Home Run

Smuggler's Tales from the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper, Book 3

By: Nathan Lowell

Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller

Length: 14 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

Two women. One mission. Do whatever is necessary.

In this final volume of the Smuggler's Tales, Natalya and Zoya wind up on a mission of mercy back into Toe-Hold space to find out why one of Usoko Mining company's smelters has gone dark. They find an expanding cloud of debris, a crippled ship, and a fleet of mining barges that can't leave the system.

Written in Nathan Lowell's popular Trader's Tales and Seeker's Tales universe.

©2018 Nathan Lowell (P)2020 Podium Publishing

minor peeves

Narrator has developed well since Milk Run, possibly in part as characters have developed in the series. I was thrown off by changes of pronunciation in character names, abrupt change of voice tone and character in cases of 'Zoya said', 'Natalya said,' etc.

She said...

First off, Nathan Lowell is a treasure and one of the best storytellers I have ever read. I loved this series just as much as the Ishmael books. So I can’t wait to see what happens next.

The hardest thing about listening to this performance was the constant usage of the word “said”. It was especially hard when two character would have a conversation and every other sentence was “She said” or “Natalia said” or “Zoya said”. Emily does a great job that we didn’t need her to constantly tell us who was speaking. At times, I had to stop listening because my ears would hurt every time I would hear it.

But even though it was difficult to hear... I loved the story and the journey the 2 went through over the last 3 books. I can’t wait to read what’s next.

A FINE FINALE TO A GREAT STORY

Mr. Lowell ties things up nicely in the conclusion to these Tales. I'm sorry to see it end, and look forward to the next set.

Recommended if you liked the Solar Clipper books

I recommend listening to this as the third series in the overall Solar Clipper universe - In other words, first listen to the Trader's Tales (6 books) and then the Seeker's Tales (3 books). After that, I'd listen to these three books in the Smuggler's Tales series. But I would not recommend listening to these 3 Smuggler's Tales books without first having at least listened to the initial Trader Tales comprising of 6 books. These are mostly seperate characters, but these books wouldn't be as enjoyable, or make as much sense, unless you have the background that comes from the earlier books. Although the time frame of these Smuggler's Tales books is actually earlier than the Seeker's Tales series time frame, most sites recommend, and I agree, listen to these books after TraderTale's and Seeker's Tales

So, assuming you're an experienced Solar Clipper "reader" - these are the same genre, just different people and different problems and issues. I really enjoyed them, but not quite as much as Trader's and Seeker's, which is why I gave them 4 stars instead of the 5 I gave the other series. This series seemed a little more YA to me, which may have been because of the annoyingly sugary sweet voice of one of the main characters. Other reviewers have commented on the narrator - I wasn't a fan and only gave her 2 stars.

Finally, I want to make one pretty much irelevant comment about the "coffee" fixation in this entire Solar Clipper universe. I am a huge coffee drinker, but I've never seen as much attention given to coffee and coffee drinking, as there is in all the Solar Clipper books. This is not a criticism - it's just a curious observation. I'll bet Nathan Lowell loves good coffee!

P.S. I can't wait for the SC Marva Collins books to all be out on Audible! They are the next installment in the Solar Clipper universe. At this moment, only book 1, School Days, is on Audible.

Gland Slam

love the Share series, been a fan for a while. These books are impressive looks into what life will been like when space travel is as common as plane travel is today. Great storys about day to day life in space.

another amazing adition to the series

this may be the 5th time im reading through this series. i cant say enough good things or recomend it enough. this story always scratches the itch. theres no book i wish was real more than this one. thanks again nathan lowell!

Love this series

Absolutely love this series. Highly recommend to anyone who wants to laugh, love and cry and not regret it. How sci-fi should he done.

Not Nathan's best

Not Nathan's best but was ok wonder why pip was in it at all

Good story

Read very well and kept my interest in the subject. Interesting perspective on actual issues in space. In

Kept me in the deep dark the whole time.

Another enjoyable tale from Mr Lowell. Having the female narrator was an excellent choice to bring the female lead characters to life. I enjoyed the story arc and the more emotional moments touched me like they were real events. I cheered and sniffed out loud. Well done sir!