But Finity's real purpose is revealed to be the establishment of an alliance between all merchanter ships that would unite them against the Earth Company and stations attempting to control them.

Abrezio keeps the coordinates a secret because he fears that once Earth arrives, they will upset the balance of power in the region by monopolizing trade between the stations.

However, things on Alpha worsen and Abrezio decides to speed up the delivery of the coordinates to Earth by sending an FTL ship, using the untested jump points.

A reviewer of Alliance Rising in Publishers Weekly stated that the authors focus on the characters in the story and how they cope with challenges, rather than turning to "pyrotechnics".

"[3] Writing in a review in Locus magazine, Liz Bourke described the book as "a measured, compelling work" with characters that are "well-drawn, and finely sketched, with believable motivations.

[1] In another review in Locus, Russell Letson said Alliance Rising is variation of the well-used theme of "colonists and settlers" seeking independence from "a distant, out-of-touch old order".

[4] But instead of a tale about "abstract political freedom", here it is "a detailed, textured, and tactile treatment of the material and cultural forces that underlie such struggles.

Much of the early chapters is devoted to providing a necessary backstory and context for the events that follow, and the rest are largely about the characters and how they interact with each other, express their hopes and fears, and speculate their possible futures.