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Hey Ho, Esteemed Passengers of The Galaxy Express. It’s been too long since I hitched a ride on this fine vessel. I was sent on a dangerous mission to the Triangulum Galaxy and, well, to cut a long story short—thanks for bailing me out, Heather!!
After missions, I usually return to my home base to be met by the pile of luverly books I had ordered before I left, and this time was no exception. I’d been through some traumatic events so I needed something really wonderful to distract me. Enter C.J Cherryh’s MERCHANTER'S LUCK.
The gal on the cover is Allison Reilly of the mighty starship, Dublin Again. She’s a great character, but Allison is not what has me all a-tingle. No, the truth is I’ve gone and fallen in love with the hero of this book, Sandor Kreja. Oh, my aching heart!
Sandor is a very different kind of hero. He’s not wealthy or powerful or strong or glamorous. In fact, when the reader first meets him, he is malnourished, in debt, scared and desperate. His first glimpse of Allison is the most happiness he’s known in a long, long time. He offers to buy her a drink, even though he’s broke. They spend the night together. She ships out the next day, so what does Sandor do? He takes off after her. In a broken down ship, with no crew, through solo jump after jump after jump, strapped into his chair with a pulsar unit to keep him awake, with food and water taped within reaching distance, alone except for the memories of that terrible day when his life and his psyche had been blown into a million shards. It’s an act of suicide. He’s attempting the impossible and putting his life in the hands of fate, all for one last chance, one impossible chance at love. How do you like them stakes?
I won’t offer any more spoilers. Suffice to say it’s a wonderful story, with loads of action, fascinating characters and all ilk of spaceships, villains and plot twists. If you’ve tried Cherryh before, and found her work too dense or wordy, then this book will change your mind. Her writing in this is as lean as Sandor’s emaciated body, while still as strong and graceful as Allison’s.
As much as I love C.J. Cherryh, it’s Sandor who is my main obsession at the moment. I’m normally not much attracted to victims, but there was something about Sandor’s mixture of pain, vulnerability and hope that completely hooked me. He’s been through so much trauma that all I want to do is heal him—in any way I can. It’s not the motherly, nurturing type of healing I’m talking about, or maybe it is? I am confused by my reaction to this character.
What are your thoughts, fellow travelers, on the traumatized hero? Discuss amongst yourselves. I’ll be in my bunk—with Sandor.
Be seeing ya!
Agent Z.