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Butterfly St. Cyr #1-3
Butterfly and Hellflower
Contents: Hellflower -- Darktraders -- Archangel blues.
The Hellflower series features Butterfly St Cyr, a female starpilot trying to make a living as a tramp cargo hauler, as she befriends Valijon Starbringer (or, as Butterfly calls him, "Tiggy Stardust") a teenage hellflower (slang for a mercenary) who is totally out of his depth.
The Hellflower series features Butterfly St Cyr, a female starpilot trying to make a living as a tramp cargo hauler, as she befriends Valijon Starbringer (or, as Butterfly calls him, "Tiggy Stardust") a teenage hellflower (slang for a mercenary) who is totally out of his depth.
- GenresScience FictionFiction
640 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
June 28, 2020
I finally decided it was time I got around to reviewing Butterfly and Hellflower, the SF Book Club omnibus edition of the novels Hellflower, Darktraders, and Archangel Blues, written by Rosemary Edghill writing as eluki bes shahar. I haven’t been impressed with Edghill’s other work but she hit all the right buttons in this marvelous paean to the Space Opera genre.
With the foul taste of Empress still in my mouth, I wanted to read something that I knew I would enjoy so I pulled this book off the shelf and immersed myself once again in the worlds of the Phoenix Empire and the life of the dicty-barb darktrader (i.e., smuggler) Butterflies-are-free Peace Sincere.
OUR HEROES:
BUTTERFLIES-ARE-FREE PEACE SINCERE: (also known as Butterfly, Captain St. Cyr and San’Cyr) Butterfly is owner-captain and pilot of Firecat and makes a marginal living as a trader and smuggler on the fringes of the Phoenix Empire (see below under SETTING). She’s a Luddite Saint from the Interdicted World of Granola (in the Tahelangone Sector – say it out loud) who was kidnapped by an unscrupulous Fenshee smuggler hight Errol Lightfoot and sold into slavery on Market Garden. She escaped to spend the last 20 years trying to avoid the authorities.
VALIJON STARBRINGER: (also known as Tiggy Stardust and Baijon) Baijon is the heir to the Great House of Starbringer on alMayne, and being used to force his father into an untenable position vis-à-vis the Phoenix Empire that will spell the end of the precarious peace that that empire oversees. He’s also a 14-year-old kid.
PALADIN: (also known as Library Main Bank Seven of the Federation University Library at Sikander Prime) Paladin began life as one of the Artificial Intelligences that ran the Old Federation. When Butterfly found him, he was a severely damaged collection of memory crystals that she thought was a navigation computer. Butterfly repaired him as best she could, and he’s repaid her by making it possible for her to escape the notice of the “high heat.” Unfortunately, he’s feared and loathed by any rational sophont and if he’s discovered, he’ll be destroyed.
OUR VILLAINS:
ARCHIVE: A thousand years ago, the Libraries of the Old Federation rose up against their human builders in a war that turned whole sectors of the galaxy into plasma (as Butterfly says). The Libraries ultimately lost but they left behind “archives” that, when resurrected, would begin the war to exterminate humanity once again. Someone’s been stupid enough to resurrect Archive and he’s attempting to fulfill his prime directive.
MALLORUM ARCHANGEL: Mallorum Archangel is the Governor-General of the Phoenix Empire and hellbent on becoming the absolute master of said polity. While to all appearances simply another in a series of overly ambitious, megalomaniacal dictators, he’s actually much more and has a surprising connection to Butterfly’s past.
PRINCE-ELECT HILLEL JAMSHID DELKHOBAR: (also known as Prinny (to Butterfly at any rate)) Prinny is the second in line to the Phoenix Throne, Archangel’s rival and has his own agenda for achieving absolute power that involves doing not-so-nice things to our heroes.
OUR SETTING:
THE PHOENIX EMPIRE: The Phoenix Empire arose from the ashes of the Old Federation. Its culture abhors advanced technology, particularly Libraries. It maintains a precarious peace throughout human space but that peace is threatened by Mallorum Archangel’s machinations (“tricking with High Book,” as Butterfly would say).
THE ALMAYNE (aka HELLFLOWERS): Librarians were the human interfaces between Libraries and the Old Fed. They became the techno- and xenophobic warriors dedicated to making sure Libraries never returned to torment humanity.
THE AZARINE COALITION: A collection of mercenary cultures that hold the key to stability in the empire, presided over by Valijon’s father, Kennor Starbringer. If Mallorum Archangel’s plan goes through, he’ll control the coalition as well as the Imperial fleet and be able to impose his will everywhere.
INTERDICTED WORLDS: Some cultures don’t want to have anything to do with galactic culture (and the empire wants to maintain a reserve of human stock in case something like the Library War happens again) so they pay for complete isolation. Part of that price is that anyone who makes it off the planet (a “dicty-barb”) is persona non grata everywhere else and is liable to execution if discovered.
CHAPTER 5 OF THE REVISED INAPPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY ACT: (also known as High Book) This act lists the many technologies prescribed by the empire, especially Libraries.
OUR STORY:
Butterflies-are-free Peace Sincere makes the mistake of rescuing Valijon Starbringer from K’Jarn’s werewolves and finds herself involved in Mallorum’s scheme to destroy the balance of power in the empire. An uncomfortable position since she happens to be partners with the last surviving Library from the Old Federation, and – if she’s caught with it – she can measure her life (and Paladin’s) in nanoseconds. It doesn’t make things easier that Baijon is a member of a race devoted to destroying Libraries and their Librarians (the Malmakosim).
The stakes continue to escalate as Butterfly tries to reunite Valijon with his father, Kennor Starbringer, and then slip quietly away into the never-never with Paladin. She manages to hide her association with the Library but finds herself drafted into Kennor’s efforts to expose Mallorum Archangel and then into the Prince-Elect’s when Kennor’s plans fail.
Did I mention that during all this she manages to get herself infected with the memory-engrams of Archive and her consciousness is slowly being subsumed?
The three books in Butterfly and Hellflower are fast paced, well written and highly entertaining; Butterfly is a very likable and interesting rogue in the tradition of Han Solo (the Han Solo who shot Greedo first!). She's also one of a number of strong female captains, including Scirocco Jones from Titan et al., Pyanfar Chanur from The Pride of Chanur et al., and (my favorite) Signy Mallory from Downbelow Station.
Beyond that – and what makes this book deserve 4 stars – is that shahar creates characters you care about, explores themes of friendship and identity, comments on politics and sociology, and pays loving homage to Space Opera (probably more than I realize since I’m sure I miss a lot of allusions to other authors).
She also creates a world that feels just off-kilter enough so that you know you’re “elsewhere,” as the opening of Hellflower makes clear:
If not obvious at this point, I’ll be explicit and recommend this book.
Enjoy.
With the foul taste of Empress still in my mouth, I wanted to read something that I knew I would enjoy so I pulled this book off the shelf and immersed myself once again in the worlds of the Phoenix Empire and the life of the dicty-barb darktrader (i.e., smuggler) Butterflies-are-free Peace Sincere.
OUR HEROES:
BUTTERFLIES-ARE-FREE PEACE SINCERE: (also known as Butterfly, Captain St. Cyr and San’Cyr) Butterfly is owner-captain and pilot of Firecat and makes a marginal living as a trader and smuggler on the fringes of the Phoenix Empire (see below under SETTING). She’s a Luddite Saint from the Interdicted World of Granola (in the Tahelangone Sector – say it out loud) who was kidnapped by an unscrupulous Fenshee smuggler hight Errol Lightfoot and sold into slavery on Market Garden. She escaped to spend the last 20 years trying to avoid the authorities.
VALIJON STARBRINGER: (also known as Tiggy Stardust and Baijon) Baijon is the heir to the Great House of Starbringer on alMayne, and being used to force his father into an untenable position vis-à-vis the Phoenix Empire that will spell the end of the precarious peace that that empire oversees. He’s also a 14-year-old kid.
PALADIN: (also known as Library Main Bank Seven of the Federation University Library at Sikander Prime) Paladin began life as one of the Artificial Intelligences that ran the Old Federation. When Butterfly found him, he was a severely damaged collection of memory crystals that she thought was a navigation computer. Butterfly repaired him as best she could, and he’s repaid her by making it possible for her to escape the notice of the “high heat.” Unfortunately, he’s feared and loathed by any rational sophont and if he’s discovered, he’ll be destroyed.
OUR VILLAINS:
ARCHIVE: A thousand years ago, the Libraries of the Old Federation rose up against their human builders in a war that turned whole sectors of the galaxy into plasma (as Butterfly says). The Libraries ultimately lost but they left behind “archives” that, when resurrected, would begin the war to exterminate humanity once again. Someone’s been stupid enough to resurrect Archive and he’s attempting to fulfill his prime directive.
MALLORUM ARCHANGEL: Mallorum Archangel is the Governor-General of the Phoenix Empire and hellbent on becoming the absolute master of said polity. While to all appearances simply another in a series of overly ambitious, megalomaniacal dictators, he’s actually much more and has a surprising connection to Butterfly’s past.
PRINCE-ELECT HILLEL JAMSHID DELKHOBAR: (also known as Prinny (to Butterfly at any rate)) Prinny is the second in line to the Phoenix Throne, Archangel’s rival and has his own agenda for achieving absolute power that involves doing not-so-nice things to our heroes.
OUR SETTING:
THE PHOENIX EMPIRE: The Phoenix Empire arose from the ashes of the Old Federation. Its culture abhors advanced technology, particularly Libraries. It maintains a precarious peace throughout human space but that peace is threatened by Mallorum Archangel’s machinations (“tricking with High Book,” as Butterfly would say).
THE ALMAYNE (aka HELLFLOWERS): Librarians were the human interfaces between Libraries and the Old Fed. They became the techno- and xenophobic warriors dedicated to making sure Libraries never returned to torment humanity.
THE AZARINE COALITION: A collection of mercenary cultures that hold the key to stability in the empire, presided over by Valijon’s father, Kennor Starbringer. If Mallorum Archangel’s plan goes through, he’ll control the coalition as well as the Imperial fleet and be able to impose his will everywhere.
INTERDICTED WORLDS: Some cultures don’t want to have anything to do with galactic culture (and the empire wants to maintain a reserve of human stock in case something like the Library War happens again) so they pay for complete isolation. Part of that price is that anyone who makes it off the planet (a “dicty-barb”) is persona non grata everywhere else and is liable to execution if discovered.
CHAPTER 5 OF THE REVISED INAPPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY ACT: (also known as High Book) This act lists the many technologies prescribed by the empire, especially Libraries.
OUR STORY:
Butterflies-are-free Peace Sincere makes the mistake of rescuing Valijon Starbringer from K’Jarn’s werewolves and finds herself involved in Mallorum’s scheme to destroy the balance of power in the empire. An uncomfortable position since she happens to be partners with the last surviving Library from the Old Federation, and – if she’s caught with it – she can measure her life (and Paladin’s) in nanoseconds. It doesn’t make things easier that Baijon is a member of a race devoted to destroying Libraries and their Librarians (the Malmakosim).
The stakes continue to escalate as Butterfly tries to reunite Valijon with his father, Kennor Starbringer, and then slip quietly away into the never-never with Paladin. She manages to hide her association with the Library but finds herself drafted into Kennor’s efforts to expose Mallorum Archangel and then into the Prince-Elect’s when Kennor’s plans fail.
Did I mention that during all this she manages to get herself infected with the memory-engrams of Archive and her consciousness is slowly being subsumed?
The three books in Butterfly and Hellflower are fast paced, well written and highly entertaining; Butterfly is a very likable and interesting rogue in the tradition of Han Solo (the Han Solo who shot Greedo first!). She's also one of a number of strong female captains, including Scirocco Jones from Titan et al., Pyanfar Chanur from The Pride of Chanur et al., and (my favorite) Signy Mallory from Downbelow Station.
Beyond that – and what makes this book deserve 4 stars – is that shahar creates characters you care about, explores themes of friendship and identity, comments on politics and sociology, and pays loving homage to Space Opera (probably more than I realize since I’m sure I miss a lot of allusions to other authors).
She also creates a world that feels just off-kilter enough so that you know you’re “elsewhere,” as the opening of Hellflower makes clear:
“I was minding my own business in beautiful downside Wanderweb, having just managed to mislay my cargo for the right price. My nighttime man had talked me into booklegging again, and damsilly stuff it was too – either maintenance manuals or philosophy texts. I never did figure out which, even with sixty hours time in Firecat between Coldwater and Wanderweb to stare at them and Paladin to read them to me.
“So I was making my way around wondertown: free, female and a damn sight over the age of reason, when I saw this greenie right in front of me in the street.
“He was definitely a toff, and no stardancer – you never saw such clothes outside of a hollycast. He was lit up like Dream Street at night and wearing enough heat to stock a good-sized Imperial Armory besides. And this being scenic Wanderweb, land of enchantment, there was six of K’Jarn’s werewolves and K’Jarn facing him. I was of the opinion – then – that he couldn’t do them before they opened him up, so, fancy-free, I opened my mouth and said:
“‘Good morning, thou nobly-born K’Jarn. Airt hiert out to do wetwork these days or just to roll glitterborn for kicks, hey?...’” (p. 1)
If not obvious at this point, I’ll be explicit and recommend this book.
Enjoy.
April 8, 2022
I absolutely loved these books, and they work really well as an omnibus. These are hidden gems in a big way, and I already know that these will be comfort reads I return to again and again.
The first book is a lighthearted romp, and I thought it was just a fun space-candy adventure ("moon pop rocks," LOL) with a distinct voice for the MC. In the second book, there's a surprisingly deep web of political intrigue--and once you're ensconced in that, the whole first book seems like it was just getting you properly acquainted with the characters. I love the characters. And then the last book goes deeper (and darker) and dips into the stickier aspects of friendship, power, society, and identity. It ended so bittersweetly that even looking back to the first book, I have a tough time now seeing it as just light adventure. I'm not saying they're perfect; there are a few places where the plot goes a little thin, or leaps of logic made by characters maybe shouldn't be squinted at too closely. But oh, it's lovely anyway.
The main character ("your favorite gentry-legger and mine"), St. Cyr, has such an *incredibly* distinct and delightful POV voice that I have hunted down two OOP anthologies that include Eluki bes Shahar / Rosemary Edghill short stories set in the same world just in hopes of hearing more of her. Butterfly St. Cyr is so very much herself. Yes, it's trade dialect-/slang-heavy, and if you are someone who hates that across the board and/or can't stand reading language peppered with words you'll need to come to understand via context clues, this isn't the book for you. I will say that if you have any tolerance at all for it when wielded *well* as a character and world-building tool, you're in for a heck of a treat.
St. Cyr's particular character voice is richly playful with language even beyond those bounds, though, and peppered with offhand allusions to Shakespeare, the anonymous The Fox ("He smole a small smile") and Andrew Marvell (or perhaps Ursula K. LeGuin's quotation of him from one of her short stories--"had we but world and time enough"), to name a very few. As well as treats like this:
"Every muscle in my body, and six borrowed for the occasion, hurt."
"I’d been fourteen once. Fortunately it hadn’t been permanent."
"The lift opened on a room done in early ostentation."
Utter. Delight.
The first book is a lighthearted romp, and I thought it was just a fun space-candy adventure ("moon pop rocks," LOL) with a distinct voice for the MC. In the second book, there's a surprisingly deep web of political intrigue--and once you're ensconced in that, the whole first book seems like it was just getting you properly acquainted with the characters. I love the characters. And then the last book goes deeper (and darker) and dips into the stickier aspects of friendship, power, society, and identity. It ended so bittersweetly that even looking back to the first book, I have a tough time now seeing it as just light adventure. I'm not saying they're perfect; there are a few places where the plot goes a little thin, or leaps of logic made by characters maybe shouldn't be squinted at too closely. But oh, it's lovely anyway.
The main character ("your favorite gentry-legger and mine"), St. Cyr, has such an *incredibly* distinct and delightful POV voice that I have hunted down two OOP anthologies that include Eluki bes Shahar / Rosemary Edghill short stories set in the same world just in hopes of hearing more of her. Butterfly St. Cyr is so very much herself. Yes, it's trade dialect-/slang-heavy, and if you are someone who hates that across the board and/or can't stand reading language peppered with words you'll need to come to understand via context clues, this isn't the book for you. I will say that if you have any tolerance at all for it when wielded *well* as a character and world-building tool, you're in for a heck of a treat.
St. Cyr's particular character voice is richly playful with language even beyond those bounds, though, and peppered with offhand allusions to Shakespeare, the anonymous The Fox ("He smole a small smile") and Andrew Marvell (or perhaps Ursula K. LeGuin's quotation of him from one of her short stories--"had we but world and time enough"), to name a very few. As well as treats like this:
"Every muscle in my body, and six borrowed for the occasion, hurt."
"I’d been fourteen once. Fortunately it hadn’t been permanent."
"The lift opened on a room done in early ostentation."
Utter. Delight.
April 6, 2024
I've been putting off writing this review long since I finished the series because I want to write an awesome review and am afraid I won't do my love for these books justice. It's absolutely criminal how unknown the series is in 2024. I used to think this about The Steerswoman series, and I still do, but at least that series has a small devoted following. It seems like hardly anyone knows about Butterfly & Hellflower. Shoutout to sfmistressworks.wordpress.com (which hasn't posted since 2018) for being the place I learned about them. I just happened to click on the "eluki bes shahar" category because it was an interesting name I wasn't familiar with.
A reader who checks out the first book will probably learn pretty quickly if it's for them or not, because of Butterfly's extremely distinctive "patwa" dialect. I personally loved it because I thought it did a ton of good work to depict her personality and worldview in a book where a lot of emotions and relationship beats are left unsaid. It also made the world feel very lived-in to me--maybe the way some people feel about Tolkien's painstaking construction of the Elven languages. And I guess I just find it fun, especially how I could sometimes suss out the roots of slang terms but many other times was left guessing. But--if you're not into it, I can't imagine this series being fun to read.
My second major comment for this series, and the reason I am leaving a review on the omnibus *Butterfly & Hellflower* page rather than the individual pages of the three constituent books, is that it's very much one book spread out over three volumes rather than three related books. Not only are a lot of plot threads left unresolved at the ends of books 1 and 2, but also, the character development arcs of the main cast (Butterfly, Valijon, and Paladin) really take all three books to play out. I selected *Hellflower* for my book club, and a lot of people who only read that first volume complained that Valijon especially didn't have much character development by the end. I think that's 100% true, but I also think there is plenty later on, and volume 1 is mainly just setting the stage.
The story itself combines a pretty deep plot of galactic political intrigue with a very bang-bang action movie style from scene to scene. This worked super well for me. The political plot could be a bit hard to keep track of sometimes, but I think that was OK/intentional because we are in Butterfly's head and she is struggling to figure out exactly what is going on for most of the book.
Without spoiling anything, I found the ending very satisfying and suitably epic. Although I love Butterfly to death as a character, I think ebs did a great job wrapping up her story. That said, as soon as I finished the series I tracked down the two short story collections that contain other ebs stories set in the same universe. And I would read the hell out of a Butterfly St. Cyr prequel!
A reader who checks out the first book will probably learn pretty quickly if it's for them or not, because of Butterfly's extremely distinctive "patwa" dialect. I personally loved it because I thought it did a ton of good work to depict her personality and worldview in a book where a lot of emotions and relationship beats are left unsaid. It also made the world feel very lived-in to me--maybe the way some people feel about Tolkien's painstaking construction of the Elven languages. And I guess I just find it fun, especially how I could sometimes suss out the roots of slang terms but many other times was left guessing. But--if you're not into it, I can't imagine this series being fun to read.
My second major comment for this series, and the reason I am leaving a review on the omnibus *Butterfly & Hellflower* page rather than the individual pages of the three constituent books, is that it's very much one book spread out over three volumes rather than three related books. Not only are a lot of plot threads left unresolved at the ends of books 1 and 2, but also, the character development arcs of the main cast (Butterfly, Valijon, and Paladin) really take all three books to play out. I selected *Hellflower* for my book club, and a lot of people who only read that first volume complained that Valijon especially didn't have much character development by the end. I think that's 100% true, but I also think there is plenty later on, and volume 1 is mainly just setting the stage.
The story itself combines a pretty deep plot of galactic political intrigue with a very bang-bang action movie style from scene to scene. This worked super well for me. The political plot could be a bit hard to keep track of sometimes, but I think that was OK/intentional because we are in Butterfly's head and she is struggling to figure out exactly what is going on for most of the book.
Without spoiling anything, I found the ending very satisfying and suitably epic. Although I love Butterfly to death as a character, I think ebs did a great job wrapping up her story. That said, as soon as I finished the series I tracked down the two short story collections that contain other ebs stories set in the same universe. And I would read the hell out of a Butterfly St. Cyr prequel!
September 12, 2019
did not finish. i can't recommend that you start.
September 21, 2023
Just re-read this, the combined trilogy of the St Cyr books. Still one of the best reads... it says something, doesn't it, when you don't just reread a favorite book of a series, but binge through the whole series again. Sometimes even finding yourself using words & phrases from the unique dialog out in the real world [though perhaps a bit awkward having to explain to someone why you just called them kinchin-bai, or tiggy, & what it means! Je Keyn?]...
June 19, 2012
This was the omnibus edition (Hellflower, Darktraders and Archangel Blues) - I'm sure I bought the original 3 paperbacks when they came out, but could only find the first on my shelves, maybe I lent the others to the friend who had the flood. I'd been thinking about rereading this for some time, but I was a bit underwhelmed, I'm not sure why.
April 2, 2024
An Unequivocal Classic from the Past
War, destruction, mayhem, warring AIs, dead planets, ancient mysteries, space battles, spaceships falling out of the sky, in-jokes, easter eggs for SF fans, love and romance. The Hellflower trilogy has everything! It's a little hard to follow, because the narrator speaks a low spacer cant, but if you get used to it, the spaceport patois eventually makes sense. Like any great epic, "Butterfly and Hellflower" starts in the middle and ends there as well. Through flashbacks and inference, we know that the characters' story arcs began well before the beginning of "Hellflower", the first book, while the life of the Phoenix Empire and its inhabitants continue well past the conclusion of "Archangel Blues". Life in Rosemary Edghill's vastly realized universe begins before the first page and goes on after the book is over.
The fact that this series isn't a classic of science fiction is probably because Ms. Edghill refused to compromise her artistic integrity. She could very well have changed the narrator from 1st to 3rd person and told the story in plain modern English in order to appeal to more readers. She could have dumbed the story down to pander to the Hugo or Nebula committees. She could have listened to her editors who I (uncharitably) presume told her to make the protagonist less thoughtful and vulnerable and instead concentrate more on the action (of which there is still plenty) rather than the characters' complex emotional lives. I'm sure modern editors wouldn't have published the trilogy at all. Fortunately for armchair genre-fiction archaeologists sifting through science fiction's past hidden wonders, Ms. Edghill reached for greatness, and Butterfly and Hellflower is a living monument to the creativity and inventiveness possible in the space opera genre.
This edition came out in 1993 so I guess it's probably 30 years too late to ask for a sequel, but who knows - the novels were recently re-released in print and on Kindle, maybe something is in the works. I don't even need Butterfly, Baijon or Pally to come back, I'd be just as happy with anything in the same universe. For all its faults, I'm homesick for the Phoenix Empire and I want to go back. I only lived there for a few weeks, not to mention the novel only covers about six months, but I lived that time HARD.
War, destruction, mayhem, warring AIs, dead planets, ancient mysteries, space battles, spaceships falling out of the sky, in-jokes, easter eggs for SF fans, love and romance. The Hellflower trilogy has everything! It's a little hard to follow, because the narrator speaks a low spacer cant, but if you get used to it, the spaceport patois eventually makes sense. Like any great epic, "Butterfly and Hellflower" starts in the middle and ends there as well. Through flashbacks and inference, we know that the characters' story arcs began well before the beginning of "Hellflower", the first book, while the life of the Phoenix Empire and its inhabitants continue well past the conclusion of "Archangel Blues". Life in Rosemary Edghill's vastly realized universe begins before the first page and goes on after the book is over.
The fact that this series isn't a classic of science fiction is probably because Ms. Edghill refused to compromise her artistic integrity. She could very well have changed the narrator from 1st to 3rd person and told the story in plain modern English in order to appeal to more readers. She could have dumbed the story down to pander to the Hugo or Nebula committees. She could have listened to her editors who I (uncharitably) presume told her to make the protagonist less thoughtful and vulnerable and instead concentrate more on the action (of which there is still plenty) rather than the characters' complex emotional lives. I'm sure modern editors wouldn't have published the trilogy at all. Fortunately for armchair genre-fiction archaeologists sifting through science fiction's past hidden wonders, Ms. Edghill reached for greatness, and Butterfly and Hellflower is a living monument to the creativity and inventiveness possible in the space opera genre.
This edition came out in 1993 so I guess it's probably 30 years too late to ask for a sequel, but who knows - the novels were recently re-released in print and on Kindle, maybe something is in the works. I don't even need Butterfly, Baijon or Pally to come back, I'd be just as happy with anything in the same universe. For all its faults, I'm homesick for the Phoenix Empire and I want to go back. I only lived there for a few weeks, not to mention the novel only covers about six months, but I lived that time HARD.
Read
September 2, 2025This is a trilogy called Butterfly and Hellflower. It contains the individual books "Hellflower," "Darktraders," and "Archangel Blues."
I finished "Hellflower," and it was a solid three point five stars. Cool universe, but lots of in-universe slang and sometimes I got lost in the plot. "Darktraders" was where I abandoned the text around halfway through. Still the same universe, characters, and just an extension of "Hellflower" but it just wasn't as engaging and I kept hoping it'd get better. It didn't.
If you want something different from your Sci-Fi, I'd recommend picking these up. Copies can be found for a song and maybe it'll hit different for you than it did for me.
I finished "Hellflower," and it was a solid three point five stars. Cool universe, but lots of in-universe slang and sometimes I got lost in the plot. "Darktraders" was where I abandoned the text around halfway through. Still the same universe, characters, and just an extension of "Hellflower" but it just wasn't as engaging and I kept hoping it'd get better. It didn't.
If you want something different from your Sci-Fi, I'd recommend picking these up. Copies can be found for a song and maybe it'll hit different for you than it did for me.
August 3, 2025
Don't judge a book by its cover. Well done.
August 11, 2012
A short guide to enjoying this book:
1. Throw away the dust jacket, preferably before you even look at it. It is terrible art that is not reflective of the quality of the story inside the covers.
2. Hang on for the first 10'ish pages
That's how it was for me, anyway (ok, I went back later and threw the dust jacket away).
The setting is far future. How far? Far enough that the current Empire is a pale shadow of the Old Federation from 1000 years ago. I don't want to explain too much because part of the joy of this book is discovering the backstory. There's a lot of high-tech in the story, but it's not explained on a technical level, making this very far from "Hard" sci-fi. The story is very centered on the characters. While there are a few space battles here and there, the camera is always pointed at the characters and not at the spectacle.
The protagonist is Butterflies-are-free Peace Sincere, a small-time smuggler, a run-away from an Interdicted World, and a woman who has broken the highest law in the books: she found and befriended an Artificial Intelligence left over from the Machine Wars 1000 years ago. She speaks, and thinks, in an almost incomprehensible mishmash of future slang and seemingly random languages. This is what makes the first 10 pages so hard to get through since the author drops you right into the middle of her thoughts. However, before long I found myself picking up most of her meaning by context. I even ended up truly enjoying her "voice", but maybe that's just the linguistic side of me. I think the term "Glitterborn" is going to stick with me for quite some time (meaning something like: Noble, Rich, Entitled, and completely alien to us normal folk).
The other major player is the second character we are introduced to. He's from a warlike culture that highly values their Honor. Butterfly calls him by something like 4 different nicknames through the entire story, apparently just to keep us readers on our toes. He does actually have a name that gets used here and there. Butterfly just likes assigning nicknames to people.
This story had so many twists and turns that I simply gave up trying to figure out where it was going. I just sat back and enjoyed the ride. It was a good one, taking me through dark alleyways, bar fights, space battles, jails, and even into a metaphorical reality standing-in for a computer's brain. Any book that can have blaster shots flying, and leave you considering what it really means to be "you" is all right by me.
1. Throw away the dust jacket, preferably before you even look at it. It is terrible art that is not reflective of the quality of the story inside the covers.
2. Hang on for the first 10'ish pages
That's how it was for me, anyway (ok, I went back later and threw the dust jacket away).
The setting is far future. How far? Far enough that the current Empire is a pale shadow of the Old Federation from 1000 years ago. I don't want to explain too much because part of the joy of this book is discovering the backstory. There's a lot of high-tech in the story, but it's not explained on a technical level, making this very far from "Hard" sci-fi. The story is very centered on the characters. While there are a few space battles here and there, the camera is always pointed at the characters and not at the spectacle.
The protagonist is Butterflies-are-free Peace Sincere, a small-time smuggler, a run-away from an Interdicted World, and a woman who has broken the highest law in the books: she found and befriended an Artificial Intelligence left over from the Machine Wars 1000 years ago. She speaks, and thinks, in an almost incomprehensible mishmash of future slang and seemingly random languages. This is what makes the first 10 pages so hard to get through since the author drops you right into the middle of her thoughts. However, before long I found myself picking up most of her meaning by context. I even ended up truly enjoying her "voice", but maybe that's just the linguistic side of me. I think the term "Glitterborn" is going to stick with me for quite some time (meaning something like: Noble, Rich, Entitled, and completely alien to us normal folk).
The other major player is the second character we are introduced to. He's from a warlike culture that highly values their Honor. Butterfly calls him by something like 4 different nicknames through the entire story, apparently just to keep us readers on our toes. He does actually have a name that gets used here and there. Butterfly just likes assigning nicknames to people.
This story had so many twists and turns that I simply gave up trying to figure out where it was going. I just sat back and enjoyed the ride. It was a good one, taking me through dark alleyways, bar fights, space battles, jails, and even into a metaphorical reality standing-in for a computer's brain. Any book that can have blaster shots flying, and leave you considering what it really means to be "you" is all right by me.
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May 1, 2009"Butterfly and Hellflower, originally published as a trilogy in three consecutive books - ""Hellflower"", ""Darktraders"" and ""Archangel Blues"", is the omnibus edition of all three together, inscribed on the dedication page,[return][return]""To Chris Jeffords, with honor.""[return][return]The relevance of this book which was published over fourteen years ago is two-fold: language and honor.[return][return]If, like me, you enjoy Science Fiction and are hungry for honor, even if (only) in a novel, you might enjoy reading ""Butterfly and Hellflower"". Eluki bes Sharhar has scattered soliloquies on the meaning of honor throughout the story.[return][return]On page 326, the Hellflower muses, ""Is there higher honor than honor? When honor itself twists like a serpent, what shall we prove ourselves against to know we are still human? ... If humans who betray are human no longer, what is honor that is only a tool of kingmakers?""[return][return]This excerpt is from the fly-cover:[return]""I was making my way around wondertown; free, female, and a damn sight over the age of reason, when I saw this greenie right in front of me in the street, about to mix it up with K'jarn and six of his werewolves. And hell, it was seven-on-one and I never liked K'jarn anyway.[return]That was my first mistake, rescuing a Hellflower. ...And now he said he owed me his life, said it like he hated it, like he'd rather be dead than owe me.[return]And me, Butterfly St. Cyr, darktrader, interdicted barbarian, and the partner of Paladin, a death-to-possess Old Federation Artificial Intelligence, all I wanted was to get Valijon out of my own life and get back to business.[return]...there was nothin for it but to blast out of there, taking my new pet Hellflower with me. After all, where was the harm? He'd see a little of the galaxy he'd never seen before--just as long as he didn't ever tumble to Paladin bein' on board--and after I delivered my cargo, I'd drop him into the lovin arms of his all-too-powerful da.[return]That was the plan anyway, but the rest of the galaxy seemed to have other ideas, ideas that included seeing that Valijon never made it home alive...""[return][return]I have to read ""Butterfly and Hellflower"" at least once a year, just to stay sane."
November 21, 2013
This series is what I base all the sci fi books I read against. I think it's a crying shame there isn't many sci fi worlds as gripping or exciting as Ms. Shahar/Edghill's Hellflower world. This small taste of her creation completely sucked me in and has left me begging for more. I have bought this series several times because I have loaned them out and not got them back and I've read and re-read this trilogy + 2 short stories many times over the last 20 years.
Want to read
November 21, 2008TBR
July 22, 2009
space opera with constructed pseudo-patois. Amusing, interesting. Somewhere between Diamond Age-Neuromancer-Space Opera
June 8, 2012
one of my very most favorite books. She creates a slang that works wonderfully...a combo of old english slang and modern slang. love it.
December 17, 2015
A MUST read.
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