Cedar Sanderson’s Tanager's Fleet (The Tanager Book 3)

A Book Review

Imagine the Waltons. Now imagine that it’s made up of people who came together more or less by accident. Now imagine that the whole show takes place IIIIINN SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!!! That’s a good sense of how the Tanager of Cedar Sanderson’s Tanagers Fleet: (The Tanager Book 3) works, or at least how its crew does.

The ship is seriously crewed by a family of people who were brought together because. That’s it, just because. That much having been said, they work together, they play together. They cook separately but they do their best to eat together. They have the occasional disagreement, but it’s nothing that can’t be handled. And, just like in real life, some people go off on their own and the family gets bigger anyway. That’s life in the…

I was about to say the “big city” but I guess it’s more like “in the galaxy” because honestly, parts of the story take place on planets as well.

I mean, I have to get this right because my reviews are always, always, always perf…

GAG

Look, I tried okay?

Anyway…

The Tanager is a series about a guy named Jem who grows up on a space freighter and then inherits it when the guy who raised him passes. Along the way he learns a thing or seven million and actually succeeds where most people would have failed. It was pretty impressive, but that’s mostly the first two books.

At some point earlier in the series (and I forget exactly when because Jimbo) Jem also becomes part of the galactic constabulary, even if it’s not exactly by choice. Tanager’s Fleet is really more of the story of a galactic trader turned undercover agent. He’s not really academy trained though, and he’s not really comfortable in some of situations he finds himself in. That makes sense in context, but it’s a bit of a departure from what I’m used to from TV depictions of undercover agents. I mean, he’s willing to do what he’s been asked but the feeling I get is that he wishes that he didn’t have to.

The rest of the crew is learning as they’re going along. They’re mainly kids, but that’s okay. Jem educates his crew the same way he was educated: By making sure they spend their off-shift time doing lessons. Jem’s crew/kids are probably better educated in real-world skills as most college graduates in twenty-first century America. These kids get the importance of learning because they grew up in an atmosphere where knowledge is money.

Oops, I almost forgot.

TRIGGER WARNING: IF YOU ARE ANTI HOMESCHOOLING, YOU MAY WANT TO GO SUCK YOUR THUMB ELSEWHERE!!!

At least I remembered the warning at some point, right?

It’s hard to categorize Tanager’s Fleet, or any other book in the The Tanager series because it’s kind of on the border of sub-genres in a way. It’s certainly not a Military Science Fiction series, but there is some violence, just not enough to make it a true action series. I’m wishy-washy about whether it fits as a cozy though. There is space travel so it’s definitely Science Fiction, but I wouldn’t necessarily call it Space Opera. (Although Sanderson could certainly sell noodles using her books, like the Spaghetti Westerns that Star Trek The Original Series was based on.)

What Tanager’s Fleet is, is a good book. There’s a little bit of kaboom. There’s a lot of family. There may even be some money made and an alien species encountered. I won’t say for sure. That would be spoiling. I will say that it all blends together well and that I found myself deeply invested in the characters and what happened to them. That’s really the core of a good story anyway.

I mean that by the way. From the point of view of one Jimbo Ricky McCoy, Jr. stories start with characters. Then things happen to them. If I care about what’s happening to the character and you describe it well (and you’ve written the type of story I actually enjoy) I’m probably going to really love your book. Tanager’s Fleet accomplishes all of that in spades. Sanderson knows what the elements are and how to use them. I’ve read her stuff and tried to copy some of what she’s done myself because it works so well. So, yes, if you’re a paid subscriber and you want to blame her for how often the characters in my current Work in Progress are eating, you may do so. Just don’t tell her I gave you permission.

I like Jem’s attitude toward his crew. I grew up as part of a generation where kids did things. I just got on my bike and went places. We organized our own baseball and/or basketball games. We rode our bikes down the sides of hills. One of my friends busted his face on a school at the base of the biggest hill we could find locally. We went back two days later and rode our bikes down that same hill and made fun of him for going down the side that wasn’t as steep, didn’t get you moving as fast. and still breaking his face. We had double fun that day.

Jem doesn’t set his crew up for failure but he does allow them to experience things and learn from their mistakes as long as the consequences won’t be too severe. Jem is, in short, the kind of father captain that I’ve always tried to be. He leads. He dictates where necessary. But his crew is better for it because it can be as important to learn what NOT to do as it is to know what to do. Bonus points for screwing up: His crew gets to figure out how to fix things when they go wrong. That is a major part of being an adult. He is preparing them for the future.

I believe, I could be wrong (there’s a first time for everything), that this is the end of the line for The Tanager. I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think I am. If it is I’ll go sit in my corner and pout because I like this guy. But I guess that’s life.

Bottom Line: 5.0 out of 5 Long Lost Relatives

Tanager’s Fleet (The Tanager Book 3)
Cedar Sanderson
Sanderley Studios, 2026

Tanager’s Fleet (The Tanager Book 3) is available for purchase at the following link. If you click the link and buy literally anything from Amazon, I get a small percentage at no additional cost to you.

Tanager’s Fleet (The Tanager Book 3)