{"id":3329,"date":"2023-06-02T20:06:25","date_gmt":"2023-06-03T00:06:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/?p=3329"},"modified":"2023-06-02T20:06:25","modified_gmt":"2023-06-03T00:06:25","slug":"the-tradepoint-saga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2023\/06\/02\/the-tradepoint-saga\/","title":{"rendered":"The Tradepoint Saga"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

Refuge, by JJ Blacklocke, \u00a9 November 10, 2020. ASIN B08DG3Q2GC. Kindle version; file size 4040 KB<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The three books of this trilogy\u2014Refuge<\/em>, Aftershock<\/em>, and The Bereft<\/em>\u2014tell the story of the Vennan delegation sent to Tradepoint Station, a meeting and trading place for all sentient lifeforms. Their mission: to demonstrate the arts, trades, music, dance, and crafts of their beloved world, Venna. While most other races that visit Tradepoint rely on technology, Vennans are blessed with many magical Gifts, one of which enables them to travel great distances through space with no ship. But everything about their visit\u2014its purpose, their social rankings, and their cultural organization\u2014changes when young Gredin is visited in her sleep by the Power, who tells her a) Venna is no more; all those left behind are gone; b) she is the one the Power has chosen to lead the delegation through this calamity; and c) she is bidden to find New Venna.<\/p>\n
$\"\"$
Aftershock, by JJ Blacklocke, \u00a9 January 12, 2021. ASIN B08H4J6DLB. Kindle version; file size 3214 KB<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The rest of the tale unfolds through the Vennans\u2019 stages of grief \u2013 denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance. Author J.J. Blacklocke does a masterful job of demonstrating young Gredin\u2019s strength and courage in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges. She makes impossible choices for the good of her people and overcomes the resistance of those Vennans who wish to maintain long-established traditions, which no longer serve their best interests. Overall, the story was an interesting commentary on the difficulty of effecting social adaptation, even when the need is inescapable.<\/p>\n
But the tide of change that sweeps through the Vennan delegation\u2014now the sole remaining Vennan community\u2014affects everyone else on the station, as well. 900 Vennans, forced to remain longer than expected aboard a space station with limited resources, strains not only the station\u2019s food supplies and living space, but relations between the Vennans, their station hosts, and the other races. Gredin and her chosen counsel of five must find a way to convince their hosts they can earn their keep, find food sources that won\u2019t kill them, avoid those races that would do them harm, and salve damaged relations with other races whose resources they now require. Blacklocke skillfully shows readers the varying perspectives from each race\u2019s point of view without losing coherence or becoming too confusing. This made it easier to relate to even seemingly hostile races, a nice trick, but not easy to accomplish.<\/p>\n
$\"\"$
The Bereft, by JJ Blacklocke, \u00a9 April 13, 2021. ASIN B08H44M7CB. Kindle version; file size 2313 KB<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
There is also a delightful mix of \u201cmagic\u201d vs. technology. Blacklocke demonstrates how each has its drawbacks as well as its benefits, and how they can work together or at odds. Sometimes, magic brings the Vennans into conflict with the other races. Other times, the station\u2019s technology brings harm to the Vennans. Even the most advanced solutions won\u2019t work in every situation or for every individual, a point made with crystal clarity in this story.<\/p>\n
The pacing is a bit slower than I usually prefer, but that didn\u2019t detract from the story at all. I am not sure, exactly, how much time (as we know it) actually passes between page 1 of book 1 and the last page of book 3\u2014each chapter starts with a time stamp in station time, which meant nothing to me but was still all kinds of cool\u2014but there is still a constant sense of a ticking clock. The station\u2019s governing body (on the planet below) is unsympathetic to the Vennans\u2019 plight, unlike the station\u2019s on-site director who is working hard to find ways to help them. According to station policy, which must be enforced across the board regardless of mitigating circumstances, the Vennans will be required to leave the station after a certain number of \u201crotations.\u201d If they can\u2019t find New Venna before that time, they will be forced to depart. With no ships, no world, and nowhere to go, they are trapped between Poe\u2019s pit and pendulum. Even when I should have been doing other essential tasks in my own world, Gredin and her people held me fast in theirs. I could not put these books down.<\/p>\n
With its mixture of science, technology, and \u201cmagic,\u201d I would classify the Tradepoint Saga as science fantasy, and I loved every minute. I did read this on Kindle Unlimited, but I will probably also purchase copies for my own ebook library. Most definitely recommended.<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The three books of this trilogy\u2014Refuge, Aftershock, and The Bereft\u2014tell the story of the Vennan delegation sent to Tradepoint Station, a meeting and trading place for all sentient lifeforms. Their mission: to demonstrate the arts, trades, music, dance, and crafts of their beloved world, Venna. While most other races that visit Tradepoint rely on technology,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8n0kX-RH","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3090,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/06\/the-drift\/","url_meta":{"origin":3329,"position":0},"title":"The Drift","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"February 6, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"By Casie Aufenthie \u00a9 2021, Independently Published ASIN: B08YKCW6RM Kindle version; file size 777 KB In a future where humanity has divided through evolution, war has devastated not only the surface of the Earth, but all traces of civilization outside those areas controlled by the Illuminatos, most evolved of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/076-The-Drift-205x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3417,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2023\/07\/13\/foreigner\/","url_meta":{"origin":3329,"position":1},"title":"Foreigner","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"July 13, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"By C.J. Cherryh \u00a9 1994, 2004, DAW ASIN: B006JHXPDW Kindle version; file size 927 KB Five centuries after humans, lost in space and desperate for a world of their own, land on the planet of the atevi, and nearly two centuries after the War of the Landing, atevi and humans\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Foreigner-186x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3329"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3333,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3329\/revisions\/3333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

Refuge, by JJ Blacklocke, \u00a9 November 10, 2020. ASIN B08DG3Q2GC. Kindle version; file size 4040 KB<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The three books of this trilogy\u2014Refuge<\/em>, Aftershock<\/em>, and The Bereft<\/em>\u2014tell the story of the Vennan delegation sent to Tradepoint Station, a meeting and trading place for all sentient lifeforms. Their mission: to demonstrate the arts, trades, music, dance, and crafts of their beloved world, Venna. While most other races that visit Tradepoint rely on technology, Vennans are blessed with many magical Gifts, one of which enables them to travel great distances through space with no ship. But everything about their visit\u2014its purpose, their social rankings, and their cultural organization\u2014changes when young Gredin is visited in her sleep by the Power, who tells her a) Venna is no more; all those left behind are gone; b) she is the one the Power has chosen to lead the delegation through this calamity; and c) she is bidden to find New Venna.<\/p>\n
$\"\"$
Aftershock, by JJ Blacklocke, \u00a9 January 12, 2021. ASIN B08H4J6DLB. Kindle version; file size 3214 KB<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The rest of the tale unfolds through the Vennans\u2019 stages of grief \u2013 denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance. Author J.J. Blacklocke does a masterful job of demonstrating young Gredin\u2019s strength and courage in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges. She makes impossible choices for the good of her people and overcomes the resistance of those Vennans who wish to maintain long-established traditions, which no longer serve their best interests. Overall, the story was an interesting commentary on the difficulty of effecting social adaptation, even when the need is inescapable.<\/p>\n
But the tide of change that sweeps through the Vennan delegation\u2014now the sole remaining Vennan community\u2014affects everyone else on the station, as well. 900 Vennans, forced to remain longer than expected aboard a space station with limited resources, strains not only the station\u2019s food supplies and living space, but relations between the Vennans, their station hosts, and the other races. Gredin and her chosen counsel of five must find a way to convince their hosts they can earn their keep, find food sources that won\u2019t kill them, avoid those races that would do them harm, and salve damaged relations with other races whose resources they now require. Blacklocke skillfully shows readers the varying perspectives from each race\u2019s point of view without losing coherence or becoming too confusing. This made it easier to relate to even seemingly hostile races, a nice trick, but not easy to accomplish.<\/p>\n
$\"\"$
The Bereft, by JJ Blacklocke, \u00a9 April 13, 2021. ASIN B08H44M7CB. Kindle version; file size 2313 KB<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
There is also a delightful mix of \u201cmagic\u201d vs. technology. Blacklocke demonstrates how each has its drawbacks as well as its benefits, and how they can work together or at odds. Sometimes, magic brings the Vennans into conflict with the other races. Other times, the station\u2019s technology brings harm to the Vennans. Even the most advanced solutions won\u2019t work in every situation or for every individual, a point made with crystal clarity in this story.<\/p>\n
The pacing is a bit slower than I usually prefer, but that didn\u2019t detract from the story at all. I am not sure, exactly, how much time (as we know it) actually passes between page 1 of book 1 and the last page of book 3\u2014each chapter starts with a time stamp in station time, which meant nothing to me but was still all kinds of cool\u2014but there is still a constant sense of a ticking clock. The station\u2019s governing body (on the planet below) is unsympathetic to the Vennans\u2019 plight, unlike the station\u2019s on-site director who is working hard to find ways to help them. According to station policy, which must be enforced across the board regardless of mitigating circumstances, the Vennans will be required to leave the station after a certain number of \u201crotations.\u201d If they can\u2019t find New Venna before that time, they will be forced to depart. With no ships, no world, and nowhere to go, they are trapped between Poe\u2019s pit and pendulum. Even when I should have been doing other essential tasks in my own world, Gredin and her people held me fast in theirs. I could not put these books down.<\/p>\n
With its mixture of science, technology, and \u201cmagic,\u201d I would classify the Tradepoint Saga as science fantasy, and I loved every minute. I did read this on Kindle Unlimited, but I will probably also purchase copies for my own ebook library. Most definitely recommended.<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The three books of this trilogy\u2014Refuge, Aftershock, and The Bereft\u2014tell the story of the Vennan delegation sent to Tradepoint Station, a meeting and trading place for all sentient lifeforms. Their mission: to demonstrate the arts, trades, music, dance, and crafts of their beloved world, Venna. While most other races that visit Tradepoint rely on technology,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8n0kX-RH","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3090,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/06\/the-drift\/","url_meta":{"origin":3329,"position":0},"title":"The Drift","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"February 6, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"By Casie Aufenthie \u00a9 2021, Independently Published ASIN: B08YKCW6RM Kindle version; file size 777 KB In a future where humanity has divided through evolution, war has devastated not only the surface of the Earth, but all traces of civilization outside those areas controlled by the Illuminatos, most evolved of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/076-The-Drift-205x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3417,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2023\/07\/13\/foreigner\/","url_meta":{"origin":3329,"position":1},"title":"Foreigner","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"July 13, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"By C.J. Cherryh \u00a9 1994, 2004, DAW ASIN: B006JHXPDW Kindle version; file size 927 KB Five centuries after humans, lost in space and desperate for a world of their own, land on the planet of the atevi, and nearly two centuries after the War of the Landing, atevi and humans\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Foreigner-186x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3329"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3333,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3329\/revisions\/3333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}