SPACE IS VAST AND UNTAMED, AND IT HOLDS MANY SECRETS.Now two individuals from opposite ends of settled space are on a collision course with the darkest of those secrets, even as the world threatens to explode around them.The year is 2322. Humanity has expanded into the stars, inhabiting over 100 worlds across a third of the galaxy. Though thriving as never before, they have discovered neither … have discovered neither alien life nor the key to utopia. Earth struggles to retain authority over far-flung planets and free-wheeling corporations while an uneasy armistice with a breakaway federation hangs by a thread as the former rebels rise in wealth and power.
Alexis Solovy is Earth Alliance royalty, her father a fallen war hero and her mother an influential military leader. But she seeks only the freedom of space and has made a fortune by reading the patterns in the chaos to discover the hidden wonders of the stars.
Nothing about her latest objective suggests the secret it conceals will turn her life— not to mention the entire galaxy—upside down. But a chance encounter with a mysterious spy leads to a discovery which will thrust Alex into the middle of a galactic power struggle and a sinister conspiracy, whether she likes it or not.
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The year is approx 2322. The settled space is at peace… for a short time. The Earth Alliance and the remote Senecean were attempting to open trade relations then aliens creep into the picture. A love hate relationship develops between a smart beautiful Earth explorer and a Senecean. Will they be able to save humanity from alien extermination?
This is a hot page turner you must read!
Boring. Skips around to much. Lots of technical words that means nothing. Had to reread almost every chapter to understand what was going on. Narrator spoke in a monotone which put me to sleep.
very technical. a lot of dialogue that i didn’t think pertained to the killer
I thoroughly enjoyed a twist on alien and human interaction and who is to blame. Also a look at class structure adding the twist of mind control involving what earth has to really offer to an alien race. Art comes in many forms and does invoke the emotions. Good, clean read.
Interesting Si-Fi
I stopped reading the book because of the crass language and immoral implications; I think the story could be great if it were cleaner.
I read the first 90 pages and it was all about a conference everyone was going to attend. No science fiction so I did not find the book enjoyable.
This would be a five star if it were easer to follow, it took about the first quarter of the book to get all the different scenarios straightened out.
It is ok, nothing I could not put down and come back to a week later. Slow moving to me. But an ok book.
good read
as with some sifi jetting around the stars is so easy. wish it were so
Starshine is a fantastic science fiction adventure that will take you across the galaxy to vivid and exciting worlds. GS Jennsen weaves a complex and intruiguing plot, and you will keep turning the pages, eager to see how the pieces all fall into place. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the next in the series. The two main characters were absolutely endearing and I can’t wait to read more about them. Jennsen’s writing is superb, and at times there are sentences or phrases so beautifully and perfectly crafted that one can’t help but be impressed. The author’s ability to describe character emotions is some of the best I have ever seen. I also particularly appreciated the author’s portrayal of female characters. Too often, I read books where the female characters are mere caricatures meant to fill some placeholder role so the men can do all the important things. That’s not the case in Starshine. Each of the female characters is a unique individual with believable, relatable motivations and personalities. I loved all of them for that, but was particularly fond of Alex and Miriam and the relationship between them. Olivia was also a very interesting character and I hope to see more of her in the next book.
There are a few reasons why I didn’t give this book 5 stars. The main issue I had was in the way characters were presented, especially in the beginning of the story. Point of view changes frequently, and with such a myriad of characters thrown at you all at once, it becomes very difficult to keep them straight. The character index is helpful, but might have been unnecessary if the characters were presented in such a way that made them more distinct, memorable, and distinguishable. Many of the characters seemed to blend together for at least the first half of the book, and at times I wondered why the point of view chapters for some of the more minor characters had been included at all.
I admit that I am not really an avid science-fiction reader, so this may just be a personal preferrence. However, I was a little frustrated by how much in-depth explanation of science and technology there is. Scientific concepts have never been easy for me to understand, so some of this felt like it was completely over my head and obviously that’s just my own failing. However, it wasn’t always the content of these sections that annoyed me, but the way in which they were presented. At times–particularly early on in the book–Jennsen interupts the action of the story to tell us about some bit of technology and how it works. It’s a little off-putting to be reading an exciting spaceship chase only to have it interrupted so that the author can tell you about particle beams.
That being said, this was without a doubt an excellent story. I would certainly recommend it to any science fiction fan and, as I said, I can’t wait to read the next books in the series.
Makes you want to read all of the books in the series.
good story.
Great series
entertaining
Great interpersonal interaction between characters and a great overall story. It does seem a little convenient that all of these people that are tangentially related keep running into each other but it does keep the story going. Reading book two now.
I liked the story a lot, and I’m looking forward to reading the next one. Some of the science, particularly the FTL drive, seems to be more for the speed of the story than anything else, but that doesn’t take away from the story. All in all it is a good read.
Could not put the book down. Looking to read more in the series.
This is the first of a series, so of course you are left hanging wanting more story. But the next book is free!
Stoic exteriors and fun to ‘hear’ what runs through their heads.