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Starfire
"Let the fire of the stars rain down."
On an alien planet far removed from Earth, Rathe of Yanguch seeks to rise from lowly origins and achieve greatness in the Karn Empire.
His chance comes on a military mission when he is imprinted as the protector for a childlike artificial intelligence from an all-but-forgotten civilization.
Soon Rathe finds himself in the center of a war that threatens to tear his empire apart—and in search of a weapon that could save his nation but doom his world.
Rathe must navigate treachery and prophecy to make a decision that will change his planet forever.
On an alien planet far removed from Earth, Rathe of Yanguch seeks to rise from lowly origins and achieve greatness in the Karn Empire.
His chance comes on a military mission when he is imprinted as the protector for a childlike artificial intelligence from an all-but-forgotten civilization.
Soon Rathe finds himself in the center of a war that threatens to tear his empire apart—and in search of a weapon that could save his nation but doom his world.
Rathe must navigate treachery and prophecy to make a decision that will change his planet forever.
504 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 2009
1 person is currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
Stuart Vaughn Stockton
3 books5 followersStuart Vaughn Stockton is said by some to be a mere mortal dwelling within the bounds of Colorado. To others, he is a quiet, reserved fellow who is quick to smile, but slow to laugh. But those who know truly know him, know the truth. The man is a slightly insane weaver of worlds and teller of tales and from the depths of his wand’ring mind come things that you have never seen. Be warned that once you enter his worlds you will never emerge the same.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 11, 2009
Review by Jill Williamson
Rathe, a Yanguch dinosaur, happens upon a dying Jerkrenak in the Draskil Skereta Mines. He also discovers a maimed hatchling that the Jerkrenak had doubtlessly planned to kill. Rathe sees his chance to rise above his low rank. He takes a fang from the Jerkrenak’s mouth, carries the hatchling to safety, and claims to have killed the beast.
His heroism gives him the opportunity to rise to a new level of rank in the imperial army, a rank no five-five level hatching has ever managed to meet. But Rathe remains haunted that he lied about saving the hatching, and about the Jerkrenak’s dying words: “If yi follow through on the path that lies at yir feet, yi’ll bring the fire of the stars down.”
Rathe and his team fly out on a routine mission to transport an engineering team to a station where the communication system has gone down. They stumble into something much greater, however. Herian troops attack their camp and the engineers panic. When Rathe chases one of the engineers into the forest, he discovers an old science station. The engineer has stumbled into an old machine that somehow altered the creature to a being called Karey Or.
Karey Or believes that Rathe is her protector and that he must take her to a place where the Starfire can be engaged. Rathe’s troop believes that Karey Or is the key to a great weapon. They set off to use that weapon to destroy their Herian enemy.
As they journey, Rathe is haunted by prophecies from his past and present that speak of a religion he does not believe in. He might be the one chosen to decide if the Starfire will be destroyed or used as a weapon against his enemies, but that doesn’t mean he has to take into account old fables. Rathe will do what he feels is right and hope it’s the right choice. Either way, it seems, an empire will be destroyed.
Starfire was a completely surprising story. I would have never thought I’d like a story about dinosaur people. But Rathe is a fun character to read about. He is practical and tough and easy to relate to. He prefers to make his own path in life and can’t see how “some mixed-up, homicidal god could lay out a better track” for his life than he could himself.
Like Star Wars, Stuart Vaughn Stockton’s dinosaur creatures are all new and unfamiliar, so it was fun to imagine such a world. Stockton also provides a marvelous chart in the front of the book that shows the shape and size of each species in relation to each other. It was extremely helpful. As I read, I kept flipping back to the front to compare the species as I got to know each character.
This is pretty much a guy book. It’s about fighting and war and cool weapons and dinosaurs who bite each other’s heads off—only if they really have to. Pretty awesome stuff, depending on your interests. There is no romance in this story, but Rathe is a softy at heart and carries the smaller engineer female around on his back so she won’t have to walk. He’s the kind of guy I’d want fighting for my world. All in all, this was an action-packed adventure. I highly recommend it for those who love science fiction, fantasy, and epic tales of war.
Rathe, a Yanguch dinosaur, happens upon a dying Jerkrenak in the Draskil Skereta Mines. He also discovers a maimed hatchling that the Jerkrenak had doubtlessly planned to kill. Rathe sees his chance to rise above his low rank. He takes a fang from the Jerkrenak’s mouth, carries the hatchling to safety, and claims to have killed the beast.
His heroism gives him the opportunity to rise to a new level of rank in the imperial army, a rank no five-five level hatching has ever managed to meet. But Rathe remains haunted that he lied about saving the hatching, and about the Jerkrenak’s dying words: “If yi follow through on the path that lies at yir feet, yi’ll bring the fire of the stars down.”
Rathe and his team fly out on a routine mission to transport an engineering team to a station where the communication system has gone down. They stumble into something much greater, however. Herian troops attack their camp and the engineers panic. When Rathe chases one of the engineers into the forest, he discovers an old science station. The engineer has stumbled into an old machine that somehow altered the creature to a being called Karey Or.
Karey Or believes that Rathe is her protector and that he must take her to a place where the Starfire can be engaged. Rathe’s troop believes that Karey Or is the key to a great weapon. They set off to use that weapon to destroy their Herian enemy.
As they journey, Rathe is haunted by prophecies from his past and present that speak of a religion he does not believe in. He might be the one chosen to decide if the Starfire will be destroyed or used as a weapon against his enemies, but that doesn’t mean he has to take into account old fables. Rathe will do what he feels is right and hope it’s the right choice. Either way, it seems, an empire will be destroyed.
Starfire was a completely surprising story. I would have never thought I’d like a story about dinosaur people. But Rathe is a fun character to read about. He is practical and tough and easy to relate to. He prefers to make his own path in life and can’t see how “some mixed-up, homicidal god could lay out a better track” for his life than he could himself.
Like Star Wars, Stuart Vaughn Stockton’s dinosaur creatures are all new and unfamiliar, so it was fun to imagine such a world. Stockton also provides a marvelous chart in the front of the book that shows the shape and size of each species in relation to each other. It was extremely helpful. As I read, I kept flipping back to the front to compare the species as I got to know each character.
This is pretty much a guy book. It’s about fighting and war and cool weapons and dinosaurs who bite each other’s heads off—only if they really have to. Pretty awesome stuff, depending on your interests. There is no romance in this story, but Rathe is a softy at heart and carries the smaller engineer female around on his back so she won’t have to walk. He’s the kind of guy I’d want fighting for my world. All in all, this was an action-packed adventure. I highly recommend it for those who love science fiction, fantasy, and epic tales of war.
May 15, 2010
Wow! Sentient dinosaurs, ancient prophecies, mysterious messengers, a demonic cabal, bone crunching military action, all with boldly visualized technologies and rich backstory reminiscent of Niven and Pournelle at their best in
Mote in God’s Eye
. Wow!
In Starfire (The Mending) the young warrior Rathe becomes the focus of a planetary battle on both the physical and spiritual planes. Before you think this is a lightsaber remix, author Stuart Vaughn Stockton presents a unique alien world in which the dominant sentient beings are not human nor even mammalian, but saurian.
What at first seems as if a straightforward story of a young warrior maturing under fire takes a number of unexpected twists. Nothing is as it seems and assumptions upon which entire societies are based may be totally wrong. There were several points in the story where I literally did not know what would happen next or who the enemy actually was. The book proved to be quite a roller coaster ride.
Stockton's visualization of an immensely old saurian civilization proved to be intriguing and well conceived. His use of spiritual elements like prophecies and dreams are not contrived and are integral to the story. Stockton's use of alien languages for proper names and for common names of everyday items proved both intriguing and frustrating at at the same time.
The author has thoughtfully provided references and drawings to help readers understand the world in which Rathe lives. Be prepared to do some page flipping when encountering an unfamiliar term or species. I did find the need to check references diminished over time and the overall breakneck pace kept the story moving so quickly in places I abandoned page flipping and just pressed ahead.
I recommend this book to fans of Christian speculative fiction and to those who simply would like to read a good SF yarn. This is a book when once completed you will want to read again.
In Starfire (The Mending) the young warrior Rathe becomes the focus of a planetary battle on both the physical and spiritual planes. Before you think this is a lightsaber remix, author Stuart Vaughn Stockton presents a unique alien world in which the dominant sentient beings are not human nor even mammalian, but saurian.
What at first seems as if a straightforward story of a young warrior maturing under fire takes a number of unexpected twists. Nothing is as it seems and assumptions upon which entire societies are based may be totally wrong. There were several points in the story where I literally did not know what would happen next or who the enemy actually was. The book proved to be quite a roller coaster ride.
Stockton's visualization of an immensely old saurian civilization proved to be intriguing and well conceived. His use of spiritual elements like prophecies and dreams are not contrived and are integral to the story. Stockton's use of alien languages for proper names and for common names of everyday items proved both intriguing and frustrating at at the same time.
The author has thoughtfully provided references and drawings to help readers understand the world in which Rathe lives. Be prepared to do some page flipping when encountering an unfamiliar term or species. I did find the need to check references diminished over time and the overall breakneck pace kept the story moving so quickly in places I abandoned page flipping and just pressed ahead.
I recommend this book to fans of Christian speculative fiction and to those who simply would like to read a good SF yarn. This is a book when once completed you will want to read again.
Read
November 9, 2010Thank God for glossaries.
Without one, I would have been lost in Sauria, Stuart Vaughn Stockton’s alien world. Reading sample chapters online had left me drowning in unfamiliar places, people, and terms. After obtaining a copy and paging through the glossary at the back of the book a few times, though, I was ready to tackle Stockton’s debut novel, Starfire.
The book was long (over five hundred pages, glossary and introductory material included), but well worth the week and a half I spent devouring it. Stockton’s story world is rich and strangely familiar, despite the utter lack of a humanoid. Dinosaurs fill the pages, but they form well-drawn characters with struggles and emotions as real as my own.
The plotting was well-done, although perhaps it could have been a little more concise. I was intimidated by the length, and while the pacing is good, it wasn’t exactly rip-roaring the whole way through. I suppose this is the sacrifice made for a strange universe populated with strange beings. Stockton had just enough twists to keep it unpredictable, but not so many that it was hard to follow the story.
Stockton’s writing was excellent, so excellent that I’m having trouble reflecting back on it. For the majority of the novel, it was as if the author had ceased to exist. The Christian elements weren’t subtle, but they blended well with the story. The secrets of the jerkrenak and the Grakil blew me away. Also, the main character’s choice at the end surprised me. Nine out of ten modern Christian novels would have ended differently, but Stockton chose to remain true to his character, and the story is better for it.
The climax amazed me. I thought I had it figured out, but Stockton had a few aces up his sleeve that he saved for the very end. I was left hungering for more, with plenty of unanswered questions to be answered (I hope) in The Mending, Book 2.
Without one, I would have been lost in Sauria, Stuart Vaughn Stockton’s alien world. Reading sample chapters online had left me drowning in unfamiliar places, people, and terms. After obtaining a copy and paging through the glossary at the back of the book a few times, though, I was ready to tackle Stockton’s debut novel, Starfire.
The book was long (over five hundred pages, glossary and introductory material included), but well worth the week and a half I spent devouring it. Stockton’s story world is rich and strangely familiar, despite the utter lack of a humanoid. Dinosaurs fill the pages, but they form well-drawn characters with struggles and emotions as real as my own.
The plotting was well-done, although perhaps it could have been a little more concise. I was intimidated by the length, and while the pacing is good, it wasn’t exactly rip-roaring the whole way through. I suppose this is the sacrifice made for a strange universe populated with strange beings. Stockton had just enough twists to keep it unpredictable, but not so many that it was hard to follow the story.
Stockton’s writing was excellent, so excellent that I’m having trouble reflecting back on it. For the majority of the novel, it was as if the author had ceased to exist. The Christian elements weren’t subtle, but they blended well with the story. The secrets of the jerkrenak and the Grakil blew me away. Also, the main character’s choice at the end surprised me. Nine out of ten modern Christian novels would have ended differently, but Stockton chose to remain true to his character, and the story is better for it.
The climax amazed me. I thought I had it figured out, but Stockton had a few aces up his sleeve that he saved for the very end. I was left hungering for more, with plenty of unanswered questions to be answered (I hope) in The Mending, Book 2.
June 5, 2012
It's been a while since I've read an honest-to-goodness sci-fi novel. I tend more toward fantasy (way more), but something about this book intrigued me. It's part of the second run from Marcher Lord Press (a publisher I'd be submitting to in a heartbeat if they took YA), and endorsed by Donita K. Paul (all the reason I personally needed to buy it). But those factors aside--the book rocks.
This story has all the classic elements--an Empire at war, a young soldier who rose above his lowly origins, a prophecy...but with a twist.
The protagonist is no ordinary soldier. He's a Yanguch, a species of saurn.
Honestly, I have no idea how to write about this without thinking things like "talking purple dinosaurs for grown-ups"--but the book deserves to be taken seriously! It's well-written, action-packed, and intelligent. The characterization is strong. It's got some way cool technology and solid dialogue. Even the world-building descriptions don't weigh the story down, as can so often happen in sci-fi.
I enjoyed this book from beginning to end. And I felt the ending was balanced--the front cover says it's number one in a series, so I knew there would be a lead-in to the next book. I will definitely be buying the sequal when it's released.
This story has all the classic elements--an Empire at war, a young soldier who rose above his lowly origins, a prophecy...but with a twist.
The protagonist is no ordinary soldier. He's a Yanguch, a species of saurn.
Honestly, I have no idea how to write about this without thinking things like "talking purple dinosaurs for grown-ups"--but the book deserves to be taken seriously! It's well-written, action-packed, and intelligent. The characterization is strong. It's got some way cool technology and solid dialogue. Even the world-building descriptions don't weigh the story down, as can so often happen in sci-fi.
I enjoyed this book from beginning to end. And I felt the ending was balanced--the front cover says it's number one in a series, so I knew there would be a lead-in to the next book. I will definitely be buying the sequal when it's released.
July 18, 2015
Starfire is book 1 of the mending series. I really enjoyed this book and though I am fairly new to the fantasy/sci-fi genre, I was able to pick up this book and understand it really well, I was able to see the world and creatures as I read it.
Rathe is a low born dinosaur creature/person that happens across a creature that is dying and had been trying to kill a hatchling. Seeing it as a chance to improve his status he rescues the hatchling and claims to have killed the creature that attempted to kill it. His report helps his status and he is promoted to a rank in the imperial army that no one from his low born status has ever attained. Despite his recent success he is haunted by the lie he told and a fear of what will come of it. As his journey continues he will have to decide if the Starfire will be used as a weapon, or if he will destroy it.
Rathe is a interesting character and I enjoyed getting to know him througout the book. It seemed like each time I started to figure him out he would surprise me by something he did or said, or a choice he made. Overall I thought that Starfire was a very original book and a lot of fun to read. I look forward to more books in this series.
Rathe is a low born dinosaur creature/person that happens across a creature that is dying and had been trying to kill a hatchling. Seeing it as a chance to improve his status he rescues the hatchling and claims to have killed the creature that attempted to kill it. His report helps his status and he is promoted to a rank in the imperial army that no one from his low born status has ever attained. Despite his recent success he is haunted by the lie he told and a fear of what will come of it. As his journey continues he will have to decide if the Starfire will be used as a weapon, or if he will destroy it.
Rathe is a interesting character and I enjoyed getting to know him througout the book. It seemed like each time I started to figure him out he would surprise me by something he did or said, or a choice he made. Overall I thought that Starfire was a very original book and a lot of fun to read. I look forward to more books in this series.
May 12, 2012
It took a couple chapters for me to immerse myself into Starfire, but once I did, I was blown away. Stuart Stockton does an excellent job getting the reader inside the skin of his dinosaur heroes. I could see the volcanoes in the distant, taste the Seethe juice, feel the cold as a cold-blooded reptile would.
But not only was the world building great, I found myself thinking about the characters. I couldn’t decide whether Karey Or should be destroyed to save the many or if Starfire should be fired to save the Saurn. I struggled when some of the characters died and when one betrayed the others. I found myself relating to Struth as he works out his newfound faith in VorTolKo.
Starfire left me thinking long after I finished the book and in eager anticipation of the next in the series.
But not only was the world building great, I found myself thinking about the characters. I couldn’t decide whether Karey Or should be destroyed to save the many or if Starfire should be fired to save the Saurn. I struggled when some of the characters died and when one betrayed the others. I found myself relating to Struth as he works out his newfound faith in VorTolKo.
Starfire left me thinking long after I finished the book and in eager anticipation of the next in the series.
October 27, 2014
If you like generic space marine sci fi with great battles, you will enjoy this book.
If you want solid, intriguing world building, you will like this book.
If you are looking for any kind of character development for the hero allosaurus, you will dislike this book.
If you expect decent handling of anthro dinosaurs, you will dislike this book. They are humans with claws and tails. Especially tails. All emotions are expressed by the tail.
This is only book 1, and there isn't likely to be any more. The ending therefore is very unsatisfying.
Again, if you enjoy generic space marine books, you'll enjoy this. But it wasn't my cup of tea.
October 18, 2010
Stuart was able to masterfully immerse me in a foreign world, with foreign mindsets, with foreign cultures, with foreign languages, with foreign religions, and make me connect with it very deeply. I loved every minute of it.
Stuart takes the primal within us, the conflicts we all face, the struggles we all meet, the evasion of the Truth we all make, and the Truth we all need to learn, and brings it before us in a new way.
Highly recommended.
Stuart takes the primal within us, the conflicts we all face, the struggles we all meet, the evasion of the Truth we all make, and the Truth we all need to learn, and brings it before us in a new way.
Highly recommended.
October 14, 2011
On the plus side: A wonderfully unique and interesting world. On the negative side: The premise's main pull (technogically advanced dinosaurs) is never really developed - instead the characters come across as entirely human, save for tails and claws.
On the plus side: A surprisingly complex treatment of morals and theme. On the negative side: A relatively straightforward and sometimes even flat presentation of plot and characters.
On the plus side: A surprisingly complex treatment of morals and theme. On the negative side: A relatively straightforward and sometimes even flat presentation of plot and characters.
March 18, 2014
I suppose I really can't rate this truly. When I realized I the person I was reading about was a dinasour with a snout and tail, it was too hard to finish so I skimmed to the end. Three stars just means... I didn't hate it but couldn't bring myself to read seriously about a sentient reptile. Maybe if he were a large cat.....
January 1, 2012
Slow start. Good for fans of military SF. Great if you want to read about intelligent dinosaurs.
February 1, 2016
One of the most imaginative dinosaur stories ever. Opened new doors for me. Very revolutionary and inspiring in my reading experience. This one deserves five stars. I love this book!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews