Star Crusader

Hero of the Alliance

By: Michael G. Thomas

Narrated by: Andrew B. Wehrlen

Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's Summary

Nate has a talent for space combat after hundreds of victories in the Star Crusader videogame simulation. His skills are unique, enough to gain him a rare privilege: the chance to join five other Alliance cadets and escape the dull routine of the classroom. They will enter a fierce competition light-years away in the ancient Byotai Empire. Yet days after their arrival a rebellious faction begins a bloody mutiny that spreads like wildfire. The time for competition has ended; the time of war has begun.

A handful of capital ships attempt to avoid the massacre, but only Relentless escapes. Nate and his friends are aboard, part of the few to make it out alive. Relentless is a heavily armored assault ship, a relic from another age, but most of her crew members are dead or missing. Nate and his fellow cadets have to face the unthinkable. Under the guidance of Lieutenant Higgins, the ship's last fighter pilot, the six cadets have just days to practice operating the ship's fighters. There are no others. Only they can defend the ship, or face death at the hands of the enemy.

©2015 Swordworks Books (P)2015 Swordworks Books

Decent Story, Simple YA Sci-Fi

This book is, for the most part, exactly what I expected. The site description is pretty spot-on for this book.

Nate, the main character, is part of a group of students that have the top rankings in simulated flight combat. Flight simulations have become essentially the football of the future. Different worlds and races compete in simulated military flight missions as games. When the group of students competing on another world, the local citizens overthrow their government and attempt to kill or capture all of the humans in the system. The students flee on a damaged, outdated assault carrier with limited supplies and very few crew members. With all but one pilot lost in the initial escape, it is up to Nate and his friends to pilot the remaining drones and fighters (the ship's only significant defense).

The story itself wasn't bad. I found the backstory and description of the rebellion in the beginning a little confusing. All of the student pilot characters are also pretty stereotypical. Main character, girl he's interested in, best friend, boy he competes and argues with, etc. I found the plot a little unbelievable at some points as well, but nothing too bad.

Narrator was good. Definitely a good fit for this book.

Overall it was a decent listen. Lots of action, dogfights, suspense, etc. It was good enough that I'm probably going to listen to the next one in the series.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from the author, publisher, or narrator in exchange for an unbiased review. I was NOT required to write a positive review and this reflects my honest opinion of the work.

Great Audiobook

I've always enjoyed Mr Michael's books, and this one is no exception. Mr Andrew does a great job with his narration, and does good with the tone of the Audiobook. No spoilers here, but I'd recommend listening to the Audiobook if you like Space Opera.

Cadets to the rescue

I enjoyed this story. Nate and his fellow cadets are all the best of the best. The characters are all well developed. Each person has a distinct personality. They have growth. The book is interesting. There is a lot of action. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes YA space stories with a lot of action.

The narrator did a great job. He brought out the danger, and the excitement.

Great start to Nates adventures

Having just finished listening to the book via Audible I was checking it out again on kindle. I would recommended either the text or audio version of the book or the complete series you will be happy you did.

Action packed

This story is great. Start to finish, full off action. Absolutely loved it! Great work

Book 1 of the series

Liked the characters, Liked the story.
The books really need to be labeled with the order of reading though.

Decent YA Military Sci-Fi

Hero of the Alliance, the first book in the Star Crusader series, if a decent and enjoyable YA-level military sci-fi adventure. The backstory is a bit shallow to start but thankfully gets deeper further into the series as a whole (some in the first book, more so later). Nate, the primary protagonist, is by far the most fleshed-out character, with the others starting fairly one dimensional and slowly gaining depth as situations warrant changes in their characters. While the descriptions of military action are not up to the level of a book published by a bit name like Baen, they are decent and move along nicely. The biggest issue for me personally was some of the physics. An especially annoying example being when the ship gets to another system "a million kilometers away" from where they started with a black hole present, far too close for separate star systems and too close to a black hole not to be experiencing the effects of massive gravity and time dilation. As long as you don't worry about the physics too much, the book was an enjoyable start to what promises to be a fun, light military sci-fi series.

Disclaimer: I was given this free review copy audiobook and have voluntarily left this review.

Starfarers

It strikes me that there doesn't seem to be a explanation for the stars that are given. So I thought I'd start giving my take on it.
1 horrible no redeeming qualities.
2 there are redeeming qualities.
3 good worth reading, or well written but not my cup of tea.
4 great but there's something off.
5 loved it.

A good beginning for a series. I can't wait for more of this, I want to say more about this story but I absolutely hate spoilers, so I won't go into it.

I've recently had several conversations with people that have said that one of the things they'd like to see in a review is if I'd read/listen to it again. So I'm now adding that to my reviews.
Yes I'd listen again.

The narrator brings the story to life.

Reasons I enjoyed this audio book:
Wonderful characters, Great world building, Unpredictable, Original, Easy-to-read, Entertaining, Action-packed.
Bookshelves/tags:
adventure, aliens, fighting-war, futuristic, nonhuman, open-ended, outer-space, recorded, saga, science-fiction, series, ships, teens, young-adult.

This Audiobook was given to me for free at my request from the publisher, author or narrator and I provided this unbiased voluntary review.

Enjoyable Story

The story is good, though not great. In the beginning I thought perhaps this was the book form of the movie The Last Starfighter, as there is a video game that is used as a recruiting tool. That is just a similarity, and they are indeed different stories.
The pace of this book is reasonable. There is some action, separated by long stretches of very little happening. This is understandable, as the lulls are dedicated to the training of the young pilots. I would have liked character development beyond the protagonist during all that training, but the others underwent minimal growth beyond improving their skills.
Andrew Wehrlen is one of the better narrators out there. He delivers another solid performance in his signature style. For those not familiar with his work, he has something of a unique cadence when he reads. There are parts that either speed up or slow down unexpectedly, but in ways that make the listening experience unique. It may take a little getting used to, but it’s a little flair that sets him apart from other narrators.

I received a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Action packed space battle with teen cadets

What made the experience of listening to Star Crusader the most enjoyable?

I enjoyed the sharp, observant nature of Nate’s mind and the rivalry and friendships among the cadets. Each of the teens have unique strengths that make them a valuable team if they will work together.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Star Crusader?

I liked the young, brave characters and was fully engaged

What about Andrew B. Wehrlen’s performance did you like?

Andrew B. Wehrlen did a very good job with the narration. He captures the youthful personality of the cadets and is still able to pull in the older characters too. I had no trouble following the thought processes and action. I fully enjoyed the audio listen

Any additional comments?

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher

Great read

loved the book, loads of action from the start, hope book 2 is as good.

☺

This is very good got to give it 5 out of 5 100 % 😊