Customer Reviews

Quarter Share (Solar Clipper Trader Tales)

5 star:		(144)
4 star:		(37)
3 star:		(20)
2 star:		(30)
1 star:		(27)

 

 

I originally "read" Quarter Share, by Nathan Lowell, in the original podiobook format. I, like many of Nathan's fans, are eagerly awaiting the print release of his fantastic story (and the rest of the 'Golden Age of the Solar Clipper' series) so that I (we) can delve into his fantastic story again (and again).

If I can give you my quick and dirty recommendation: GIVE THIS ONE A TRY NOW!

It is a fantastic story that will resonate with you long after you have read the last word. It is a refreshing break from mainstream, "shoot-em-up and save the galaxy in time for dinner" science fiction, showing us the real, human side of our potentially bright future. If you like classic Heinlein (such as the Rolling Stones, Farmer in the Sky, Citizen of the Galaxy), then this one is definitely up your alley.

Here's my longer, more detailed recommendation:

Quarter Share is not your typical futuristic sci-fi story. It is not a story based on waring nations or individuals bent on conquest or domination, so it does not easily fit into the mold of what many of us have come to expect from the sci-fi genre. Instead, it breaks the mold by concentrating on the life and experiences of what Nathan refers to as the "common man". Truthfully, as I started listening to this, at first I was very sceptical of this type of sci-fi story for the first couple chapters and was very unsure of where it was going. Then without really realizing it, I was fully immersed in the story and found that I was very interested in where Ish (the main character) was going to end up in his life, or at least where he was going to be by the end of the story... and I couldn't stop listening.

It was a strange transition for me--having come to expect conflict and danger and "bigger than life" for the majority of my sci-fi "hero" characters I normally get into--to suddenly be draw so completely into a story about the simple, average, and often repetitive everyday struggles of a common person. By the end of the story, I was more invested emotionally and more interested in the small victories that these common characters were able to accomplish throughout the story than I honestly expected I'd be... in fact, I find that the characters in this story have resonated and stuck in my mind more than most of the other sci-fi books I have read (and I've read hundreds of sci-fi books over the last 25 years). Don't get me wrong, I love a good action oriented hero story set in the sci-fi genre as much as anyone else... it's just that this one is so unlike those other storytelling methods that I thoroughly enjoyed Nathan's Quarter Share as much, if not more, than those mainstream offerings... just in a very different, more meaningful manner.

The story revolves around Ishmael Wang (pronounced "wong" as in "gong"), known as Ish to his friends and intimates, a young man who is growing up on a corporate-owned planet. After his mother dies in a tragic (fateful) flitter crash, Ish is suddenly thrust into the real world when he is notified that he must vacate the planet (since he is not a company employee), forcing him to make some quick and difficult decisions about his potential future. A young man with no real marketable skills (or so he believes) and no idea where his future lies, Ish lands a job as a low level crew member (with a "quarter share" of the ship's profits) on an interstellar solar clipper called the Lois McKendrick. Ish begins to see a brighter future unfold where once he had little interest or premonition of his future, as he begins to learn the ins and outs of shipboard life. The story conveys the normal trials and tribulations of a young sailor on an interstellar trading vessel as he finds his place in the grand scheme of things and starts planning to have an active role in the development of his future... with potentially very lucrative results.

My overall recommendation is to give this story a try, no matter what your preconceived notions of the sci-fi genre are. Leave your normal sci-fi genre expectations at the airlock and travel a bit with Ish, Cookie, Pip, Big-Bad Bev, Mr. Maxwell, and the rest of the Lois crew as they travel the known trading routes in search of profit. This one is well worth the time! You won't be sorry.

I'm serious with that title to this review.

First the mechanics: the book is available in several formats: print, Kindle, podcast. I choose print being an old-fashioned ink-and-paper book kinda guy. What a find!

The world building, while mostly in the background - unless you count the trading ship SC Lois McKendrick - and you should, I think, since most of the book takes place there or on orbital stations around planetary stops - is very convincing. Character is a real strength. Lowell writes people I understood and cared about from the beginning.

Synopsis (no spoilers): Ishmael Horatio Wang lives with his mother, a college professor, on the company-owned planet Neris. When his mother dies in a flitter crash, eighteen-year-old Ishmael must find a job with the planet company or leave the system, and NerisCo isn't hiring. With credits running low, and prospects limited, his only choice is to enlist as a crew member on a deep space commercial freighter. Ishmael has never been off-planet before but soon finds himself part of an eclectic crew sailing a deep space solar clipper the SC Lois McKendrick, between the stars.

The title of this coming-of age novel comes from the bonus system used on these traders: according to their rating, each crew member gets a quarter, half or full share, with senior officers entitled to double shares and more. As a new crew member Ishmael is entitled to a quarter share.
As I started reading, I thought of Robert A. Heinlein's "juvenile" books, Space Cadet, Farmer in the Sky, Have Space Suit - Will Travel, Tunnel in the Sky, Between Planets and others. That feeling grew as I went on, but I soon came to the conclusion that this book is better than those.

After reading Quarter Share, I wanted something that might be similar to quench my book hunger, so I picked up one of Robert Heinlein's YA novels, Have Space Suit, Will Travel. It is not as good as Quarter Share. The more I think about it, the more comparisons I think of: Ishmael Wang is a lot like young David Falkayn, Poul Anderson's smart, clever trader character. Comparisons to Robert Heinlein and Poul Anderson are appropriate. That's darn good company.
By the time I finished Quarter Share I was eager for the next book in the series, Half Share, already available in digital formats and soon to be in print, probably Fall, 2010. They can't put these in print fast enough for me. In my opinion they will become classics of the genre, and deservedly so.

For a long time, science fiction has been the home to epic space battles, evil villains, princesses and lasers. These are great things, and fun, but you have to wonder- There are other stories, right? There are people out there who live real lives, have normal problems, and conquer their own obstacles.

Nathan Lowell fills a gap that I didn't know existed in Sci-Fi. He makes the world seem believable by showing the people who truly live in it. They have alarm clocks and deadlines. They make the engines turn, and make the food for the ship. They make the ship a home, and they make the reader feel like one of the family.

Lowell's writing is clean, clear, and approachable. His characters are likeable, flawed, and well developed. The world is carefully planned and built so that all the elements come together to make the whole story feel . . . true.

For years we've seen the explosive climax of epic Sci-Fi battles. This new form of sci-fi, low key and realistic, may be the next step in sci-fi's evolution. And after reading the book, I sincerely hope this is what the future has in store.

I read this book in two sittings, and I have to admit that I did not find it boring as many claimed it is. Yet at the same time I have to agree that nothing exciting happened. There is no conflict, no struggle, no barriers to overcome. It's hard for me to give this book a 5 star rating when it could have been so much better if things did not go so smoothly. In fact, there are a total of two unfortunate events: Ish's mother dying and Pip getting mugged. Everything else that happens is all joy and flowers. The crew are rolling in money, they all get along, drink tasty coffee and eat yummy pastries. The End.

The ship is just, well too good to be true. Yes, the author served in the USCG, and it's clear from some of the descriptions of the ship life that he drew on that experience, but I can tell you with absolute certainty that I have never been on a US NAVY ship on which everyone got along and nobody has any issues. You pack people in such a confined space for months at a time, every issue, no matter how small, gets dragged out to the surface and becomes a public matter and problem.

How much better would this book be if Bev was in fact a total bitch who hated Ish? Maybe she has a drug problem that she is dealing with. Maybe she has a past she's trying to deal with. Maybe eventually she'd get to like Ish...maybe not. What if Pip didn't just trade in legal goods? What if Pip's connections are far from legal? How about if Cookie was less of an uncle figure? What if the captain was just a little bit more detached in what the mess deck greenies are doing? What if Ish constantly struggled with depression and did not feel a near instant sense of belonging on the ship?

After writing this I almost feel like I should give the book LESS than 3 stars, but the truth is that despite the flaws, the book is an enjoyable and easy read and I have moved on to the second book - although with far lowered expectations.

I hate to be negative but this book is absolutely terrible. Imagine, an 18 year old male, evidently healthy, on a space ship for months at a time. Half of the crew is female, all evidently great looking. Some of these beauties share his dormitory. Yet the only thing he notices about the one in the next bunk is that she has a cute snore. Otherwise, he works and studies for tests and discovers that if you move things from one market to another, you can make some money. There is no mention that space crew are all neutered but they must have been.

The science part is a joke. They sail away from a planet slowly until they "jump." But no one explains what that is or why you have to sail slowly away for a while. The hero has a laptop computer and the other crew members are astonished. This is the 24th century. Nor is there any discussion of the various planets visited. And there is no real plot, except the characters'' stunning discovery that you can make money trading. To describe all the absurdities would require a transcription of the book.

I deeply regret spending $1.99 buying this book and a few hours reading it.

I loved this book when I started it. It has a good pace and good story telling. You follow a young guy named Ishmael who is thrown into a terrible situation when his mom dies and the company who owns the planet gives him 90 days to leave. He can either join the military or find work on a freighter. He chooses the latter and you get to experience ship life in the future first hand as he does his duties and learns what to do to keep a ship going. There aren't any space battles or aliens which is neat, however about 60% of the way through the book it all changes. Ishmael starts running a trade business on the side with a friend. Problem is I didn't really care if I bought something cheap on planet A and it sells for 400% on planet B. This becomes the MAIN focus of the book from here on, nothing else really matters. Then Ishmael starts a trade business with several members of the crew and so he basically is now running a company.

The latter part of the book is mainly about what product he is going to buy on planet A and sell on planet B and how to run his business. Honestly I didn't care how he ran his business or how well mushrooms sold and how cheaply he bought them, thats not story telling, thats how to run a trade network. Most of the good story telling just dies off and it hurts, I really just kept reading because I didn't want to leave the book half done, but it is not the same book all the way through, just fair warning.

One of the worst books I have read in nearly 50 years of reading science fiction. First of all this is not science fiction, it is basically a story of how flea markets and trading works. The protagonist is so in love with himself that it is sickening. I actually bought half share in the hope that a story might develop, unfortunately it didn't. It got to the point that I flipped from page to page hoping to glean anything that looked like an attempt to begin a science fiction storyline. I finally gave up after a hundred pages or so and erased it from my kindle.

I've been reading science fiction casually for 45 years after discovering a treasure trove on classic 50's SF paperbacks as a kid. As I started to read Quartershare, it began to remind me of those older science fiction books, and I thought I was about to relive those old adventure type sci fi stories.

Unfortunately, about half way into Quartershare, I begun to realize that it was not developing into any kind of story at all. It simply is a manual on how to start a cooperative for selling junk at flea markets, poorly disguised as a science fiction novel. There is little science fiction here; the "story" and characters could have just as easily been staged in 15th century England - in fact, at points, it reminded me a little of the "Pillars of the Earth" books.

If you are about 12 years old and dream of moving your business interests beyond your lemonade stand, this book is for you. Otherwise, give it a pass.

I was sucked into buying this based on the Kindle sample and high rating. I enjoy plots that put the protagonist in a tight situation in which they must lift themselves up by their bootstraps. This one seemed a tad corny, but I was in the mood for something fast paced and light. Unfortunately, the initial adversity was all there was, and it was overcome very early. I kept waiting for -something- to happen, but the basic plot is just a repeating cycle of food service, trade scheming, and studying for promotional tests. And every single character is just so gosh darn nice, I felt like I was in an episode of 'Mr. Rogers'. It was pleasant for the first half, but I literally skimmed the last half of the book when I finally realized that nothing else significant was going to happen.

Indeed, this is a story about everyday life on a spaceship. And it is a nice spaceship. Nice captain, nice crew mates, main character likes his job, even the wastewater on board doesn't smell as bad as one could expect. Many reviewers nailed it; no larger than life heroes and absolutely NO conflict. This means there is no story, only words. They fly from planet to planet; everything is in top shipshape shape. They have emergency drills; all goes well, and the captain complements the crew on a job well done. They study for exams, and ace them, and they endlessly discuss how to buy stuff on one planet and sell it on the next. Captain is happy about that too. I was praying for a little meteorite to upset all that happiness, but in this part of space, there were none. The core of the story is: Guy gets on spaceship and sails from A to B; nothing happens - end of story. If you don't like excitement, e.g. after a heart transplant, this book is for you.