C. J. Cherryh and Jane S. Fancher do a great job in continuing the Hinder series. The world continued in a way that I was looking for and enjoyed the scifi elements to this world. The characters felt like they belonged in this world and had a great overall concept with them. I’m glad I got to read this and can’t wait for more.

One thing this book could use is where it fits in the Alliance-Union universe timeline. After this many books it is a little hard to pigeon hole when the names are familiar because they are family names of importance in the merchanter family. I finally figured it out. These predate the events in Downbelow. The first book I had some difficulty with as it was slow moving and more intrigue than action. This book is more balanced between the two. Which made it a much easier and more enjoyable read at least in my book. After the events in the last book, the Galway has been attacked, it's family is split between the Finity's Edge and Alpha station. Finity is pulling into Pell station to complete the last major section of the Alliance, warn Pell about the possible FTL root to Sol and the attack on Galway by the EC. Ross is shadowing the Nav station on Finity and doing a great job. JR and Fletcher are working on the Alliance and trying to track down the last two merchanter ships that need to sign. Then those suspicious two ships seem to be involved in even more mysterious and possibly hazardous to the Alliance behavior. This sends Finity out from Pell at great cost to try to find out the truth and prevent disaster. Well written old school Cherryh writing, somewhat dense at times but overall a very good book. Thank you Netgally for the privilege of reading this book for this review.

A mixed bag. I have no memories of book one. But based on my previous review, this book seemed similar.

I have read all of the Alliance-Union-Merchanter-Cyteen books, but most of these were before I was on Goodreads. I have re-read Downbelow Station and Merchanter's Luck relatively recently.

This book felt like a Merchanter book. But this had no recap. So trying to figure out the story at the beginning was tough. And the book was torturously slow. We were in several character's heads and they kept on recapping and reconsidering events and trying to figure out what would happen next. It made the book a lot longer than it needed to be.

There was a bit too much time at the Tree Museum on Pell. But it was a cool spot and understanding why it was cool was important to the plot.

There was a bit too much time spent on any of the formal communications - between ship and ship, between ship and station, between captain and captain, between captain and crew.

And then like in the first book, there was a bang up ending that left me wanting more. And wanting to re-read the whole series.

The whole point of colonies would seem to be that at some point they break free and are independent entities. And the parent of those colonies may not be ready to let go on the same timeline.

Still worth reading but not a good starting place. 3.5 of 5.

Cherryh's still got it - fans of cerebral, plotty, dialogue-focused sci-fi will continue to enjoy her work. I'm one of them, so I loved it - impatiently waiting for the next Foreigner book but I will certainly take another look at what's up before the Company Wars!

Sequel to Alliance Rising. At Pell, with the Alliance lacking only two ships to be complete, the Monahans aboard Finity's End make a discovery that upends everything. Tense politicking and great danger lead to a rollicking good read. Highly recommended.

Note: there is at least one more book in the series still to come. And now I need to reread the rest of the Alliance/Union universe books.