Half Share

A Trader's Tale from the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper, Book 2

By: Nathan Lowell

Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer

Six months in the Deep Dark. Four different women. One man discovers what it means to be a spacer.

It's a time of change on the Lois McKendrick. Sarah Krugg joins the crew, and Ishmael Wang moves to Environmental. After getting accustomed to life aboard a solar clipper, Ishmael must learn a whole new set of skills, face his own fears and doubts, and try to balance love and loss in the depths of space.

Both Ishmael and Sarah must learn to live by the mantra "trust Lois". For Sarah, there is the hope of escaping a horrifying past. For Ishmael, he must discover what type of man he wants to become and learn his choices have consequences.

Return with the crew of the SC Lois McKendrick, and set sail in the next installment of the Trader's Tales from the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper. All your favorites return: Ish, Pip, Cookie, Brill, Diane, and Big Bad Bev. You might even discover some new friends as you travel among the stars.

©2012 Nathan Lowell (P)2016 Podium Publishing

More, please!

It's always fun to find a new to you author, especially one that provides a newly found stock of hours of entertainment. A fun storyline, a good author, and despite some others comments about the narrator I found him good at the characters. My only complaint is that the books are too short.

Slow climb but the view is worth it when you get there.

This series is not for everyone. I would have stopped after the first book if they hadn’t both been included with my subscription. I’m glad I kept going.

If you want action, drama, and impending disaster, this is NOT your book. If, however, you have a thing for freakishly emotionally intelligent protagonists who are still human, unique healthy relationship structures, and the occasional quip, add this to your library. The pace is…relaxing. Think accessible switchbacks to a national park viewpoint.

Keeps you interested

For a story that is pretty mundane, you cannot help but be interested in the characters involved. It is a story of good people growing and changing, while looking forward to the next step they take. This will take you by surprise at how good it is.

the was sooo good

love ❤️ ❣️ it makes you feel good about people , you laugh you cry , it's awesome 👌 👏 👍

very entertaining listening

It is a joy to hear a positive story with character growth. The narration is very easy to understand and seems to relay the authors intentions. Expect to follow the series. No death or shooting so far. Truly unusual.

Love this series.

The first three books are a coming of age tale for the space age that I truly enjoy.

But...

The narrator is more suited to a heroic saga, not a coming of age tale of a youth finding his way.

This series can be found on Librivox narrated by the author Nathan Lowell. That is a better performance IMO.

I am hooked with this series

The story is simple but the writing keeps you engaged and wanting to know more. The character are likable and Interesting.

great book!

an excellent book, very well read. A great sequel to quarter share, it makes you want the next one!

Engaging story focuses on character growth.

I enjoyed this story that focuses on character growth rather than space action. My Rating: 4.5 of 5.0 Overall, Story 4.5, Narration 5.0.

Ishmael is looking forward to being transferred to Environmental even though he will miss working with his friends in the kitchen. But he’ll still get to see then in the mess hall. And he already gets along with the crew in Environmental so the transfer should work well. It is Ishmael’s job to greet his replacement and show her the ropes. He is surprised that the woman shows nervousness. Although he senses something wrong, he doesn’t recognize it until Cookie notes that the woman appears to be recovery from abuse.

Ishmael is continuing to work closely with Pip, making successful trading decisions by picking up interesting products to sell at the next space station. The traders and their consortium team are doing well, even finding crafts that they can work on for future sale.

Several of Ishmael’s friends decide he needs to get out to get some relief from restrictions naturally occurring to ‘spacers’ – those out in space for months on end. First three of his female friends help Ishmael on a fun shopping trip to get him dressed in a manner fitting to his personality… assuming he has figured out who he is.

Once Ish is dressed suitably, the ladies take him out to a local bar for a bit of fun. Although one of his friends has set him up for a date, Ish decides to take control of his own situation by approaching a woman of his own choice. The encounter is interesting.

As with the first book, there is not a lot of high action in this book. Once again, I found this surprisingly engaging for a low-key space story. It focuses on the growth of Ismael and other characters. Ishmael is well balanced for a young 18-year-old and it is fun to observe his interactions with the female characters as he controls youthful hormones.

Lowell writes the characters with wonderful personalities that are relatable. As a young man Ismael would be expected to have to deal with his maleness. Lowell deals sensitively and graciously with the situations of abuse and the dating protocols within the spacing communities.

I will be picking up book three, Full Share, further along this year. I recommend this to sci fi fans who are interested in character driven stories.

Audio Notes: Jeffrey Kafer does a remarkable job with the narration. He manages to capture the character nuances presenting the clear personalities that the author has drawn. I like this series in audio and will continue with this format.

A good story. Just different than my expectations

Let me write first that I did enjoy both quarter share and half share. I am even considering reading full share, but it was a bit different than my expectations.

When I think of a sci fi book in space where they are on a ship basically the whole time, my mind immediately thinks of well space battles, pirates, intergalactic war against impossible to defeat odds. So those were my expectations of this series as well none of the above thus far..... Heck only one side character has even gotten into a fight thusfar. Its really more of a slice of life story or maybe a coming of age story that maybe is morphing into a harem story from what I can tell...with nothing going on besides normal every day things...just in space.

Don't get me wrong, the story is well written, and I enjoy it and the characters. I mostly was just undone by my expectations going in. A star wars, expeditionary force, or cowboy beepop this is not.