Star Runners

Star Runners #1

by L.E. Thomas

A talented gamer. A secret military program. Will he discover the curriculum is out of this world?High school senior Austin Stone hates being trapped in his hometown. With no chance at a scholarship, he’s resigned to a bleak future where his friends head off to college and his only escape is the Star Runners video game. But when he secures the top spot on an elite server, he’s shocked to receive an invitation to attend a mysterious academy.

Reporting to a classified location, Austin is astonished to find a covert military base and learn his favorite game was a high-tech simulator. And he soon finds himself in the cockpit of a real spaceship battling intergalactic pirates on increasingly dangerous missions. But space pillaging is just the beginning of a whole new level of perils…

Can Austin defend his champion status and join the ranks of Earth’s fearless fliers?

Star Runners is the first book in an adventurous sci-fi series. If you like detailed game worlds, ambitious heroes, and galactic battles, then you’ll love L.E. Thomas’s electrifying coming-of-age story.

Buy Star Runner to unlock an interstellar adventure today!

Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult, Audiobook, Space Opera, Fiction, Military Fiction, Fantasy

366 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 24, 2014

About the author

L.E. Thomas lives in the mountains of the southern United States with his wife and rescued dog. He is the author of several books in the Star Runners Universe.

Reviews

[Online Eccentric Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

Star Runners was a welcome surprise: what could have been a rather silly retread of The Last Starfighter wass actually an engaging and decently written story with a grounded main character. Author Thomas allowed the story to grow organically, refusing to rush through the pre-sci fi scenes and never allowing the main character to be a Marty Stu male wish fulfillment fantasy. Although not perfectly written, I greatly enjoyed Star Runners.

Story: Austin Stone is approaching graduation from high school with a growing awareness that his future has few options other than blue collar drudgery: his grades are ok, he is decent at softball, but fails to really stand out at anything. Financial constraints mean college is out of the picture and his mother is still grieving from the loss of his father several years past. His one escape: the sci fi based Star Runners game. He, along with best friend Josh, has made it to the elite server; he's even managed to defeat uber player Scorpion. When a special college comes calling with a full scholarship dangling, he knows he has one chance to change the course of his life. But the school is much more rigorous in its demands - even harsher than a military school. As students begin to drop out one by one, he begins to question himself and his abilities. Until the day he is taken to a secret basement and then to another world - one of many in need of defense against ruthless pirates. The Star Runners game might just be real.

Although the premise of the Last Starfighter is intact (Read: boy excels at video game that is secretly a recruitment agent), this book has much more depth. We're given a full back story and quite a bit of character growth across the entire story arc. I found that the more I read about Austin, the more I really liked the character. At this beginning, he starts off fairly unlikeable - a rather clueless but earnest loser. But as he faces trials at home, at the school, and then in space, with each triumph or defeat, he learns.

Those expecting a Mos Eisley assortment of aliens will be disappointed - all are humanoid. Nor do we get to the sci fi aspect until the last 20% of the book. A chunk of the book is dealing with the academy - difficult curriculum, bullies, friends, foes, and general growth. It makes the accomplishments (and failures) in space much more believable and realistic since we were able to see all the history that goes into each of Austin's actions.

The only let down for me was that I listened to the audible version and the narration was a bit odd. The narrator did a decent job but had such a strong Minnesota/Canadian accent that it created a dissonance between Austin being from Atlanta but talking like an extra from the movie Fargo (minus the 'youbetchas').

I'm looking forward to reading book 2.

[ConciseAlan · Rating 2 out of 5]

YA Space Saga for Middle Schoolers

This book is clearly targeted towards middle schoolers. It's a "do what you're told, follow the rules and things will work out" story for most of the way.

I would recommend this except for the frequent misuse of "your" and other similar things, which I ignore in books targeted to adults. There's not a single profane word in the book. It came close, though, when the hero "almost swore."

At times, the writing is painfully choppy, but most of the book flows smoothly. The book is completely tactical, and there's no insight into what makes the good guys good. The bad guys are cardboard, but the action is fun.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An OK read.

[Jim Yowell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grew up reading Heinlein, Asimov, Norton, Leinster, Dick.... And too many others to count. I used to love those "young adult" science fiction stories.

After reading Star Runners at age 63, all I can say is... THANK GOD I'VE NEVER GROWN UP!

It might not have all the "science tech explanations" I used to enjoy almost as much the story, but it's got EVERYTHING ELSE!

I can't wait until the next installment in the series... And the next... And the next.

[George Edward Horsley · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a surprise and pleasure!

It seems hard to find a good sci-fi story anymore. This story gripped me from the start...I was unable to stop reading until I finished. I'm not much of a review writer but had to say some good words about this book. I'm looking forward to the next book and highly recommend this author.

[Dennis Berner · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing read

This book I could not put down. I read from start to finish non-stop and I have to say was very impressed with the story line. I really think this would make a great movie.

[Per Gunnar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another one of those books that I bought on a whim since it popped up in my recommendations. I honestly do not remember if it was on one of my Goodreads friends lists or if I saw it in my Kindle recommendations but in any case, this book was a very pleasant surprise. The previous book that I bought on a whim like this was Cadet and that one was not bad but not really anything to write home about either.

This book is another one of those young person discovers that there are aliens, spaceships and all kinds of great and not so great things out there. I do like those stories so I may be a bit biased from the start. However, this book was certainly one of the better such books that I have read. The author himself classifies this as a young adult story but personally I have to say that it could very well have done with a not so young audience classification.

The story, the writing and the characters are quite well done. One thing I really like about this book is that it does not rush it. It takes its time to develop the story. Many books with this kind of story just rushes over the surprise moments and the learning curve in a few chapters and then all of a sudden our hero is a full fledged starship pilot or something. This book is really spending time building up the story and spends quite a lot of time on the characters and character development. For a good third, or even a bit more, of the book the main character still thinks he is going to a school on Earth for example. The truth is only very slowly revealed. For the reader it is fairly obvious where it is heading of course but then you can deduce that by the title after all.

Even when the truth is revealed the book continues to properly develop the context and the characters. The education continues and you do not become a star fighter pilot overnight in this book. Actually it is not until the very end that Austin earns his wings and the road to that is a bumpy one. This is another good thing with this book. It is not all fun and games. Friends are lost along the way and Austin is not always sure whether he wants to go on or not. In some books these episodes are just forced in to create some thrilling moments which is quite annoying but in this one they come naturally as a part of both the story and the character development.

One thing that felt a bit strange though was that the entire universe seemed to be made up by humans or at least humanoids identical to the ones developed on Earth. The word “alien” is mentioned once in the book and then it is discarded as a stupid question. That did irk me somewhat but it is really a minor thing. The hard code science fiction readers out there might also regret that there is very little science and certainly not much in the form of technical explanations in this book. This book focuses almost entirely on the story and the characters. That is not to say that they wonder about and talk all the time. The book is far from devoid of action, both during the training and the real stuff.

A very pleasant surprise and excellent reading indeed. This book is one where I definitely will pick up the next one if a second book is published.

[Gregoire · Rating 2 out of 5]

Une bonne histoire pour jeunes lecteurs découvrant la sf militaire (un poil de men in black pour le côté caché ; de harry potter pour le côté école et l'absence de hard sciences) Pour les lecteurs confirmés, une lecture sans surprise mais plutôt bien emmenée comme l'explique si bien Per Gunnar dans son commentaire

Le côté négatif vu de mon côté paternel qui regrette l'apologie déguisée des jeux videos comme terrains d'apprentissage

A good story for young readers discovering the military sf ( a bit of men in black for the hidden side, of harry potter for the school side and the absence of hard sciences) For experienced readers, the story is without surprise but well taken as Per Gunnar explained so well in his review

The downside my father's side regrets the disguised defense of video games as learning courses

[praiz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was very up and down for me. I found myself really into it sometimes -- Like during the Swamp adventure scene. The prose was very dull and I found myself having to read pages again and again after finding myself tuning out.

[Jim Barrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very exciting read. Interesting premise, similar to the Last Starfighter, but was focused more on training the pilots than jumping right into action.

[Randy Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started to read this book on a whim since I was already reading a other book. I was pleasantly surprise this is a very good book.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Engaging story, which kept me going but the character development felt a little off. I found the potential romantic involvement to be off, especially the hints of the attraction between Rock and Scorpion. I also thought the turning of Rock from being in Josh’s shadow to Star Running prodigy was abrupt. The weaker character development was offset by an immersive world and interesting training program.

I bought the first three books as part of an amazon deal and the first was good enough to keep me going onto the next.

[Wanda Jewell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story reminds me of the 80's movie - "the Last Starfighter" in the way they recruit Austin into the Legion as a Star Runner Trainee. I loved the characters, The book was well written. It grabbed my feelings and I couldn't put it down. Austin is a troubled teen who will do some growing in this book. There are a lot of challenges and losses to deal with. I loved the story and would recommend it.

[Crista · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m sure the younger readers will like this book, but as someone who doesn’t care for video games I didn’t connect. Also, the main character is going through everything his best friend is and yet he doesn’t click that he was also recruited??? Annoyed me.

[Lara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was different than I expected, which was The Last Starfighter. In a sense it was, but it had significant differences, and the big "save" at the end is not a clear victory at all. I would have liked more complexity, and to have had more depth and character development in the hero.

[Sara Avrams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gripping

Many a young adult learns in military service that war is more reality than they ever bargained for. But few people can imagine having the opportunity to find that a computer game can become more than just a game!

[Roh Bawt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing special or out of the ordinary. But it's an interesting enough little story to listen to that is certainly PG-13 if now even less offensive than that rating requires. If you want a casual listen it's worth your time. I'll be listening to the next in the series.

[Thomas Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author is creating a realized universe.

[Fermentum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stayed up most of the night reading this! Reminds me of a cross between "Enders Game" and Top Gun". Hope I like this as much as the Honor Harrington series and Ender's Series!

[Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy reading with a creative theme.
Enough mystery and desire to learn more about this new side of Earth and the Solar System.

[Joseph O. Gilpatric II · Rating 5 out of 5]

A clean read. No vulgarity or sexual innuendo. Yet, it's a very exciting read that keeps you interested. I am looking forward to the next book in the series.

[Jas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to be honest, you need to remember that this is a teenage Sci-Fi series when you read it, and try not to be too pedantic about some of the issues with some of the dialogue.
Overall, this has some really good things going for it. For those that are old enough to remember, the book is kind of similar to ‘The Last Starfighter’, teenage kids that play an online game, flying star fighters against an evil empire and pirates, and if they play well enough (basically getting to the top on the Elite Server), they earn a ‘Scholarship’ to a secret school. Once there they learn that the school is not all that it seems, thus the reference to ‘The Last Starfighter’.
The story is told from the point of Austin Stone, a teenager who has lost his Dad to illness, and his hopes of going to college aren’t looking good. In fact his whole future seems a bit bleak due to his financial status.
The school ends up being a front (minor spoiler sorry – but you should have worked this out already!), and the story ends up in space, with the group learning how to fly and fight in Star Fighters called Tridents – just like the game they used to play.
Austin is an interesting character, and although he is written quite well, sometimes his characters personality can bounce around a bit, making him a little hard to really engage with. There are some other really good characters, Skylar, Nubern and Bear, and of course Ryker. The character of Austin explores a lot of different emotions during this story, from growing up, the loss of a parent, and the turmoil of his role as a Star Runner.
One of the interesting things that was done really well was the conflict that Austin has when faced with the reality of the changes from playing a game, to suddenly having to do those things in real life. It is all well and good to shoot ships in a game, but to kill people in real life is totally different, and Thomas covers it really well.
There are other aspects of the dialogue that are a bit cringe worthy, but you can look past it.
For the hard-liners there are going to be some issues that might cause a few people to get irritated, but for those looking for a book just to get immersed into, for a bit of fun, a decent story line, with pretty good characters, then this is definitely worth it.
One thing this really has going for it is the exceptional combat sequences. Thomas may have missed on a few points, but his descriptions of the actual ship to ship combat is just outstanding, you feel like you are sitting in a Trident cockpit being thrown around in the full-on rigors of combat.
This is a lot of fun, something you can lose yourself in for a while and really enjoy, but with a bit of a morale conscious as well, just to give you something to think about. If you liked the new Battlestar Galactica, The Last Starfighter, the combat sequences in Enders Game, things like that, you will really enjoy this. It is good light-weight reading for when you just want to lose yourself in something good, but not too heavy.

[xenofixus]

I tried to read this but couldn't get farther than a handful of chapters in. Right from the beginning the book left a bad taste in my mouth with the main character. He is blissfully unaware of a female friend's interest in him, his best friend is better than him at everything, his home life is a wreck thanks to the death of his father and resulting depression of his mother. The clichés pile up and leave us with a highly predictable plot.

The best friend of course has everything going for him: he has got a car, girlfriend, on the sports team, good grades, prospects for his future, etc... Of course he manages to get into a special super secret college as well leaving our main character behind. The best friend is better at everything cliché is one of the most annoying ones every to be used in writing.

The plot itself could be interesting but is just too angsty. While technically sound I found myself cringing at the main character and the interactions he had with other people. While I haven't read far enough to make my own conclusions in regards, others have said that the book basically devolves into a high school-esque drama (even though it is supposed to be college).

All of this and more combines to leave you with a book that sounds interesting, should be interesting, but leaves you wishing you had read something else with no idea why.

[Michael Chatfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great concept but I found that it lulled in the beginning. I wanted to see fights, to see them evolve. The characters, didn't, and the fights were minimal.
The characters started out strong, lulled as they went through trials and the final stage seemed to be mushed together in trying to introduce people and things.
That said, I'm interested in the second book. If they can continue with the concept, the characters start to grow and I can have a clear picture of the growing universe. Then I will look into getting the next book.
Off to the second book's reviews I go!

[Selena Lang · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was so boring and slow I barely made it halfway through. I was listening to this one from Audiobooks.com and wow I just could not push myself through it any longer. It took over half of the book for him to even be accepted at this school...that's about as far as I got. The story was repetitive up to this point and nothing exciting happened at all. Absolute snore fest. Sorry I wasted my money on this one...Do Not Recommend it.



http://areadersreviewing.blogspot.com/

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

A different book and quite brutal in some parts that made it all the more interesting. The author did a brilliant way in writing the characters, that made them feel quite real and pleasant.

The dog-fights were quite good, but could have been better and some work on them to make them a bit more clear.

Overall, I think this book was fantastic, exciting, and great reading material.

[CJames · Rating 3 out of 5]

fairly good book a few places it seems to stall, the characters are easily likable, it was a lot of "high school drama" with the predictable bullying scenes and it also reminded me of "the last star fighter" film.
There are a few mistakes here and there as far a grammar but all in all I liked the book.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read!

Really enjoyed this book. Characters were well thought out and this story was a great first chapter in what could be a fascinating universe as the author expands upon it.

[Adamg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid story.

Looking forward to more in this series. Good writing and character development. Would have liked a little more technical detail.

[Teresa Carrigan · Rating 3 out of 5]

YA space opera. Science fictional parts didn't appear until about 40% through the book. I liked it, and may buy the sequel when it is out later this year.