Starships and space station politics— absorbing!

Alliance Unbound (Hinder Stars #2) by C. J. Cherryh; Jane S. Fancher      

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Tense unforgiving times for Finity’s End starship’s crew as they endeavour to bring the last two merchant family ships into an Alliance as a third power to counter the Earth Company’s enforcer’s actions in space. The two ships leave as Infinity comes into Pell, and before Senior Captain Neihart can speak with them.

An innocent look by Jen Neihart, the Senior Captain’s niece, her partner Ross Monahan and some of his cousins at Pell Station’s Gardens and trees have the Finity Starship Captains realising that illegal Sol items are showing up at Pell. How? Such items are sanctioned. Jen is a security officer for Finity.  Ross, a Navigator from the Galaxy family ship, along with his cousins are currently attached to Finity.

From there it’s a small thought for Finity’s End to go to two mothballed space stations to investigate.

Ross is a talented navigator who feels the stars as living entities. It’s his abilities that in the end deduce something others doubt.

When Finity’s End breaks out into space station Olympus’s orbit they are unpleasantly surprised. There’s a pusher ship from Sol attached to the station, the two family ships they’ve been looking for and a third ship that looks very different.

What began as an economic endeavour has the potential to become something else

Cherryh and Fancher build the story in abbreviated actions and talk that alarmingly keeps the tension focused.

I’m happily exhausted! Grand Space Opera at its very best!

A DAW ARC via NetGalley.                                              

Many thanks to the author and publisher.