Double Share
2008 • 308 pages
Ratings10
Average rating4.1
15
Ratings10
Average rating4.1
AN INEXPERIENCED OFFICER. A DYSFUNCTIONAL SHIP. LIFE IN THE DEEP DARK JUST GOT A LOT HARDER.
In his first assignment as an officer, Ishmael Horatio Wang finds himself fresh out of school, wet behind the ears, and way out of his depth. Aboard the William Tinker the senior officers are derelict and abusive, the crew demoralized and undisciplined, and change unwelcomed and dangerous. Can Ishmael use what he learned aboard the Lois McKendrick to help the crew find the ship’s heart? Or will he discover that bucking the system may come at too high a price? Return to the Deep Dark with Ish in this fourth installment of the award winning Solar Clipper Series as he makes the transition from crew to officer.
Series
10 primary books11 released booksGolden Age of the Solar Clipper is a 11-book series with 10 primary works first released in 2007 with contributions by Nathan Lowell.
Series
9 primary booksSolar Clipper universe is a 9-book series with 9 primary works first released in 2007 with contributions by Nathan Lowell.
Reviews with the most likes.
I missed the Lois and crew but Nathan didn't let me down with this installment. I was incredibly well done! I love how Ish is growing into himself.
Sample sizes are tricky things. Reading the first three books of Nathan Lowell's Solar Clipper series, one was left at times with a feeling that the characters were in the positions they were in, and the ship was operated the way it was, because that was just the way things had to be to survive, and thrive, in the Deep Dark.
Then along comes Double Share, which blows all that out of the water. Ishmael gets out of the Academy, and upon a ship that's as opposite the Lois McKendrick as could be possible, and which must be something of his personal form of hell. The captain's almost debilitatingly paranoid, the first mate (who, if there's ever a movie made of this, should be played by Daniel Day Lewis for sure) is a sadist, and a crew that is at best disinterested or at worst despondent. He approaches all this with his typical Wang charm, though, and starts shaking things up almost immediately.
More than any of the previous stories in the series, this one felt like a more traditional story than others in the series, in that there was an antagonist, and a climax that is nicely foreshadowed by a characteristic of the protagonist's that we see in the first act. It's not formulaic, by any means, but more conventional, although Lowell balances that by experimenting a bit more with his delivery voice - this Ishmael sounds appropriately older and more mature than the Ishmael of the previous books, which was a nice, subtle choice on his part.
Slightly disappointed that the escalation of tensions wasn't exactly matched by Ishmael, that the resolution wasn't a result of his actions or inaction. Still a great read and well recommended.
