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The Brighter the Stars

Bryan K. Prosek (Goodreads Author)

3.33 · Rating details · 6 ratings · 4 reviews

The Brighter the Stars” is the story of Jake Saunders who is a soldier in the Earth’s new military. When he was twelve years old he witnessed the brutal death of his beloved uncle at the hands of a leader from another planet. Unable to help his uncle then, he has worked hard to get the revenge he has always craved. Now that he is an adult and in the military he hopes one d ...more

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Kindle Edition, 248 pages

Published November 10th 2020 by CamCat Publishing, Inc.

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Feb 07, 2021 Alex rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 5-and-6

Thanks to the publisher for providing an eARC of The Brighter the Stars in exchange for an honest review.

The Brighter the Stars is clearly a well thought out sci-fi, but I unfortunately think that's part of the problem here. It's not necessarily short for a YA novel, but definitely for a sci-fi one since sci-fi tends to be longer to account for world building. Because of that, I was assuming this was going to have little to nothing on the world building front, but it has just as much, if not mor ...more

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Feb 27, 2021 Maya rated it liked it · review of another edition

Read more on my blog: https://www.mayasbookshelves.com/the-...

Once again, I want to thank Netgalley for providing me with this amazing opportunity to read this book. Bryan Prosek has such a unique and different writing style to what I’m used to, and it was really nice to read his book The Brighter The Stars. This is one of the first sci-fi novels I’ve read in quite a long time, so I have to admit, it did take me a while to get into, however, the storyline was super addicting and I became really ...more

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Feb 04, 2021 Madeline (The Bookish Mutant) rated it it was ok

Shelves: earc, bored-bored-bored, disappointing, eh, light-reads, nope, science-fiction

TW/CW: violence, loss of a loved one

Thank you to Edelweiss+ and CamCat Publishing for sending me this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Wait, so we’ve got a protagonist who witnessed the murder of his Uncle Ben in his formative years? Wait a minute…[PETER PARKER INTENSIFIES]

(Kidding, kidding…)

I always feel pretty bad giving more indie books low ratings. It’s hard to put yourself out there, and especially since this one has hardly any reviews or ratings on Goodreads as of now, it did pain me TW/CW: violence, loss of a loved one

Thank you to Edelweiss+ and CamCat Publishing for sending me this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Wait, so we’ve got a protagonist who witnessed the murder of his Uncle Ben in his formative years? Wait a minute…[PETER PARKER INTENSIFIES]

(Kidding, kidding…)

I always feel pretty bad giving more indie books low ratings. It’s hard to put yourself out there, and especially since this one has hardly any reviews or ratings on Goodreads as of now, it did pain me a little bit to give The Brighter the Stars a lower rating. But hey, I’m supposed to give an honest review here, and to be honest, this novel really wasn’t my cup of tea, even though I’m a huge fan of sci-fi.

Let’s start off with the positives. What stood out most to me about The Brighter the Stars was the worldbuilding; the author clearly put a lot of work into making a fleshed-out, intricate world, and for the most part, he succeeded. Although there were several instances where I felt like the information was being info-dumped, the futuristic world that Prosek crafted was one that felt very lived-in.

I also liked the dynamic between Jake, Cal and Diane. They had great chemistry together as a trio, and even though Jake’s and Cal’s personalities/voices were almost indistinguishable, I liked Diane’s character.

What bothered me most about The Brighter the Stars was the writing. It was often very choppy, with long clumps of sentences that were almost the exact same length. Within at least half of the paragraphs, most of the sentences seemed to start with the same word(s); this, combined with the lack of variation for the sentence length, made for a novel that didn’t really flow. I can usually just scan the pages if the sentences have differing lengths, but even the action sequences failed to flow. Additionally, the descriptions leaned quite a lot on telling instead of showing–there’s a whole lot of “was,” “[they] felt,” “[they] knew,” etc., which also contributed to the lack of fluidity throughout the story.

There’s an interesting combination as far as genres go; The Brighter the Stars is pretty hardcore sci-fi, but there’s some clear Western influences on it. (I really don’t know much about Westerns, so take this all with a grain of salt. I guess The Mandalorian was pretty Western-inspired, soooo…) There were quite a few nods to the latter throughout, and I did kind of like the desert/saloon planet, but plot-wise, it still felt quite flat. It was fast-paced, but everything felt far too easy for Jake (ex. beating the supposedly “unbeatable” fighter in the arena, another plot point that I won’t spoil). Now, I’m all for good triumphing over evil in the end, but there seemed to be little to no struggle for Jake to get over the obstacles in his path. He was definitely more of a Gary Stu-type protagonist, which…mmm, nope.

Overall, a sci-fi that clearly took time to create a fleshed-out world, but suffered from dry, choppy writing and unrealistically skilled protagonist. 2 stars. ...more

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Feb 02, 2021 Bryan Prosek rated it it was amazing · (Review from the author) · review of another edition

I guess you're allowed to review your own book, which is what I'm doing here. Of course, I have to give it five stars. The Brighter the Stars is a fast paced, fun science fiction adventure, set in our Milky Way galaxy. It has an element of love, as well as a government conspiracy, and the hero has to fight against all odds. You can check out more details on my website at www.bryankprosek.com ...more

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About Bryan K. Prosek

Bryan K. Prosek

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Bryan Prosek is a science fiction writer and business attorney. Along with his debut novel, The Brighter the Stars, he has published books and articles in legal trade journals and magazines. When he isn’t writing or practicing law, you can probably find him watching science fiction movies or television shows. He loves the big screen and the small screen. There’s a good chance that he’ll be watchin ...more