Alliance Space

by C.J. Cherryh

Book Overview

Two Alliance-Union novels, Merchanter's Luck and Forty Thousand in Gehenna, bound in one omnibus volume for the first time! Merchanter's Luck His name was Sandor and he was the owner and entire crew... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0756404940
• Release Date: March 2008
• Publisher: DAW
• Length: 608 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.7" x 1.3" x 4.2"

Customer Reviews

Half and half.

The first story, Merchanter's Luck, I liked a lot. A down and out spacer hooks up with one of the "Rich kid" girls he's only dreamed of before. Then, before you know it, he an she both are up to their ears in trouble- but, in the end, everybody's cool, and they have an exciting, if unknown, future together. The second book, Forty Thousand in Gehenna, I had a problem with from the start. You see, I had already read Cyteen, and I knew there would be no reinforcements coming. No medical aid, No help at all, from any quarter. That kind of cruelty does not play well on any stage. Credit must be given to C.J. Cherryh for coming up with an uplifting ending, however. But, overall, I did not enjoy this book with the relish of some of her other creations.

Humans and Aliens

Alliance Space (2008) is an SF omnibus edition of the Alliance-Union Universe series, including Merchanter's Luck and Forty Thousand in Ghenna. These stories are set after the Company Wars when both sides are trying to keep the peace, but are still suspicious of each other. Merchanter's Luck (1982) has the Alliance and Union trying to restore the old trade routes between their spaces. Rumors have associated Pell Station with the new routes. Sandor Kreja is a minor merchanter within Union space operating under false papers and a false name. His ship -- lately called the Lucy -- is really Le Cygne, an almost forgotten vessel. He docks Lucy on Viking Station and goes looking for crew to replace the man rejoining his ship at the port. He takes a few credits to buy drinks and talks to a couple of potential crewmen. Then he encounters Allison Reilly, a tall dark-haired silver-clad woman from the Dublin Again. Sandor loses track of his conversation and just stares at the Allison. Then she stares back briefly and walks out of the bar. Sandor pays his bill and follows her out. She isn't anywhere in sight, so he checks the adjacent bars and finds her again. They eventually go to a sleepover and slake their lust. The next morning, Allison has to return to her ship. Sandor learns that her ship is heading to Pell Station in Alliance space and vows to meet her there. Despite being alone on a three jump route, the Lucy arrives only a couple of hours after the Dublin Again. In this story, Sandor has his visage spread throughout Pell station. He has somehow become a popular hero. But someone makes a complaint about his past activities and the dockmaster calls him in for questioning. After discussing his reasons for coming to the station, Sandor applies for papers allowing him to trade within Alliance space. Allison gets her ship council to agree to a deal with Sandor. They will loan him half a million for cargo and another hundred thousand for other expenses in return for a share of the profits. In return, Sandor will accept four crewpersons from the Dublin Again to help operate the Lucy. Naturally, Allison will be his second in command. Sandor also has a talk with Captain Mallory -- commander of the AS Norway -- about the arrangement. She provides a briefing of the situation and replaces his intended cargo with military goods. Sandor is barely functional with Mallory, a former Mazianni captain. He keeps thinking of the Mazianni boarding party that had killed most of his family. Forty Thousand in Gehenna (1983) has the Union settling colonies around Alliance space. These colonies were not intended to succeed as such, but only to keep the Alliance too busy to think about aggression. One of these colonies was on Gehenna II. Three Union ships -- Venture, Capable, Swift -- carried 42,363 colonists to the Gehenna system from Cyteen Station. Of those colonists, 452 were citizens and 41911 were noncitizen clones. Jin 458-9998 is an azi,

Mismatched release of two great stories

Merchanter's Luck is a wonderful story, really more of a novella by today's standards, but a great read dealing with the economics of a believable future concerning the dominance of large corporations driving small companies out of business, in this case it is a large family merchant ship and a small family ship, now run by the lone surviving member trying to hold to all that he has left. Allegory can be made to today's family farms in the United States being eaten up by large corporate farms and urban sprawl, but that might be reaching. 40,000 in Gehenna is a very deep psychological and organizational behavior tale that is a companion to Cherryh's award winning Cyteen, that was curiously written before Cyteen, which is in my opinion just more proof of Cherryh's brilliance. But for us mere mortals, I would suggest that you read Cyteen first, before you read any of the other books about Azi. And for that matter, you should read Down Below Station before Mercahnter's Luck. But really, these are two great stories, (they just don't naturally match up together) and should not be missed, so if you haven't read them, you should, I'd just suggest you read Cyteen and Downbelow Station first, as they set the framework for the whole Merchanter Universe. On the other hand, if you (like me) treasure your first editions of these two books, this is a great way to re-turn to these works without breaking your old yellowed pages. And by the way... Dear DAW publishing, how long are you going to sit on the two new books that have been completed before you decide to release them? Cherryh fans have been waiting for the new Cyteen Book for 20 years and it has been finished since last fall. What gives?

Re-Release of Two Previous Titles

"Alliance Space" is a re-release of "Merchanter's Luck" and "40,000 in Gehenna" bound in one volume. Both are excellent books, but for fans of Cherryh's Company Wars universe hoping for a new novel, this is not it.