A brilliant understated story

This book won't be for everyone because there's no big threat to the hero or a quest that needs a long and arduous journey. Instead this is a fantastic foray into normal people's lives in a futuristic galaxy. The narrator is great and lends gravitas to the mundane setting. But what amazed me was how absorbed I became in the protagonists journey, when it's really just a day by day account of a kid doing a job, meeting new people and starting a small business with them. Really great writing to pull that off I think.

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Excellent Sci-fi Trading Story

Loved this book. Really engaging story. Military feel but with fantastic economics themes. If you ever wanted a little more real world economics in your sci-fi this is the book.

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Delightfully and unexpectedly good

This isn't your usual sci-fi with desperate battles and back to back life or death situations. If you like those sorts of stories, you may like this as a change of pace.
This series explores life as crew on an interstellar trading ship where even the crew members get in on the trading action as an expected and even endorsed side hustle, hence the title.
I really would like to justify why I like this but I don't want to spoil the story for you.
This audiobook comes with the first 2 chapters of the second book, Half Share which I also listened to and then had to immediately continue the second book.
If you are a maker of any kind (potter, sewist, leather worker, knitter.....), THIS SERIES IS FOR YOU!
If you're not a maker, I hope you can lose yourself in the story telling as well.

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Genuinely Interesting Concept

While in search of authors new to me I noticed this one coming up. It’s a rather different approach to science fiction in that it’s really a coming of age story that just happens to be set in the distant future. The futuristic setting provides the framework of the story rather than being the focus. It is a very gentle story, and I found it surprisingly engaging. If you are looking to set your phasers on maximum then you’ll have to set a course elsewhere because this is about a young man making his way in the world or rather galaxy. It is about encountering problems and overcoming them, about making friends and relationships in a new environment. Looking for a direction in life when the one you had always imagined for yourself is ripped away from you unexpectedly.

It’s a warm story and the author clearly has a lot in the way of human empathy. The narration feels right bringing the feel of almost classical fiction to the reader. Personally I like my battles and a good dose of “the engines canna take it” but this story kept me engaged. There is a good amount of detail that has gone into the way that this future universe works and how the trading ships operate which comes through. The characters also have a genuine feel to them.

Even given the premise I have to say I don’t think it’s perfect. I found it a little strange that virtually everyone that Ish, the lead in our story, came directly into contact with was actually genuinely nice. It’s hard to imagine hard-working crews of deep space freighters being quite so friendly across the board. You’d expect at least some kind of harder element to show up. I also have a bit of a beef about the length of the book. Something like an hour of this one is dedicated to a free introduction to the next in the series. Positive is that they are obviously planning to release more of the series for those that will continue with it. Negative, that seems a bit much to me, free previews are nice but some might feel that’s being used to pad this relatively short book into appearing more than it is . . .

That aside, and I’m still not 100% sure why but I enjoyed the maturity from the author of just writing a story set in the future. “The Golden Age” gives a good feeling for the his intentions. So if that appeals this one may well be worth one of your credits. Just put your phaser back in its holster first 

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Really enjoyed in an odd way.

I guess you have to like stories about people just trading to enjoy this book, but I do and I just found it refreshingly nice to listen to.

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Different, but amazing.

When I like someone, I kinda follow them, so when I saw that Jeffrey Kafer posted about a new sci fi. I was like, Oh, yes please!

I did learn that it wasn't the usual kinda sci fi I read or have started to listen to, but that didn't mean I did not enjoy this.

The author Nathan Lowell has really done something different here. This is a very character driven book with people you can soon fall in love with. The main character Ish, has just lost his mum in a tragic accident, and with no parents and no job he's about to be forced off planet, so he takes the first thing offered to him because he's no choice.

The kid finds himself on the Lowis, (sp) and embarks on a very different way of looking at things, something no one on the ship has seen before.

Ish soon makes friends with the people in his department, Cookie and Pip. Even though he shows Pip up, he finds time to actually help the other youngster, and they become not only friends but partners in crime too, getting up to all kinds of trading adventures.

Pip, however, isn't having much fun, after losing everything he had in a trade gone wrong, it's the captain and Ish that help him here, and they begin to form a co-op with the ships best interests at heart.

The narration from Jeffrey is great, he's perfect in first person POV and the inner mind of a youngster finding his feet, not only with the fleet, but amongst other people is interesting and very well done. Jeffrey delivers a lot of emotion with hardly any effort and all the characters come alive. I was especially fond of Bev and Dianne. :) even Francis and Cookie. :)

I do think that there should have been a little more conflict for Ish on the ship. Although he's never been off planet before, the people he meets, all seem a little too nice. Maybe that's because Ish himself is just so nice, he never seems to fire up over much, doesn't really grieve for his mum, and I think I'd really like that, even if it wasn't in the first section of the book, but defo towards the end. The closest we get to that is when he remembers packing up on the planet, and moving to his new quarters, (but I'm not sure if that was actually in the second piece, as there was a few chapters in there for free.)

I am really interested in seeing what the gang does now though with their trading empire. I wonder what can go wrong, and what other relationships are going to form. It seemed Ish was starting to become attracted to some of his female friends on a different level, he kinda doesn't mention that from the planet. about his other friends, or any potential girlfriends.

Thanks for an awesome new series to follow, and I look forward to more! :)

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No worries in the deep dark

A light, fun book; no real plot or conflict, just slice of life in space.
Main character is sympathetic, and gets pretty much everything right, but that didn't bother me; it's a bit of Gary Stu / wish fulfillment, enjoyable to listen to.

Learn all you ever wanted to learn about making coffee, buying and selling belts, and growing mushrooms in space!

It took a chapter or so to to warm up to the narrator, but eventually I really liked him; the way he differentiated between different characters, without using silly voices etc, was great.

Lovely, undemanding story to play in the background, when you can't pay full attention, or want something that is not too heavy.

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Not a Bad Start

Something a little different. This is a series with a slow burn. It is not my usual listen and I had anticipated after a short time into the book that I would finish the book and leave it there.

However, not so. It is a story, to put it very simplistically, about housekeeping! It starts of with a young lad, whose mother has died, having to fend for himself, so he signs on as a deck hand, more or less.

The story gradually unfolds and although not full of battles and fighting, it is a gentle tale of what goes on onboard ship within the crew which have become, more or less, like a family.

I am now hooked and about to start the second book.

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A delightful surprise

Knowing nothing of the author I decided to give this book a go and loved it.
I was looking for a series where combat and world saving was not the focus and I was not disappointed. The story is that of interstellar trading, plain and simple and therefore feels more positive than a lot of books I've read of late. Simply put it's a good story, expertly narrated and I look forward to listening to the rest.

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Unusual book

This is an unusual premis for a story. It's about a teenage lad who finds work on a trading clipper and explains to us in minute detail what his jobs are and how they set up a stall to sell stuff on the flea markets at the space stations they visit to make extra cash. Everyone is very nice and the only real remarkable thing about it all is that it's set in space. And in the sci-fi genre that's not even very remarkable.

If a friend was telling you this story down the pub you'd be stifling a yawn and making your excuses pretty quickly.

The book came included with membership but for me at least you couldn't give it away I'm afraid.

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