Alliance Space (2008)

really liked this; especially Merchanter's Luck; liked the adventure, the emotion

C.J. Cherryh has become my all time favorite author next to Patricia Mckillip. She has a way of taking directions that are always suprising and innovative. The two book contained in this omnibus take place in the same universe but are vastly different in scope. Merchanter' s Luck is a more traditional space yarn that does not disappoint on action or pacing but is a more personal piece.

Forty Thousand in Ghenna is much grander in scope. At first I struggled with this story because it starts from the Union side of the Union-Alliance universe. I instantly wanted to hate it because of the treatment of the clones, which are basically slaves and cannon fodder for the Union government. Cherryh mananged to pull me through to the point where the alien Caliban make their presence known. The interaction of the new Alliance settlement with the remanants of the original Union colony that has integrated with the Calibans is well worth the wait. The story has a lot to say about being true to yourself and what you have become in the face of outside influences. ( )

Alliance Space is a bizzare cobbling together of two disperate stories set quite far apart in the same universe when there are many more obvious pairings that could have been made. It's also badly bound with the type squished very close to the spine, and some copyediting errors - 1882 or 1082 crew on the Dublin for a start? As a showcase of the breath of CJC's talent perhaps a greater range could not have been selected. Merchanter's luck is human based, intense personal, short and fast. 40K is slow, alien, convolute, wide ranging as different as two novels in the same universe could be. Yet both highlight CJC's skill, and her perenial questioning of what it means to be humanin face of the Other, when it comes to the crunch.

Merchanter's Luck
Superb.
Lucy (not the real name) is a small freighter running the margins solely owned by Ed Stevens (ditto) with odd hire ons for crew and dockside laywer's sharp mind he cuts a profit that's just about legal. A chance encounter with Alison Reilly -off the Named ship Dublin Again, in a bar in Voyager sets up the chance of a lifetime: Dublin is offering permenant crew - Alison - and funds to make him set for life. All he has to do is trust them, and hide the memorie sof his past. For Alison the other POV in the tale, born to sit 20 seats away from the bridge and with rejuv'd crewmates it'll be a long long time before she gets any closer it's chance to sit as Command 2. All she has to do is trust a risk taking spacer who's name is already under suspicion

Suprisingly short for CJC the action and personalities are superb as always. Best read with some previous understanding of the Alliance-Union universe it isn't that necessary as the action stays centered on "Ed" and Alison. Slightly unrealistic in that a Named crew would seldom even associate with rifraf like "Ed" but having done so the moral ambiguities and human doubts are very real. It's gripping all the way through.

40000 in Gehenna:
Much much slower, spread over a few 100 years. The basic principle is Union focused where a colony of Azi is founded on a strange world. But the resupply never comes and the native "lizards" aren't as dumb as they seem. Eventually the teritotry is ceded to the Alliance, who establish a scientific survey base on the world. And it is here, perhaps halfway through the book that the pace begins to pick up. The original colony has splintered into two factions, each of which treats an observer differently. At times is seems like CJC is just making a gender difference novel, but as the situation develops one realises the wider implications,and deeper questions that are being asked.

Very slow and sometimes hard to read - the history of hte colony skips forward in odd steps, causing the reader to compare and contrast maps,a nd figures. Characters appear and fade away, and the lines ofdescent are important if tricky to remember. But perserverance is worthwhile for the conclusion is vast and gripping. As the story unfolds the POV switches between the Alliance observers and the differences in the two colonies outlooks becoems more pronounced.

Alliance Space contains two of CJC's better stories, but isn't suitable for an introduction to her work - you need to know some details of the universe background, although this is hardly relevant to Gehenna. ( )

This is a compilation of two book by CJ Cherryh, both set in the U/A universe and both very good. But, I don't think I would have put them in one volume though as the stories have nothing to do with each other.

The first, Merchanter's Luck, tells of a small poor family ship that works through the death of most of its members and goes on to become an active part of interstellar commerce once again. There's a love interest and plenty of political intrigue.

the second, 40,000 in Gehenna, is a classic Cherryh story of the evil Union planting a secret colony of clones on a disputed world to tie down the Alliance from building a base there. It's cheaper than war! Then they find intelligent natives there. It's a first contact and post industrial dark age story rolled into one. ( )

Two books in a universe I didn't know.

Merchanter's Luck: Enjoyed this story and was disappointed when the second book didn't continue their adventures. Complicated characters that you are never sure if you like or not.

Fouty Thousand in Gehenna: Took a while to get into this story, but once we got past the splintering and into the actions was good. ( )