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The Hinder Stars #1
Alliance Rising
SFWA Grand Master Cherryh returns to the Hugo-award winning Alliance-Union Universe with a thrilling entry in her far-reaching sci-fi saga.
Years after Sol has lagged behind other great megastations like Pell and Cyteen, Alpha station receives news of an incoming ship with no identification. The denizens of Alpha wait anxiously for news on the outsiders, each with their own suspicions.
Ross and Fallon, crew members of the Galway, believe the ship belongs to Pell, which has an interest in The Rights of Man, another massive ship docked at Alpha. It is under the command of the Earth Company, but it is not quite ready, and its true purpose is shrouded in mystery.
James Robert Neihart is captain of Finity's End, a Pell ship flown by one of the Families. He has heard whispers of The Rights of Man, and wonders at its design and purpose, especially as Sol struggles to rival the progress of the Farther Stars. Now stationed on Alpha, he must convince the crews that more is happening with the megastations than meets the eye.
For the reasons behind the creation of The Rights of Man, and its true plans, could change everything--not just for Sol, but for the First Stars and the Beyond itself.
Years after Sol has lagged behind other great megastations like Pell and Cyteen, Alpha station receives news of an incoming ship with no identification. The denizens of Alpha wait anxiously for news on the outsiders, each with their own suspicions.
Ross and Fallon, crew members of the Galway, believe the ship belongs to Pell, which has an interest in The Rights of Man, another massive ship docked at Alpha. It is under the command of the Earth Company, but it is not quite ready, and its true purpose is shrouded in mystery.
James Robert Neihart is captain of Finity's End, a Pell ship flown by one of the Families. He has heard whispers of The Rights of Man, and wonders at its design and purpose, especially as Sol struggles to rival the progress of the Farther Stars. Now stationed on Alpha, he must convince the crews that more is happening with the megastations than meets the eye.
For the reasons behind the creation of The Rights of Man, and its true plans, could change everything--not just for Sol, but for the First Stars and the Beyond itself.
352 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 8, 2019
170 people are currently reading
980 people want to read
About the author
C.J. Cherryh
292 books3,559 followersCurrently resident in Spokane, Washington, C.J. Cherryh has won four Hugos and is one of the best-selling and most critically acclaimed authors in the science fiction and fantasy field. She is the author of more than forty novels. Her hobbies include travel, photography, reef culture, Mariners baseball, and, a late passion, figure skating: she intends to compete in the adult USFSA track. She began with the modest ambition to learn to skate backwards and now is working on jumps. She sketches, occasionally, cooks fairly well, and hates house work; she loves the outdoors, animals wild and tame, is a hobbyist geologist, adores dinosaurs, and has academic specialties in Roman constitutional law and bronze age Greek ethnography. She has written science fiction since she was ten, spent ten years of her life teaching Latin and Ancient History on the high school level, before retiring to full time writing, and now does not have enough hours in the day to pursue all her interests. Her studies include planetary geology, weather systems, and natural and man-made catastrophes, civilizations, and cosmology…in fact, there's very little that doesn't interest her. A loom is gathering dust and needs rethreading, a wooden ship model awaits construction, and the cats demand their own time much more urgently. She works constantly, researches mostly on the internet, and has books stacked up and waiting to be written.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 158 reviews
April 28, 2019
Remember when Star Wars: The Phantom Menace first came out, and the opening crawl started out by talking about trade routes and tax policy and everybody went, "Hur, hur, hur, trade routes" because that couldn't possibly be the start of an exciting adventure in space?
Well this is a book that consists almost entirely of discussions and reflections about trade policy and the inner workings of bureaucracies, and that takes place almost entirely on the dockside of a single, past-its-prime station, and which is utterly compelling and maintains an almost white-knuckle tension throughout.
The time: Well, based on previously-published timelines, I'd estimate somewhere in the mid-to-late 23rd century (these are the earliest-published events in any of Cherryh's Alliance/Union novels, predating Devil to the Belt and Downbelow Station and the rest of the Merchanter/Company Wars books). The place: Alpha Station, the first of the Earth Company-built stations (built back before FTL was a thing, using a station core sent on a sublight pusher ship and being itself the first seed of humanity's interstellar expansion), now sinking quietly into decrepitude and irrelevance -- it survives only because it's the interface for contact with Earth (which, at the time of this book, has not found a successful FTL route to Alpha or to any other nearby star system -- FTL at this point has hard limits on how far one can travel in a single jump, and Sol is just a bit too far from its stellar neighbors for a single jump; but maybe if somebody could locate a convenient interstellar mass point that could be used as a way-station ...); and in the meantime, the spacers have gone further and further off, founding additional stations (with names you'll recognize, like Mariner, Viking, Pell and Cyteen) and discovering the FTL drive that threatens to cut Earth out of the picture entirely and leave the Hinder Stars stations (Alpha chief amongst them) to founder.
And for the past couple of decades, all of Alpha's resources, at the insistence of new arrivals sent from Earth, and to the detriment of pretty much everybody else on the station, have been poured into the construction of a very large merchant(?) ship, the Rights of Man.
Against this backdrop Ross and Fallon Monahan, crew of the shorthauler Galway are sitting in a dockside bar when news breaks of the unexpected arrival of one of the big new merchanters being built (another familiar name to anyone who's read any of these books previously), the Finity's End, an arrival which threatens to upset the delicate equilibrium that's kept Alpha and her associated ships alive & functioning.
This is a very interesting book to read if you've (as have I) read a fair number of the earlier Alliance/Union books, particularly Downbelow Station. I'm not prepared to say that it retcons events in the previous books, but at the very least it certainly recontextualizes them, not least by giving probably the most sympathetic view we've had of Earth Company personnel (well, a few of them; others are right prats) and by showing that the Merchanter's Alliance that came onto the scene at the end of Downbelow Station wasn't really a spontaneous creation.
Fair warning: This does end on a bit of a cliffhanger, so I, for one, will be eagerly awaiting the sequel.
Well this is a book that consists almost entirely of discussions and reflections about trade policy and the inner workings of bureaucracies, and that takes place almost entirely on the dockside of a single, past-its-prime station, and which is utterly compelling and maintains an almost white-knuckle tension throughout.
The time: Well, based on previously-published timelines, I'd estimate somewhere in the mid-to-late 23rd century (these are the earliest-published events in any of Cherryh's Alliance/Union novels, predating Devil to the Belt and Downbelow Station and the rest of the Merchanter/Company Wars books). The place: Alpha Station, the first of the Earth Company-built stations (built back before FTL was a thing, using a station core sent on a sublight pusher ship and being itself the first seed of humanity's interstellar expansion), now sinking quietly into decrepitude and irrelevance -- it survives only because it's the interface for contact with Earth (which, at the time of this book, has not found a successful FTL route to Alpha or to any other nearby star system -- FTL at this point has hard limits on how far one can travel in a single jump, and Sol is just a bit too far from its stellar neighbors for a single jump; but maybe if somebody could locate a convenient interstellar mass point that could be used as a way-station ...); and in the meantime, the spacers have gone further and further off, founding additional stations (with names you'll recognize, like Mariner, Viking, Pell and Cyteen) and discovering the FTL drive that threatens to cut Earth out of the picture entirely and leave the Hinder Stars stations (Alpha chief amongst them) to founder.
And for the past couple of decades, all of Alpha's resources, at the insistence of new arrivals sent from Earth, and to the detriment of pretty much everybody else on the station, have been poured into the construction of a very large merchant(?) ship, the Rights of Man.
Against this backdrop Ross and Fallon Monahan, crew of the shorthauler Galway are sitting in a dockside bar when news breaks of the unexpected arrival of one of the big new merchanters being built (another familiar name to anyone who's read any of these books previously), the Finity's End, an arrival which threatens to upset the delicate equilibrium that's kept Alpha and her associated ships alive & functioning.
This is a very interesting book to read if you've (as have I) read a fair number of the earlier Alliance/Union books, particularly Downbelow Station. I'm not prepared to say that it retcons events in the previous books, but at the very least it certainly recontextualizes them, not least by giving probably the most sympathetic view we've had of Earth Company personnel (well, a few of them; others are right prats) and by showing that the Merchanter's Alliance that came onto the scene at the end of Downbelow Station wasn't really a spontaneous creation.
Fair warning: This does end on a bit of a cliffhanger, so I, for one, will be eagerly awaiting the sequel.
March 31, 2019
Political intrigue and clashing mindsets at the beginning of the Alliance from Cherryh's mammoth future history.
Alpha Station is the closest jump point to Earth and something of a backwater. It's under a lot of stress because for decades all its resources have gone into a bold Earth Company plan: a gigantic ship built from blueprints stolen from Pell Station, a powerful political center of human space. It appears to be built as a military ship with a mission to enforce Earth Company will on the Beyond. After the giant ship Rights of Man performs poorly in testing the whole station is shocked when Finity's End, the giant ship who's plans Rights was built from, arrives spectacularly in-system in a show of maneuvering that terrifies everyone. But what is one of the largest ships in human space doing in a backwater like Alpha?
I've been a huge fan of Cherryh and her Alliance-Union books for a very long time, but after the disappointment of Regenesis, I was a little worried about what I'd be reading here. However, this was brilliant and a triumphant return to her future history in its most well known period, or at least close to it. Jane S. Fancher is co-credited here and I think her contribution is clearly a positive one, but given these two have been together for a very long time, I always wondered if more of Cherryh's books had a silent co-author.
You don't need prior knowledge of the Alliance-Union universe to pick this one up, but like most of Cherryh's books, it's still fairly dense and doesn't coddle the reader. It is set earlier than any other book in this series though, and reading it knowing where a lot of these events end up certainly adds something to the story, but it's entirely accessible (or as accessible as Cherryh gets) without all the foreknowledge.
The Alliance-Union series is an amazing future history and I thoroughly recommend it. It's probably notable that this book will put the whole series in contention for the Best Series Hugo in 2020, something I really hope it wins.
Alpha Station is the closest jump point to Earth and something of a backwater. It's under a lot of stress because for decades all its resources have gone into a bold Earth Company plan: a gigantic ship built from blueprints stolen from Pell Station, a powerful political center of human space. It appears to be built as a military ship with a mission to enforce Earth Company will on the Beyond. After the giant ship Rights of Man performs poorly in testing the whole station is shocked when Finity's End, the giant ship who's plans Rights was built from, arrives spectacularly in-system in a show of maneuvering that terrifies everyone. But what is one of the largest ships in human space doing in a backwater like Alpha?
I've been a huge fan of Cherryh and her Alliance-Union books for a very long time, but after the disappointment of Regenesis, I was a little worried about what I'd be reading here. However, this was brilliant and a triumphant return to her future history in its most well known period, or at least close to it. Jane S. Fancher is co-credited here and I think her contribution is clearly a positive one, but given these two have been together for a very long time, I always wondered if more of Cherryh's books had a silent co-author.
You don't need prior knowledge of the Alliance-Union universe to pick this one up, but like most of Cherryh's books, it's still fairly dense and doesn't coddle the reader. It is set earlier than any other book in this series though, and reading it knowing where a lot of these events end up certainly adds something to the story, but it's entirely accessible (or as accessible as Cherryh gets) without all the foreknowledge.
The Alliance-Union series is an amazing future history and I thoroughly recommend it. It's probably notable that this book will put the whole series in contention for the Best Series Hugo in 2020, something I really hope it wins.
April 16, 2019
Trade route politics has never been so gripping. Seriously I need the sequel.
August 1, 2024
I’ve been reading Cherryh and her Alliance-Union books for a long, long time — the first was published in 1981, and I started reading them not long after. So it’s a real pleasure to see her return to this series after a long hiatus. This one is a worthy addition, taking us right back to the founding of the Merchanter’s Alliance.
The best review I saw here was Lindsay’s, https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... . I recommend you read his before I make a few more comments.
Back again? I re-discovered that most of her books are set in this universe, probably including the Chanur books (catlike aliens), and possibly also including the Foreigner books. But, never fear, “Alliance Rising” is self-contained, although if you’ve read other Alliance books, you’re likely to enjoy it more. Or you may be inspired to read more of Cherryh’s works, a good thing. This one does end on a bit of a cliff-hanger, and I’ll be reading the next.
The author has an outline of her fictional universes here:
http://www.cherryh.com/www/univer.htm
She won the Grand Master Award from SFWA in 2016, joining a very distinguished group of writers:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damon_K...
This book also won the the 2020 Prometheus Best Novel award. Here is co-author Jane Fancher's acceptance speech for the awards, which is pretty cool. Also a cute picture of the Happy Couple's wedding! http://www.lfs.org/blog/north-america...
Excerpt: "C.J. and I had joked about doing a legitimate collaboration since I first served as CJ’s sounding board on a daily basis, back when she was writing Cyteen. . . ."
The best review I saw here was Lindsay’s, https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... . I recommend you read his before I make a few more comments.
Back again? I re-discovered that most of her books are set in this universe, probably including the Chanur books (catlike aliens), and possibly also including the Foreigner books. But, never fear, “Alliance Rising” is self-contained, although if you’ve read other Alliance books, you’re likely to enjoy it more. Or you may be inspired to read more of Cherryh’s works, a good thing. This one does end on a bit of a cliff-hanger, and I’ll be reading the next.
The author has an outline of her fictional universes here:
http://www.cherryh.com/www/univer.htm
She won the Grand Master Award from SFWA in 2016, joining a very distinguished group of writers:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damon_K...
This book also won the the 2020 Prometheus Best Novel award. Here is co-author Jane Fancher's acceptance speech for the awards, which is pretty cool. Also a cute picture of the Happy Couple's wedding! http://www.lfs.org/blog/north-america...
Excerpt: "C.J. and I had joked about doing a legitimate collaboration since I first served as CJ’s sounding board on a daily basis, back when she was writing Cyteen. . . ."
January 6, 2020
There's a whole lot of rehash here.
And that's about it. I was fooled, when I ought to know better, but if I hear that C. J.'s got a new book about the Company Wars era, I start to pant a bit. Silly me. The amount of recapitulation over a single concept in this novel is staggering. Out of 345 pages, I think the same conversation is held between different sets of characters at least half a dozen times. We get it; Neihart wants to unionize the Family ships. We get it. We got it. Move on. Please, please, move on.
Added to that is a really flat cast of characters that offer exactly nothing new to the universe. Obligatory young man buried in seniority in his Family, obligatory young woman dangled to him as bait from a different Family. There is absolutely no feeling of chemistry between them, nor any sense that they would actually sleep with each other; the dialogue is just flat. Which leads me to a larger concern; spacer culture is really awful. They drink.. a lot, they talk about markets... a lot, they go to bars... a lot, and they have many, many, many, many panic attacks. A lot. Which is to say, it's the same spacer's culture without any added depth she's been hustling for over 20 years.
What did I expect? I was hoping, I should say, we would get to the Holy Grail of her Company Wars era, and that is Conrad Mazian. I want a novel about him, about his origins and the early days of the war, and most of all, what became of him afterward, when he's just a hunted animal along with the ass end of his fleet, down to about seven ships, give or take one, I don't recall exactly. That was what I wanted, what would be acceptable as a plot in these latter days of the Pell universe. The entire MacGuffin of Rights of Man was painful to endure for 345 pages. If that ship's not gonna suddenly throw off her disguise of bungled project and blast everything in sight with missiles, then what is the damn point? None at all. (If it takes 20 years to build a warship, it ought to work, right?) I had high hopes that Hewitt or Cruz was actually Mazian and the ship's name was actually going to be revealed as... Europe.
I also had hopes that she had finally thrown away her standard male character I like to call the Pale, Sweaty Man. You know who I mean... Vanye, NG, Mallory's boy toy in Downbelow Station, the lead in Merchanter's Luck. They're all the same guy. Anxious, paranoid, awkward, overflowing with angst. And here's Ross, reasonably assured of himself, to try and break the mold. Until the spacewalk and the bleeding forehead and suddenly we have the standard issue Pale, Sweaty Man in full regalia, revealed as hero! Surprised? Naw, just let down again.
Allegedly this is the start of a trilogy. I'll be an idiot and read the second installment, just in case Mazian might walk on stage, though I realize after Alliance Rising it's really a long shot. For all I know the entire content of book 2 will be the ship's manifest of Galway when she returns from Sol, since C. J. seems so determined to ram the romance of commerce down our throats. There ought to be more to this universe than what we're allowed to see; it's a pity we'll never get to see it.
And that's about it. I was fooled, when I ought to know better, but if I hear that C. J.'s got a new book about the Company Wars era, I start to pant a bit. Silly me. The amount of recapitulation over a single concept in this novel is staggering. Out of 345 pages, I think the same conversation is held between different sets of characters at least half a dozen times. We get it; Neihart wants to unionize the Family ships. We get it. We got it. Move on. Please, please, move on.
Added to that is a really flat cast of characters that offer exactly nothing new to the universe. Obligatory young man buried in seniority in his Family, obligatory young woman dangled to him as bait from a different Family. There is absolutely no feeling of chemistry between them, nor any sense that they would actually sleep with each other; the dialogue is just flat. Which leads me to a larger concern; spacer culture is really awful. They drink.. a lot, they talk about markets... a lot, they go to bars... a lot, and they have many, many, many, many panic attacks. A lot. Which is to say, it's the same spacer's culture without any added depth she's been hustling for over 20 years.
What did I expect? I was hoping, I should say, we would get to the Holy Grail of her Company Wars era, and that is Conrad Mazian. I want a novel about him, about his origins and the early days of the war, and most of all, what became of him afterward, when he's just a hunted animal along with the ass end of his fleet, down to about seven ships, give or take one, I don't recall exactly. That was what I wanted, what would be acceptable as a plot in these latter days of the Pell universe. The entire MacGuffin of Rights of Man was painful to endure for 345 pages. If that ship's not gonna suddenly throw off her disguise of bungled project and blast everything in sight with missiles, then what is the damn point? None at all. (If it takes 20 years to build a warship, it ought to work, right?) I had high hopes that Hewitt or Cruz was actually Mazian and the ship's name was actually going to be revealed as... Europe.
I also had hopes that she had finally thrown away her standard male character I like to call the Pale, Sweaty Man. You know who I mean... Vanye, NG, Mallory's boy toy in Downbelow Station, the lead in Merchanter's Luck. They're all the same guy. Anxious, paranoid, awkward, overflowing with angst. And here's Ross, reasonably assured of himself, to try and break the mold. Until the spacewalk and the bleeding forehead and suddenly we have the standard issue Pale, Sweaty Man in full regalia, revealed as hero! Surprised? Naw, just let down again.
Allegedly this is the start of a trilogy. I'll be an idiot and read the second installment, just in case Mazian might walk on stage, though I realize after Alliance Rising it's really a long shot. For all I know the entire content of book 2 will be the ship's manifest of Galway when she returns from Sol, since C. J. seems so determined to ram the romance of commerce down our throats. There ought to be more to this universe than what we're allowed to see; it's a pity we'll never get to see it.
January 7, 2019
Beguiled once again by Cherryh!
Starting off I found this a dense read. Having been a Cherryh reader for years I was scrambling to recall the earlier novels I'd read eons ago and to have those line up with the present happenings. Not that it's necessary to read these before Alliance Rising but as I am an avid fan I was busy sorting through what I already knew to meld this current offering of the Alliance-Union saga with what has gone before. (As it happens I was sorting my hard copy Sci-fi collection and one of the first books I picked up was a 1988 copy of Cyteen. I feel a re-read coming on!)
What a solid return Alliance Rising is to a cosmos I have freely rummaged through over the years, compliments of the masterful Cherryh!
Alpha Station, part of the Hinder Stars, unusually receives recent visitations from a number of ships. It turns out to be a consortium led by James Robert Neihart, captain of a massive space ship, Finity's End. This puts some stress on the station, particularly when security has been virtually seconded by Earth Company as part of their project to build a huge ship, The Rights of Man, at a cost that has become a financial albatross hanging around the neck of the station master and of the ships that serve Alpha and the Hinder Stations. There is a struggle going on at the command level of the station and the visit by Finity's End ups the ante. Drawn into the struggle is the Captain and crew of the Galway, and in particular crew members Ross and Fallon.
Cherryh's writing style has that distinctive gravelly, almost staccato note that conjures up the differences of those wed to star travel, and of the family ships like Galway running on luck, hope and the often uncanny ability to parse the cards one's dealt.
Pride and loyalty to one's ship is foremost but a time has come when the Merchanter families need to band together. And it starts here!
As always with Cherryh, a masterpiece is unfolding, and I'm thrilled to have a front row seat. I have stars in my eyes!
A NetGalley ARC
Starting off I found this a dense read. Having been a Cherryh reader for years I was scrambling to recall the earlier novels I'd read eons ago and to have those line up with the present happenings. Not that it's necessary to read these before Alliance Rising but as I am an avid fan I was busy sorting through what I already knew to meld this current offering of the Alliance-Union saga with what has gone before. (As it happens I was sorting my hard copy Sci-fi collection and one of the first books I picked up was a 1988 copy of Cyteen. I feel a re-read coming on!)
What a solid return Alliance Rising is to a cosmos I have freely rummaged through over the years, compliments of the masterful Cherryh!
Alpha Station, part of the Hinder Stars, unusually receives recent visitations from a number of ships. It turns out to be a consortium led by James Robert Neihart, captain of a massive space ship, Finity's End. This puts some stress on the station, particularly when security has been virtually seconded by Earth Company as part of their project to build a huge ship, The Rights of Man, at a cost that has become a financial albatross hanging around the neck of the station master and of the ships that serve Alpha and the Hinder Stations. There is a struggle going on at the command level of the station and the visit by Finity's End ups the ante. Drawn into the struggle is the Captain and crew of the Galway, and in particular crew members Ross and Fallon.
Cherryh's writing style has that distinctive gravelly, almost staccato note that conjures up the differences of those wed to star travel, and of the family ships like Galway running on luck, hope and the often uncanny ability to parse the cards one's dealt.
Pride and loyalty to one's ship is foremost but a time has come when the Merchanter families need to band together. And it starts here!
As always with Cherryh, a masterpiece is unfolding, and I'm thrilled to have a front row seat. I have stars in my eyes!
A NetGalley ARC
October 14, 2024
3.5 Stars
This was an easy, yet enjoyable piece of science fiction. While not the most unique or fresh, I still appreciated this story.
I have enjoyed CJ Cherryh before so I somewhat knew what to expect. I liked this one but I didn't find it as compelling as some of her other work.
This is the start of a longer story and I am interested in seeing where this one goes. If you enjoy science fiction, then might be one you want to try.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher
This was an easy, yet enjoyable piece of science fiction. While not the most unique or fresh, I still appreciated this story.
I have enjoyed CJ Cherryh before so I somewhat knew what to expect. I liked this one but I didn't find it as compelling as some of her other work.
This is the start of a longer story and I am interested in seeing where this one goes. If you enjoy science fiction, then might be one you want to try.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher
July 14, 2019
Five star read. I said that. Five. Stars. I'm not even put off that this ends on a cliffhanger that has me anxiously awaiting the sequel.
One of my favourite settings for a story is space stations and Cherryh knows how to make me feel like I'm there. The close quarters, the tension between different occupant factions (station master, Belters, Spacers, Stationers, Earth Company representatives) and the resource sucking ship under construction: Right's of Man. It's simmering tension on a good day and on a not so good day, things can go quite pear-shaped. Alpha Station has seen better more relevant days and so have the ship Families who dock there. And then Finity's End, out of Pell arrives and upends everything for everyone, save a few in the know. How events and plans unfurl and take shape were where the excitement was and was, not surprisingly, well done.
All the talk of Pell, the Konstantins, Cyteen and the Alliance have made me want to re-read Downbelow Station (one of my very favourite books). I will say that nothing about Mallory or Jen were particularly interesting nor was their coupling. They could literally be anybody because they're quite simply so everyman/everywoman they're nobody. They're the obligatory part in service of the plot that I've come to expect and find mostly innocuous in this universe so they didn't detract from the story for me (but neither did they add anything). I came for the politics, trade issues and beginning of the Alliance and I got what I came for.
Recommended for fans of Cherryh and lovers of science fiction with political intrigue. All the stars.
One of my favourite settings for a story is space stations and Cherryh knows how to make me feel like I'm there. The close quarters, the tension between different occupant factions (station master, Belters, Spacers, Stationers, Earth Company representatives) and the resource sucking ship under construction: Right's of Man. It's simmering tension on a good day and on a not so good day, things can go quite pear-shaped. Alpha Station has seen better more relevant days and so have the ship Families who dock there. And then Finity's End, out of Pell arrives and upends everything for everyone, save a few in the know. How events and plans unfurl and take shape were where the excitement was and was, not surprisingly, well done.
All the talk of Pell, the Konstantins, Cyteen and the Alliance have made me want to re-read Downbelow Station (one of my very favourite books). I will say that nothing about Mallory or Jen were particularly interesting nor was their coupling. They could literally be anybody because they're quite simply so everyman/everywoman they're nobody. They're the obligatory part in service of the plot that I've come to expect and find mostly innocuous in this universe so they didn't detract from the story for me (but neither did they add anything). I came for the politics, trade issues and beginning of the Alliance and I got what I came for.
Recommended for fans of Cherryh and lovers of science fiction with political intrigue. All the stars.
November 4, 2018
This is the newest title in the Company Wars series after Finity's End. I am used to picking up books in this series and being pulled immediately into the story and then racing to the very end. Unfortunately that was not possible with this title. It starts out setting the scene - about stations and merchant ships, about Alpha station, about the families, about the economics, political infighting, loyalties, possibilities and fears - on and on explaining, explaining, explaining. The old adage "Don't tell, show" was not followed, 'cause there is a whole lot of telling going on. It was all pertinent information, no padding, but quite a slog. Things don't actually start to hum along with an actual plot until you are over halfway through the book, and then it does take off. Whew, what a relief. If you are a fan, you will want to read it, just be prepared for a lot of data. If you are new to the series, this is NOT the title to start with. First half, disappointing. Second half, great stuff.
February 3, 2019
Same as her last twenty books (I had hopes, y’know?): tiny bit of plot buried in tens of thousands of words of explication. Life is just too short to spend it reading about fictional characters in a fictional universe fretting at immense, repetitive length over...ramifications. DNF
January 23, 2019
I'm super biased because C.J. Cherryh's particular form of introspective, nuanced, dense political drama is my happy place. Seriously, sitting down and reading one of her books feels like drinking hot tea in front of a fire wrapped in a blanket to me. Gimme every single detail of a character's decision making process. Make me understand in detail the political ramifications of every option that they consider. Make it take forever to get anywhere so I can just sort of wallow in C.J. Cherryh's lovely worldbuilding. I want all of that. It's my happy place.
Given, this type of slow, detailed writing is probably not everyone's happy place, or even most people's happy place. If you're the type who wants action! And flashy drama! And to have it all happen *right now*, this probably won't be for you. But if you're a Cherryh fan... she did a good job on this one, you guy. I enjoyed it immensely.
Given, this type of slow, detailed writing is probably not everyone's happy place, or even most people's happy place. If you're the type who wants action! And flashy drama! And to have it all happen *right now*, this probably won't be for you. But if you're a Cherryh fan... she did a good job on this one, you guy. I enjoyed it immensely.
June 17, 2022
C. J. Cherryh's writing can get annoying with pages and pages of internal... well, monologue is not quite the right term, but it's close. Major character's thoughts are examined in detail as they go around on subjects weighing every angle. In general, very few people ever consciously think like this; it's more an attempt to distill the conscious and unconscious factors that make a person act they way they do. It's effective in its own way, but can be drawn out and heavy handed.
I had hoped that Fancher's influence might tone this and a couple other elements down, but no. In fact, instead of this process being applied to one or two characters, we're up to... three? four? here. And this means this is a more complex novel than most of Cherryh's (and I'm not sure she's ever written a simple one). Nonetheless, it was well worth the trip.
Downbelow Station, and a few other places, give the general outline of humanity's expansion into the stars, first by slow-boat, and then FTL. Over time, Cherryh has been slowly exploring more of the backstory, and this book is set earlier than all the others. There's a three-way tug of war of influence and trade, with Earth trapped behind the tyranny of distance: FTL drives won't reach all the way from Sol to the nearest station established in STL era. Someday, Earth, with the resources of billions of people, will be set loose on the network of stations out there, but not yet....
In fact, closest stations to Earth are now something of a blind alley trade-wise. Only barely relevant, with the bigger stations further out there happy with that situation. But of course, it can't last. Everyone knows it won't last. No one knows when it will change.
The novel doesn't end where I would have thought, but is well structured throughout. Better yet, as things get going from a slow-burn beginning, the story picks up a more human, personal side that I think much of Cherryh's work lacks. This is a good intro to her long-standing Union-Alliance series, and easily one of the best of the set.
I had hoped that Fancher's influence might tone this and a couple other elements down, but no. In fact, instead of this process being applied to one or two characters, we're up to... three? four? here. And this means this is a more complex novel than most of Cherryh's (and I'm not sure she's ever written a simple one). Nonetheless, it was well worth the trip.
Downbelow Station, and a few other places, give the general outline of humanity's expansion into the stars, first by slow-boat, and then FTL. Over time, Cherryh has been slowly exploring more of the backstory, and this book is set earlier than all the others. There's a three-way tug of war of influence and trade, with Earth trapped behind the tyranny of distance: FTL drives won't reach all the way from Sol to the nearest station established in STL era. Someday, Earth, with the resources of billions of people, will be set loose on the network of stations out there, but not yet....
In fact, closest stations to Earth are now something of a blind alley trade-wise. Only barely relevant, with the bigger stations further out there happy with that situation. But of course, it can't last. Everyone knows it won't last. No one knows when it will change.
The novel doesn't end where I would have thought, but is well structured throughout. Better yet, as things get going from a slow-burn beginning, the story picks up a more human, personal side that I think much of Cherryh's work lacks. This is a good intro to her long-standing Union-Alliance series, and easily one of the best of the set.
February 4, 2019
Perhaps the second half of this book is exciting; perhaps it even delivers on the inferno promised by the cover illustration. I'll never know, because I am giving up after 175 pages of tedious exposition. I have read a lot of Cherryh novels, and I thought I had a high tolerance for her repetitive prose (it sometimes bogs down even the Foreigner series, which I love) but here she has defeated me. Maybe I'm just not in the mood, but I can't stand one more page of rehashing.
This book seems to be about efforts to unionize the merchanter family ships in the face of what I guess will be fierce opposition from Earth Company. I recently read and enjoyed Finity's End, one of her older novels about the ship which is spearheading the unionization efforts in this book.
Glancing over the other (overwhelmingly positive) reviews, I see that this ends in a cliffhanger, so I'd have been angry about that, anyway.
This book seems to be about efforts to unionize the merchanter family ships in the face of what I guess will be fierce opposition from Earth Company. I recently read and enjoyed Finity's End, one of her older novels about the ship which is spearheading the unionization efforts in this book.
Glancing over the other (overwhelmingly positive) reviews, I see that this ends in a cliffhanger, so I'd have been angry about that, anyway.
January 27, 2019
The Union-Alliance universe is very spread out, with many books written over many years. This is the first new story in over 10 years, and I didn't go back to re-read the others.
This has the classic CJ voice, with sharp subtleties and understated drama, which still remains compelling. There were more twists in this story than I expected, and yet I was never confused. The characters were varied and the segments of the space-bound societies were described in detail.
Not quite a 5-star read for me, as there were a few too many factions in play, and because it is the first "to be continued" book in this universe (unlike the Foreigner series which is understood to be ongoing).
I'm eagerly awaiting the next entry, as it's going to be exciting!
This has the classic CJ voice, with sharp subtleties and understated drama, which still remains compelling. There were more twists in this story than I expected, and yet I was never confused. The characters were varied and the segments of the space-bound societies were described in detail.
Not quite a 5-star read for me, as there were a few too many factions in play, and because it is the first "to be continued" book in this universe (unlike the Foreigner series which is understood to be ongoing).
I'm eagerly awaiting the next entry, as it's going to be exciting!
December 25, 2018
I had to give this a four because it is very slow reading. You have to read a lot of backstory and world building before you really get to the characters and the meat of the story. Once there it gets really interesting with an very unexpected twist near the end. There are many different groups, each with their own agenda, in the plot. That kept the action moving. The book set up the beginning of the Alliance but it ending with a lot up in the air. I was glad to see it is a series as I am quite invested in the characters and want to see where they all go next.
I received a free copy of the book in return for an honest review.
I received a free copy of the book in return for an honest review.
January 31, 2025
C. J. Cherryh is, without a doubt, the best sci-fi writer out there. I've now read several books in her Alliance/Union universe and they keep on surprising me with their intricate details, depth of characters, and interwoven plots. This one is about the start of the Alliance which is well established in (chronologically) later novels. So many names and places rang a bell but I couldn't place most of them as they had been mentioned in other books only in passing as "historical figure x" or "mythos of heroic ship y" and now I'm itching to reread Downbelow Station and fill in the gaps of these (then) historic events.
January 21, 2019
So good to get back into the Alliance-Union universe. With this one we go back before the Company Wars, to when the Merchanter Alliance is forming, getting names signed to a formal alliance. It centers around Alpha Station, the first station established from Earth, but things are in a mess, with Earth Company trying to assert itself from ten years away, by building a new ship to supposedly rival the big FTL ships, like Finity's End. The station and the ships that support it have been neglected for the last twenty years in order to build Rights of Man, and things are coming to a head. With a touch of romance and a very satisfying ending I give this my highest recommendation!
May 1, 2023
I have loved Cherryh's Alliance Union universe for many many years and was excited to pick up a new story in that world. Unfortunately, there's no story in this book at all. The first 175 pages are almost entirely exposition, something i wouldn't tolerate from any less-beloved author, repetitive as hell, and extremely boring. It's all tell, no show, and not one character with any depth whatsoever. Like, we *know* Neihart wants to unionize the merchanters. If we're familiar with the universe, we also know he succeeds. So get ON with it already! Not one person in this book manages to just say what they mean for two seconds, it's all hints and subtexts that are apparently supposed to be suspenseful but in fact are merely tedious. Good characters can pull the reader through things like that, but there are none to be found here, they're all flat as hell. Incredibly disappointing from an author whose writing is usually, or at least frequently, taut as a bowstring and compelling as the arrow it loosed. I'm not quite ready to DNF this, especially seeing some folks say the plot finally arrives around pg 200 :insert eyeroll: but really only because the idea of DNFing a Cherryh novel is itself painful to contemplate.
ETA: i did finish it. the plot does arrive around 200 pages in, still laced with heavy repetition and exposition. not altogether terrible, and also not altogether worth it for the effort. an unexpected slog with a strong ending, well positioned for the next in the series. Hopefully that one will be better written.
ETA: i did finish it. the plot does arrive around 200 pages in, still laced with heavy repetition and exposition. not altogether terrible, and also not altogether worth it for the effort. an unexpected slog with a strong ending, well positioned for the next in the series. Hopefully that one will be better written.
January 31, 2019
Cherryh, C. J., and Jane S. Fancher. Alliance Rising. The Hinder Stars No. 1. Daw, 2019.
Fans of C. J. Cherryh’s early work have been waiting a long time to her to return to world of Finity’s End, Merchanter’s Luck, and Downbelow Station. The new Hinder Stars trilogy is set at a very early period when the Alliance that will become a major player in the Company Wars is just being formed. We get the back story on the first great merchant ships and the conflict between Earth Company and earth’s first interstellar stations. There is a little adventure, a moderate amount of romance, and a lot of talk about economics. I know how that sounds, but the drama is tense—even in the economics talk. Even though this is a prequel, it is not where I would recommend a new reader to start the merchanter books. Downbelow Station is still the best starting place. Note that most of Cherryh’s merchanter stories can be read as stand-alone works. FYI: Jane Fancher is Cherryh’s longtime partner, and I wonder whether she as been a silent collaborator on any of the earlier works. I look forward to reading the rest of the trilogy.
Fans of C. J. Cherryh’s early work have been waiting a long time to her to return to world of Finity’s End, Merchanter’s Luck, and Downbelow Station. The new Hinder Stars trilogy is set at a very early period when the Alliance that will become a major player in the Company Wars is just being formed. We get the back story on the first great merchant ships and the conflict between Earth Company and earth’s first interstellar stations. There is a little adventure, a moderate amount of romance, and a lot of talk about economics. I know how that sounds, but the drama is tense—even in the economics talk. Even though this is a prequel, it is not where I would recommend a new reader to start the merchanter books. Downbelow Station is still the best starting place. Note that most of Cherryh’s merchanter stories can be read as stand-alone works. FYI: Jane Fancher is Cherryh’s longtime partner, and I wonder whether she as been a silent collaborator on any of the earlier works. I look forward to reading the rest of the trilogy.
December 15, 2021
2.5 stars, rounded up to 3.
I have loved Cherryh's Alliance-Union novels, with Downbelow Station and Finity's End standing among my favorite SF novels. This one does not.
While I'm pleased to return to this imagined world and there is a good story with viable main characters here, the book is unevenly - even poorly - written. Internal monologues can be fine and potent, but Alliance Rising is replete with repetitive ruminations chewing the same cud over and over. That's not tension-building or adding backstory, it's lazy writing and onerous for the reader. Also, as at least one other reviewer has remarked, it seems as if this book saw little editing/proofing, since there are continuity flaws and textual errors (such as "won't" in place of an obvious "would") that increase towards the conclusion. Why are so many readers content to settle for these mediocrities?
I love political intrigues, economic tensions, and dialogue. Arkady Martine's phenomenal novel A Memory Called Empire plays those for keeps. By comparison, this is bathwater.
I have loved Cherryh's Alliance-Union novels, with Downbelow Station and Finity's End standing among my favorite SF novels. This one does not.
While I'm pleased to return to this imagined world and there is a good story with viable main characters here, the book is unevenly - even poorly - written. Internal monologues can be fine and potent, but Alliance Rising is replete with repetitive ruminations chewing the same cud over and over. That's not tension-building or adding backstory, it's lazy writing and onerous for the reader. Also, as at least one other reviewer has remarked, it seems as if this book saw little editing/proofing, since there are continuity flaws and textual errors (such as "won't" in place of an obvious "would") that increase towards the conclusion. Why are so many readers content to settle for these mediocrities?
I love political intrigues, economic tensions, and dialogue. Arkady Martine's phenomenal novel A Memory Called Empire plays those for keeps. By comparison, this is bathwater.
March 17, 2019
Disappointing. This was definitely not as good as the books I remember from the series. Mostly due to the pacing. It was just too torturously slow. It did speed up for the ending and it was a good ending. And it was basically a prequel and prequels have their own difficulty. Still it was fun to revisit the world and might encourage some re-reading. After all I have 2 shelves of Cherryh's books, I might as well re-read some of them. 3.5 out of 5 with that extra .5 coming with the last tenth of the book.
September 20, 2020
I read 50 pages of "Alliance Rising" : 50 awful pages of info dump without any interesting character.
Downbelow Station is (was?) one of my favorite Space Opera book, and I've read all the others Alliance / Union books with great pleasure.
I don't understand : has this book been ghostwritten by David Weber?
Downbelow Station is (was?) one of my favorite Space Opera book, and I've read all the others Alliance / Union books with great pleasure.
I don't understand : has this book been ghostwritten by David Weber?
May 3, 2021
I'm not fond of giving a rating this low to an author I usually love so much, but this book was tedious. Endless exposition containing the same information repeated over and over, interrupted by uninteresting characters giving long speeches ... which reiterated the exposition. By the time something finally happened 85% of the way into the story, I had long ago lost interest.
January 12, 2019
This one ended up being a great space opera novel, but for the first 25% of it I was wondering if I were going to set it aside and come back to it some other time. Cherryh is an author whose books I consistently enjoy and re-read, and when I still bought physical books she was on my buy-in-hardback list.
Cherryh's characters are prone to lengthy rumination about whatever situation they find themselves in, which serves as exposition for the reader about the history and social situation of the world depicted in the novel. And this was my problem with the first part of the book; the chapters switched between several of the main characters and gave each of them space to ponder the situation on Alpha Station, the relationship between Alpha Station and the other planets and space stations in this part of the universe, the relationship between Alpha Station and Sol, and other situations that arise. This provides the reader with a refresher course on the Alliance-Union universe, which was handy since it has been so long since I read Downbelow Station, Finity's End or Cyteen and I skipped Regenesis, the sequel to Cyteen because I wasn't really wowed by Cyteen. But sometimes I just don't have the patience to read pages and pages of one character's thoughts about whatever is happening at that point in the plot.
When the different players meet each other and begin to interact and have dialog though, this book really takes off. Cherryh's dialog and interpersonal dynamics between the characters are some of the best I've read anywhere - in genre fiction or mainstream, and is one of the main things I enjoy about her books. Her outstanding Foreigner series is one of my all time favorite series because of the strength of the characterizations and the interactions between Bren and his Atevi household. No one does it better.
I did not include a plot summary here, because you can look up at the top of the page and get that. After what seemed to be a slow start, the story really drew me in and I stayed up way too late last night because I had to finish it so I knew What Happened. And I'm now looking forward to a sequel that I hope she and Fancher will be working on after they turn in the next Foreigner book.
Cherryh's characters are prone to lengthy rumination about whatever situation they find themselves in, which serves as exposition for the reader about the history and social situation of the world depicted in the novel. And this was my problem with the first part of the book; the chapters switched between several of the main characters and gave each of them space to ponder the situation on Alpha Station, the relationship between Alpha Station and the other planets and space stations in this part of the universe, the relationship between Alpha Station and Sol, and other situations that arise. This provides the reader with a refresher course on the Alliance-Union universe, which was handy since it has been so long since I read Downbelow Station, Finity's End or Cyteen and I skipped Regenesis, the sequel to Cyteen because I wasn't really wowed by Cyteen. But sometimes I just don't have the patience to read pages and pages of one character's thoughts about whatever is happening at that point in the plot.
When the different players meet each other and begin to interact and have dialog though, this book really takes off. Cherryh's dialog and interpersonal dynamics between the characters are some of the best I've read anywhere - in genre fiction or mainstream, and is one of the main things I enjoy about her books. Her outstanding Foreigner series is one of my all time favorite series because of the strength of the characterizations and the interactions between Bren and his Atevi household. No one does it better.
I did not include a plot summary here, because you can look up at the top of the page and get that. After what seemed to be a slow start, the story really drew me in and I stayed up way too late last night because I had to finish it so I knew What Happened. And I'm now looking forward to a sequel that I hope she and Fancher will be working on after they turn in the next Foreigner book.
January 22, 2019
C.J. Cherryh just released her latest novel Alliance Rising a couple of weeks ago, and it is fabulous!
It's been some years since she's written a new book in the Alliance/Union/Merchanter universe. I was particularly pleased to see that this is the first in a new series.
Alliance Rising is set in a time that we've not yet read about. Faster than light drives, invented at Cyteen, have spread through Pell and the major trade routes into the Hinder stars. Sol is still connected to the Hinder stars only by sublight traders, but is on the verge of finding viable jump routes between Earth and Barnard's Star/Alpha Station.
This book has not been helpful to my sleep schedule! That's to say that I strongly recommend it. :-)
If you've not read any of Ms. Cherry's Alliance/Union books before I would recommend reading Hugo Award-winning Downbelow Station before Alliance Rising so that you have more context for events.
It's been some years since she's written a new book in the Alliance/Union/Merchanter universe. I was particularly pleased to see that this is the first in a new series.
Alliance Rising is set in a time that we've not yet read about. Faster than light drives, invented at Cyteen, have spread through Pell and the major trade routes into the Hinder stars. Sol is still connected to the Hinder stars only by sublight traders, but is on the verge of finding viable jump routes between Earth and Barnard's Star/Alpha Station.
This book has not been helpful to my sleep schedule! That's to say that I strongly recommend it. :-)
If you've not read any of Ms. Cherry's Alliance/Union books before I would recommend reading Hugo Award-winning Downbelow Station before Alliance Rising so that you have more context for events.
Read
March 17, 2019I gave up on this one after about 75 pages, which mostly consisted of backstory. That, by itself, wasn't what put me off. I'm okay with a story that's 'told' rather than 'shown' if the prose is witty, if the setting is intriguing, or if the story is insightful. Sadly, none of these applied with this book. I found the prose awkward, with choppy, incomplete sentences. None of the characters were well developed, and I found none engaging. The pace in which the plot unfolds was far too slow. Without either a main character or a more compelling mystery, there's not much to maintain a reader's interest.
December 12, 2024
It's so great seeing events that occur many years before those chronicled in “Downbelow Station”. We learn how the chain of stations from Alpha onwards, leading to those beyond Cyteen, were established, and the delicate relationships and understandings that keep trade moving amongst them. We also see the slow-moving, non-FTL enabled pusher ships who’ve been moving goods between Sol and Alpha, are in some cases converted with FTL drives (magnanimously handed out by Cyteen), while others are phased out. Families who converted their ships managed to keep trading, while others who could not afford to were absorbed into other families.
Since leaving Earth and establishing their homes and livelihoods in ever further flung space, these humans have felt themselves no longer beholden to Earth’s cultures, polities or technology. Earth, in the form of the Earth Company (EC), was not amused when Pell station was established by a Family ship, Gaia, who then told Earth that Pell belonged to spacers, so hands off.
Spacers continued expanding outwards from Pell, and the differences only became magnified, with new cultures, attitudes, technologies, and dialects, developing, particularly aboard Family ships.
Sol and the EC saw all these far away stations, including Pell, as renegades and kept issuing directives that were meaningless with the many years-long time lag. Older stations (e.g., Alpha, Bryant, Venture) nearest to Sol, and the spacers trading amongst them, call this area the First Stars (Hinder stars to other spacers), and remain loyal to Earth, and less dismissive of the the EC.
Stationmasters at each station are jealous of each other and their profits, adding an extra set of intentions into the mix.
Slow-moving pushers move goods to Alpha, and smaller FTL-enabled Family ships move goods to the further stations. These Alpha-based families and stationers are all awaiting a time when FTL jump points are found between Sol and Alpha, and look forward to their return to relevance and prominence in the lucrative trade that flows further out.
At Alpham the EC has been building a megaship, based on plans they stole from Pell years earlier. These same plans were used, with several modifications, to build the mega hauler Finity’s End, which is based at Pell, and crewed by the Nieharts, the same family formerly of the Gaia.
EC thinks their provocatively named megaship, Rights of Man, will allow them to jump from Alpha to other stations, but construction and testing are plagued by problems.
Two EC executives are present at Alpha, who bear no love for spacers, including the loyal spacers based there, and all resources pushed to Alpha are gobbled up by Rights. The stationmaster, also an EC executive, is hamstrung in his ability to effect station and ship repairs, and is gradually becoming disenchanted with the EC in general, and the two on his station. The executives are also training stationer youth as enforcers, while the spacers are getting used to less and less, whether in fewer repairs, fewer goods to transport, and strained finances. They have no love for Rights, the two execs or the enforcers, and still are holding out hope for the discovery of jump points to Sol.
Needless to say, all this back history is relevant to the action in this gripping return to Cherryh’s Merchanter Alliance stories, when Finity’s End drops into the strained situation at Alpha to take the temperature of the spacers there, evaluate what Rights’ purpose is, and propose an alliance for spacers from here to past Cyteen, i.e, everywhere a merchanters move trade.
Cherryh takes a while to set things in motion, but it’s clear there are a lot high emotions, resources and influence in play, and things are only exacerbated by Finity’s presence. Cherryh focuses on Finity’s senior captain, James Robert “JR” Niehart, and a navigator in training, Ross Monaghan, on the Family ship Galway, as we see spacers sizing each other up, airing their financial hopes, and grumbling their dissatisfactions with the EC, while the Nieharts work to convince the spacers of the benefits of an alliance. Of course, the EC is unhappy, as the Nieharts begin winning over conservative and doubtful spacers.
But, tensions are only getting worse at Alpha as the novel progresses, as its stationmaster, Ben Abrezio, makes his own play for power, and things heat up suddenly, and we’re left with a mess, explosive violence, people hurt, shocking betrayals, and Alpha spacers beginning to realize just how little the EC thinks of them.
I love the many, realistic details Cherryh populates her merchanter universe with, from the complexities of moving freight incredibly far distances, to worries over a blown board on a ship, to the the difficulties of navigating an FTL jump to a moving target, such as the dangerous, yet to be plotted course to the Sol system.
Cherry leaves a number of things hanging, as this is first in a series, and though violence is temporarily ceased, I know more shenanigans are coming in book two, especially as this book provides early hints of EC militarization.
The EC embodies the out of touch, heavy handed, and bigoted attitudes of any colonizing nation, or greedy corporation, unwilling to cede the idea of control and power amongst a number of smaller, local entities, in this case, Families and stations.
This was a welcome return to Cherryh’s longtime series, and it was freaking great.
Since leaving Earth and establishing their homes and livelihoods in ever further flung space, these humans have felt themselves no longer beholden to Earth’s cultures, polities or technology. Earth, in the form of the Earth Company (EC), was not amused when Pell station was established by a Family ship, Gaia, who then told Earth that Pell belonged to spacers, so hands off.
Spacers continued expanding outwards from Pell, and the differences only became magnified, with new cultures, attitudes, technologies, and dialects, developing, particularly aboard Family ships.
Sol and the EC saw all these far away stations, including Pell, as renegades and kept issuing directives that were meaningless with the many years-long time lag. Older stations (e.g., Alpha, Bryant, Venture) nearest to Sol, and the spacers trading amongst them, call this area the First Stars (Hinder stars to other spacers), and remain loyal to Earth, and less dismissive of the the EC.
Stationmasters at each station are jealous of each other and their profits, adding an extra set of intentions into the mix.
Slow-moving pushers move goods to Alpha, and smaller FTL-enabled Family ships move goods to the further stations. These Alpha-based families and stationers are all awaiting a time when FTL jump points are found between Sol and Alpha, and look forward to their return to relevance and prominence in the lucrative trade that flows further out.
At Alpham the EC has been building a megaship, based on plans they stole from Pell years earlier. These same plans were used, with several modifications, to build the mega hauler Finity’s End, which is based at Pell, and crewed by the Nieharts, the same family formerly of the Gaia.
EC thinks their provocatively named megaship, Rights of Man, will allow them to jump from Alpha to other stations, but construction and testing are plagued by problems.
Two EC executives are present at Alpha, who bear no love for spacers, including the loyal spacers based there, and all resources pushed to Alpha are gobbled up by Rights. The stationmaster, also an EC executive, is hamstrung in his ability to effect station and ship repairs, and is gradually becoming disenchanted with the EC in general, and the two on his station. The executives are also training stationer youth as enforcers, while the spacers are getting used to less and less, whether in fewer repairs, fewer goods to transport, and strained finances. They have no love for Rights, the two execs or the enforcers, and still are holding out hope for the discovery of jump points to Sol.
Needless to say, all this back history is relevant to the action in this gripping return to Cherryh’s Merchanter Alliance stories, when Finity’s End drops into the strained situation at Alpha to take the temperature of the spacers there, evaluate what Rights’ purpose is, and propose an alliance for spacers from here to past Cyteen, i.e, everywhere a merchanters move trade.
Cherryh takes a while to set things in motion, but it’s clear there are a lot high emotions, resources and influence in play, and things are only exacerbated by Finity’s presence. Cherryh focuses on Finity’s senior captain, James Robert “JR” Niehart, and a navigator in training, Ross Monaghan, on the Family ship Galway, as we see spacers sizing each other up, airing their financial hopes, and grumbling their dissatisfactions with the EC, while the Nieharts work to convince the spacers of the benefits of an alliance. Of course, the EC is unhappy, as the Nieharts begin winning over conservative and doubtful spacers.
But, tensions are only getting worse at Alpha as the novel progresses, as its stationmaster, Ben Abrezio, makes his own play for power, and things heat up suddenly, and we’re left with a mess, explosive violence, people hurt, shocking betrayals, and Alpha spacers beginning to realize just how little the EC thinks of them.
I love the many, realistic details Cherryh populates her merchanter universe with, from the complexities of moving freight incredibly far distances, to worries over a blown board on a ship, to the the difficulties of navigating an FTL jump to a moving target, such as the dangerous, yet to be plotted course to the Sol system.
Cherry leaves a number of things hanging, as this is first in a series, and though violence is temporarily ceased, I know more shenanigans are coming in book two, especially as this book provides early hints of EC militarization.
The EC embodies the out of touch, heavy handed, and bigoted attitudes of any colonizing nation, or greedy corporation, unwilling to cede the idea of control and power amongst a number of smaller, local entities, in this case, Families and stations.
This was a welcome return to Cherryh’s longtime series, and it was freaking great.
January 27, 2019
Had to get this one as soon as it came out, I’ve been missing Ms. Cherryh’s Alliance Union space series and was eager to see what she was bringing this time. After getting the book I was intrigued since Ms. Cherryh’s partner Ms. Fancher is listed on the cover; interesting because I wanted to see the impact storytelling wise.
I’ll open by saying this is a good re-opening of the Alliance-union series. Interestingly the choice was made to open before the Downbelow Station which I don’t think is a mistake (I believe there’s lots of room there for stories and would love to see Ms. Cherryh or an “authorized” other writer fill in the back stories). Now we have a little more of the “story” of how the Beyond grew and how the Earth Company “is”.
Storytelling wise this is a different book in that there a multiple stories being told at the same time, intertwining with each other to give us the complete story. This makes opening a little more disjointed at first but makes for a great story in the end; to help you there are three primary sides, Alpha Station merchanters (told from Galway’s Ross’s perspective [another Ross? I was reminded up Merchanters Luck but really...]), Finity’s End (the captain, JR Neihart), and Station Master Abrezio. While this is a different style for Ms Cherryh it becomes more and more interesting due to storyline bringing the parties together; this is the mark of a master story teller, especially when everything comes together in the last few pages and the story wraps up neatly!
For me an easy call to 5 stars. That said there’s much I’d like to see Ms Cherryh bring out in at least two more books on this subject; one dealing with the return of Galway, one with the true start of the Company War (there needs to be something to join Alliance Rising to Hard Time/Devil to the Belt series, what happened to Fletcher Neihart (so much was implied in Finity’s End and seeing “him” here it needs to be told), and at a minimum give us Signy Mallory’s back story... yes, I’m hoping this is the restart of work on the Alliance-Union series because Alliance Rising is a good story that rekindles the desire for the storyline.
I’ll open by saying this is a good re-opening of the Alliance-union series. Interestingly the choice was made to open before the Downbelow Station which I don’t think is a mistake (I believe there’s lots of room there for stories and would love to see Ms. Cherryh or an “authorized” other writer fill in the back stories). Now we have a little more of the “story” of how the Beyond grew and how the Earth Company “is”.
Storytelling wise this is a different book in that there a multiple stories being told at the same time, intertwining with each other to give us the complete story. This makes opening a little more disjointed at first but makes for a great story in the end; to help you there are three primary sides, Alpha Station merchanters (told from Galway’s Ross’s perspective [another Ross? I was reminded up Merchanters Luck but really...]), Finity’s End (the captain, JR Neihart), and Station Master Abrezio. While this is a different style for Ms Cherryh it becomes more and more interesting due to storyline bringing the parties together; this is the mark of a master story teller, especially when everything comes together in the last few pages and the story wraps up neatly!
For me an easy call to 5 stars. That said there’s much I’d like to see Ms Cherryh bring out in at least two more books on this subject; one dealing with the return of Galway, one with the true start of the Company War (there needs to be something to join Alliance Rising to Hard Time/Devil to the Belt series, what happened to Fletcher Neihart (so much was implied in Finity’s End and seeing “him” here it needs to be told), and at a minimum give us Signy Mallory’s back story... yes, I’m hoping this is the restart of work on the Alliance-Union series because Alliance Rising is a good story that rekindles the desire for the storyline.
June 1, 2024
This is a weird place to jump into Cherryh's sci-fi books from, as it's the start of a series that comes after several other series' of books. So, not ideal.
It's also extremely slow at the start. Imagine 200 pages of The Phantom Menace's thoughts on galactic trade routes and negotiations and all that stuff. Lots of it. If you hated that part of Phantom Menace, this ain't for you.
Cherryh's a great world builder, though, more into that than action and character development (though there's some of that). She'd much rather work out how interstellar trade and merchanting works, and what kind of patches and uniforms people wear, and how governments and merchants can (or can't) work things out.
It's a pretty cool world though, even as it's slowly (very slowly) revealed in the book, though keep in mind there are several other books in this world of hers, I kept wanting some kind of map to see where all the stations are.
The characters are all pretty bland, they interact pretty much as you'd expect, though at least there are no superman characters who are amazing at everything. Everyone has a blind spot or 12 in these books.
Cherryh also dreams up an interesting approach to love and child rearing (shades of Logan's Run), and undying loyalty to whatever ship or station a person was born into.
It's also ultimately kind of depressing. So, hundreds, if not thousands of years from now, the main thing on anyone's mind will be "how do we make more money from trade?" "How do we capitalize on this event or that station or planet to make more money?" "How do I as an individual get a slightly better job or position to make a little more money?"
It's all very blah. I hope space exploration and life in other star systems doesn't boil down to that (it probably will) with everyone existing primarily to get a slight advantage over someone else.
Kind of like Game of Thrones in space (on a macro level anyway) where people will do anything for loyalty or power without ever realizing how meaningless that's going to be afterwards.
Anyhow, a future of nothing but space merchants and bureaucrats is pretty bleak. There's not a single artist or musician in this book, or any character who cares about those things. Ugh.
There's a bit of adventure and action at the end, but that's not the focus. I also get a bit frustrated when an author spends the entire book dropping hints about a big secret, then makes you wait until the next book (or book after that even!) before it is revealed. You had 346 pages.
It's also extremely slow at the start. Imagine 200 pages of The Phantom Menace's thoughts on galactic trade routes and negotiations and all that stuff. Lots of it. If you hated that part of Phantom Menace, this ain't for you.
Cherryh's a great world builder, though, more into that than action and character development (though there's some of that). She'd much rather work out how interstellar trade and merchanting works, and what kind of patches and uniforms people wear, and how governments and merchants can (or can't) work things out.
It's a pretty cool world though, even as it's slowly (very slowly) revealed in the book, though keep in mind there are several other books in this world of hers, I kept wanting some kind of map to see where all the stations are.
The characters are all pretty bland, they interact pretty much as you'd expect, though at least there are no superman characters who are amazing at everything. Everyone has a blind spot or 12 in these books.
Cherryh also dreams up an interesting approach to love and child rearing (shades of Logan's Run), and undying loyalty to whatever ship or station a person was born into.
It's also ultimately kind of depressing. So, hundreds, if not thousands of years from now, the main thing on anyone's mind will be "how do we make more money from trade?" "How do we capitalize on this event or that station or planet to make more money?" "How do I as an individual get a slightly better job or position to make a little more money?"
It's all very blah. I hope space exploration and life in other star systems doesn't boil down to that (it probably will) with everyone existing primarily to get a slight advantage over someone else.
Kind of like Game of Thrones in space (on a macro level anyway) where people will do anything for loyalty or power without ever realizing how meaningless that's going to be afterwards.
Anyhow, a future of nothing but space merchants and bureaucrats is pretty bleak. There's not a single artist or musician in this book, or any character who cares about those things. Ugh.
There's a bit of adventure and action at the end, but that's not the focus. I also get a bit frustrated when an author spends the entire book dropping hints about a big secret, then makes you wait until the next book (or book after that even!) before it is revealed. You had 346 pages.
February 27, 2019
Cherryh, as always, remains master of the alien mindset. Even when there aren't any non-humans, the people travelling together for years on starships think differently, and it's always a challenge and a joy to get into the mindsets of her characters, especially as you're often dropped in the middle of a small part of the story. That's another joy of her Union/Alliance stories: they're small and personal, while interconnected to huge political stories that play out behind the pages.
Alliance Rising is a very satisfying book of politics and a little technology: it's the earliest story chronologically in her Union/Alliance books (although others recount information before this -- it's an impossible future that required stellar probes starting in 2005). I don't know that it's Jane Fancher's contributions, but this seemed a little softer, even a little romantic at times.
Good story, sticks the landing, and fills in some gaps in how the Alliance gets started. Looking forward to the next book, to find out what happens to the characters separated in this one.
Alliance Rising is a very satisfying book of politics and a little technology: it's the earliest story chronologically in her Union/Alliance books (although others recount information before this -- it's an impossible future that required stellar probes starting in 2005). I don't know that it's Jane Fancher's contributions, but this seemed a little softer, even a little romantic at times.
Good story, sticks the landing, and fills in some gaps in how the Alliance gets started. Looking forward to the next book, to find out what happens to the characters separated in this one.
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