Morgan, having conquered her amnesia in the first book in the series, "A Thousand Words for Stranger," just wants some peace and quiet, but her friends and relatives keep pulling her back in. Her species, the telepathic Clan, whose butts she kicked in the first book in the series _A Thousand Words for Stranger_ are still engaged in endless plotting within plotting, and Sira just can't stay out of it. For which readers can be grateful.In addition to the characters from the prior book--Captain Jason Morgan, her Chosen; the arthropod-like restauranteur Huido; the trade-pact "enforcers"; her scheming relatives--Sira this time out meets up with some new critters, first amongst them the Drapsk, to whom she's the long sought for Mystic One.Czerneda's abilities to create species, and worlds, is probably unsurpassed these days (you'll probably be able to smell the scummy Ret 7 if not reach out and touch it) and her multiple POV plotting, carried over from the first book in the series, has her juggling a lot of balls in the air (and she leaves her characters hanging on plenty of cliffs). But she never drops the balls (or pushes people over the cliffs).More tales of Sira and Captain Morgan seem planned. And that's fine with me.

You Had Me At Hello - Well, "Memories" I Guess.

I have read a lot of sci-fi. I rarely find myself able to read a series beyond the first book, however Ties Of Power changes that. Having read book #1, A Thousand Words For Stranger, I find that Ties actually does what few other sequels do...it expands on the characters. This plot fits in perfectly and smoothly with that of Thousand, picking up where the last left off, and filling in some of the blanks that had me curious. The characters have a whole new role to play from last time, and they play it well. Best of all, we get to go into the characters' pasts, and unlike some authors methods of doing so, this is an engrossing trip, through flashbacks mostly, which goes into great depth in describing those characters' past lives, what it was that made them who thay are. And who doesn't love the Drapsk! One of the more peculiar races I have ever read about, yet brought almost to life through their actions and many peculiarities which only Julie Czerneda seems to be able to bring out in a character. Rarely have I seen a universe so well wrought, not to mention a race so vibrant in their realism.Definitely a must read. And, though this novel can be read by itself without having done so, I do recommend reading A Thousand Words For Stranger first so as to get deeper understanding of what is going on.

A Wonderful Journey

This is a great book. I had picked up the first book, A Thousand Words for Stranger and liked it, but the sequel, The Ties of Power was even better. I really loved the Drapski. The universe the author has created was fascinating. I read the book at least 5 times over the Christmas Holidays. This book is definetly a keeper. I can't wait until the next one comes out.

Excellent read

Sira is the most powerful Chooser ever to be born in the Clan. Her power is so great that no clansman can survive her testing. But there is one who can. He is Jason Morgan, a human telepath. The Clan is afraid of Sira's power and Sira's choice of the human, and so they seek to destroy her.Sira exiles herself to a remote planet in an effort to have, even for a short while, control over her own life. But forces are at work to seek out Sira and take from her what only she has the right to give, and to destroy forever any hope that she and her human love can be together.Julie Czerneda has a unique outlook on life. The understanding with which she writes of races and cultures unknown to humankind is stunning and brilliant. Her prose is sprinkled with word-pictures so real that the reader becomes caught up in her fantasy world without even realizing it. Sira's story is engrossing, captivating, suspenseful and utterly compelling. Ms. Czerneda's talent grows and grows.Rickey R. Mallory