Way more fun than I had expected it to be – I had read Downbelow Station before, but didn’t remember much (enough to remember recurring characters when they came up, at least). This, though!
The two protagonists, Sandor and Alli, come from opposite sides on pretty much every issue out in space: Sandor poor and barely scraping by on his solo ship, traumatised by the death of his family, has been getting by on his own for over a decade. Alli, privileged by being part of one of the big family merchanter ships, is at the same time never going to make real bridge crew because too many people are in line. It’s a good setup, I feel, and it makes the characters develop depth, because each has something the other wants: family vs independence; and each suffers from their version of it.
(Not that the book is explicitly introspective about any of this, which would’ve been obnoxious.)
More things that I like:
- Sandor and Alli start out by having a one-night stand, just two space sailors on shore leave. This is an honestly great way to defuse any sexual tension between the two: It’s there, sure, but it’s also out in the open and nothing mysterious, it’s something the two can name, and also can get past and agree that there are way more important things.
- The way that spending a decade never-quite-on-the-run, with only his dead brother’s pre-recorded computer messages (interactive, but very clearly not sentient, just spoken sound bites for the nav + some good advice) didn’t break Sandor, but made him also very clearly traumatised. It’s not played up; but it’s not played down either, and some asides are haunting.
- The way that the four privileged rich kids don’t react to this traumatised guy with understanding, but instead with suspicion: Sandor doesn’t share the source of his trauma (and why would he), and they assume the worst (and why wouldn’t they), and things escalate in nasty but real-feeling ways.
- It’s just the small bits everywhere. When outfitting the ship, Alli goes for a regular store, and Sandor is appalled at the prices. He explains where he would get everything for much cheaper, Alli explains why this is worth it, and even though he understands, his unease doesn’t magically vanish (nor does it in related situations later. The book spans a couple of weeks, that’s not enough time to change survival behaviour learned in decades!)
So, yeah, this was fun. I’m not sure if/how I’ll continue with Alliance/Union: but I’m very glad I read this book. (First book on my new, wonderful, pretty e-reader, an InkPalm Pro!)
Plot summary
Beware: full spoilers! Also probably incomplete and possibly incomprehensible.
Sandor Kreja is the last of a small space ship family, most of whom were murdered by pirates when he was a young boy. Brought up by the last of his family, he now lives on the fringes, and gets by by small accounting crimes (lending by fraud from conglomerates, but paying back before being noticed).
Allison Reilly is one of over a thousand on the Dubliner, one of the huge family-driven merchanters. That’s an incredibly privileged and secure position in the world, but she will also never make bridge crew: too many people in line.
They meet, shag, and go their own ways, except that Sandor is running out of things to do and places to run to, and decides to impress Allison by doing an impossibly hard solo run. Things blow up spectacularly and Sandor nearly gets taken in for his crimes, but instead, Allison convinces her ship’s Old Man to give her some credit and let her and three of her cousins sign on/take over the Lucy: finally a ship of her own.
World collide, and mistrust makes for nasty escalations, because Sandor is just a small traumatised boy tbh. But in the end, when used as bait for a trap by the big ‘uns, they all come through for each other, and in the end, Alli and her cousins stay on.
