Star Fire by M.R. Forbes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Star Fire by M.R. Forbes is a non-stop action-packed adventure. From a space battle to planetside combat, one pilot stands against a formidable alien foe. The escapade begins in chapter 2 and continues all the way to the end. You’ll fly through the chapters and crash land into this epic story.

Alliance Navy Commander Grayson Stone thought his assignment at a faraway space station orbiting a boring mining planet was the safest way to serve before he retired. He was wrong.

He and his mesh-partner Joie are skirmisher pilots monitoring the quiet space between the Spindle space station and the planet Warrick when enemy Commune ships attack. Neither Spindle nor the other skirmisher pilots out there have a chance. But Stone has a lot of experience and a history of heroics to back him up.

The Commune ship is nearly defeated when another ship comes in and attacks both sides. And it’s not like any ship Stone has ever seen. It’s gigantic and formidable with an array of weaponry. Stone and Joie’s little ship is shot down and they crash land on the planet. They survive only to find giant aliens have landed and are hunting them down.

Stone meets a Commune survivor on the planet and the two enemies team up against the strange aliens. At first it’s a flight, then it’s a fight when they find the aliens have taken over the human settlement where Stone needs to go in order to call for help.

How will they get out of this? You’ll just have to read and find out. Be prepared for the story not to be done at the end. Though part of the conflict is resolved, it is obvious the story continues.

The writing is well done. Forbes did a good job of building characters and building scenes. I loved all the battle scenes, both in space and on the planet. The story flows smoothly from one adventure to the next and I was on the edge almost the entire time.

One thing I missed amongst all this action was a connection to the characters. For some reason, I didn’t feel empathy for them. I didn’t feel bad that Stone might have lost his wife and daughter when the space station was attacked. And I didn’t feel angst when Joie had to be left behind.

I also didn’t care for the ending, but not because the story continued in another book. I didn’t like it because the ending made me think that the entire adventure was pointless. Sure, Stone might have gotten away by the skin of his teeth. But at what cost?

Still, I kept turning the pages because I anxiously wondered what was going to happen next. Star Fire is well worth the read and worth buying the sequel. It’s a fight for humanity you won’t want to miss.

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