Beyond the Hidden Sky

Star Trails Tetralogy, Book 1

By: Marcha Fox

Narrated by: T. W. Ashworth

Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's Summary

A cross between Star Wars and Lost in Space, this is the first volume of an epic space opera that begins when the Brightstar family leaves their comfortable life on Mira III for a newly colonized world known as Cyraria, which is in desperate need of terraforming. Laren Brightstar is a premier terralogist and, knowing he's a target since refusing to work for old foe, Augustus Troy, accepting the chief terralogist position on the other side of the galaxy seems like the simplest solution. 

Getting there, however, isn't. Not with a teenage daughter like Creena. She's Intelligent. She's a rebel. And now, only a short time into their journey, she's missing - in deep space. Was it an accident? Or abduction? Either way he has to find her. Before Troy does. And somehow he knows life will never be simple again.

©2013 Marcha Fox (P)2019 Marcha Fox

Scifi

My only negative is the girl at the beginning of the book who I found that I did not like and acted really stupid. But she was young.
I wanted to see where the author would take us with it so, I kept on listening. I loved the other characters.

hard sci-fi in a soft squishy package.

This is a family drama set in space where the parents are parenting and the children are children, even if they are exceptionally gifted. I appreciated this aspect as growing up, I found it unbelievable how many children's books featured parents who had no clue what was happening.

in this way, the story is reminiscent of Lost In Space in that it's first and foremost a story about family.

I gave it four stars because of the extremely technical physics concepts that were discussed. I love that the author is an actual rocket scientist and that she wanted to make her story factual, but honestly the science detracted from the drama and I tuned out during most of the physics talks.

If relativity makes getting back to your family hard, the simple answer is to not spilt up. But then doing things simply would have negated most of this books plot points.

Another aspect of the story oddly enough is the illogical and unique ability of humans to act intuitively. To put this in Star Trek terms, a half Vulcan child learns to survive using both logic and gut instinct.

I am very interested in where this story is headed next.

The narrator did a fine job of reading the characters with unique voices so that each came to life with personality and attitude, maybe too much attitude for characters that were meant to be wholely logical and unemotional. But I largely blame the dialogue for that.

Hard Read/Audio

I found this book very hard to get into, Too technical in many places and hopscotched around too much!
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Beyond the Hidden Sky

I struggled to get into the world of the book. But with a little bit of persistence it becomes a pretty intriguing plot.
Being book 1 in a series means that the laying of the "world" slows down the pace of the book, but I am confident that the next in the series will be amazing.
If this is your genre then I highly recommend this audio book as the starting point for an epic adventure.
I received a free copy of this audio book at my own request and voluntarily leave this honest review. .

Intriguing Universe Building

Beyond the a Hidden Sky is the first novel in the StarTrails Tetralogy. This novel revolves around the Brightstar family, and especially Creena, the impulsive and spoiled teenage daughter. I found the background universe to be very intriguing and my favorite characters were the android and the intelligent plant! This novel is an entertaining introduction to a promising series.

Not as good as her other books but ok!

Beyond the Hidden Sky
Star Trails Tetralogy, Book 1
By: Marcha Fox
Narrated by: T. W. Ashworth
This is an audible book I requested and the review is voluntary. I have read another book by this author and really enjoyed it but I found in this book there were places that lagged. The characters weren't as well developed as I would have liked and the suspense/tension situation seemed to always fall flat.
I did love the plot and the type of imagination for the creatures! I have been reading hard core sci-fi all my life so it may be that teens are going to love this, especially those new to the genre.
I remember getting my first sci-fi book at the age of 5. It was about men on Mars (think creatures on Mars). I about split my face smiling! I was already so sick of boring Dick and Jane!
The narrator I cannot endorse. I think that brought the book down rather than enhancing it. A better narration would have made a big difference too.

Even better the second time!

I loved this story in paperback so when I saw it was an audio I had to listen. It's such a classic story of a teen girl and her family. Creena - the teen girl - after a disagreement with her brother gets onto a small ship within the large transport ship she and her family are traveling on. The small ship is ejected with her, into space. She is a bit of a rebel, a free thinker and doesn't get along well with the ships on board computer. There are a lot of funny moments in the book as well as suspenseful adventure. That begins her journey. Her father sets off after her with her brother but with light travel the way it is they have a job trying to find her.

The adventure includes other planets, aliens, an intelligent plant and forms of artificial intelligence. There's twists in the plot so it's hard to guess exactly what's going to happen next or how the story will end. Author Marcha Fox doesn't simply have a gift for words on paper but she creates a believable world of hard core sci-fi and characters that make the one laugh and cringe. What's a good story without an evil villain?

The added narration of listening vs. reading is the next best thing to this series being put into a movie. .W. Ashworth does an amazing job with the voices and keeping up with the pacing of the story. I'm ready to listen to book 2 A Dark of Endless Days! This series is like the perfect combination between Star Wars and Lost in Space!