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Nathan Lowell

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In Ashes Born (A Seeker's Tale From The Golden Age Of The Solar Clipper Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Nathan Lowell (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.7 4,708 ratings

Book 1 of 3: A Seeker's Tale From The Golden Age Of The Solar Clipper

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An old friend. A new course.
A deadly ship with a secret cargo.

Ishmael Wang returns to Port Newmar but ghosts from his past have followed him. His old shipmate, Phillip Carstairs, offers him the opportunity to track down the man who killed his lover. The catch? He must take command of the Chernyakova, a ship that still stinks of death and haunts Ishmael’s nightmares. Together, Phillip and Ismael begin a journey into unknown reaches of the Deep Dark to bring back the man who killed Greta.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0160RR194
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Durandus (September 30, 2015)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 30, 2015
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 2344 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 310 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #43,069 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #467 in Space Opera Science Fiction (Kindle Store)
- #491 in Science Fiction Adventure
- #874 in Space Operas

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4.7 4,708 ratings

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Nathan Lowell

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About the time I was in sixth grade, back in rural Maine, I remember telling my grandmother, "When I grow up, I wanna have a house under ground and that's where I'll keep my computer."

She asked, "What will you do with it?"

"I don't know. It hasn't been built yet."

My grandparents, being wise in the ways of young boys, nodded sagely and changed the subject.

That was 1965.

Now, half a century later, I'm sitting in my cellar--halfway across the country from my roots on the rock-bound coast--typing this on my computer.

I wasn't particularly prescient in my prediction, rather it grew from my love of all things science fiction.

Through all the changes wrought through politics, climate, and age, my love of science fiction literature remained constant. It brought me through wars, storms, sickness, health, marriage, divorce, fatherhood, failure, and success. My love for technology--which initially grew from the tiny seeds planted by Heinlein and Norton, Bradbury and Asimov, Simak and Pohl--blossomed with the advent of the internet and found full bloom with the world wide web.

Late in 2004, I discovered podcasting and the community of content creators that this new distribution channel enabled. In 2007, I joined it when I released my first science fiction novel, Quarter Share, at Podiobooks.com. Now--more than twenty novels later--I find myself a full-time novelist, happy in a career I never thought might be possible.

Welcome to my world.

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4.7 out of 5

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A Great Return to Form

Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2016

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Quartershare is one of the best books I've ever read. It is full of likable characters, real life moral situations, and an amazing world set in outer space. The five books between Quartershare and In Ashes Born, still take place in this riveting world and have memorable characters, but the brilliance of the story telling seemed to get lost along the way. The content and quality of the books is all over the place and if it wasn't for the growth of the main character Ishmael Wang, I don't think I would have kept reading them.

The book prior to In Ashes Born, Owner's Share, was great for the first two-thirds of the novel and then it just collapsed. It book pretty much killed the entire series for me. I felt gipped and betrayed by the author, and I was so disappointed in how Ishmael's story came to an end.

Surprisingly, Nathan Lowell wasn't done telling Ishmael stories. He released In Ashes Born quietly back in the fall of 2015, and I was stunned to see it show up as a recommended title on my Kindle. My curiosity got the best of me, and I guess deep down, I really wanted some redemption for Ishamel. I wanted the story to continue, or to at least end appropriately. The author didn't let me down.

In Ashes Born picks up after Owner's Share. We find a broken Ishmael who is alone and with nowhere to go. This of course, is the exact way that Quartershare began. Like Quartershare, In Ashes End shows the resurrection of Ishmael's life. Like in real life, we all go through things and are forced to start a new chapter. In Ashes Born is Ishmael's next chapter.

I would hate to spoil too much, but many of my favorite characters from the series return in this book. All of them have grown and are at new stations in their life, but deep down, they are still the same characters we know and love. I feel like the last several Solar Clipper books have been more about Ishmael navigating through a lonely life, where as in this book, Ishmael is once again surrounded by his friends. Actually, these people are closer than friends, these people are his family. Ishmael is at his best, when surrounded by his family.

I found myself smiling throughout the entire book, and I was disappointed when I came upon the last page. If you enjoyed Quarter Share, then you owe it to yourself to pick this book up. Even if some of Ishmael's other adventures didn't capture your imagination the same way, or if you were disappointed in the direction of the story, this book creates a great new starting point for more amazing Ishmael stories. I just hope Mr. Lowell can keep it up.

5 people found this helpful

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O. Chughtai

Nathan Lowell does it again

Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2015

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Mr. Lowell has produced another spectacular book in his most highly acclaimed series. What impresses me most is that despite being the 7th book in the series starring the same protagonist, it does not feel stale or tired at all. It does have a very different feel from all of his previous books, and I take this to be a good thing. Ever since the first few chapters of Quarter Share, Ishmael has been on a journey, always moving forward and upwards. He meets people, often makes great friends, then moves on to the next thing. What felt so unnatural to me about the series to this point was that Ishmael had made such great friends in his travels, but never contacts any of them, and nearly never thinks of them. Yes the galaxy is a big place, but communications are not impossible or difficult, it only takes days to weeks for a message to travel in Mr. Lowell's universe, but Ishmael makes no attempts to do so.

Finally getting to hear about many of those friends really hits with a lot of nostalgia. Seems like going forward, Ishmael isn't going to be quite a stranger to his old friends. This is mostly good, though a little bad since there is just so much of it. The plot, which never really moves fast in any of Mr. Lowell books, really starts to plod along in some places. Perhaps it's just over eagerness in not experiencing an Ishmael Wong book in such a long time, but at times I wanted things to move a bit faster.

Speaking of plot, I find it amazing that there can be such an engaging and interesting story that does not depend on non-stop action and excitement. Sure, the Share series had its moments of action, but they are few and far between. Despite this, the story never feels lacking for it. For a Sci-fi book, this is very rare. Take a look at the top 100 titles on Kindle Sci-fi and they will nearly all involve conflicts and battles with aliens, pirates, tyrannical empires, or some combination of the three. In Ashes Born is very unique and refreshing in the fact that it does not need heavy hitting action as a crutch to move a story along.

As for what I didn't like about the book, I have next to nothing. I suppose I could complain on how long we were all left hanging since the conclusion of Owner's Share, but Mr. Lowell has done right by us by proving that good things come to those who wait. I also want to know about what happened to the rest of the people from Ishmael's past. A few have made their appearances, a few more are mentioned, though some are still shrouded in the past. I won't mention who I'm thinking of to avoid spoilers.

There's also a distinct lack of new major characters taking the stage. Up to this point, every Ishmael Wong book has featured new people that play a major role in Ishmael's life. In Ashes Born kind of lacks this. He has taken on new crew and had some interactions with them. Perhaps those characters will grow in the next books, though right now they are barely more than names with a hint of background and some personality.

All in all, I'm happy to have read this book, and eagerly await more.

4 people found this helpful

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AaronzDad

Nice continuation of the saga

Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2022

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8/10 I was wondering if we would see any of the old faces from the original series and it was nice to have familiar friends show up in this one. As usual the characters are well written and it's easy to become engrossed in the story. Also as usual there are all kinds of absurd contradictions in the systems and processes used in what is supposed to be such a technologically advanced society. This whole series requires a healthy dose of suspension of disbelief but it's a very entertaining read all the way through.

Reviewed in the United States on December 23, 2023

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The previous book in this series, Owner's Share had an ending that I disliked, but at the time I didn't realize that the story continued here. To me, this book felt like a return to form. A favorite character returns, and it feels like the series picks back up again as soon as he is back. The sudden ending twist from the last book is addressed here, and is incorporated into the character development very well. The only issue I had was an odd twist around halfway through the book, but it was justifiable if not somewhat improbable, and it didn't do much to take away my enjoyment of the book.

All in all a good read, with the spirit of the first three books in the series making a comeback. Here's hoping the next few books can keep it up.

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Ms. Gruntled

Happy to see this series continue

Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2024

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Likeable and unique characters. As soon as I finished one book, I started the next!
Only wish that they were longer!😁

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john h

Excellent

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 17, 2024

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Science fiction at its best and how it should be written Second time of reading and still as good. Woof

IVN

A good read

Reviewed in India on March 4, 2018

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After reading from Quarter to Owners share, I always felt that there was more to Ishmael Wang's journey. The story delivers to my expectations be it consistency or philosophy.

One person found this helpful

Gerbo

Back into the dark

Reviewed in Australia on January 5, 2021

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I found this book really easy to read. Chapters and hours just disappeared and then the books finished and I want to read the next one.

Leonardo Ladeira

Great book!

Reviewed in Brazil on March 5, 2016

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Great book, with the same narrative of the original series. Looking forward to read more books based in the same setting.

Jason Braida

I enjoyed In Ashes Born

Reviewed in Canada on October 10, 2015

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In Ashes Born. A Seeker’s Tale by Nathan Lowell (Solar Clipper #7)
Rating Clarification: 4.5stars
I have been a fan of Nathan Lowell’s for a number of years now so when I received an e-mail last week announcing the publication of a new book in his Solar Clipper series I moved it to the top of my “To Be Read” list and immediately started it. Given that at any point in time I have between 20 and 25 books on that list, to jump one to the head of the line is a big deal (for me at least). For those who are not familiar with Mr. Lowell’s Solar Clipper series, this is science fiction about the work-a-day man. His main character, Ishmael Wang, is orphaned as a young man. Unfortunately he happened to be living on company world where his deceased mother had been an employee and having lost his mother thus lost his right to live there. In desperation and facing deportation for not having gainful employment with the planetary corporation, he signed aboard a solar clipper, essentially the 24th century’s interstellar equivalent of an ocean going bulk carrier, as a very junior crewmember. The first five books in the series chronical his advancement through the ranks of the merchant service and in the sixth he becomes the owner of his own vessel.
If it sounds boring…well it isn’t. While it is true that there are no space battles or grand political intrigues, there is enough human drama to keep the stories moving. But what these books offer, more than anything else, is a glimpse of the lives of the worker bees of the 24th century. Nathan Lowell’s characters are, for the most part, members of the 99%, not the 1%.
In Owner’s Share, the up until now last and 6th book of the series, Ishmael’s world came crashing down around him as the kind of events which are featured in most science fiction are introduced into the stories. He emerged from that book a rich man but one that is deeply troubled following the murder of his girlfriend and a harrowing experience as the leader of a salvage team aboard a derelict solar clipper which had a serious malfunction resulting in the death of its crew. This is where we meet him at the beginning of In Ashes Born, having fled back to Port Newmar, the merchant services officer training academy, to heal and recuperate. There Mr Lowell reintroduces into the story some familiar characters from Ishmael’s past including one Phillip “Pip” Carstairs, and while I won’t give too much of the plot away, needless to say Pip makes Ishmael an offer he can’t refuse.
I enjoyed In Ashes Born. It did seem to drag a little in spots but in the end this was a book about a new beginning for the main character and, it has to be noted, Ishmael had a lot of emotional baggage to sort through and purge in the book’s opening chapters. This process does not happen particularly quickly and I must admit there were a few moments when I wanted to shake Ishmael and tell him to snap out of it and get back to the deep dark. In Ashes Born is also the first in a new series, “A Seeker’s Tale”, featuring Ishmael Wang and the Solar Clipper universe. So I think Mr Lowell can be forgiven for taking his time setting the stage for what will hopefully be a number of entertaining novels to come. In terms of the story line, In Ashes Born does pick up where Owner’s Share left off. Mr. Lowell’s focus on the day to day workings of life aboard a solar clipper has gradually been replaced by the kind of plots that are more familiar to science fiction readers, featuring contact with shadowy criminal organizations operating outside of the law and settled space, contact that eventually led to Ishmael’s girlfriend being killed by an assassin who was attempting to murder a fellow crew member. In Ashes Born continues this plot transformation as Ishmael and Pip prepare to take their new ship out into the dark away from the law and established order of settled space in hopes of finding and taking revenge on the man and organization who was responsible for this crime.
So all in all I highly recommend In Ashes Born to those who are already fans of the Solar Clipper universe. For those who are looking for a different space opera experience I highly recommend that you download a copy of Quarter Share from Kindle, the first in the Solar Clipper series, and follow the exploits and career of Ishmael Horatio Wang from the very beginning.

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In Ashes Born (A Seeker's Tale From The Golden Age Of The Solar Clipper Book 1) Kindle Edition

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