What do you think?
Rate this book
Culture Wars #1
Written In The Stars
The year is 2243. Mankind has reached
for the stars, creating colonies on Titan
and the cold, distant Nereid. Where
man goes, war follows, and now two
factions warring on Earth have taken
their cultural and religious war into space
in hopes of dominating Earth’s global
government, the Assembly.
On one side stands the Moral League,
a loose grouping of religious nations and moral conservatives whose aim is to
destroy the Freedom Alliance,
a group of progressive nations who they
claim are leading the human race
towards destruction. Rejected by his family for his
homosexuality, Samuel Walden finds
himself joining the Alliance’s Space Force.
Posted to the fleet’s flagship, the
Northampton, Sam meets the ship’s
crew officer, Major Tom Averay, and the
two embark on a relationship that will
change their lives. Love, war, humanity, friendship, sacrifice
and death weave through this action-packed
romantic novel. Will Sam and Tom work out
their feelings in the midst of darkness and
uncertainty? Will the Alliance survive against
crushing odds to preserve the human rights
it stands for?
172 pages, Paperback
First published June 6, 2012
About the author
Victoria Zagar
37 books39 followersThis author account is largely defunct as I have transitioned gender and no longer wish to keep this name. Some titles may remain under this name, but this profile will not be updated and no new titles will be released under this name.
In addition, the website Infinite Love has closed.
See Reis Asher for my new titles.
In addition, the website Infinite Love has closed.
See Reis Asher for my new titles.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 1, 2012
3 1/2 Hearts
Review written for and posted at MM Good Book Reviews
http://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.co...
Many years into the future war starts on Earth and ends in space, two factions are fighting for control, the Moral League a grouping of religious fanatics who want a moral world and the Freedom Alliance who just want progression and to love whom they wish. Sam joins the Alliance Space Force when his family throw him out for being gay, when he meets Tom an officer on the Northampton, the Alliance’s flagship, and they embark on a relationship that will change their lives.
This is a well put together science fiction story that is filled with danger and love. Sam embarks on a life change when his family throw him out for being gay, he joins up with the Alliance to fight for the right to love whomever he wishes, when he arrives on the Northampton and sees his commanding officer Major Tom for the first time the man takes his breath away. Tom fights his attraction for the new recruit Sam but before long they both realise that what they feel cannot be pushed to the side, and together they fight for Freedom and love.
I really enjoyed this story of a global war that was taken into space, a religious fanatical group deciding that the world should worship God to extremes and denying many of the things that had progressed throughout the years, like gay rights and on the other side we have a group that doesn’t want to return to the dark ages and who continue to fight even when the losses are great and the future looks bleak. When I first met Sam I really wasn’t sure of him as a character, he seemed to easily star struck but as I got further into the book he seemed to mature rather quickly and became a man of strong character. Tom is a character who has already lived through love and loss, through war and devastation so he has a character that is rock solid.
Although this has a strong storyline of fighting for basic human rights, throughout the entire story there is also the story of friendship and love, each plot compliments the other weaving a strong story of standing up for what you believe, but with also the small tale that no matter what, there are some things that never change and you will see that in Gracie’s situation. There is lots of action of space fights, death, captures, escapes, reunions and love, and it lulls you into a sense of devastation before rescue comes from a very unlikely source… this is a story that eases you in and then won’t let go.
I recommend this to those who love science fiction, fighting for freedom, fighting for love, space fights, escapes, danger and a very happy ending.
Review written for and posted at MM Good Book Reviews
http://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.co...
Many years into the future war starts on Earth and ends in space, two factions are fighting for control, the Moral League a grouping of religious fanatics who want a moral world and the Freedom Alliance who just want progression and to love whom they wish. Sam joins the Alliance Space Force when his family throw him out for being gay, when he meets Tom an officer on the Northampton, the Alliance’s flagship, and they embark on a relationship that will change their lives.
This is a well put together science fiction story that is filled with danger and love. Sam embarks on a life change when his family throw him out for being gay, he joins up with the Alliance to fight for the right to love whomever he wishes, when he arrives on the Northampton and sees his commanding officer Major Tom for the first time the man takes his breath away. Tom fights his attraction for the new recruit Sam but before long they both realise that what they feel cannot be pushed to the side, and together they fight for Freedom and love.
I really enjoyed this story of a global war that was taken into space, a religious fanatical group deciding that the world should worship God to extremes and denying many of the things that had progressed throughout the years, like gay rights and on the other side we have a group that doesn’t want to return to the dark ages and who continue to fight even when the losses are great and the future looks bleak. When I first met Sam I really wasn’t sure of him as a character, he seemed to easily star struck but as I got further into the book he seemed to mature rather quickly and became a man of strong character. Tom is a character who has already lived through love and loss, through war and devastation so he has a character that is rock solid.
Although this has a strong storyline of fighting for basic human rights, throughout the entire story there is also the story of friendship and love, each plot compliments the other weaving a strong story of standing up for what you believe, but with also the small tale that no matter what, there are some things that never change and you will see that in Gracie’s situation. There is lots of action of space fights, death, captures, escapes, reunions and love, and it lulls you into a sense of devastation before rescue comes from a very unlikely source… this is a story that eases you in and then won’t let go.
I recommend this to those who love science fiction, fighting for freedom, fighting for love, space fights, escapes, danger and a very happy ending.
November 23, 2012
Reviewed on Hearts On Fire... http://heartsonfirereviews.com/
The year is 2243 and while mankind has space capability, the Earth is embroiled in a civil war. It is much the same war that mankind has been fighting for over a thousand years with culture and religion at its center. On one side we have the Moral League, a fairly well funded group determined to set up a theocracy as the world government and bring man's thinking back into the dark ages. The challenger is the Freedom Alliance, a loosely held together group of countries who want to move man past the conservative ideals and into a future where the world government is open minded and liberal in its thinking. Sam is a young man rejected by his family for being gay who joins the Alliance Space Force. He is stationed on the Northampton, the fleet's flag ship because of his outstanding flying ability and is soon placed on a flight team. He soon meets Major Tom, the ship's crew officer and neither man's life is ever the same again. I found this story to be a study in extremes from the Alliance and the League to the military's regulations and our two lovers to the by the book Tom and the rebellious Sam who follows his own ideals. There is quite a bit of tension and conflict throughout the story because of the my way or no way type of thinking. The only real centrist in the story is the very outspoken and wonderful character, Gracie. She has the ability to cut through the conflicts and bring everyone from the admiral to Sam out of their own set way of thinking and to finding a compromise. Unfortunately, Gracie cannot do this in her own life and becomes an abuse victim. Ms Zagar did a wonderful job of weaving so many of today's social problems through this character driven story. I liked the characters Sam, Tom and Gracie who the story really revolved around. There was a good amount of angst between Tom and Sam which held the story together when the story line got thin in some places. I found the Admiral to be very stuffy and close minded to be the leader of the Alliance forces but perhaps he had to be that stiff as a military man. The ending was resolved a little to quickly in my opinion by bringing in the Teeresi forces but there had to be a HEA. I don't normally say anything about book covers but I have to say the that the cover makes the book look like a m/f book which it definitely is not. This was another good sci-fi story built around human rights and how far we have yet to go.
The year is 2243 and while mankind has space capability, the Earth is embroiled in a civil war. It is much the same war that mankind has been fighting for over a thousand years with culture and religion at its center. On one side we have the Moral League, a fairly well funded group determined to set up a theocracy as the world government and bring man's thinking back into the dark ages. The challenger is the Freedom Alliance, a loosely held together group of countries who want to move man past the conservative ideals and into a future where the world government is open minded and liberal in its thinking. Sam is a young man rejected by his family for being gay who joins the Alliance Space Force. He is stationed on the Northampton, the fleet's flag ship because of his outstanding flying ability and is soon placed on a flight team. He soon meets Major Tom, the ship's crew officer and neither man's life is ever the same again. I found this story to be a study in extremes from the Alliance and the League to the military's regulations and our two lovers to the by the book Tom and the rebellious Sam who follows his own ideals. There is quite a bit of tension and conflict throughout the story because of the my way or no way type of thinking. The only real centrist in the story is the very outspoken and wonderful character, Gracie. She has the ability to cut through the conflicts and bring everyone from the admiral to Sam out of their own set way of thinking and to finding a compromise. Unfortunately, Gracie cannot do this in her own life and becomes an abuse victim. Ms Zagar did a wonderful job of weaving so many of today's social problems through this character driven story. I liked the characters Sam, Tom and Gracie who the story really revolved around. There was a good amount of angst between Tom and Sam which held the story together when the story line got thin in some places. I found the Admiral to be very stuffy and close minded to be the leader of the Alliance forces but perhaps he had to be that stiff as a military man. The ending was resolved a little to quickly in my opinion by bringing in the Teeresi forces but there had to be a HEA. I don't normally say anything about book covers but I have to say the that the cover makes the book look like a m/f book which it definitely is not. This was another good sci-fi story built around human rights and how far we have yet to go.
December 31, 2013
“Written in the Stars” is not the type of novel I would typically read – I usually go for more paranormal/fantasy-type romance, rather than science fiction. I am very happy that I picked up this particular book. This story follows two men, Tom and Sam, members of a space faring military force in a conflict over political issues of equality and acceptance which we face in our real world today. I enjoyed getting to know both of these characters, and appreciated the sci-fi setting in which it was carried out. Emotions ran high throughout the book, and the author did a good job of investing the reader in the fate of the characters. Tom and Sam both developed significantly from the beginning to the end, which is always nice to see, and the ‘minor’ characters also had their own arcs.
On a more critical note, I found that while the characters were in the military, they didn’t have a very “military” feel in their behavior, which sometimes tripped me up (I am the wife of a veteran, though, so I have a particular real-word bias). The editing was well done except for the occasional spelling or grammatical error; it was overall a very "clean" and well-paced read. I will definitely be reading more of this writer’s work in the future.
On a more critical note, I found that while the characters were in the military, they didn’t have a very “military” feel in their behavior, which sometimes tripped me up (I am the wife of a veteran, though, so I have a particular real-word bias). The editing was well done except for the occasional spelling or grammatical error; it was overall a very "clean" and well-paced read. I will definitely be reading more of this writer’s work in the future.
November 29, 2013
3.5 stars
November 16, 2017
Well, basically... the romantic line was good. Not excellent, but rather good in compairson with many, many other gay-themed fiction. Of course, nearly all heroes acted incredibly stupidly (even those who are non-involved into the sexual affairs of main two), and half of the whole drama is formed directly of their meaningless actions... but still, the romantic line is good, for my point of view.
But everything else...
The whole "space war" part is basically a mess. Not only the space combat scenes are written very poorly & boring, but the author basically failed to actually explain; why are sides of Earth-based conflict are so eager to waste resources for control of deep space, which basically gave them nothing?
The whole background of "culture wars" are, frankly, laughable. Basically, it looks like that citizens of Earth woke up some morning, and thought at once: "what a boring weekend... Oh, I knew how to make things exiting, let's start a world war over some civil rights!" No explanation why some nations - or parts of the nations - supported League and some Alliance, and why non-aligned nations (like never-mentioned Russia, for example) simply did not stomp on BOTH sides are ever given.
The "military" part aren't good either. Author clearly have little understanding of any kind of military matters, like the need for strict discipline, or chain of command, or obeying direct orders, for example. Or even about fighting the war as whole. Mid-book, the Bad Guys nuked the most important city of Good Guys; instead of immediately nuking back some Bad Guys populated areas (it was a clear case of escalation, after all!) the good guys are moaning and skulking "oh, how bad things are, how our situation are dire"...
The ending is, simply speaking, the worst. The deux ex machina solution to the whole conflict in therms of "good friends with superior tech suddenly appeared and saved the good guys by destroying the bad" just seems incredibly lame. There were no previous clues that such friends even existed! The author tried to justify the situation, but, frankly, failed completely.
In short - not a good example of military gay sci-fi at all.
But everything else...
The whole "space war" part is basically a mess. Not only the space combat scenes are written very poorly & boring, but the author basically failed to actually explain; why are sides of Earth-based conflict are so eager to waste resources for control of deep space, which basically gave them nothing?
The whole background of "culture wars" are, frankly, laughable. Basically, it looks like that citizens of Earth woke up some morning, and thought at once: "what a boring weekend... Oh, I knew how to make things exiting, let's start a world war over some civil rights!" No explanation why some nations - or parts of the nations - supported League and some Alliance, and why non-aligned nations (like never-mentioned Russia, for example) simply did not stomp on BOTH sides are ever given.
The "military" part aren't good either. Author clearly have little understanding of any kind of military matters, like the need for strict discipline, or chain of command, or obeying direct orders, for example. Or even about fighting the war as whole. Mid-book, the Bad Guys nuked the most important city of Good Guys; instead of immediately nuking back some Bad Guys populated areas (it was a clear case of escalation, after all!) the good guys are moaning and skulking "oh, how bad things are, how our situation are dire"...
The ending is, simply speaking, the worst. The deux ex machina solution to the whole conflict in therms of "good friends with superior tech suddenly appeared and saved the good guys by destroying the bad" just seems incredibly lame. There were no previous clues that such friends even existed! The author tried to justify the situation, but, frankly, failed completely.
In short - not a good example of military gay sci-fi at all.
June 12, 2017
Not a bad story, just...not great either. I now have a new grammar problem to rail against -- the missing end-quote.
December 6, 2016
Enthralling, enchanting, and emotive - this book had me glued to the pages from the very start. I fell in love with the protagonist, felt his pain and his heartache, and loved the way the story progressed with the ongoing war in the background.
Masterful.
Masterful.
August 12, 2015
** 3.5 Stars **
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews