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mary_soon_lee's review against another edition
4.0
"Rimrunners" is part of Cherryh's Alliance-Union science-fiction series, but reads well as a standalone novel. Indeed it reads very well, some thirty-plus years since it was first published. It's darker than I was in the mood for, but the characters took hold of me and gripped me to the end. To be clear, the book is dark enough that I think a content warning may be helpful -- spoilers ahead to be specific about this --
Further spoilers ahead. Once again, I'm struck by Cherryh's mastery. That she wrote a book against a backdrop of interstellar war, but kept the focus on a couple of characters close to the end of their resources, rather than on space battles et al. That she made the act of helping someone else a major risk. That her characters took that risk anyhow. That she made me care more about those handful of characters than other authors make me care about the outcome of a war. That her worldbuilding is immersive and convincing, from engineering details, to the hammocks in the crew quarters, to the fitting of an armored spacesuit. Cherryh shows the wear and tear on ships, stations, people.
One minor quibble: the first couple of pages establish the overarching situation by means of a fictitious book extract, and they didn't much appeal to me. If I had picked "Rimrunners" up in a bookstore, not knowing anything about the author, I might have read the first couple of paragraphs and then put it back down. That would have been a mistake.
This is a very fine book. Highly recommended. 4.5 out of 5 threat-filled stars.
About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).
Spoiler
the book contains rape, violence, and pervading threat.Further spoilers ahead. Once again, I'm struck by Cherryh's mastery. That she wrote a book against a backdrop of interstellar war, but kept the focus on a couple of characters close to the end of their resources, rather than on space battles et al. That she made the act of helping someone else a major risk. That her characters took that risk anyhow. That she made me care more about those handful of characters than other authors make me care about the outcome of a war. That her worldbuilding is immersive and convincing, from engineering details, to the hammocks in the crew quarters, to the fitting of an armored spacesuit. Cherryh shows the wear and tear on ships, stations, people.
One minor quibble: the first couple of pages establish the overarching situation by means of a fictitious book extract, and they didn't much appeal to me. If I had picked "Rimrunners" up in a bookstore, not knowing anything about the author, I might have read the first couple of paragraphs and then put it back down. That would have been a mistake.
This is a very fine book. Highly recommended. 4.5 out of 5 threat-filled stars.
About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).
ivywitch's review against another edition
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
michael5000's review against another edition
2.0
A slow moving story about office politics set in a science fiction context.
reynier's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
I didnt know anyone could supplant Signy Mallory as my number one awful wretched Alliance-verse icon but I love Bet Yeager so much. She's a wanted space pirate. She's got a butch haircut. She's unemployed. She hates bullies. She sleeps in a public restroom. She kills two people within the first 40 pages. She's everything to me.
justiceofkalr's review against another edition
4.0
I didn't like this as much as Cherryh's other books I've read. I think that's mainly because I just didn't connect with the characters as well. Bet herself was pretty interesting. A former Earth marine just trying to get by in Alliance space and maybe even make it back to the Fleet. But I had trouble being interested in any of the secondary characters. NG was annoying as hell. Which he's probably supposed to be, but it made it hard to care about him. And all the other members of the ship weren't really present or fleshed out enough for me to care. Even though several of them did have some potential. I was also kind of disappointed by the lack of resolution in some areas. Bet spends a good portion of the book trying to fit in and trying to figure out the politics at work on the Loki. Then there's a sudden space battle where Bet kicks the crap out of some India marines and the book ends. So, I guess I should just assume it all worked out at the end?
essinink's review against another edition
2.0
So this one was disappointing.
What do you do if you’re homeless, unemployed, and without identification papers on a space station? Elizabeth ‘Bet’ Yeager has been fighting that life for over a year, and her luck’s about to run out. Stationside is starting to feel a bit tight, and jumping ship lands her in even more hot water.
It should have been great, but Cherryh’s usual brisk prose has narrowed to machine-gun fragments here, and the thin plot doesn’t help.
As for Bet herself… I’m deeply conflicted. She’s tough, and she knows what she’s about, but she has serious personal issues. The woman careens from escaping sexual assault, to dub-con sex-for-security (transaction), to consensual & mutually-enjoyable sex with someone she likes, to sex-as-favor (transaction) with someone she doesn’t like but still has a good time with. It would be easier to parse if she could keep a consistent psychology around it, but she can’t seem to decide if she’s okay with the transactional sex she’s having or not. Thankfully, it’s not detailed, but it does leave me feeling a squicked.
It is, however, a strikingly different perspective than what we saw in Downbelow or Merchanter’s Luck, whose Merchanter women had most of the power in their sleepovers, or even than what we saw from Meg and Sal in Heavy Time / Hellburner. The latter, of course, we only experience in the context of their male counterparts, but maybe Cherryh was trying to use Bet to explore the darker sides of her sexually liberated society? I’m not sure if that’s giving it too much credit.
Additionally, once aboard Loki, Bet immediately latches onto her damaged crewmate, “NG” Ramey. NG is seriously traumatized, unpredictable, and NOT popular with the crew. For some reason, Bet decides that this guy (who gives her the creeps right off) is A.) Friends-with-benefits material, and B.) Her new pet project. The mental monologue that runs through most of the books is “This poor dude... but he’s crazy-traumatized… he might be dangerous… he’s also hot for some reason… let’s all just sit on him so he doesn’t do anything stupid… hold up now nobody hurts my crewmate… he’s so sad… etc.”
It gets tiring. Like Decker, but 100x worse.
And then there’s the ending. By now, I’m gotten used to the way Cherryh squishes all her action into the very end of her books, but Rimrunners manages to be worse than usual. It’s approximately 260 pages of slow tension and setup, 18 pages of action, and 2 pages of “and then everyone was happy and the world moved on.” All the setup and internal tension among Loki’s crew just kind of… vanishes. Ship politics to this point? Apparently no longer relevant. That major antagonist-in-power? We got to laugh at him a couple times, but I guess he’s given up on whatever beef he had?
Granted there was some drastic action, but the happily-ever-after fluff note is a bit much to be believable. Especially since I’m really not sure who all is left alive at the end, or why it all went down the way it did, or… anyway. I have a lot of questions about the exact sequence of events in those last 20-odd pages.
I think the worst part, for me, is that Bet really is an interesting character when she’s not mooning over NG. The whole intro portion of the book on Thule was fascinating, but once Bet boarded Loki? Pfft.
If you’ve ever wondered what happened to all those marines who were left behind on Pell in Downbelow, this is worth a look. It’s not a bad book, but it’s really not a good one either. I own this one since the library doesn’t. 2*.
What do you do if you’re homeless, unemployed, and without identification papers on a space station? Elizabeth ‘Bet’ Yeager has been fighting that life for over a year, and her luck’s about to run out. Stationside is starting to feel a bit tight, and jumping ship lands her in even more hot water.
It should have been great, but Cherryh’s usual brisk prose has narrowed to machine-gun fragments here, and the thin plot doesn’t help.
As for Bet herself… I’m deeply conflicted. She’s tough, and she knows what she’s about, but she has serious personal issues. The woman careens from escaping sexual assault, to dub-con sex-for-security (transaction), to consensual & mutually-enjoyable sex with someone she likes, to sex-as-favor (transaction) with someone she doesn’t like but still has a good time with. It would be easier to parse if she could keep a consistent psychology around it, but she can’t seem to decide if she’s okay with the transactional sex she’s having or not. Thankfully, it’s not detailed, but it does leave me feeling a squicked.
It is, however, a strikingly different perspective than what we saw in Downbelow or Merchanter’s Luck, whose Merchanter women had most of the power in their sleepovers, or even than what we saw from Meg and Sal in Heavy Time / Hellburner. The latter, of course, we only experience in the context of their male counterparts, but maybe Cherryh was trying to use Bet to explore the darker sides of her sexually liberated society? I’m not sure if that’s giving it too much credit.
Additionally, once aboard Loki, Bet immediately latches onto her damaged crewmate, “NG” Ramey. NG is seriously traumatized, unpredictable, and NOT popular with the crew. For some reason, Bet decides that this guy (who gives her the creeps right off) is A.) Friends-with-benefits material, and B.) Her new pet project. The mental monologue that runs through most of the books is “This poor dude... but he’s crazy-traumatized… he might be dangerous… he’s also hot for some reason… let’s all just sit on him so he doesn’t do anything stupid… hold up now nobody hurts my crewmate… he’s so sad… etc.”
It gets tiring. Like Decker, but 100x worse.
And then there’s the ending. By now, I’m gotten used to the way Cherryh squishes all her action into the very end of her books, but Rimrunners manages to be worse than usual. It’s approximately 260 pages of slow tension and setup, 18 pages of action, and 2 pages of “and then everyone was happy and the world moved on.” All the setup and internal tension among Loki’s crew just kind of… vanishes. Ship politics to this point? Apparently no longer relevant. That major antagonist-in-power? We got to laugh at him a couple times, but I guess he’s given up on whatever beef he had?
Granted there was some drastic action, but the happily-ever-after fluff note is a bit much to be believable. Especially since I’m really not sure who all is left alive at the end, or why it all went down the way it did, or… anyway. I have a lot of questions about the exact sequence of events in those last 20-odd pages.
I think the worst part, for me, is that Bet really is an interesting character when she’s not mooning over NG. The whole intro portion of the book on Thule was fascinating, but once Bet boarded Loki? Pfft.
If you’ve ever wondered what happened to all those marines who were left behind on Pell in Downbelow, this is worth a look. It’s not a bad book, but it’s really not a good one either. I own this one since the library doesn’t. 2*.
kittenscribble's review against another edition
3.0
One of Cherryh's greatest strengths is to take huge things like interplanetary conflicts, and distill them into a story on a personal level. This book follows an out-of-work mercenary just looking for a ship to call home, while around her events spiral out of control. The narrative voice is spare, blunt, and very immediate; a compelling read.
leftylauren's review against another edition
2.0
DNF page 80/278 (29%). I'm not into military sci-fi, rape, and abusive relationships.
katmarhan's review against another edition
3.0
7/10
This is a tight, almost claustrophobic story, told entirely from the POV of one Bet Yeager, former Marine, left behind during the Company Wars, eking out an existence on a lonely Hinder Star station. She ends up with a berth and a job on a “spook” ship, and even more problems than she had on Thule station.
An awful lot is left unexplained... this book is like a snapshot or a postcard from one small part of a much broader story. Cherryh does both the sweeping stories with a large cast of characters and multiple POVs and plot lines coming together (like in Downbelow Station or Forty Thousand in Gehenna) and the close-up, more focused stories (like this one and Merchanter’s Luck). I don’t know (yet) which I prefer.
This is a tight, almost claustrophobic story, told entirely from the POV of one Bet Yeager, former Marine, left behind during the Company Wars, eking out an existence on a lonely Hinder Star station. She ends up with a berth and a job on a “spook” ship, and even more problems than she had on Thule station.
An awful lot is left unexplained... this book is like a snapshot or a postcard from one small part of a much broader story. Cherryh does both the sweeping stories with a large cast of characters and multiple POVs and plot lines coming together (like in Downbelow Station or Forty Thousand in Gehenna) and the close-up, more focused stories (like this one and Merchanter’s Luck). I don’t know (yet) which I prefer.