[6ZX]⇒ Read Merchanter Luck AllianceUnion Universe C J Cherryh 9780886771393 Books

Merchanter Luck AllianceUnion Universe C J Cherryh 9780886771393 Books

Download As PDF : Merchanter Luck AllianceUnion Universe C J Cherryh 9780886771393 Books

Merchanter Luck AllianceUnion Universe C J Cherryh 9780886771393 Books

I have read Science Fiction since I was a 'Tween (stopped for a while to study Psychology and Computer Science) and just now (at 50) discovered CJ Cherryh. I had been reading through a list of about 10 books from an internet list on good spaceship themed books, and Merchanter's Luck was on the list. It stopped me in my tracks with it's style. After reading it, I paused my spaceship-centric reading and went back to read all three books leading up to Merchanter's Luck (see Wikipedia page on her work), including Downbelow Station which won several awards. I still like this one best so far. I am now re-reading Merchanters Luck, and I don't know of another time that I have re-read a Science-Fiction book. And I am getting even more out of it on the second reading! There are many different styles of Science Fiction, and this is one that really resonates with me. Early favorites for me included Issac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, A.E. Van Vogt, and many, many short story authors. Very worth checking out!


Tags : Merchanter's Luck (Alliance-Union Universe) [C. J. Cherryh] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The fateful meeting between the owner of a tramp star-freighter that flies the Union planets under false papers and fake names and a proud but junior member of a powerful starship-owning family leads to a record-breaking race to Downbelow Station--and a terrifying showdown at a deadly destination off the cosmic charts.,C. J. Cherryh,Merchanter's Luck (Alliance-Union Universe),DAW,0886771390,Science Fiction - General,Fantasy,Fiction,Fiction General,Fiction Science Fiction General,Science Fiction

Merchanter Luck AllianceUnion Universe C J Cherryh 9780886771393 Books Reviews

Think of Han Solo and the Millenium Falcon. Think of Malcolm Reynolds and Firefly. Now make them lonely and reckless and hopeless. Sandor Kreja is pretty much these guys, without the supportive crew/sidekick. All he's got left after the raid that killed his family is his ship, a battered version of the Falcon or Firefly. In the opening chapter, Sandor walks into a bar and falls in love at first sight with the raven-haired Allison Reilly, a Merchanter daughter on leave. A quick roll in the hay only throws fuel on his fire, and he vows to see her at her next port, which is (for his little ship) impossibly far away. For reasons he can't or won't examine, he actually follows through with this, and arrives after staying awake on drugs and nerve through three jumps, to find that he has made himself the center of a lot of unwelcome attention.

The rest of the novel is about the lingering echoes of Sandor's family catastrophe, about how something resembling post-traumatic stress disorder can screw with a man's head the rest of his life, and about how hard it is to look past all of these things to find love and trust. It's a book about desperate love. In a few of Cherryh's trademark clipped, condensed paragraphs in the first pages, she paints a picture of a young man on the edge of life, scarred by a horrific tragedy in his youth, eking out a living in the shadow of the big players of Downbelow Station. That novel made a big splash in the early 80s, and I read it, but this story is the one that stuck in my mind for thirty years. I come back to it over and over because of the tone Cherryh puts into it, because of the way she expertly balances the yearning in Sandor against his fear of betrayal, his pride, his survivor's guilt, the secrets and ghosts (metaphorical) that are all he has left. Sandor is a victim who doesn't realize he's a victim, so he behaves like a hero and then is surprised when people say nice things about him.

Cherryh's typically compact and evocative prose supports a story which is perhaps too long on Merchanter/Alliance/Union politics and too short on the romance that fuels the story. Even though I was familiar with the referents, I didn't care. They were only window dressing for the real story, the love story. Cherryh set up a good one and didn't quite pull it off; the romance is lower-key than it needs to be to hold up a whole novel. While the ending felt rushed, it still managed to leave me with a feeling that matters had been resolved -- patched together, leaking, limping -- but resolved. It's a very human, realistic ending, not the neat, happily-ever-after ending of the conventional romance.

The taut, allusory prose, the simple and straightforward story structure, and the outstanding delineation of a very sympathetic main character make this a standout book, one of Cherryh's best. In the grand tradition of space opera, it swept me off my feet and kept me enthralled over three decades.
Sandor Kreja is in a strange position, sole owner of a spaceship but broke and running out of ways to cheat the system, when he encounters Allison Reilly, crewman of the prosperous Dublin Again, and decides to bet everything on the Dublin's next station stop. Merchanter's Luck is predicated on an infatuation at first sight which is never quite convincing; Sandor's pursuit of Allison feels foolish, and gives the book a slow start. It's also often a novel of reactions, despite Allison's active ambition, due to the timing of point of view switches and the machinations of the plot. But by the end, none of this matters Cherryh's spaceships are convincing, intimidating places, her technology and politics both thought-provoking, but the story always comes back to the characters and, here, to themes of loss, uneasy new relationships, and defining, creating, and retaining identity. As the book picks up pace, it grows increasingly compelling; I don't love it as much as I love Downbelow Station, but it's entirely satisfying to read.
Good quality older paper back. Quick shipper
No complaints.
still one of the best of her novels.
One of Cherryh's best works. I read it in high school and still love it after 30 years.
I read this when it was first issued twenty some odd years ago. Time has not diminished its quality and entertainment value. Its is a classic Cherryh
I have read Science Fiction since I was a 'Tween (stopped for a while to study Psychology and Computer Science) and just now (at 50) discovered CJ Cherryh. I had been reading through a list of about 10 books from an internet list on good spaceship themed books, and Merchanter's Luck was on the list. It stopped me in my tracks with it's style. After reading it, I paused my spaceship-centric reading and went back to read all three books leading up to Merchanter's Luck (see Wikipedia page on her work), including Downbelow Station which won several awards. I still like this one best so far. I am now re-reading Merchanters Luck, and I don't know of another time that I have re-read a Science-Fiction book. And I am getting even more out of it on the second reading! There are many different styles of Science Fiction, and this is one that really resonates with me. Early favorites for me included Issac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, A.E. Van Vogt, and many, many short story authors. Very worth checking out!