The Starborn Heir: A FiveFold Universe Novel (Zack Lancestrom)

The Starborn Heir: A FiveFold Universe Novel (Zack Lancestrom)

An ancient secret. A legacy betrayed. A path to the stars. Zack was bred and raised to be the heir to a planet, but he's decided he's not the chosen one. He wants to get offworld, see the galaxy, and track down a piece of lost technology from his family's past. He'll need to steal a shuttle, get past the orbital defenses, and rendezvous with a smuggler on the star system's outskirts. But he can't do it alone—he's going to need a crew. Gathering a band of misfits from the colony's underworld, Zack strikes out toward the desert. The government is close on his heels, but Zack is willing to fight the gangs, make deals with aliens, and use illegal technology in wildly unsanctioned ways to blast his way to the stars. And if he can do a little good along the way, so much the better. Zack and his crew have a whole planet after them. The only way out is up. From D.J. Bodden, bestselling author of Viridian Gate Online: The Illusionist and the Black Year Series, comes a brand new science fiction adventure series set in the massive and ever-expanding FiveFold Universe. "Over the course of this book, Bodden grounds this distant-future tale in rich backstory. Readers learn that Zack was born on a space station and grew up "half oxygen-starved" in low gravity, and that his addict mother sold him to the governor. This novel is clearly the start of a larger saga, as it takes place primarily on a single planet and doesn't fully realize the adventure that Zack yearns for. Still, myriad conversations among the characters intriguingly shed light on some of Politeia IV's history, as well as on Zack's plan, although he continually (and delightfully) surprises his friends with details he's kept to himself. Bodden also includes some searing scenes of action along the way, including gunfights, high-speed air pursuits, and a tense trek through a dark cavern full of crawling things. Concise prose helps to fuel a steady feeling of momentum, but it doesn't skimp on description: "The lava flats were a multi-layered labyrinth of canyons and extinct lava tubes that stretched all the way to the iron hills. It was one of the places where the involuntary residents of the Starship Boneyard...were traditionally released, and was as far as many of them made it." Fine supporting characters, including the personable, R2D2-esque ARK-11, offer unexpected plot turns. The story leaves plenty for sequels to explore; it's also part of the much larger FiveFold Universe, which encompasses stories from a host of other authors. A gleefully motley cast spices up this futuristic adventure." -- Kirkus Reviews