In the first novel of a new four-book fantasy series for young adults by bestselling author Bryan Davis, human and dragon worlds collide when Jason Masters enters the dragon planet and meets Koren, a descendant of humans who were kidnapped and are now the dragons’ slaves.
My Impressions:
Starlighter is the first book I have read by Bryan Davis. Knowing that he is a favorite among youth readers I was excited to read and review this book.
First the cons. From the start, I must admit, I had trouble with this story. I got the two worlds aspect, and from the start was drawn into Koren’s story as a slave on the dragon-dominated planet of Starlight. But I must say that the high-tech gizmos and modern day language in the obviously medieval world of Major Four (Darksphere), was disconcerting and a bit distracting. Every time genetic material was mentioned or the characters switched to teenager-styled words, I felt like I was jolted back to the real world.
Now the pros. In discussing Starlighter with my husband, we explored the reasons behind what I deemed cons in the book. We came to the conclusion that the audience for which this book was written, young adults, probably would have no trouble with what I found distracting. Youth today often are exposed to fantasy and modern technology in their video games, movies, etc. and would welcome the blending of the two in this novel.
I found Starlighter to be an engaging adventure story sure to appeal to its intended audience. The classic struggle between good and evil is evident, but with enough ambiguity of the real nature of some of the characters to keep it interesting. I especially liked the two young women featured in the book — Koren (the Starlighter from Starlight) and Elyssa (the Diviner from Darksphere). These two characters were not only likable, but had a depth that made the reader care about them and want to know more. I would not hesitate to recommend Starlighter to young adult readers. However, I will not direct more mature (older!) readers to this book.
Recommended for young adult readers.
Read what others are saying:
(Thank you to Zondervan and Bryan Davis for a copy of Starlighter. The opinions expressed are mine alone.)
I also thought the young woman characters were especially strong. Related to your comment at the end, you might be interested to know that a related series for adults, featuring Adrian and Marcelle, is coming out soon from AMG Publishers.)
Thanks for the info. I tracked down Masters and Slayers and have added it to tomorrow’s post.
I really love the book trailers that Zondervan has been putting out lately. They do a really good job.
Jill
Interesting thoughts about how the characters talked. I thought long and hard about that. Since Starlighter takes place on another world, to be true to their speech, I would probably have to make up a whole new language. I didn’t really want to do that.
So, to translate it for a modern reader on earth, it didn’t make sense to use words that someone would use hundreds of years ago in our world. Why would they speak like a person in medieval times here? It made more sense to translate it in a way that appealed to a modern speaker.
That does make sense. I am looking forward to Masters and Slayers. I was wondering just what happened to Adrian and Frederick.