Buy used:
$9.99
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime
FREE delivery Tuesday, May 14 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35. Order within 25 mins
Used: Acceptable | Details
Sold by -OnTimeBooks-
Fulfilled by Amazon
Condition: Used: Acceptable
Comment: Shipped fast and reliably through the Amazon Prime program! Book may contain some writing, highlighting, and or cover damage.

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a service we offer sellers that lets them store their products in Amazon's fulfillment centers, and we directly pack, ship, and provide customer service for these products. Something we hope you'll especially enjoy: FBA items qualify for FREE Shipping and Amazon Prime.

If you're a seller, Fulfillment by Amazon can help you grow your business. Learn more about the program.

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

C. J. Cherryh
+ Follow
More books from this author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Merchanter's Luck (Alliance-Union Universe) Paperback – July 1, 1982

by C. J. Cherryh (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 60 ratings
See all formats and editions
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.
Read more Read less
Previous page
  1. Print length
    448 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    DAW
  4. Publication date
    July 1, 1982
  5. Dimensions
    4.25 x 0.75 x 7 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0886771390
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0886771393
  8. See all details
Next page
Amazon First Reads | Editors' picks at exclusive prices

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

C. J. Cherryh planned to write since the age of ten. When she was older, she learned to use a type writer while triple-majoring in Classics, Latin and Greek. At 33, she signed over her first three books to DAW and has worked with DAW ever since. She can be found at cherryh.com.

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
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 60 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
C. J. Cherryh

C. J. Cherryh

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

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

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
60 global ratings
Very good quality book
5 Stars
Very good quality book
The seller delivered exactly the quality they offered, quickly and cleanly. The book arrived wrapped gently in butcher paper with a sweet note from their team thanking me for the order. For a first printing pulp book more than 40 years old, it is in remarkably good condition. The spine is strong and no pages are dog-eared or missing. I will be using their team going forward as I search for every book in the union-alliance universe. I cannot wait to read it!
Hide
Thank you for your feedback
Sorry, there was an error
Sorry we couldn't load the review

Top reviews from the United States

Ella Robert-Edwards
5.0 out of 5 stars Very good quality book
Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2023
Verified Purchase
The seller delivered exactly the quality they offered, quickly and cleanly. The book arrived wrapped gently in butcher paper with a sweet note from their team thanking me for the order. For a first printing pulp book more than 40 years old, it is in remarkably good condition. The spine is strong and no pages are dog-eared or missing. I will be using their team going forward as I search for every book in the union-alliance universe. I cannot wait to read it!
Customer image
Ella Robert-Edwards
5.0 out of 5 stars Very good quality book
Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2023
The seller delivered exactly the quality they offered, quickly and cleanly. The book arrived wrapped gently in butcher paper with a sweet note from their team thanking me for the order. For a first printing pulp book more than 40 years old, it is in remarkably good condition. The spine is strong and no pages are dog-eared or missing. I will be using their team going forward as I search for every book in the union-alliance universe. I cannot wait to read it!
Images in this review
Customer image Customer image Customer image
Customer imageCustomer imageCustomer image
Helpful
 Report
CH
5.0 out of 5 stars A Masterpiece
Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2012
Verified Purchase
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!
10 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Sarah Stegall
4.0 out of 5 stars A grimmer Han Solo
Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2012
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.
7 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Mike Archcraft
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2016
Verified Purchase
One of Cherryh's best works. I read it in high school and still love it after 30 years.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Amaxon Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars Layers Upon Layers
Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 2014
Verified Purchase
It's not just the plot, but characters that are composed of layers. Where will the indie named Lucy find cargo? How will Sandor finance it- or will he end behind bars? He needs crewmen, too. At first, the shabby spacer prospects in bars, when he meets someone out of his league. In fact, she might be syndicate. Authorities become suspicious. He flees, but is caught like a fly in a web.
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.
4 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Jim
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2017
Verified Purchase
still one of the best of her novels.
3 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Michael Adams
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2014
Verified Purchase
Good quality older paper back. Quick shipper
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Belinda
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2015
Verified Purchase
No complaints.
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

kif
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 26, 2015
Verified Purchase
A very short book but keeps you to the end.
2 people found this helpful
 Report
the beadman
5.0 out of 5 stars very good
Reviewed in Canada on March 30, 2012
Verified Purchase
Merchanter's Luck is one of the few books that i read over and over again a good plot and story i belive how a small ship goes up against a big ship with a well know name and a bit of a dream love story . to go all out for a once in a life time dream and go for broke i hope other enjoy it as much as i did and wish there was a 2nd one carry on. i purchased this item at Amazon. good service.
Report
hsh
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 24, 2016
Verified Purchase
Excellent condition
Report
Amazon Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars Three Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 27, 2018
Verified Purchase
ok
Report