The Bookwyrm's Review of Starcaster by J.N. Chaney and Terry Maggert

Authors: J.N. Chaney and Terry Maggert

Length: 328 Pages/ 7 Hours, 37 Minutes (Audio)

Publisher: Variant Publications/ Podium Publishing (Audio)

Release Date: September 6, 2020/ February 16, 2021 (Audio)

Narrator: Tom Taylorson

Amazon Link  Audible Link

Rating: 9/10 Stars

SYNOPSIS

Magic. Steel. Blood. Victory.

The Earth’s navy is left drifting among the stars as Nyctus ships swarm, their purpose unknown as they continue their advance, burning one system after another.

Humanity's extinction seems inevitable.

But on one of the forgotten worlds, a boy is left behind, and he holds a talent unlike anything the galaxy has ever known.

Thorn Stellers is a mage, trained to lead and fight. With a renegade division of warriors at his side, and with weapons far different from those of old Earth, Thorn has a chance at standing up to humanity's enemies. For these mage-soldiers, armed with power that had once been thought the stuff of legend, the outcome is no longer certain.

Each Starcaster has a talent—except for Thorn, who has many. With his childhood companion Kira Wixcombe, he’ll confront a threat from beyond the stars, meeting them in the darkness with a light born of magic... and a lust for revenge.

Is his power enough? Or is Earth a forgotten memory, lost forever to history?

REVIEW

I wasn't sure what to expect when I started this one. The premise of space opera with magic has been done before, so I wasn't sure how this would differentiate itself. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with how it did differentiate itself. This was accomplished through their would building. They created a very credible threat with the Nyctus, who are a mysterious alien race who have been handing humanity loss after loss, trying to wipe them out of existence. The humans discover the Nyctus use magic to power their most powerful weapons, forcing humanity to realize that magic is real, and that some humans can use it to try and fight back. Its a great combination, a cutting edge space fleet that is being wiped out, that has to fall back on what amounts to myth and superstition to try and stave off extinction.

This myth and superstition, which is rediscovered magic, is wielded by Starcasters, those rare individuals who have a magical talent that is useful for the war effort. Individuals like Thorn Stellars, a war orphan who's grown into a smart mouth with no respect for authority. Growing up an orphan in a hard scrabble orphanage has made him tough and wary of others, living on the fringes of society. This affects how he responds throughout the story, since it causes friction with his command as he is inducted into the military to learn to use his abilities. It even affects his powers, since control is so important to use them, and his past has left him with a lot of jagged edges. He goes through such an interesting character arc, as it's revealed he is unique among Starcasters, and may be the best hope for winning the war, or the cause of it all crashing down. He is just such a fully realized character, with strengths and weaknesses, successes and failures. 

The secondary characters are an interesting mix as well, from a bunch of different backgrounds, all striving to try and keep humanity from falling. They don't all get super deep backstories, but their character arcs are centered on the events in the book, so it works for them. Their military trainers are more archetypical, being the usual hard core instructors who will crack down on the troops to break them, and then build them back up as a cohesive unit. You get some hints of character growth towards the end, which was a nice touch.

The Nyctus are an intriguing enemy. Not human, or even humanoid, in any way, their motives are still somewhat a mystery, but we do get some peaks into their thinking. Their view of humanity is based on biology and social order, and its hard to see how these differences can be overcome. With their abilities and more advanced tech, it's amazing the humans have held out as long as they have, especially with humans resistance to change. It will be intriguing to see where these authors take the story in later installments.

The narration is very ably performed by Tom Taylorson. I was unfamiliar with him before this book, but I have to say, he is very talented. He does a great job capturing the mood of the story, and his narrative pacing is excellent. He works hard to bring the various characters to life, using all kinds of accents, cadences and tones to differentiate the characters. I look forward to hearing him on book two.

This is definitely a book that should have a broad appeal to a lot of SFF fans. With its blend of space opera and urban fantasy elements, with a nice cast of characters, it has something for everyone to love. With its mix of action and threat of overwhelming doom, it will keep the reader/listener on the edge of their seat, in the best way. Highly recommended.

The Bookwyrm's Review of Galaxy's Edge: Legionnaire by Jason Anspach and Nick Cole

Authors: Jason Anspach & Nick Cole

Length: 291 Pages

Publisher: Galaxy's Edge Press

Release Date: June 12, 2017

Rating: 9/10 Stars

Amazon Link

"The Galaxy is a Dumpster Fire.

A hot, stinking, dumpster fire. And most days I don’t know if the legionnaires are putting out the flames, or fanning them into an inferno."

PLOT SYNOPSIS

A hostile force ambushes Victory Company during a reconnaissance-in-force deep inside enemy territory. Stranded behind enemy lines, a sergeant must lead a band of survivors against merciless insurgents on a deadly alien world somewhere along the galaxy’s edge. With no room for error, the Republic’s elite fighting force must struggle to survive under siege while waiting on a rescue that might never come.

Join Victory Company as they fight for their lives. When you think you’ve surrounded the Legion... you’ve just made your last mistake.

Review

As I mentioned in my last review, I am lifelong sci-fi fan. I have been drawn especially to space opera and military sci-fi, where we see a band of soldiers/adventurers facing desperate odds to accomplish some task that has repercussions far beyond their little part of the conflict. This is where series like Galaxy's Edge come in. Starting in Legionnaire, we are introduced to a Galaxy wide empire, run by the Senate and the House of Reason. They use the various military branches such as the Legion, a force of high-tech elite troops, and the army, a more conventional force, to keep the peace on their various colonies and "allied " worlds. They use a combination of carrot and stick to keep these worlds in line, but there is a growing rebellion trying to supplant the corrupt, incompetent political class. 

This is the universe where the story takes place, on the planet Kublar, which is an "allied" world bribed into keeping the peace, but is simmering to a boil under the surface. This is the situation where we meet the characters in the book, the legionnaires of Victory Company, who, with some regular army troops, are supporting a diplomatic mission to appease the local warlord and keep the planet from rebelling. Characters such as Pappy, the commander of the legion force and Lt. Wraith and LT Chhun, the platoon leaders. We also get to meet the various enlisted soldiers, and get a view from the ground floor of what they think of the mission and their commanders. They are very realistically portrayed, and I suspect would have been a perfect fit from any army from Caesar's legions in Gaul to todays forces in Afghanistan. The commander and the LT's are very much soldier's soldiers, always keeping their minds on how to accomplish the mission while keeping their troops alive. Then there is Captain Devers, a political appointee who represents everything wrong in the Legion, and the government in general. He is also realistically portrayed, as I knew button polishing ladder climbers like him when I was in the army. These characters and their reactions are informed by the authors' real life experience in the military, so they resonate. It doesn't hurt that they get interesting character arcs that round out their characters, and help flesh out the universe they inhabit. It really helps immerse the reader in the story, in a universe on the brink of all out war yet again.

This is the kind of a story I can see appealing to a wide variety of sci-fi fans. Those who like space opera and military sci-fi are an obvious market, but I think fans of thrillers and military fiction can find something to love. Considering the troopers unofficial motto is KTF, or Kill Them First, you can guarantee this series will never lack for action. I highly recommend this series.

The Bookwyrm's Review of The Fall of Rho-Torkis by Tim C. Taylor

Author: Tim C. Taylor

Length: 536 Pages/ 12 Hours, 17 Minutes (Audio)

Publisher: Theogony Books

Release Date: February 2, 2021/ May 20, 2021 (Audio)

Narrator: Steve Campbell

Rating: 9/10 Stars

Amazon Link

PLOT SYNOPSIS

"When your worst enemy has your back…

…you know the mission is doomed from the start."

Sergeant Osu Sybutu of the Legion had a simple mission. Take five men and travel unobserved to a location in the capital where he would deliver a coded phrase to a contact. Simple, that is, except for the fact that there was a war going on, and all the different factions he had to pass by on the way would cheerfully shoot him on sight. And that was only if the planet didn’t kill him first.

Militia Sergeant Vetch Arunsen’s task, however, was far more complex. Shepherd a group of hated rivals across the frozen wastes, keeping them safe from everyone who wanted to kill them, which was pretty much everyone. Including the oddball troopers under Arunsen’s own command, who would happily shoot the Legion soldiers if given the slightest opportunity.

Legion versus Militia. Joint defenders of the Federation. In theory. Their mutual loathing, however, could burn the armor plate off a battleship. For rival sergeants Sybutu and Arunsen, there’s only one way their squads could survive trekking across the iceworld of Rho-Torkis.

Legion and Militia.

REVIEW

I've never really made any secret of my love for space opera and military sci-fi. I love a big sprawling story with alien worlds, galaxy wide conspiracies and an intrepid group of heroes/scoundrels/anti-heroes trying to save the galaxy from doom and destruction. That's where stories like Fall of Rho-Torkis come in. Set in the author's shared Human Legion universe, although three millennia past the events of the prior books, this first book in the Chimera Company series shows us an empire on the decline, having lost the secrets of quite a bit of it's technology. The government is fractured, and beset by external threats. It's military is also fractured, with the elite Legion rocked by the scandal of it's previous commander betraying the Federation to aliens, while the Militia, their rivals, looks to finally take them down. On the ice world of Rho-Torkis, these pressures finally boil over as external and internal threats collide to to start a chain reaction that might bring about the end of the Federation if not stopped.

The characters of this turbulent world are a perfect fit. Osu Sybutu is a Sergeant in the Legion, a true professional, as are his troops. He is as straightforward as you can get, and yet he and his men are tasked with a covert mission, something they are spectacularly unsuited for. Its during this mission they run across, if you can call being captured by, the Militia led by Sergeant Vetch Arenson, and the fun really begins. The Legion and the Militia hate each other, and we get to see some great examples of just how deep that hatred is. The tension between the two leaders is reflected in their troops, who are an interesting bunch. You have a professional soldier class versus a militia that gets a lot of its troops from prisons. This difference, and a long hatred and rivalry should have meant mission failure, but its amazing what natives and rebels trying to kill you can cause to happen. There is a nice amount of back story and character development for all main characters, and they come across as real people, with real strengths and weaknesses coming through. Their struggles are very realistically portrayed, and it really helps immerse you in the story. These characters are definitely a strength, and are as good as any in sci-fi today.

The narration is performed by the talented Steve Campbell, one of my favorite narrators. He has such a great narrative style, really bringing each of the characters to life, even the ones that aren't remotely human. Its a great collection of accents, cadences and tones that really differentiates each character, and you are never in doubt which character is speaking. His narrative pacing is also some of the best in the business, keeping a real flow going without any monotone. Just a fantastic performance.

This was such a great way to take an ongoing series in a shared universe and take some real chances. It introduces some excellent characters and really does something special with them. It is easily on par with series like The Four Horsemen and Galaxy's Edge series, two of the big mil sci-fi series going on right now, and I suspect this, as well as the rest of the universe it shares, would appeal to fans of both. I highly recommend this one, and can't wait to check out book two.