Merchanter's Luck

Yup, still my favorite book. Umpty umpteenth reread. 08/13/2020

Who knows why one book strikes a chord with someone, but this one is my all time favorite and having a degree in English Lit, I read a lot. I have three copies of this book because if I look for it and can't find it within a day or two I panic and buy another copy. I love many books over many genres but my heart loves this one best.

You will enjoy this story more if you have read Downbelow Station at the very least. I will admit that the first time I read it, the end was a bit fuzzy but the more often I read it the clearer the situation becomes. The more you read in Ms. Cherryh's Union/Alliance universe the easier this book is to understand.

It's a space ship story built show more around family merchant ships travelling between star systems and it is certainly enjoyable from that aspect. What makes the story for me is the character of the protagonist, Sandor Kreja. He is the very last of his family, running a haunted (not literally) ship all alone. When he meets Allison Reilly from a large powerful ship, he begins to dream of having a family again. He is a total underdog but the Reillys find out that when push comes to shove, he has a core of steel and all the right answers. show less

Subtle plotting, keeping everyone off balance. The first sentence puts two characters together, so I knew that a few pages later, Allison would end up filling the empty crew slot on Sandor's freighter. But instead, she heads off, as scheduled, on her family's ship. And it keeps going like that. We know how space opera romance is supposed to work, and this one has a realistic streak that spurns that at every juncture while sticking tight to the genre.

And still, it is a great story, an easy read, but with so much more than that first sentence suggests. It is a bit like the first time you have Thai food -- how is this sweet and tart and crunchy and soft, all in one dish?

Cherryh is a master storyteller, and this book showcases her amazing talents at characterization and plotting. It is not one of her stronger books, I'll admit that, and I personally think it should have been titled "Ghost Ship" to represent the nature of the lead character's (Sandor's) character development in regards to his past. In fact, the story really is more about the relationship between Sandor and his spaceship (named Lucy) than even about Sandor's infatuation with the wealthy and beautiful space merchanter Allison. The romance between Sandor and Allison is a plot point, and mostly reflects youthful folly and blind luck, while the story of Sandor and Lucy is profound, deeply moving, and far more important that any other show more relationship in the book.

What Cherryh excels at is the measured pace of experience as it happens; while she can write a cracking-good, heart-stopping adventure scene, her writing is first and foremost about what people are thinking and feeling as events happen around them. Pages and pages are spent getting a ship out of dock, or a character across the width of a space station, but the wealth of information we get as events unfold is mind-boggling. Nothing is scrap is Cherryh's prose, because every word means something or hints at circumstances. show less

Another strong entry in Cherryh’s Union-Alliance universe, this one set shortly after the events of Downbelow Station, focusing on people who live on the edge of the Merchanter society. If you are looking for believable characters (warts and all), who are driven by economic necessity to do things they’d rather not, all set in a universe in which life is at times dirty, at times boring, and at times very scary, give these books a try.

Sandor Kreyja is the last survivor of a space-going merchant family that lost almost everthing to a Mazianni pirate attack. Allison Reilly is a very junior member of a very rich space-going family, living a life of relative comfort but little purpose. A dockside fling brings them together on a mission show more that promises romance and adventure, but quickly spirals out of control.

This is about as far from the golden age “adolescent fantasy in space” story as you can get. I liked it. show less

Man, Cherryh loves a found family. I'm not mad at it, the power of human connection as a motif is really powerful in her work. Super claustrophobic, and nice to see more of the dreaded Mallory. I might have to take a bit of a break from Cherryh so I don't burn out on her, this is the fifth book in the past two months I've read by her.

Man meets woman. Woman is way above man's station. Man falls head over heels & risks the only thing he actually has to see woman again. Trouble for man ensues. Timeless kind of story & made even more fun that this takes us back to Pell. This is a terrifically short book but a very good installment in the Alliance Space series. I loved the first Downbelow Station & have some sort of obsession with life aboard a spacestation apparently. Sandor & Allison were well done characters but that's not surprising to me given that it's Cherryh. I really felt for Sandor being all alone with only his ship & trying to make his way along. I understood why he was tired of it all at the age of twenty-seven. He really was put through the ringer on station show more & that made me sad for him all the more. Tally & Mallory are enough to undo the most relaxed sorts, so Sandor didn't stand a chance. Allison, took a little longer to grow on me but I understood that her hyper-vigilance was not just necessary given the situation but also, sound. Space is a dangerous place & people on both sides of the line can be prickly. I was most excited to read what was going on on Pell & the peek in at the Konstantins.

The action was well paced & of course, everything came together in quite a nice end. The thread of having no family & having one that played out between Sandor & Allison (& the other Reillys) was excellent. Sandor's yearning for that sense of community balanced so well with Allison's yearning to break free of hers in order for a true chance to let her ambition soar. While I didn't love this as much as Downbelow Station, it's a very solid installment & I liked all the characters. As this was one of the only installments in the series that I lacked, I can now get on to the rest of the series in earnest. show less

This novel is possibly the lightest of C.J. Cherryh's Alliance/Union collection. The backstory is quite dark, but misunderstandings are the primary cause of personal conflicts, though current politics and piracy loom.