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The Cruel Stars: A Novel

(The Cruel Stars #1)

John Birmingham (Goodreads Author)

4.18 · Rating details · 819 ratings · 148 reviews

With a ruthless sect of humanity intent on wiping out their species, five intrepid heroes must outsmart their enemies in this epic sci-fi adventure for fans of The Expanse and Battlestar Galactica.

The galaxy was once terrorized by the Sturm, "species purists" intent on destroying any human with genetic or cybernetic enhancements. They cut a bloody swath across the stars, ...more

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Kindle Edition, 416 pages

Published August 20th 2019 by Del Rey

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Apr 29, 2019 Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley-all, sci-fi

I love space operas, space books of all sorts so I jumped at the chance to read The Cruel Stars. At first I couldn't get into the book and to be honest I think it was my mood and not the book. There were so many people in the book, I thought I would never get what was going on. That being said, I'm not one hundred percent sure of things that happened, but I got the jist of it and started to love it.

There are five groups of individuals that are going through one thing or another. This is what ...more

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Aug 20, 2019 Karen’s Library rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi, netgalley, thriller

The Cruel Stars is a military sci-fi space opera along the lines of The Expanse meets Altered Carbon and I really enjoyed it.

In the first chapters we get the POVs of 5 interesting characters: Lucinda, who ships out to her newest assignment on the warship Defiant; Professor McLennan (my personal favorite), the gruff curmudgeon astroarcheologist/historian; Sephina the space pirate (along with her motley lovable crew); 12 year old Princess Alessia; and prisoner Corporal Booker who was on death row ...more

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May 07, 2019 Tammie rated it really liked it

Shelves: netgalley, sci-fi, fantasy-buddy-reads, space-opera, adult, trilogy, owned-kindle

The galaxy was once terrorized by the Sturm, "species purists" intent on destroying any human with genetic or cybernetic enhancements. They cut a bloody swath across the stars, killing countless people before finally being defeated. Centuries later, this sect has returned, close to the brink of victory. Now five people must work together to stand against the invaders.

3.5 stars.

Going into this book there were a lot of characters and info thrown at the reader, so it took a while to get used to ...more

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Nov 24, 2019 Peter Tillman rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, friend-recos

Slow start for the series setup, but a solid beginning to this new Strine-flavored mil-SF space opera series. Once the Sturm come onstage, you'll have no further complaints. No particular fresh ground is broken (so far), but solid meat-and-potatoes reading. As always, read the publishers intro first.

I found the most impressive features of tCS to be the grand cinematic sweep of the book, which can be breathtaking -- and the interplay of the main characters. The ancient fake-Scots Grand Admiral ...more

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Aug 20, 2019 Christi M rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, netgalley

To me, space opera's are just so much fun. An adventure across an entire galaxy is just so entertaining because it allows you to imagine bigger than what reality is. But while I enjoyed this story, it did have a bumpy beginning for me.

Thoughts:
Always on the look out for a new space opera, I was very happy to get a copy of this one to read and review. The book is primarily from 5 different points of views, one of which is the story bad guy, Sturm, although his chapters are more limited than the To me, space opera's are just so much fun. An adventure across an entire galaxy is just so entertaining because it allows you to imagine bigger than what reality is. But while I enjoyed this story, it did have a bumpy beginning for me.

Thoughts:
Always on the look out for a new space opera, I was very happy to get a copy of this one to read and review. The book is primarily from 5 different points of views, one of which is the story bad guy, Sturm, although his chapters are more limited than the others. Initially, each of these characters are initially introduced in their own chapter. Although this introduction and storytelling technique is not new there did seem to be a disconnect for me on how they all related to each other or if it was truly going to be 5 different stories that weren’t going to intersect at all. Because of this it took me a little ways into the book to feel ‘at home’ in what I was reading. However, eventually it becomes evident that there is a connecting factor and I found the story more satisfying when I was finally able to see this.

The main issue at hand for Sturm was also one that was intriguing to me. In essence, Sturm believes that natural humans is the correct way it needs to be. A natural human is one that is not harvest or generated, but born from other humans and lives only one life. However, the books protagonists are mostly non-natural humans. They live multiple lifetimes (consciousness is just downloaded into another body) and are not ‘born.’ On one hand the individuals we are rooting for perhaps live a life that I’m not sure I completely agree with. Having not faced this choice or decision in my life, it’s really difficult to say what I would do. However, Sturm’s way of making his point is quite barbaric and is something I strongly disagree with. So, it was interesting to me to have mental conversations with myself as the book went on about where I might stand on this fictional issue in this fictional world.

Overall, I would recommend this book to those who love space operas and multiple point of view books, although it might be a bit bumpy at the beginning of the ride.

Rating: 4 stars

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine for the advanced reader copy and the opportunity to provide an honest review. ...more

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Dec 02, 2019 Lindsay rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

A really promising start that draws comparisons to Peter F. Hamilton and Marko Kloos is let down a bit by turning into just a war between the rest of humanity and a bunch of space Nazis (a term the book even explicitly uses).

The stuff with AIs that can use dimension-folding technology and embed their intelligences in nano-scale wormholes is really cool. As is the battleships making use of the same technology to do a TARDIS-like thing. And the commentary around the "good guys" being not all that ...more

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Sep 22, 2019 Aoife rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, my-bookshelf, action-packed, pretty-damn-good, review-books, space

I received a copy of this book from Head of Zeus in exchange for an honest review.

Thousands of years in the future, humanity has brought space travel to a whole new level and now, for most people, space and space colonies are the only thing they know. As well as new planetary discoveries, technology has advanced to a point when most people don't need to learn skills - they can just download them, and for the more privileged person, death doesn't truly exist - they can be regenerated again and I received a copy of this book from Head of Zeus in exchange for an honest review.

Thousands of years in the future, humanity has brought space travel to a whole new level and now, for most people, space and space colonies are the only thing they know. As well as new planetary discoveries, technology has advanced to a point when most people don't need to learn skills - they can just download them, and for the more privileged person, death doesn't truly exist - they can be regenerated again and again. However, death does become a real threat once again for everyone when a human faction called the Sturm, who believe in the purified version of a human being, come back for vengeance after almost 700 years of silence.

This is a fantastic first book in what I hope continues to be an action-packed duology, and I'm really pleased The Cruel Stars ended up living up the hype in my head. The book from the start is really well-paced with the first seven or so chapters being introductory chapters to each of our main characters who range from military leaders, princesses, space pirates and ancient scholars among others. This layout and pace of the book did remind me of James SA Corey's The Expanse series which is no bad thing as I felt like this type of book is exciting, and easy to dive in and out of at any opportunity.

At first I was afraid of the amount of characters we were following, but I actually quickly got to grips with everyone, and I found that I enjoyed all POVs equally and never felt shortchanged when one character's chapter would end and another's would begin. There is some humour and crassness included with some of the characters - particularly Frazer McLennan and his tense but rather hilarious relationship with the sentient AI that's been his companion for years.

The technology in this book is also immense, and the different types of tech used inside a human's body as well as how people live, die and reborn can take time to get your head around. There are also all kinds of spacebots, as well as some sentient AIs that honestly I couldn't help but picture as a plumbob from the Sims that talked and flashed colours. Because of the expansive world of technolody in this world, and the amount of vernacular and jargon used in terms of military sci-fi and general space travel, I would warn sci-fi newbies away from this book as I feel it could become confusing and overwhelming. Definitely one to tackle after you've gotten used to the style of the genre.

One of the only things I would have liked more of in this book (despire just more in general as I was enjoying the world so much) would have been more insight into the Sturm. We did get a few chapters from the POV of one of the generals but I don't think this view was well-rounded enough. Everyone appeared very black and white, and I think it would be interesting to see a Sturm who maybe isn't quite as brainwashed into the fascist ideology as the others.

A fast-paced, exciting space adventure that I definitely recommend! ...more

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Aug 12, 2019 Lauren Stoolfire rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Cruel Stars is my first John Birmingham novel. It's a space opera that I was really looking forward to, but unfortunately it never quite got into it as much as I was hoping to. There are a lot of characters (there are five perspective characters) and quite a bit going on. I liked the overall story and action once I got into it, but the characters weren't quite what I was hoping for.

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Sep 04, 2019 Kate rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites-read-in-2019, out-in-2019-and-read

Thoroughly entertaining space opera - excellent world building and scenario and some brilliant characters. There are laughs along the way (the hedge trimmer scene lingers in the mind!) as well as heart ache and intense action (lots of dismembered limbs flying around). I really enjoyed it. Review to follow shortly on For Winter Nights.

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Aug 01, 2019 Suzanne rated it really liked it

Shelves: netgalley, uno-blue, science-fiction, wheel19

I enjoy space opera and was very pleased that netgalley gave me a chance to check out this book. The first few chapters took me a bit to get into - we have five main characters, and I really liked some of their points of view/events a lot more than others. But then things started happening - big things! And from then on, the action never stopped. Looking back, that setup in the first few chapters was necessary, and I absolutely loved how everything came together.
4.5 stars

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Aug 26, 2019 Liz Barnsley rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I LOVED this.
It came along just when I needed a bookish adventure and The Cruel Stars was full of adventure. Well and a naked professor, a sarcastic intelligence, a flustered captain and a whole host of bad guys. Plus a princess, a pirate, a hedge trimmer (making me laugh quite a lot) and a few other good guys. I mean really, what’s not to love?
The world building is beautifully done giving you a sense of the scene that lights up the action. A motley group of survivors battling away, the group ...more

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Jun 23, 2019 Casey Wheeler rated it did not like it

Shelves: goodreads, science-fiction, net-galley

This book was a huge disappointment and a slog to get through. The author tries to present the viewpoints from five different characters without making any of them interesting nor the overall storyline engaging. A number of other reviewers seemed to enjoy this book, but it did not resonate with me in any way.

I received a free Kindle ARC courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher. It was with the understanding that I would provide an honest review and post it on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my ...more

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Oct 18, 2019 Leather rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I liked it a lot.
I had doubts at first because of the stacking of the points of view (6 of them), but they were balanced enough to avoid frustrations.
The last third of the book, in which the points of view come together, brings a lot of rhythm to the end of the story. In spite of some facilities I found this end successful, it is not so frequent in this kind of saga.
I very much liked the multiple approach of the transhumanism which constitutes the node of the narrative. It's well thought.

At ...more

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Oct 22, 2019 John rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sf-fantasy

Grand, epic war story, extremely gruesome and with a few too many pov characters...but also fantastically profane, well cast and choreographed, technologically credible, hilarious at times, and with all sex behind closed doors—so checking off most of my boxes. Hoping sequels won’t be long in coming.

All sorts of choice passages like this:

“I could just kill them,” Coto said. “It would save time later.” “Yeah, good idea, I know, but you kill one of these paleofascist nut jobs and you have to fight ...more

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Dec 02, 2019 Dark Matter rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

DMZ has reviews and author interviews https://www.darkmatterzine.com. I interviewed John Birmingham https://www.darkmatterzine.com/john-b... it's available on all good podcasting platforms as well as on video.

My review:
Lieutenant Hardy is waiting among the cruel stars while she looks at her reflection, worrying about her off-the-rack dress uniform that does not fit properly. She’s met by a man of slightly lower rank whose motormouth promptly informs her that he’s from a wealthy but not noble ...more

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May 29, 2019 Will rated it really liked it

Shelves: net-galley, wormholes, spaceships, reviewed, scifi, 2019

3.5 / 5 stars

NetGalley furnished me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Cruel Stars is a space opera set in a black-and-white world populated by vibrant and interesting characters. It chronicles the return of an old enemy, once defeated—the Sturm, a radical group of human purists set on purging the galaxy of any they don’t see as genetically pure. Where initially the world seems well-thought out and complete, it quickly becomes clear that the story is set 3.5 / 5 stars

NetGalley furnished me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Cruel Stars is a space opera set in a black-and-white world populated by vibrant and interesting characters. It chronicles the return of an old enemy, once defeated—the Sturm, a radical group of human purists set on purging the galaxy of any they don’t see as genetically pure. Where initially the world seems well-thought out and complete, it quickly becomes clear that the story is set entirely within the bounds of a single star-system, while supposedly the invasion is staged on a galactic scale. Plagued by uneven pacing and a fairly uninteresting story, The Cruel Stars is certainly an example of a piece that just would not come together as it was meant to.

Five regular POVs (and one infrequent) tell the tale of the Sturm’s attack: retired Admiral Frazer McLennan, the infamous hero known for defeating the Sturm hundreds of year prior. Princess Alessia, twelve year-old and heir to the Montanblanc Corporation. Booker 3-212162-930-Infantry, once soldier now prisoner and believer in the Code—a kind of digital consciousness that transcends the human body. Lieutenant Lucinda Hardy, initially assigned to the stealth corvette Defiant, a series of malware attacks soon sees her in charge of the ship, the entire mission hanging in the balance. Sephina L’trel, a pirate leader with a score to settle, must use all the tricks at her disposal to see her crew through the invasion. (Archon-Admiral Wenbo Strom of the Sturm is seen but a few times and makes a poor POV, due to a lack of depth and a heavily racist overtone that firmly entrenches him as a bad guy).

There is no perfect enemy. There are two short Sturm POVs, both using their ideology to just kill people. Not even those implanted, genetically modified, post-humans, but also the regular unadorned they came to “save”. Not that I’m defending the racists, but the author isn’t either. They’re the designated as the bad guys. While their ideology or beliefs or prejudices and such are never explained, or even briefed. By the 89% mark, there have been 3 Sturm POV appearances. All short, which totals to around one full chapter in length. So there’s really no dissenting opinion—one side is good, the other bad.

There’s also very little disconnect with the modern world. The weapons are fairly well thought out, but little else. The detail that Birmingham strives for in the first half soon departs, leaving the action and plot to carry the entire weight. I probably wouldn’t have minded as much had the plot been good. Sadly, what follows is a straightforward story with little to no character growth and frankly a lame ending. During the second half of the book, the author goes out of his way to remind the reader again and again of the characters’ motivations, backstories, and even why the Sturm are bad.

While the Cruel Stars was an excellent read over its first half, the following 200 pages struggled with identity, uneven pacing, and a slight, under-developed world. While the action is enough to carry the book to its outset—a subpar, unfulfilling ending leaves the audience awaiting the sequel just to figure out what exactly happened. ...more

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Apr 28, 2019 Anneke rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley-read

Book Review: The Cruel Starts
Author: John Birmingham
Publisher: Random House/Ballantine/Del Rey
Publication Date: August 20, 2019
Review Date: April 27, 2019

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

From the blurb:
“With a ruthless sect of humanity intent on wiping out their species, five intrepid heroes must think like their enemies in this epic sci-fi adventure for fans of The Expanse and Battlestar Galactica.

The galaxy was once terrorized by the Sturm, a group of “ ...more

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Sep 18, 2019 Brandon rated it liked it

This is a fun remix of all your favorite sci-fi tropes with a colorful cast of characters and some exciting action sequences. The book takes place over a very short span of time, focusing on a few different characters as a long-dormant enemy launches a surprise attack on this one human-controlled solar system. The book does not stray outside of that solar system, but does imply that similar adventures are occurring at the same time all over the galaxy. It's an interesting choice to introduce ...more

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Oct 12, 2019 RG rated it liked it · review of another edition

Blood guts and gore. Great action scenes but its got a humorous side as well. The worldbuilding is fun but not unique. Plenty of character POVs however I felt the characterisation lacking. I would have loved less characters and more time with them individually or even the same number of characters but more book ala game of thrones style etc. Good fun space opera but characters just didnt work for me

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Dec 24, 2019 Nathan Chattaway rated it it was ok · review of another edition

He Died With His Dessicated Gonads In His Hand.
Part Hornblower in Space, part Red Dwarf and relentlessly gung-ho throughout, this book grated on my patience. Birmingham is a good writer but he's really struggling to tell an interesting story here.

The Revelation Space trilogy by Alastair Reynolds covers similar territory in a far more unique and enjoyable way.

Disappointing.

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Sep 06, 2019 Jo (Mixed Book Bag) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Five different stories with five different characters. All come together when the need is the greatest. Fast paced action with interesting backstories and world building. This is a must for military space opera readers.

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Nov 24, 2019 Stéphanie Amesse rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Holy wow!! That was awesome!

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Dec 10, 2019 Nicholas rated it liked it · review of another edition

The Cruel Stars is the first science-fiction book written by author John Birmingham. While the dialogue and some of the action is quite compelling, the story is not exactly original or engaging.

The story takes place thousands of years in the future, where humanity has mastered interstellar travel, and has colonized the galaxy. In a familiar space opera trope, society is run by enormously wealthy noble families who are the ancestors of industrialists and capitalists from centuries gone by --- ...more

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Jan 17, 2020 Kelly Samaniego rated it it was amazing

Loved it!

The characters were great. The plot moved along nicely. I would totally want to hang out with some of these folks.

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Sep 16, 2019 Jennifer rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: australian-author, science-fiction, space-opera

Excellent.

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Oct 06, 2019 I.F. Adams rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A bit of a different take from Birmingham, as I'm used to his more quasi Sci-Fi "speculative" fiction, ala "Without Warning", where the sci-fi is more of a way to justify a thought experiment rather than the universe itself.

This.... is full on cyber-punk Sci-Fi meets Space-Nazi warfare. And it's great.

The start is a little bit much as there's a fair number of characters, and it drops you into a complex and involved universe very little hand holding. So it takes a bit to figure out. It's also got ...more

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Sep 02, 2019 David Fleming rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Classic space opera

A great range of likeable characters and richly imagined future societies. Best hard sci-fi I have read since Peter F Hamilton at the top of his game

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Aug 23, 2019 Alexander Tas rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

Initially reviewed at The Quill To Live -

There is something alluring about military science fiction. It takes the massive volume of space and narrows it to a single point: conflict. Often, this specific genre ignores a lot of the more nuanced questions that sci-fi often proposes in favor of a single query: what would humanity do in order to survive? Normally, I miss this complexity and nuance, but every now and then I want an action-focused romp against an easily discernible bad guy that Initially reviewed at The Quill To Live -

There is something alluring about military science fiction. It takes the massive volume of space and narrows it to a single point: conflict. Often, this specific genre ignores a lot of the more nuanced questions that sci-fi often proposes in favor of a single query: what would humanity do in order to survive? Normally, I miss this complexity and nuance, but every now and then I want an action-focused romp against an easily discernible bad guy that definitely needs a kick in the teeth. Luckily, the folks at Del Rey offered me the chance to fulfill this desire by letting me read John Birmingham’s recently released novel, The Cruel Stars. It’s a book that offers a clear black-and-white conflict with heavy action, but delivers little else.

The Cruel Stars takes place in the Volume, a series of undefined star systems colonized and inhabited by humanity. Two hundred years prior to the events in the book, a civil war was fought to decide the course of human development. To be honest, Birmingham gives the reader very little context about this war beyond “the Sturm lost.” The Sturm, a faction of people that felt they needed to purify the species of any genetic or cybernetic enhancements, were essentially thrown into the void after their defeat. Little is said about the conflict itself, and nothing is specified about the way they lost to one of the book’s protagonists. As the book opens, the Sturm are returning to fulfill their promise. The descendants of the Anti-Sturm (how I refer to them, not Birmingham’s words), the victors of the war, are ill-prepared to deal with their return. The spaceborn naval forces of the Anti-Sturm are crushed in an instant, allowing the Sturm to begin their campaign with confidence. Unfortunately for them, they do not wipe out all resistance, most notably failing to neutralize the man who defeated them two hundred years earlier.

The plot itself is straightforward, putting the reader in the passenger seat as the Volume-wide invasion is witnessed through five different perspectives – all of which take place within the same star system. Birmingham spends little time introducing the five POV characters, offering a chapter to each before the conflict begins. By eschewing worldbuilding and focusing on the characters and plot, Birmingham sets a brisk pace that propels the action forward. The narrative moves with a frenetic style that kept me entertained for the most part, but it leaves little to no real breathing room to really understand the conflict. I don’t mean to say “space Nazis should be given their due,” as much as I want to point out that the people fighting them are barely given a cause beyond “they’re gonna kill us”. It isn’t necessarily a huge problem, but it did not engage me with the fight for survival beyond “the Sturm can’t win”. It’s very black and white, which is what was promised, but the few slow moments left my brain to probe the empty spaces where worldbuilding should have filled in the gaps.

Which leads to the book’s info dump of an introduction that other reviewers warned about. Within the first chapter, I joined the ranks of readers who discovered that the book hits the reader with a lot of information up front before jumping into the “real” story. Normally, this doesn’t bother me, but The Cruel Stars made it more of a slog than usual. Birmingham introduces the story’s primary protagonist in a slurry of unfamiliar and decontextualized military ranking titles while also attempting to explain the character’s background and motivations. This narrative choice was confusing and failed to provide the “hook” that would otherwise have drawn me in. The other introduction chapters read similarly, with scant details on the world and societies that developed after the war, beyond the character’s small relation to them. I wasn’t initially bothered by this choice because it felt like Birmingham was leaving room for characterization to happen later as the protagonists watch their world burning. However, the reader is rarely given an idea of what kind of world the Sturm are destroying, let alone any reason the characters would fight for it. It feels like a missed opportunity to really dig into the setting and the factors that allowed for the rise of the Sturm in the first place.

There is also a very noticeable lack of scale to the story and the conflict. The reader is given very little indication of the size of The Volume. Vague descriptions offer an idea of factions that make up the Volume, but have no indication of their size, location, or political goals. We know that one controlling interest is a megacorporation where the C.E.O. is chosen by feudal birthright, while another powerful political entity employs a type of debt slavery, but that’s about it. Earth exists, but in what capacity, I could not tell you. That isn’t to say Birmingham is scant on details. In fact, he loves having minituae filter through the characters and the way they engage with their surroundings. The issue arises when these details focus so much on the character’s relation to the world that the world itself becomes muddy. It would be cool if that was used to highlight the Volume as a place that needs change, and that this war is just the thing to get it started. Unfortunately, this is not the case. While the characters expressed a general disdain for the socio-political structure of their world, there is little interest in following through on that unhappiness to facilitate real change.

The world would have also felt a little more real if the characters themselves went beyond their initial personality. All of the protagonists follow a fairly standard action character archetype, which makes them easy to latch onto. They were likeable enough, but they don’t really grow beyond that introduction. The reader is told that the characters are flawed, but other than being generally obstinate, I’m not sure what their flaws were. They didn’t really exhibit them in any way that felt human or effective. The “flaws” did not add any real character tension between the rag-tag team, nor did it lead to any conflict within the story. On top of that, characters who exhibited traits considered “impure” by the Sturm did not seem to have any added stake in the fight either. Everyone had the same feelings about the Sturm, which was just, “man, I hate those guys.” Even a small window into the life of the Sturm did not open any real avenues for exploration.

While The Cruel Stars has its issues, I actually had some fun with it. There are so many small details scattered through the book that feel like breadcrumbs to a larger context. There is potential for a more cohesive world with a broader and more nuanced understanding of the conflict at hand. The action is fast and intense, making the fights feel loud and messy. There are a few weird and contrived decisions, but overall the story had a nice flow that reminds the reader that a war is happening. The technology used in the opening gambit by the Sturm is terrifying, visceral and unexpected. There is a beautiful nuance to the way the Volume refers to the bad guys as the Sturm, while the bad guys call themselves “The Human Republic.” The little pieces added some flair and kept stringing me along to the end just to see how it would play out.

There is something fascinating about a story that has the ability to entertain while also leaving so much room for dissection. I think where this book mostly falls apart for me is that while I loved all the small details, the whole is less than the sum of its parts. It’s disconnected from its own world as much as it is from ours. It barely satiates the need to watch Nazis get their just desserts, while offering little in the way of counterargument to their ideals beyond “no way, José.” The Cruel Stars was fun and had some genuinely cool ideas, but that’s about all I think it has to offer.

Rating: The Cruel Stars 5.5/10
-Alex ...more

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Aug 24, 2019 Dale (Aus) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Great read

The strength in the books I love is always in the characters. This is one of those. Great characters you can really get behind, sometimes irreverent sometimes flawed but that makes them more worthy. From then on the story just takes you and them for a great ride. Not everyone survives, but then it would be a comic book and not a story that brings you back. Loved it and look forward to lots more.

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Oct 06, 2019 Steven rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Reviewed from the 4/5 mark.

It's a great Space Opera. It leans pretty heavily on Authority Equals Asskicking and has a clear Shoot Him Already. One of the protagonists is basically Honor Harrington, and the book explicitly lampshades her being a Hornblower copy.

I think the biggest flaw is the unwritten histories: several characters reminisce on important events in their past that go at best only partly explained. I kept checking to see if this was really the first written in this universe or if ...more

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John Birmingham

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John Birmingham grew up in Ipswich, Queensland and was educated at St Edmunds Christian Brother's College in Ipswich and the University of Queensland in Brisbane. His only stint of full time employment was as a researcher at the Defence Department. After this he returned to Queensland to study law but he did not complete his legal studies, choosing instead to pursue a career as a writer. He ...more