18 year old Ishmael Horatio Wang’s mother, a professor on a corporate world, is killed in an accident. Ishmael is given 90 days to find employment or get off-world, and the corporation isn’t hiring. With no interest in joining the military, he signs on to a merchant ship. This is how quarter share begins. Over the next 200 pages we learn with Ishmael what it means to be a member of the crew of a merchant ship plying the space lanes.

Aside from some really fascinating world building there isn’t a whole lot that actually happens in this book. It’s the story of an above average, but not really exceptional, kid becoming an adult.

There was a notable lack of conflict in the story. No jealous crew mates, no real personality conflicts, nobody even really having a bad day and snapping at anyone else. I think the story could have used a little more, as sticking enough people together for long periods of time in a contained environment is bound to cause some issues.

Also, were they slipping something into the coffee to keep everyone’s libido in check? I get that there was a rule in place that forbid fraternization, but as with the near total lack of conflict, the lack of sex seemed... artificial.

In spite of these flaws, I found the book to be very engrossing. The world building is really quite fantastic, and I’m looking forward to reading Half Share. If I could I would rate the book as 3.5 stars due to the flaws, but 3 seems too low considering how much I enjoyed it.