Er Thom yos'Galan, Master Trader and Heir to Clan Korval knew his duty to his clan - to provide the Clan with a child of his own body. He also knew that he could never offer a contract wife the care and attention his honor demanded until he had seen Anne Davis one last time. Then he would seek the Healers on Liad and they would erase all of his memories of the woman who had captured his heart...
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Anne, a Terran and brilliant linguist had met Er Thom years before and had a wonderful affair with him, falling head over heels in love, but knowing that he would leave her, as he had. What Anne did not tell Er Thom was that she bore his child, her precious Shan. She never expected to see Er Thom again and was stunned when he walked in to her apartment. They both found that their love was as deep and fierce as it had ever been and Er Thom found that he did not know how to say goodbye.
Then Shan returned home and Er Thom found himself with an even bigger problem than before. For Shan was Er Thom's heir, but as a half Liaden, half Terran, there was no guarantee that he would be accepted by the Clan and the tho'Delm, Er Thom's mother. Er Thom knew that there would be a sacrifice to make in the time ahead of him, a sacrifice that would rip his heart to shreds. For the tho'Delm had rejected Shan and refused to even consider that Er Thom had a future with Anne and so he was faced with the difficult choice of weighing his honor and the honor of his clan against the love he could not live without...
Local Custom is the first book in the Liaden series as far as chronology goes (even though books 3-5 were written first) and introduces us to Er Thom yos'Galan and his son Shan yos'Galan, whom we see in Conflicts of Honor. I found the Liaden culture fascinating and loved learning more about the customs and mindset of these people. Lee and Miller have done a fabulous job at creating this universe and making their characters absolutely believable. I loved all of the characters and felt that I could identify with all of them in a different way. All of them have their strengths and weaknesses and all of them had their own part to play in the game. Although the romance of the two main characters is a large part of the plot, the world building, the characterization, attention to detail and the excellent quality of writing kept me absolutely riveted - I couldn't put this book down!
The review of this Book prepared by Debbie
