Alliance Space

Alliance-Union Universe Series

By: C. J. Cherryh

Narrated by: Daniel Thomas May

Length: 21 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

Two Alliance-Union novels, Merchanter's Luck and Forty Thousand in Gehenna, bound in one omnibus volume for the first time!

Merchanter's Luck

His name was Sandor, and he was the owner and entire crew of a tramp star-freighter that flew the Union planets under false papers and fake names. Her name was Allison, and she was a proud but junior member of the powerful family whose mighty starship, Dublin Again, was the true queen of the spaceways. They met at Viking Station. She seeking a night's dalliance; he desperately in search of a spacer assistant. Their fateful meeting was to lead to a record-breaking race to Pell Station, thereby catching the calculating eye of the grim commander of the Alliance battlecraft Norway and a terrifying showdown at a deadly destination off the cosmic charts.

Forty Thousand in Gehenna

When 40,000 human colonists are abandoned for political reasons on a planet called Gehenna, and re-supply ships fail to arrive, collapse seems imminent. Yet over the next two centuries, the descendants of the original colonists survive despite all odds by entering a partnership with the planet's native intelligence - the lizard-like, burrowing calibans.

©2008 C.J. Cherryh (P)2021 Tantor

Not what you're expecting

There are two books. Both are dated reflecting the author's decade and technology she was familiar with. For example, there are lots of documents for id and permission to do this or that. That's a minor point. The first book spends a lot of time setting up the universe and developing the characters for what you expect will be a crew you'll revisit in follow-on books. It's a Cheeryh book meaning the writing and characters are well done so I didn't mind the meticulous universe building and character development. The cautionary note is that as the crew overcomes all obstacles towards the end to finally become a united crew the book ends. And then book two...has nothing to do with this ship, this crew, or any of these characters. It is set in the same universe and mentions a few of same planets but is in a future time. Totally different. The positive about the second book is Cheeryh's treatment of aliens and alien contact. Way too many SF narratives simply dress humans up as aliens which makes it easy to follow their motivations and to write an easy to appreciate story. However, if the author truly imagines and puts to paper genuinely alien thinking the reader has trouble following or even imagining what the aliens are up to and why. Cheeryh manages a passable and readable compromise.

Just read it.

One of the best science fiction novels I've ever read, encompassing anthropology, psychology, sociology and the dangers of applying anthropocentric thinking to alien lives: we see early on that the humans are underestimating native intelligence, and that thread is followed past several inevitable train wrecks to a beautifully original conclusion.

Another Treat in Alliance/Union Space

C.J. Cherryh is easily one of my favorite sci-fi authors. The Alliance/Union books being something I can’t get enough of. The first part of Alliance Space offers a new look into merchenter life, and I want more of it! The second story is about Gehenna, and at first I didn’t like it as much. It’s less sci-fi at times I suppose. But it ended up being my favorite of the two stories.

Loved the books

To start with, this is two separate books, two separate stories that are for the most part unrelated. I had kind of expected some carryover from the first book but there really was minimal. If you keep that in mind about the stories are good stories and well written. Both stories left me wanting more.

Turns into total 💩after hour 12. Good before that

interesting setup although characters seemed to be reading their motivations from a script at times rather than acting organically.