Starfinder by John Marco

Moth is an orphan who lives in Calio, the highest city in the world. He lives with Leroux, an old man who has been looking after him since his mother passed away, and he works at Calio’s aerodrome, from which the elegant flying machines known as Dragonflies depart.

Leroux often tells Moth tales about a rumoured land beyond the Reach - a sea of fog from which no man supposedly returns. An unexpected change, however, forces Moth and his best friend Fiona to cross the fog, and to discover whether the tales about this land, home of the Skylords, are true or not.

And so begins an adventure involving flying machines, birds that are not what they seem, mermaids, centaurs and dragons, a strange instrument called the Starfinder, and several secrets and revelations.

I really liked Calio as a setting, partially because of the steampunkish feel it has due to the Dragonflies. The first few chapters of the book put me in mind of the lovely Myazaki movie Laputa: Castle in the Sky. Most of the story, however, is set in a second alternate world, the land beyond the Reach, and that’s more of a traditional fantasy world. Not that this is a bad thing. It’s just that as a setting it isn't as unique or interesting as Calio.

Starfinder is a plot-oriented adventure story, and as I was saying recently, I’m more of a character-oriented reader. But I do enjoy a good old adventure story every now and again. And by saying it's plot-oriented I don’t mean to imply that Starfinder has vapid characters. Not at all. The characters are fully-fleshed, and what I liked the most was how complex their relationships with one another were. It’s hard to talk about this at length without giving too much of the plot away. Suffice to say that the characters are not easy to pigeon-hole, their perceptions of one another change as the story progresses, and Moth and Fiona in particular change and grow.

Time for the down-side: the writing. Not the writing in general, but something very specific about the writing. How do you feel about the verb “to say”? Personally I’m very fond of it. I like how, because we’re so used to it, when used in dialogue it’s practically invisible. And this means that it never becomes repetitive, just like “to be” never becomes repetitive. More expressive alternatives can of course be used, but most of the time, “s/he said” is just fine.

I’m not sure if anyone else is bothered by this, but it’s a pet peeve of mine to see writers use as many unnecessary alternatives to “s/he said” as possible. The characters in Starfinder quip, chirp and query. They bellow, boom and blurt. They grouse, growl and groan; hiss, scoff and fume. More: they sputter, snap and sneer. They even snort a time or two.

Maybe I sound picky, but this is something that can really drive me crazy. First because most of the time the verbs don’t add anything that is really necessary in terms of meaning; secondly, because they tend to add comedic undertones even to scenes that aren't supposed to be funny at all. And finally because I find it very distracting. I can’t pay attention to what the characters are saying if my brain is busy trying to guess what the next unusual verb is going to be. I just can’t help it.

But like I said, this is me. Starfinder is an enjoyable book regardless. I like the fact that even though it’s part of a series, it has a satisfying ending. It definitely leaves room for more (and I have a feeling the next book will be mostly set in Calio, which makes me happy), but the story we have here has a beginning, a middle and an ending.

Starfinder will be out in May.


Other Opinions:
Age 30+: A Lifetime of Books
Fyrefly's Book Blog
Rat's Reading
Graeme's Fantasy Book Reviews
Literary Escapism

(Let me know if I missed yours.)