Title: The Desert of Stars
Author: John J. Lumpkin
Genre: science fiction, military
Price: $4.99 (ebook)
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services
ASIN: B00BWF56GA
Point of Sale: Amazon Smashwords
Reviewed by: Chris Gerrib
The Desert of Stars is John Lumpkin’s second book, a
fairly close sequel to his freshman effort, Through
Struggle, The Stars. After I read
and favorably reviewed Through Struggle,
I eagerly awaited Desert, hoping it
was as good as the original. It is.
This
book is set in the year 2141. Humanity,
after having seen an asteroid smash into the Indian Ocean, has decided to
establish colonies in space. Thanks to a
Japanese scientist, they have developed a means of faster-than-light travel,
and used it to establish a bewildering array of colonies on nearby star
systems. Some colonies are independent;
most are controlled by an Earth nation or group of nations.
As we
find out very early in The Desert of
Stars, a number stars that should have had habitable planets don’t, thus
creating the titular desert. Since FTL
travel requires going from star to star, this is a real problem, and will put
the brakes on the expansion of some colonial empires but not others. A war breaks out.
Lumpkin’s
war is not, however, the mad-dash affairs of Star Trek or Star Wars. His spaceships obey the laws of physics,
taking weeks to cross a solar system.
There are no force fields, no visible lasers, and in general scientific
accuracy is maintained. This still
results in a very entertaining book, largely because Lumpkin’s characters are
believable and he seems to understand both militaries and history. Much of the story is driven by the
friendships developed by these characters during this war.
In
Lumpkin’s previous book, I dinged him for not including a number of nations,
such as India, in the order of battle.
Here, Lumpkin resolves that complaint, making India and Russia, two
notable nations left out, key parts of the plot. Lumpkin also shows a keen awareness of the
old saying that “nations have no permanent friends, just permanent interests.”
In
short, as literature, I found The Desert
of Stars to be everything a reader of science fiction would want.
9/10
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