Fiona Rawsontile's Blog - Posts Tagged "book-review"
San Francisco Book Reviews --- The Starlight Fortress
Star Rating: 4 out of 5
Taking place far in the future, long after the earth has been destroyed, The Starlight Fortress focuses on an ongoing war between planets. Our protagonists are the queen of Sunphere, Geneva, and her newly appointed military assistant, Sterling Presley. Both are considered too young for their jobs, and both are about to prove that age has nothing to do with talent.
As the war with the greedy, rapacious Pompey intensifies, so does the relationship between Geneva and Sterling. Dramatic, edge-of-your-seat space battles are intermixed with quiet scenes involving flirtation, jealousy, and growing attachment. These scenes play nicely off each other. There is never too much fighting or too much time without it; there is a beautiful balance here. Also, we get to see the queen in her official role as statesman and then contrast that with her private self, raising interesting questions about power and the responsibilities that come with it.
Mostly, though, this book is just fun. The first chapter has a massive space battle. The discussions of military tactics introduce brilliant plans of attack. The queen is so darn likable, with her insecurities and her love of food. My only complaint is that things happen a little too quickly. There isn’t any downtime between plot events, and the rapid pace with which things happen feels a little overwhelming. The book could benefit from additional descriptive passages, more narration, or something else that would simply slow down the story just a bit. This would make the characters, and thus their struggles, seem more real and more meaningful.
While this isn’t a book that’s likely to inspire deep emotional connection with the characters or extended musings on life, that’s ok. In fact, that’s wonderful! The Starlight Fortress is a fast, entertaining read that feels a bit like a roller coaster, pulling you along at breakneck speed through twists and turns that you never saw coming. In the end, you are a bit disoriented and fully exhilarated. This is Space Mountain in book form, and it’s fantastic.
Taking place far in the future, long after the earth has been destroyed, The Starlight Fortress focuses on an ongoing war between planets. Our protagonists are the queen of Sunphere, Geneva, and her newly appointed military assistant, Sterling Presley. Both are considered too young for their jobs, and both are about to prove that age has nothing to do with talent.
As the war with the greedy, rapacious Pompey intensifies, so does the relationship between Geneva and Sterling. Dramatic, edge-of-your-seat space battles are intermixed with quiet scenes involving flirtation, jealousy, and growing attachment. These scenes play nicely off each other. There is never too much fighting or too much time without it; there is a beautiful balance here. Also, we get to see the queen in her official role as statesman and then contrast that with her private self, raising interesting questions about power and the responsibilities that come with it.
Mostly, though, this book is just fun. The first chapter has a massive space battle. The discussions of military tactics introduce brilliant plans of attack. The queen is so darn likable, with her insecurities and her love of food. My only complaint is that things happen a little too quickly. There isn’t any downtime between plot events, and the rapid pace with which things happen feels a little overwhelming. The book could benefit from additional descriptive passages, more narration, or something else that would simply slow down the story just a bit. This would make the characters, and thus their struggles, seem more real and more meaningful.
While this isn’t a book that’s likely to inspire deep emotional connection with the characters or extended musings on life, that’s ok. In fact, that’s wonderful! The Starlight Fortress is a fast, entertaining read that feels a bit like a roller coaster, pulling you along at breakneck speed through twists and turns that you never saw coming. In the end, you are a bit disoriented and fully exhilarated. This is Space Mountain in book form, and it’s fantastic.
Midwest Book Review - The Starlight Fortress
The Starlight Fortress is a science fiction novel revolving around gaming, battles, and epic confrontations, telling how different nations attempt to survive war. At the heart of the story are an ineffective queen and an emperor who is a wicked gamer clever with war machines and technology.
The Starlight Fortress is the one device which could change the rules of such a game: it's a giant space structure with the capability of becoming the ultimate weapon and the powers it wields will prove enough to change the face of combat strategies.
Time travel, treachery and military confrontation permeate a saga that begins with political posturing and very different personalities but soon evolves into not just a multi-faceted novel of cat-and-mouse war games, but an examination of the roots of war in the personalities of its participants.
What keeps The Starlight Fortress from being another predictable military fiction story is its focus on the human elements involved in war, strategy, and the efforts of both sides to win in conflict: "War is about the people who fight it. When they fight together with the same belief, they form a single entity. That’s why heroes are never singular events; they are always followed, repeated, exceeded. I have hope because once the fire has started, it’ll stop at nothing until it takes over. I need to say no more. The game is on. We’ve made our choice. Everyone’s effort will count, every hope will open a possibility, and every pain we’ve suffered … will add to our strength.”
There are changing scenarios with allies on all sides and there are battles between groups - but there are also efforts on the part of Queen Geneva to understand changing sides, the roots of aggression, and changing relationships and techniques of confrontation.
From murder attempts to lives changed by parenthood, The Starlight Fortress dances deftly between the personal and the political, drawing neat lines of connection between the two and creating scenarios in which key players are changed by each other's perspectives and goals.
Readers will ideally be versed in and appreciative of military science fiction, and will find the protagonists and changing perspectives of The Starlight Fortress provide an engrossing saga that moves beyond military might and strategy alone to probe the heart of war's origins.
The Starlight Fortress is the one device which could change the rules of such a game: it's a giant space structure with the capability of becoming the ultimate weapon and the powers it wields will prove enough to change the face of combat strategies.
Time travel, treachery and military confrontation permeate a saga that begins with political posturing and very different personalities but soon evolves into not just a multi-faceted novel of cat-and-mouse war games, but an examination of the roots of war in the personalities of its participants.
What keeps The Starlight Fortress from being another predictable military fiction story is its focus on the human elements involved in war, strategy, and the efforts of both sides to win in conflict: "War is about the people who fight it. When they fight together with the same belief, they form a single entity. That’s why heroes are never singular events; they are always followed, repeated, exceeded. I have hope because once the fire has started, it’ll stop at nothing until it takes over. I need to say no more. The game is on. We’ve made our choice. Everyone’s effort will count, every hope will open a possibility, and every pain we’ve suffered … will add to our strength.”
There are changing scenarios with allies on all sides and there are battles between groups - but there are also efforts on the part of Queen Geneva to understand changing sides, the roots of aggression, and changing relationships and techniques of confrontation.
From murder attempts to lives changed by parenthood, The Starlight Fortress dances deftly between the personal and the political, drawing neat lines of connection between the two and creating scenarios in which key players are changed by each other's perspectives and goals.
Readers will ideally be versed in and appreciative of military science fiction, and will find the protagonists and changing perspectives of The Starlight Fortress provide an engrossing saga that moves beyond military might and strategy alone to probe the heart of war's origins.
