{"id":8957,"date":"2025-04-23T00:36:19","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T05:36:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/?p=8957"},"modified":"2025-12-14T17:51:03","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T23:51:03","slug":"best-novel-finalist-review-cherryh-and-fanchers-alliance-unbound-dramatizes-the-crucial-fact-of-scarcity-as-merchant-ships-pursue-voluntary-trade-amid-authoritarian-threats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/best-novel-finalist-review-cherryh-and-fanchers-alliance-unbound-dramatizes-the-crucial-fact-of-scarcity-as-merchant-ships-pursue-voluntary-trade-amid-authoritarian-threats\/","title":{"rendered":"Best Novel finalist review: Cherryh and Fancher\u2019s Alliance Unbound dramatizes the crucial fact of scarcity as merchant ships pursue voluntary trade amid authoritarian threats\u2028"},"content":{"rendered":"

By William H. Stoddard<\/a><\/p>\n

Alliance Unbound<\/i> is the sequel to Alliance Rising<\/i>,<\/a> which won the Prometheus Award for Best Novel in 2020. It appears that this may be the second volume of a trilogy, as the final pages leave important issues unresolved.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Taken together, these novels form a prequel to Cherryh’s Alliance\/Union series, one of the larger future histories in the past few decades. (It began in 1981 with Downbelow Station<\/i>, which won her first Hugo Award for best novel.)<\/p>\n

The crucial fact driving its events is scarcity<\/i>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There are only three planets with biospheres: Earth, Pell’s World, and Cyteen. Orbital habitats in other solar systems \u2014 notably Alpha Station, located at Barnard’s Star, where Alliance Rising<\/em> was set \u2014 are ultimately dependent for supplies, especially biomass, on those three systems; Alliance Rising’<\/i>s plot turned on Earth’s starving Alpha Station of resources to advance its own goals, and a key point in Alliance Unbound<\/em> is the discovery of nearly priceless Earth goods on Downbelow Station, which orbits Pell’s World.<\/p>\n

Cherryh and Fancher’s characters are well aware of such issues of scarcity and value, being interstellar merchants who spend their lives going from solar system to solar system, with holds full of high-value cargo and computer memories full of equally valuable data.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A CLASSIC SCIENCE FICTION THEME<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>This is an old theme of science fiction, to be found in Robert Heinlein’s Citizen of the Galaxy<\/i>,<\/a> Andre Norton’s Solar Queen novels, Poul Anderson’s Polesotechnic League series (which includes Trader to the Stars,<\/i> <\/a>a 1985 Prometheus Hall of Fame inductee), and Vernor Vinge’s A Deepness in the Sky<\/i>,<\/a> among others.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>And it’s scarcely an accident that the Libertarian Futurist Society has given awards to most of these: a central idea of libertarianism is the virtue of trade as an activity that benefits both parties (since a voluntary<\/i> trade can only happen if each party values the other’s goods more than their own, so that both gain from trading).<\/p>\n

Cherryh and Fancher’s merchants pursue a margin of profit that can be really marginal<\/i>, in their interstellar economy; they’re keenly aware not merely of price but of value.<\/p>\n

A STUDY IN POLITICAL CONTRASTS<\/b><\/p>\n

The three life-bearing worlds are a study in political contrasts.<\/p>\n

We don’t see Earth directly: It’s slow to gain access to the newly emerging markets made possible by faster-than-light travel, which it didn’t invent. It appears that Earth is technologically backward, but has a huge population whose taxes can support expensive ventures such as military conquest.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Union, the power based at Cyteen, is technologically progressive—it was the source of superluminal drives \u2014 but has little place for freedom. Most of its population is azi<\/i>, cloned human beings raised in virtual environments that make them programmable, almost like computers, with their emotional balance dependent on their programming and their programmers; and even the autonomous human beings of Union face the constraints of scientific planning.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Downbelow Station is much less authoritarian, but it has little in the way of military resources. What it does<\/i> have is the Alliance, a group of merchant ships whose crews have agreed to work together for mutual protection. How that develops is what Cherryh and Fancher’s new series is about.<\/p>\n

A CENTRAL CHARACTER OF THE ALLIANCE<\/b><\/p>\n

The novel’s protagonist, Ross Monahan, embodies this concept of an alliance: Sent off his home ship, Galway, at the end of Alliance Rising<\/i><\/a> to carry word that it’s been highjacked by agents of Earth to attempt a superluminal journey to Earth, he’s taken refuge on the larger ship Finity’s End,<\/em> as leader of nine Monahan refugees. He becomes involved with Jen Neihart, a security officer on Finity’s End<\/em> (who gains increasing responsibilities as the plot advances).<\/p>\n

After Monahan points out Earth goods of unknown provenance at Downbelow Station, Finity’s End<\/em> diverts to visit two other stations that have largely lost contact with the main systems, accompanied by another merchanter, Little Bear.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>(Cherryh seems to be following the example of Citizen of the Galaxy’s<\/i> Free Traders, with each merchant ship identifying with an ethnic heritage from Earth \u2014 Little Bear<\/em> is Chinese, Galway<\/em> is Irish, and Finity’s End<\/em> seems to be American.)<\/p>\n

His presence there becomes vital, because the Alliance’s legal rules require concurrence of three ships in doubtful cases \u2014 and because Ross is there, Galway is there.<\/p>\n


\nFREE TRADE, MUTUAL DEFENSE, THE LAW AND LIBERTY<\/b><\/p>\n

The ideology is less overt here than in Alliance Rising<\/i>. But there are themes that libertarians will sympathize with: trade, mutual defense, and the need for legality, on one hand, and opposition to authoritarian societies, on the other.<\/p>\n

And there’s a compelling mystery plot, as Ross and Jen and her captain, J.R. Neihart, try to track down how the mysterious goods are getting from Earth to Tau Ceti (the sun of Pell’s World) and who’s profiting from them.<\/p>\n

I found this a good followup to Alliance Rising<\/i> and a reason to look forward to the third volume \u2014 and hope it’s not as long delayed as this one was!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Note: Alliance Rising<\/em> is one of five 2024 novels selected by LFS judges as Best Novel finalists for the next Prometheus Award. LFS members will be reading this year’s finalists and voting to select the winners by July 4.<\/p>\n

Read the Prometheus Blog reviews of the other Best Novel finalists: Michael Flynn’s In the Belly of the Whale<\/em>,<\/a> Danny King’s Cancelled: The Shape of Things to Come,<\/em><\/a> Wil McCarthy’s Beggar’s Sky<\/em><\/a> and Lionel Shriver’s Mania<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

ABOUT THE PROMETHEUS AWARDS AND THE LFS:<\/b><\/p>\n

*\u00a0Join us!<\/b> To help sustain the Prometheus Awards and support a cultural and literary strategy to appreciate and honor freedom-loving fiction, \u00a0join<\/a> the Libertarian Futurist Society, a non-profit all-volunteer association of freedom-loving sf\/fantasy fans.<\/p>\n

Libertarian futurists understand that culture matters. We believe that literature and the arts can be vital in envisioning a freer and better future.<\/p>\n

In some ways, culture can be even more influential and powerful than politics in the long run, by imagining better visions of the future incorporating peace, prosperity, progress, tolerance, justice, positive social change, and mutual respect for each other\u2019s rights, human dignity, individuality and peaceful choices.<\/p>\n

* Prometheus winners:\u00a0<\/b>For the full list of Prometheus winners, finalists and nominees \u2013 including the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards \u2013 visit the enhanced\u00a0Prometheus Awards page<\/a>\u00a0on the LFS website, which includes convenient links to all published essay-reviews in our Appreciation series explaining why each of more than 100 past winners since 1979 fits the awards\u2019 distinctive dual focus on both quality and liberty.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Watch videos of past Prometheus Awards ceremonies, Libertarian Futurist Society panel discussions with noted sf authors and leading libertarian writers, and other LFS programs on the Prometheus Blog\u2019s\u00a0Video page.<\/a><\/p>\n

* Read \u201cThe Libertarian History of Science Fiction,\u201d<\/a> an essay in the international magazine\u00a0Quillette<\/i>\u00a0that favorably highlights the Prometheus Awards, the Libertarian Futurist Society and the significant element of libertarian sf\/fantasy in the evolution of the modern genre.<\/p>\n

* Check out the Libertarian Futurist Society\u2019s Facebook page<\/a> for comments, updates and links to the latest Prometheus Blog posts.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By William H. Stoddard Alliance Unbound is the sequel to Alliance Rising, which won the Prometheus Award for Best Novel in 2020. It appears that this may be the second volume of a trilogy, as the final pages leave important issues unresolved. Taken together, these novels form a prequel to Cherryh’s Alliance\/Union series, one of … Continue reading Best Novel finalist review: Cherryh and Fancher\u2019s Alliance Unbound dramatizes the crucial fact of scarcity as merchant ships pursue voluntary trade amid authoritarian threats\u2028<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2353,8,2605],"tags":[408,2545,671,1312,683,686,407,2601,2600,6,21,248],"class_list":["post-8957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-review","category-sequels","tag-alliance-rising","tag-alliance-unbound","tag-c-j-cherryh","tag-citizen-of-the-galaxy","tag-cyteen","tag-downbelow-station","tag-jane-s-fancher","tag-merchanter-ships","tag-pells-world","tag-poul-anderson","tag-robert-heinlein","tag-trader-to-the-stars"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe8nGl-2kt","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8957"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8967,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8957\/revisions\/8967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}