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Merchanter's Luck (Alliance-Union Universe) Paperback – July 1, 1982
- Print length448 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherDAW
- Publication dateJuly 1, 1982
- Dimensions4.25 x 0.75 x 7 inches
- ISBN-100886771390
- ISBN-13978-0886771393
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About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : DAW; Reissue edition (July 1, 1982)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 448 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0886771390
- ISBN-13 : 978-0886771393
- Item Weight : 5.6 ounces
- Dimensions : 4.25 x 0.75 x 7 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,113,722 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #103,834 in Science Fiction (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
I've written sf and fantasy for publication since 1975...but I've written a lot longer than that. I have a background in Mediterranean archaeology, Latin, Greek, that sort of thing; my hobbies are travel, photography, planetary geology, physics, pond-building for koi...I run a marine tank, can plumb most anything, and I figure-skate.
I believe in the future: I'm an optimist for good reason---I've studied a lot of history, in which, yes, there is climate change, and our species has been through it. We've never faced it fully armed with what we now know, and if we play our cards right, we'll use it as a technological springboard and carry on in very interesting ways.
I also believe a writer owes a reader a book that has more than general despair to spread about: I write about clever, determined people who don't put up with situations, not for long, anyway: people who find solutions inspire me.
My personal websites and blog: http://www.cherryh.com
http://www.cherryh.com/WaveWithoutAShore
http://www.closed-circle.net
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Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2023
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.
A backroom deal is quietly arranged; Sandor has no real choice. My only dissatisfaction with the book is that he terrifies his exec and crew with his paranoia. This psychological study forms the middle of the story. Any other author would have high-lighted the romantic elements, or the actions of adversaries.
Unlike Owner's Share (Trader's Tales from the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper Book 6) , this author did not foresee stationnet listings of cargo availability, use of pocket computers to monitor ship's computer or using solar winds like sailing ships of old. Yet the Lucy and her crew get by.
Toward the end of the trip, another layer of the plot exposes -again Sandor has no choice. These characters deserve a sequel.