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Lovely slice-of-life science fiction. This is something I've always been wanting to read.

This is a decent enough read when you're in the mood for something that won't stretch your brain at all (and that's the mood I'm in right now, which is why I plan to start the sequel right away).

I did find it a bit disappointing that even though a lot of the narrative takes place in a galley or in restaurants, all of the food mentioned was really basic, uninteresting, and sparsely described.

I also thought it was a shame that almost all the characters used every moment of their spare time trying to make more money. There wasn't even any explanation of why they wanted to do this - there just seemed to be a blanket assumption that of course everyone always wants more money.

3 stars for the story with a frosting extra star for Lowell's engrossing reading. It is, frankly, a little amazing how interesting this story is considering it mostly about making coffee and planning economic missions. I think this is a testament to the author's considerable skills at characterization and dialog.

This podcast-only novel was something of a space opera, but not quite. It has a lot of space opera-like qualities - there's a lot of intergalactic travel without being too hard sci-fi-ish, some references to old naval traditions, and . What it's lacking, though, is anything particularly operatic. Instead of a grand destiny, or a quest, or anything noble like that, we instead get the story of a guy working on a ship, just kind of doing his thing. He's motivated to go to space mostly because if he doesn't, he'll get deported, and while he seems to enjoy what he does, and is good at it, and that seems to suit him fine enough.

What's great about this story, though, is that Lowell manages to strike at the heart of the fundamental nobility of that kind of a common, working-class lifestyle - that a simple life, well-lived, is something to be proud of. It's not a story that gets told often - a look in any bookstore or library will reveal a lot more stories about generals than soldiers - but it's a nice change to hear a story like this one.

Entertaining but unsatisfying

While I enjoyed reading this novel, by the end I felt it very unsatisfying. The hero of the book never faces a challenge they couldn't easily overcome, and frequently had successful ideas that unrealistically no one had come up with before. All this while freshly turned 18. The ending was sudden, without any real build up or resolution. If this was a standalone novel, it would have received a one star rating, but I gave it three in the hopes that this was entirely a “setting up the situation” book and subsequent ones have actual drama, difficult challenges, and maybe even some conflict. If book 2 isn't a vast improvement, there's no point in continuing.

This is an odd book. Nothing particularly exciting happens and there isn't much of a plot. Even so, the story of young Ishmael Horatio and his friends going about their daily work is strangely compelling. I expect I will read more of the series.

amazing series

Understated and unhurried. There are no action scenes. It's about a boy who becomes an orphan and hires on as a merchant marine. Well, the sci-fi space equivalent.

I can definitely see how some people would hate this book, but I really enjoyed it. From one point of view almost nothing happened, but I had fun reading about the every day, small time struggles of the characters. It's very zen in a way.