Bridgeworld

Bridgeworld #1

by Travis McBee

William Haynes was the type of guy that every boy wanted to be. He was an honor roll student and captain of his middle school football team. He was dating the most popular girl in the school and had dozens of friends. Yes, life was perfect for Will...that is until a strange man shows up and forces his parents to reveal a secret they have kept hidden since he was born. He is told that he has been given a scholarship to a prestigious private school that his parents attended, a private school that happens to be in space. Will must choose between a life many would die for and a life none could imagine. A life where he is no longer perfect, where he must make new friends, and where he must survive a school rivalry like no other.

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction

234 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2011

About the author

Travis McBee was born and raised just outside of Atlanta, Georgia. He is the younger of two children and enjoys backpacking, playing rugby, and watching football. He is the author of four novels: Bridgeworld, Bridgeworld: Encounter at Atlantis, Triton: Rise of the Fallen, and Triton: The Call of War. He is also the author of a children's series: The Chronicles of a Second Grade Genius. He currently resides in Georgia.

Reviews

[Mandy Sickle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of Bridgeworld in return for a honest review. This book is the story of Will Haynes, your average teenager, or is he. Quarterback for his middle school team, dating the most popular girl in school, can't get much better then that at least that's what Will thought. Final game of the season ends in a loss, and that's when everything started to change, he no longer has the girlfriend, and prospects of quarterback next year are gone. Suddenly he is seeing a stranger in a black suit with blood red tie everywhere, even chasing him.

Will learns that he's not human, that his parents have been keeping a secret about who they are, that they aren't from earth. Suddenly Will is trust into a adventure he never expected to happen, Sent off to school in space, with other teenagers of aliens from other planets, and not the little green men that we think, they are just like us humans, only they live on different planets. Will travels on a spaceship to Bridgeworld where he will attend school. The school is a large cube shape, they all live at it teachers and students like a orbiting boarding school.

At school Will instantly makes a enemy a kid named Brandon who hates all humans from earth, they even call them terry's however he seems to be the only one. Will also makes friends, Jon, Ryan, Corey, even Abby the girl he has a crush on, who later becomes his girlfriend. He also joins the Zegma team, it's actually kinda cool, it's kind of like football where you run the ball, but you float above the ground and you can magnetically send the enemy players back to the start point. It's super unique and sounds like fun. Everything is finally going Will's way, until they have to face off the last game of the year against Starview. It just so happens that Starview students aren't the nice guys they happen to be evil, twisted, and have known to make Bridgeworld students go missing.

It's a unique story about a boy growing up to find out they life as he knows it is about to change, leading him off on a exciting new adventure in space. It's the kind of story that draws you in and keeps you entertained the whole time. I never noticed a slow moment, it's the story about Will's adventure at Bridgesworld. I found it enjoyable to read, it's not a heavy read, so I'm sure almost anyone would be interested in this book because who does want to go into space. It's kinda cool that the aliens are humans just on different planets. However earth of course seems to behind, the only planet that's still in the dark of the aliens.

[Chosptickz11 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not typically a science-fiction reader, but I do like young adult novels. The premise of this book had me intrigued and I just had to check it out. I’m very lucky I did. Mr. McBee did a great job of providing interesting and witty characters, all while created a parallel world that we humans just refuse to admit exists. I was surprised to find myself chuckling throughout this book. I especially enjoyed the explanations of certain occurrences here on earth. Mr. McBee easily drafted away their explanation as a normal part of the parallel world.

Mr. Johnson did an amazing job narrating as teenage boy. I felt the emotion expressed was appropriate and the angst, anger, confusion and wonder of child suddenly thrown into an unknown world was great. I also loved the nuance he offered to the character. For example, there is a point that the narrator lists all the television shows his mother watches. As he goes down the list Mr. Johnson sped up the listing of the shows, just as a teenager would who was becoming annoyed with such information. It was wonderful to hear these tidbits of detail.

The book I read states that it is “Volume 1” and I can only hope that there will be more to this fictional world as Will continues to explore his new home and school and that Mr. McBee will continue the great connections of Earth to the great beyond in his humorous style to keep the readers chuckling.

I was provided with a free copy of this audio book for my honest review. The views expressed here are entirely my own.

[David Fernandes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Travis has been great for his insight on the writing process, but I can't help but notice that this is very obviously a first novel. The concept is really interesting, but that's kind of where the problem lies. It's more the exploration of a concept first, and a story second. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, it just gives me less motivation to read it as often, and, because of that, it took me entirely too long to read.

[Clara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I write honest reviews. I have never read a book that I didn't particularly like, and then write a beyond amazingly book review. Saying that, I'm not trying to say that I didn't like the novel, but what I'm saying is that I couldn't finish it. The novel had a loose frame, and didn't have a clear problem, and I was waiting every next chapter for that big ba-boom to hit me, but it never came. It could be the next chapter, but I don't want to waste anymore time on a book that I don't see any clear problem the character has to overcome.

Travis McBee has to have a list of similes and metaphors in a huge journal, because when I read this novel, it sounded like my English teacher went high on them. I love how he described a scenery, and time and time again, I felt like he could be writing a better story. I hate saying that, but the idea of the boy goes to an alien school isn't original or interesting enough, for me. Maybe you'll like it, but I personally don't. Also, I have to mention that I skimmed over many parts of the novel, and still didn't miss a beat. There's a part of me that feels let down by that fact.

I don't read many male protagonist books, because I usually don't connect with them, and how Will is described really erks me. Will actually reminds me of a couple of guys I know into one, and it isn't a nice experience. His attitude to things are so carefree at times, it doubles my frustration that there isn't a real problem in the book. Nothing is challenging him.
I don't have much care for the other characters, but I think Abby really hit a chord in me. I'm not sure why Abby is in the story besides the fact for Will to protect, and have a love interest. A love interest is what almost every book has, but Abby is just there. Seriously, she is just there. You don't learn much about her in the story, and she sounds like a trophy wife, but a girlfriend. What I'm trying to get at is that when you have two people that have nothing in common, don't make them love each other just to have a love interest.

Laughter. Is necessary in most books, and appreciated in all books. In Bridgeworld, there was a lot of laughter. Not from me. Not from a friend who I told the situation to. Laughter, a lot of it from characters. There were a lot of awkward times in the novel, where the laughter consumed the entire scene. I even noted while reading on my nook that the book was a laughical. A version of trying to use the word musical to denote laughter every other scene.

One thing I really loved about the book was the imagination involved with the alien game, Zegma. I'm not a big sports fan, but sometimes I get into it. Zegma has a way involving the kiddy games of school indoor games when it rains, to the professionalism of major league teams. I just really love the rules and idea of zero gravity and the magnetic fields. It sounds really fun, and I would love to play it if it was possible.

Fun Quotes I highlighted and notes I wrote while reading:
*pages from my nook can be different on each format*

pg. 22; "The second this thought poked it's head up from his subconscious the possibly of simply rolling over and going back to sleep disintegrated into more pieces than a jar of glitter left in the care of a toddler. "

lovely analogy

pg. 26; "It was not a critical fear like that of death but of another fear, one almost as substantial to the male psyche, fear of lost food."

hahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

pg. 28; "Outside one of the bands blossomed into a fight song and the crowd took new fervor from it and their shouting redoubled in intensity."

Double sensory images

pg. 129; "The UFO had vanished like a fart in the wind and the stars that filled the sky all remained motionless."

Wonderful analogy.

pg. 133; "After a second of glaring at her laughing friends Abby joined in and the rest of the breakfast passed by cheerfully."

Laughical instead of musical.

This book leaves me at a crossroads, because I do enjoy it just as it is, but the things that I listed above still erks me. I guess I would give the novel a 3.5, but I'll round up and give Bridgeworld by Travis McBee a head nods, thumbs up. (4 out of 5)

[Craig Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun book. It was more of a Harry Potter school setting than Hard Sci-Fi. I was hoping for more of the harder Sci-Fi side, but it was still fun. Similar to Harry Potter, they have a School Game they play and have competitions with, and it follows this as the main thread of the story with plenty of intrigue and action along the way. I enjoyed the book, especially the alien girl who I thought was pretty cool, and may be keeping my eyes open for a sequel.
The narrator did a fantastic job!

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was given this book by the author for review.

I thought this book sounded very interesting. Small town boy who finds out he is an alien and goes to his home planet to go to school, Bridgeworld. When I started this book I was not sure what to expect, but I actually enjoyed the book. I think it would be a great book for a pre-teen/young teenager.

Best parts: I liked Travis McBee's writing. I thought he wrote amazing character and his imagination of Bridgeworld was very creative. Will (main character) is the popular teenager. Nice girlfriend, plays football, and has friends. But, in no time his life changes. He loses his popularity, finds out about his family and is soon headed to Bridgeworld. New school, new friends and new bullies. On top of that, a new sport, Zegma. I even liked how the bullies were wrote into the story. Brandon and Starview Academy were keeping the story going with all the "mysteries".

Not so great: Some parts of it felt rushed. I was not sure if Travis McBee was just hurrying to get to the next "adventure" or if he just wanted to "skip" the boring times at school. Either way that was the only thing that I disliked.

I would be interested to see where Will's story goes next

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent foray into the YA market for a first time author. Despite at times trying a bit too hard to turn a phrase, the author deftly conveys the attitudes and mentalities of your typical middle school-high school age student and manages to build an interesting and believable society and universe beyond our own. As with early Jim Butcher, it can be a bit rougher than ideal at times, but the talent and ideas are there and I look forward to more by this author in both this series and others. Despite my comment about trying too hard, Travis does also have delightful gems of evocative phrases and images as well (my favorite referring to something shattering like a jar of glitter left in the hands of a toddler).

[Sara Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was not sure what age category to put this sci-fi story into. However, I feel it can really be enjoyed by any age. It is heavy with teenage themes, but it is clean enough that a parent could listen to it with their kid. I am almost 30 and found this story enjoyable and I liked the characters. There was adventure and humour worked throughout the entire book. The world was unique and McBee did a great job of making sure all of the customs, foods, etc were well explained and understood. My only "complaint" was I found the ending wrapped up a little quicker then I would have liked.

KC Johnston did a great job with the narration as well. Voices were clear and had a voice that was easy to listen to.

I received a copy of this book at my request, and I have voluntarily left this review.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great storytelling! Love the characters, the plot, the worldbuilding.

This book engaged me from the beginning and held my interest all the way through. I learned how to play a whole new sport, so there's that level of detail. The second half of the book is particularly fast-placed and thrilling. I lowered the rating a star because of the grammar and spelling mistakes. However, the storytelling was so good that those mistakes didn't interrupt the flow. Excellent use of an epilogue! I plan on reading the next book from the series.

[Dana · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot to this book was very good. It was a very fast and easy read. However, there were lots of spelling and grammatical mistakes as well as typos which made it at time difficult to focus on the story and not the mistakes. I think this would be a good series to read if the author writes more books. Hopefully these will have a little more editing work done before publication.

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I expected.. However it is really fast paced so you don't have time to stop and think until the end. The ending was a bit rushed in my opinion up until then no complaints.
I liked it. However it isn't a book I would re-read:)

[Remarkable Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately, this book wasn't an enjoyable read for me.
Rating:2.5-3 stars.
Please read my full review here: http://remarkable-reads.blogspot.com/...

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book from Goodreads Giveaway. Definitely a good book to get young adults interested in reading. There are some parts which adult readers would find interesting, but the book as a whole is obviously at the Young Adult level. All in all, 4 stars

[Kathryn Joy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hmmmm. This story I could not finish - got to 8% - even at the beginning I could not feel an 'attachment' with the characters and the plot was too vague.

[Hristi · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't like this book even a bit. But part of the reason why is because its very similar to Enders game. Travis you have better works.

[Dinochickk Dino · Rating 3 out of 5]

saw this on a list of indie authors in the genre I like and it was good. Plan on others

[Brett Catinella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fellow Georgian Travis McBee has created a well-written, very entertaining piece of Sci-Fi.