The Ugly Duckling
Merchanter's Luck (1982) is an SF novel in the Alliance-Union Universe. After the Company Wars, the Alliance and Union try to restore the old trade routes between their spaces. Rumors have associated Pell Station with the new routes.

In this novel, 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.

He 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 pay 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.

This tale is an early novel in the Alliance-Union series, depicting some consequences of the Company Wars. Captain Mallory from Downbelow Station has several cameo appearances in this novel, but it is by no means a sequel to the previous work. Still, this novel has much the same feel.

Highly recommended for Cherryh fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of deep space, military intrigue, and a touch of romance.

-Arthur W. Jordin

A Heady Brew of Paranoia, Fear, Suspicion, Paranoia, Fear, Redemption
Cherryh's Merchanter's Luck is a heady brew of (less than the endless manipulation in her novels Cyteen and Downbelow Station) paranoia, fear, suspicion, paranoia, fear, more paranoia, and eventually some sort of closing redemption. Unlike many of her other novels, this novel does not snowball out with innumerable characters but rather stays remarkably focused yet still very linked to the happenings in her Alliance-Union Universe. This focus intensifies her characters and makes the reader feel more empathy for them.

Plot Summary (Contains spoilers):
Sandor Kreja (Ed Stevens - for most of the story) is the sole owner of a small cargo transport ship with faked papers etc. Most of his family was killed off by Mazianni pirates (renegade ships once/still nominally in alliance with earth sent to reduce Earths once colonies). He falls in love with Allison, a member of the Reilley family (who own a very wealthy merchant ship with a 1,000+ people) and partially because he wanted to see her again and partially because he wanted more lucrative trading "across the line" in Alliance space he makes a voyage to the station of Pell without a crew (illegal, and very dangerous). This action arouses suspicion and we plunge into endless manipulation, paranoia, fear, and more paranoia. Allison eventually joins him (with some of her crew) to repair her ships reputation (Dublin Again) and they enter into a deal with an ex-Mazianni who turned over to the alliance (and here I will stop).

Pros of this novel:
These people are living on fragile space ships and space stations around uninhabitable planets (besides Pell) and thus they MUST be VERY careful, VERY scared of others who might shift the careful balance between survival and death, and VERY loyal to their people and families in part because they live in such close proximity. With this understood SOME of the endless fear and suspicion is justified since it is a vital and realistic component of her fragile world. Likewise, since these people live so far from others they develop unique cultures. For example, Reilley's Dublin Again merchantman is entirely matrilineal since the only way to get external blood into the ship is to have dalliances when you arrive at port. The men's children would be left at the stations and the women's born on board. Only a few people on the ship are actually not related (apparently marriage is not very prevalent in Cherryh's world). Secondly, this novel has dated VERY well - since she does not dwell so much on the exact technological details it feels modern and possible. Secondly, although the main political conflicts of her Universe are in the background of the plot they are interwoven perfectly in the views, worries, actions, and opinions of the main characters.

Cons (these only minutely detract from the novel):
The world is complicated (this is a good thing) but to remedy the problem new readers to her Universe need an introduction like the one in her Hugo winning Downbelow Station. This is simply a must! And then, I have to say there is too much unjustified paranoia. I know this is a Cherryh specialty that she perfects in her later Cyteen - but it is just TOO much and I feel that it detracts from the more interesting and human aspects of the story.

All in all, a very worthwhile read full of interesting characters, interesting worlds, interesting human cultures, and some real bite. 4.25/5

Small ship in big events...
I'll open by saying this is one of my all time favorites of Ms. Cherryh's. While it's pure Space Opera, it's done so well. The characters are 3-dimensional, the descriptions are alive, and the action is interesting. Ms. Cherryh does an excellent job following up The Downbelow Station. A pleasure to read!

If you enjoy Ms. Cherryh's works or enjoy fast action books dealing with people, I highly recommend this book!

Cherryh's early stuff is still her best . . .
Carolyn Cherryh has the true storyteller's knack of being able to approach a huge, sprawling, complexly plotted yarn in terms of its constituent characters and events. But where _Downbelow Station_ -- which you really ought to have read in order to grasp all the back-story and milieu of this future -- is a tangled skein, _Merchanter's Luck_ is a single twist of two threads. Sandor Kreja is the only surviving member of the trading family that operated and lived aboard LUCY, a down-at-the-heels merchant ship not unlike a tramp steamer, carrying small cargoes and unfussy passengers and getting by on the margins of life. Allison Reilly, on the other hand, is a promising member of the large, wealthy mercantile family that inhabits DUBLIN AGAIN, a name to be reckoned with and respected among the stations whose ports it frequents. But that's just the problem: The Reilly family is *too* large. Allison is likely to be on rejuv herself by the time she climbs the advancement ladder far enough to be able to sit the bridge. They meet happenstantially, Sandy is completely taken with the tall, beautiful, regal Allie, and when DUBLIN goes off to Pell on the next leg of her trading loop among the stations, he pilots LUCY through a series of jumps singlehandedly in order to follow her. One thing leads to another, and when his past, checkered like that of all marginers, leads to potential major troubles with the Alliance and with the ominous Captain Mallory of the warship NORWAY (a shivver-provoking force in _Downbelow Station_), Allie jumps in to help him -- and, not incidentally, herself -- by leaving her family with a few like-minded cousins and making a crew for LUCY. But now, Sandor has to learn to trust others with his ship and its ghosts, and the Dubliners have to learn to trust someone who's not one of them. Cherryh is also expert at divulging her characters' minds and motivations through telling detail, so everyone you'll meet here is fully realized. And their story becomes the kind of tale merchanters, and even stationers, will tell each other for many years in the portside bars of Pell and Viking.

Please check your posted reviews for this book.
I'm not sure the reviews listed for this book go with this book. What about C.J. Cherryh?! It has been awhile since I read it, but isn't this book part of her downbelow station universe? Please check this out. Thanks.