I kept waiting for something to happen. It never did. Imagine your favorite TV show about a corporation or law firm where all the characters are very ordinary and, frankly, boring. Now put that same show in space. Actually, not in space, but at a single space station. That's this book. The best thing I can say about it is that the writing is good. ( )

School Days is the latest installment in Nathan Lowell’s Solar Clipper series featuring Ishmael Wang. Ishmael’s first captain, Alys Giggone, now commandant of the Port Newmar merchant academy, wants to hire Ishmael and his crew to run a new freighter to train cadets. As Ishmael knows, he has an advanced degree in overthinking, so it takes a while for him to decide to do it. This is the first volume of a new trilogy, and Lowell does what he can to fill the reader in on the complex backstory of his central characters. Still, I would not recommend School Days to readers unfamiliar with Ishmael, Pip, Zoya, and Nat. For the rest of us, it is lovely to reconnect with these old friends. Four stars. ( )