Starfinder
Author: John Marco
Series: Skylords (#1)
Publisher: DAW
How Received: ARC
To see a mini rant on my original opinion of starfinder, click here.
The world of Starfinder is very much like our own at the turn of the last century, with steam trains and electricity and budding technologies. And thanks to the inventive genius of Fiona’s grandfather Rendor, humans have finally taken to the sky, not only in giant airships but in small, ornithopter contraptions called dragonflies as well.
Not everyone is happy to see mankind’s progress, however. For thousands of years, the mysterious and powerful race known as the Skylords have jealously guarded their heavenly domain. In all this time, an uneasy peace has existed between humans and Skylords, but Moth and Fiona are about to breach the magical boundary between the two worlds.
Buy | Borrow | Brush Off
Okay. Now, in my original reading of the book, I kind of yelled at John for jumping around points of view. And, in some parts, it wasn't needed. In other parts, it was nice to know what was happening, now I'm kind of torn. For him, it works. Mostly.
I really did enjoy the book, though it wasn't one of those "I-can't-put-it-down" books. I was always interested in what happened next, but I could put it down and walk away with ease. The characters ended up being rather strong and three dimensional - they weren't pure evil or pure good. It all depended on their society.
Now, it took me a long time to find a character I could relate to (with the exception of Moth wanting to fly. I LOVE flying.). I loved Esme, but she was a bird... and I love dragons, but these ones I couldn't relate to (with the exception of their love of books. This book had a lot of exceptions in it for me.). I ended up really loving the centaurs, surprisingly, and was glad John didn't jump into their POV for this book. (Keep 'em pure, John!)
All in all, it was a pretty solid fantasy read. I couldn't find any major plot holes besides the obvious one - why haven't people crossed and taken on the Skylords before? - but that will probably be addressed later one.
The sequel's definitely going to be on my TBR list.
Overall Rating: Hmm. I'm going to give this an... 9/10. With a deduction of one half of a point for the occasional random POV change, that leaves it at a solid 8.5.
Starfinder or Dragon's Blood? DB focuses more on dragons than SF does, but they're two separate books. One focuses on war and the other focuses on the relationship between a boy and a dragon. For pure fantasy content, I would go with SF - it's your typical fantasy novel, albeit a well written one. However, I still prefer DB - the relationship between dragon and boy is what's focused on, and I really enjoyed it.