I remember this as a good, but not extremely memorable book. A spacer is without a ship and without resources, desperate on the fringes of settled space, and ends up joining a crew nearly as desperate. Like all of Cherryh's sci-fi, this is good, though perhaps not her best. ( )

Decent writing. I had a difficult time finishing this one since I was hardpressed to find anything appealing in the main protagonist. ( )

Cherryh's characters are never in comfortable situations; events occur to them and (beyond question) they're not in control of their lives.

That said: This one's a fun romp; a space opera from the perspective of one of the spear carriers. ( )

A space adventure about a spacer whose career has ended due to changes in political regime, seeking to renew her career. Somewhat uglier at the beginning that I would like, but without those early scenes we wouldn't understand the character's motivations and choices. ( )

The Alliance-Union novels can be read in any order, since very few of them are actually tied together. If you want to read the stories in the order in which they occur, this one is sometime after Downbelow Station.

A definite recommendation. ( )