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Human Reach #2
The Desert of Stars
In 2141, humanity has attained the stars, but several nations who have found their dreams of interstellar empire thwarted have gone to war to ensure their futures beyond the Solar System.
U.S. Space Force Lieutenant Neil Mercer is sent to an independent colony on a strategic island on the planet of Entente to curry favor with the repressive ruling government, while his mentor, NSS operative James Donovan, seeks to bring in the powerful neutral states of India, Russia and Europa into the war on the allied side, first through diplomacy, and then through ... other means. On Kuan Yin, Neil's old friend, space defense artilleryman Rand Castillo, assumes a position of leadership among the guerrillas fighting in the occupied American continent.
Initially light-years apart, their three stories will ultimately intertwine in a confrontation that will determine the fate of a planet, as well as their own.
A novel of 110,000 words.
U.S. Space Force Lieutenant Neil Mercer is sent to an independent colony on a strategic island on the planet of Entente to curry favor with the repressive ruling government, while his mentor, NSS operative James Donovan, seeks to bring in the powerful neutral states of India, Russia and Europa into the war on the allied side, first through diplomacy, and then through ... other means. On Kuan Yin, Neil's old friend, space defense artilleryman Rand Castillo, assumes a position of leadership among the guerrillas fighting in the occupied American continent.
Initially light-years apart, their three stories will ultimately intertwine in a confrontation that will determine the fate of a planet, as well as their own.
A novel of 110,000 words.
- GenresScience Fiction
408 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 18, 2013
27 people are currently reading
144 people want to read
About the author
John J. Lumpkin
2 books35 followersAbout the Author
John J. Lumpkin was born in 1973 in San Antonio, Texas, and educated at Texas Christian University, and lately at the University of Colorado at Boulder. A former national security reporter for the Associated Press, his experience includes covering 9-11, walking the halls of CIA headquarters, and racing through Baghdad and Kabul in military convoys. He may also be the only person who has had a drink with both Donald Rumsfeld and Steve-O from Jackass (but, to be clear, not at the same time). Now a writer and teacher, he lives outside of Boulder, Colorado, with his wife Alice and their daughter Charlotte and son Theo. He is working on the third book in the Human Reach series, The Passage of Stars.
John J. Lumpkin was born in 1973 in San Antonio, Texas, and educated at Texas Christian University, and lately at the University of Colorado at Boulder. A former national security reporter for the Associated Press, his experience includes covering 9-11, walking the halls of CIA headquarters, and racing through Baghdad and Kabul in military convoys. He may also be the only person who has had a drink with both Donald Rumsfeld and Steve-O from Jackass (but, to be clear, not at the same time). Now a writer and teacher, he lives outside of Boulder, Colorado, with his wife Alice and their daughter Charlotte and son Theo. He is working on the third book in the Human Reach series, The Passage of Stars.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 6, 2025
dings antikriegsbuch debatte
JOHN IF YOU ARE READING THIS PLEASE MAKE THE THIRD BOOK I CANT BE ROTHFUSSED AGAIN
JOHN IF YOU ARE READING THIS PLEASE MAKE THE THIRD BOOK I CANT BE ROTHFUSSED AGAIN
June 16, 2013
MilSF done right. Decent characterization, excellent plotting and storytelling and just enough technical detail without endless infodumps.
Does anyone know David Weber's address? I want to send him the paperback editions of this and its predecessor with a yellow sticky attached saying 'LEARN'
Does anyone know David Weber's address? I want to send him the paperback editions of this and its predecessor with a yellow sticky attached saying 'LEARN'
May 27, 2025
I couldn't finish this book.
None of what I liked of the first book was in this one—and that would be okay if there was something new and interesting to hang onto. A new plot twist, a new world-building element, new intrigue. But there was none of that, just a mundane trip following mundane characters from the first book. Neil lost all of the appeal he had as a young and upcoming intel officer here.
There's a lot of... chit chat in this book. Not a lot of political machinations or spy intrigue. Some, but not a lot. Just mostly conversations and a lot of italicised exposition blocks. I couldn't keep track of where things were going; not because there were complicated threads, but mostly because I got bored of reading about the pedestrian lives of people. I'm sure there was a point, but between all of the different boring plot threads, the plot essentially disintegrated. If there was any foreshadowing that might have held my interest, I totally missed it.
One of my complaints about the first book was there was a lot of filler content, and that was double so in this book. I suspect the author could have been a bit more frugal with his 'slice-of-military-life' scenes and compressed heart of the story of both of these books into one. So, yeah. One star.
None of what I liked of the first book was in this one—and that would be okay if there was something new and interesting to hang onto. A new plot twist, a new world-building element, new intrigue. But there was none of that, just a mundane trip following mundane characters from the first book. Neil lost all of the appeal he had as a young and upcoming intel officer here.
There's a lot of... chit chat in this book. Not a lot of political machinations or spy intrigue. Some, but not a lot. Just mostly conversations and a lot of italicised exposition blocks. I couldn't keep track of where things were going; not because there were complicated threads, but mostly because I got bored of reading about the pedestrian lives of people. I'm sure there was a point, but between all of the different boring plot threads, the plot essentially disintegrated. If there was any foreshadowing that might have held my interest, I totally missed it.
One of my complaints about the first book was there was a lot of filler content, and that was double so in this book. I suspect the author could have been a bit more frugal with his 'slice-of-military-life' scenes and compressed heart of the story of both of these books into one. So, yeah. One star.
November 27, 2025
I am very torn on what to rate this. On the one hand, it's a good continuation of the first book, but there are a score of things that annoyed me a bit too much.
Firstly: too many names. Too many named characters contribute barely anything and quite a few could have been merged or removed entirely. Sure, this is more realistic, but so many of them are either entirely flat personalities or contribute nothing to the story.
Secondly: too many PoVs. Do we need Neil + Rand + Donovan + Jessica + Erin + ...? No! The first three, sure, I'll accept that - but the first book succeeded in telling the tale of a ship & a guerilla, but this one tries too much and fails at landing all too well.
Thirdly: typos & errors. There are, at least in my Kindle's version, far too many. "He's" instead of "His", "of" instead of "if", etc. - but, at least in one occasion, a character was referenced incorrectly (the one referenced was on another planet and not "outside"). There are too many for anything that underwent at least a basic sort of proofreading.
Firstly: too many names. Too many named characters contribute barely anything and quite a few could have been merged or removed entirely. Sure, this is more realistic, but so many of them are either entirely flat personalities or contribute nothing to the story.
Secondly: too many PoVs. Do we need Neil + Rand + Donovan + Jessica + Erin + ...? No! The first three, sure, I'll accept that - but the first book succeeded in telling the tale of a ship & a guerilla, but this one tries too much and fails at landing all too well.
Thirdly: typos & errors. There are, at least in my Kindle's version, far too many. "He's" instead of "His", "of" instead of "if", etc. - but, at least in one occasion, a character was referenced incorrectly (the one referenced was on another planet and not "outside"). There are too many for anything that underwent at least a basic sort of proofreading.
August 5, 2023
A fantastic sequel, that improves on the first book in every way.
The military scifi is expertly done and the author used a noted online resource for hard scifi fans. The author also avoids giving the American faction all of the easy victories. On the contrary, defeats come even when having the advantage and the narrative underlines the randomness and uncertainty of warfare. The world is also expertly developed and believable in many ways. The cloak and dagger focus of this book also allows it to throw some interesting curveballs for the reader and emphasizes the author's military background, choosing to keep characters in the dark about many things.
My only gripe is that it has been 10 years and no part 3!
The military scifi is expertly done and the author used a noted online resource for hard scifi fans. The author also avoids giving the American faction all of the easy victories. On the contrary, defeats come even when having the advantage and the narrative underlines the randomness and uncertainty of warfare. The world is also expertly developed and believable in many ways. The cloak and dagger focus of this book also allows it to throw some interesting curveballs for the reader and emphasizes the author's military background, choosing to keep characters in the dark about many things.
My only gripe is that it has been 10 years and no part 3!
May 6, 2020
More hard-science fiction goodness
June 21, 2025
Damn good space action with a truly human cast of characters. Tackles many intense moments and ideas on politics, nationalism, and what it means to fight and die in war.
September 11, 2025
Basically, this is pretty good military SF (though not as good as the first book in the series IMHO).
The overall story is solid, and the writing on a sentence and paragraph level is quite good. I became quite invested in some of the characters.
Sadly however, the reading experience was marred for me by a couple of things.
First it suffers from what I call 'cobblestone writing'—the story bounces about abruptly. This book needed a good scrubbing by a competent content editor. ✍️🧐
Also, the ebook formatting sucks dead puppies. 😩
So, 3.5 stars rounded down.
The overall story is solid, and the writing on a sentence and paragraph level is quite good. I became quite invested in some of the characters.
Sadly however, the reading experience was marred for me by a couple of things.
First it suffers from what I call 'cobblestone writing'—the story bounces about abruptly. This book needed a good scrubbing by a competent content editor. ✍️🧐
Also, the ebook formatting sucks dead puppies. 😩
So, 3.5 stars rounded down.
March 26, 2013
The Desert of Stars is John Lumpkin’s second book, a fairly close sequel to his freshman effort, Through Struggle, The Stars. After I read and favorably reviewed Through Struggle, I eagerly awaited Desert, hoping it was as good as the original. It is.
This book is set in the year 2141. Humanity, after having seen an asteroid smash into the Indian Ocean, has decided to establish colonies in space. Thanks to a Japanese scientist, they have developed a means of faster-than-light travel, and used it to establish a bewildering array of colonies on nearby star systems. Some colonies are independent; most are controlled by an Earth nation or group of nations.
As we find out very early in The Desert of Stars, a number stars that should have had habitable planets don’t, thus creating the titular desert. Since FTL travel requires going from star to star, this is a real problem, and will put the brakes on the expansion of some colonial empires but not others. A war breaks out.
Lumpkin’s war is not, however, the mad-dash affairs of Star Trek or Star Wars. His spaceships obey the laws of physics, taking weeks to cross a solar system. There are no force fields, no visible lasers, and in general scientific accuracy is maintained. This still results in a very entertaining book, largely because Lumpkin’s characters are believable and he seems to understand both militaries and history. Much of the story is driven by the friendships developed by these characters during this war.
In Lumpkin’s previous book, I dinged him for not including a number of nations, such as India, in the order of battle. Here, Lumpkin resolves that complaint, making India and Russia, two notable nations left out, key parts of the plot. Lumpkin also shows a keen awareness of the old saying that “nations have no permanent friends, just permanent interests.”
In short, as literature, I found The Desert of Stars to be everything a reader of science fiction would want.
This book is set in the year 2141. Humanity, after having seen an asteroid smash into the Indian Ocean, has decided to establish colonies in space. Thanks to a Japanese scientist, they have developed a means of faster-than-light travel, and used it to establish a bewildering array of colonies on nearby star systems. Some colonies are independent; most are controlled by an Earth nation or group of nations.
As we find out very early in The Desert of Stars, a number stars that should have had habitable planets don’t, thus creating the titular desert. Since FTL travel requires going from star to star, this is a real problem, and will put the brakes on the expansion of some colonial empires but not others. A war breaks out.
Lumpkin’s war is not, however, the mad-dash affairs of Star Trek or Star Wars. His spaceships obey the laws of physics, taking weeks to cross a solar system. There are no force fields, no visible lasers, and in general scientific accuracy is maintained. This still results in a very entertaining book, largely because Lumpkin’s characters are believable and he seems to understand both militaries and history. Much of the story is driven by the friendships developed by these characters during this war.
In Lumpkin’s previous book, I dinged him for not including a number of nations, such as India, in the order of battle. Here, Lumpkin resolves that complaint, making India and Russia, two notable nations left out, key parts of the plot. Lumpkin also shows a keen awareness of the old saying that “nations have no permanent friends, just permanent interests.”
In short, as literature, I found The Desert of Stars to be everything a reader of science fiction would want.
April 1, 2013
This book picks up where the first left off, and it's another gripping, morally complex and believable tale. As well as creating a credible and well thought out vision of the future, Lumpkin excels at making the political events behind the unfolding war just as exciting as the battles themselves.
I personally could have done with a few more reminders on what happened in the previous book at times (I read the first around six months ago) - but other than that, this was a highly enjoyable read.
I personally could have done with a few more reminders on what happened in the previous book at times (I read the first around six months ago) - but other than that, this was a highly enjoyable read.
July 2, 2013
The follow on to, Through Struggle the Stars, this novel details the second phase of the first interstellar war in the author's universe. More so than the first book, this novel focuses on the espionage activities of several of the major characters. By and large the international/interstellar situation is complex and there are no clear good and bad sides (Though some characters are clearly bad guys). It was an enjoyable read. I am waiting for the third in the series.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews