Starfinder is a very entertaining fantasy book! If you like reading fantasy then I'm sure you are going to love this book!

This is one of those books where the kids are the main characters - the heroes - while the adult authority figures are perceived as their adversaries. Yet appearances are not always what they seem. As Moth and Fiona venture into the world beyond Reach on a mission to find one person in that vast land, they encounter strange and fantastic creatures, most of whom are fearful of something and plead with Moth and Fiona to flee.

The characters in this book, including the mythical creatures, were complex and fascinating. Moth and Fiona both have tragedy in their pasts that they need to deal with, Fiona's grandfather's loyalties and intentions are somewhat questionable, and many of the fantasy characters are flawed in such a way that it is hard to make out what their intentions are. One character kept me guessing until the very end - was this person on the side of Moth and Fiona, or were they going to betray them?

I recommend this book to anyone who likes fantasy! John Marco has created a fantasy world in which nothing is predictable, and the characters are fresh and surprising. Usually I can at least guess what is going to happen next in the plot of a book, but Starfinder was a pleasant surprise from beginning to end. I can't wait to read the next book in the series! ( )

this book is a fictional book where a boy goes on an epic quest to save a mysterious land from the starfinder a device that lets you look at anyone you want to and see what they are doing. the boy meets a dragon who is banned from his race because he made the sky lords find their home. ( )

Sometimes I read too broadly for my own good.

Years ago, I discovered a fantasy debut novel by the author John Marco, a novel by the name of the Jackal of Nar. Nice and gritty military fantasy that I liked enough to email the author about.

My interests and reading drifted, and I didn't follow up with his later works, and in point of fact John Marco slipped from my mind until I rediscovered his work. An email contest for a copy of his latest novel led me to obtaining a copy and reading where the author I had enjoyed a decade ago had gone in his writing.

Starfinder is very different than the military fantasy novels of his past.

Starfinder, aimed at a YA audience (although perfectly enjoyable by adults) is the story of Moth and Fiona. He's an orphan, the ward of an old knight, and dreams of flying in the skies even as he hears Leroux's stories of the Skylords, Faerie beyond a misty reach that laps against their mountain city home. She's the granddaughter of Rendor, military mind and creator of newfangled steampunk-ish flying machines called Dragonflies, as as well as a brand new, armed to the teeth airship, the Avatar.

When Leroux dies, willing and bidding Moth to enter the Reach and aid his avian companion, Lady Esme, to return to her true form in the process, Moth and Fiona find themselves on the run into the mists of Faerie, the Reach. As they flee, they are chased by Rendor, in his massive flying ship, and the Skylords themselves, seeking the unique magical gift that Moth now has in his possession, and only he can wield.

The Starfinder.

Part steampunk, Part YA, part borderland-of-Faerie novel, Starfinder is the sort of novel that adults will wish they had available to read when they were 12. Instead of the more conventional fantasy novel a la Harry Potter, the world of the Skylords is an amalgam of several fantasy and science fiction subgenres that provides a stew rich enough for adults such as myself to enjoy as well as children. Combine steampunk technology with a coming of age story, and a faerieland with dragons, centaurs, mermaids and more, and mix well. Very well, as it turns out.

Certainly, the plot and characters are somewhat simplified for a YA sensibility, to be sure. One shouldn't expect Joycean style characterization or Gene Wolfe-esque complications in a turgid plot in a novel aimed at teenagers, to be sure. With that aside, however, Marco has done a remarkable high-wire act in balancing these various concerns, and still producing a book that is enjoyable for older readers as well. There are strains and motifs of deeper and more complex themes layered in here in a way that hearkens back to his first novel.

It's clearly the first of a series as given it is subtitled "a skylords novel". I am looking forward to the subsequent volumes. ( )

Starfinder is one of the better Young Adult Fantasy novels that I have read in quite some time. The storyline is exciting and keeps the reader interested and John Marco's blend of technology and fantasy elements makes for an interesting fantasy world for the reader. The characters are all fairly likable and easy for a pre-teen to relate to. I found the material itself to be very age-appropriate and not in any way objectionable.

I read this book at the same time that my 13-year old grandson read it and both of us enjoyed the book and the experience of discussing it as we read to be an enjoyable affair. The book is written in such a way that it does not get tedious for either adults or teens. The switching of focus between characters is a nice way to break the novel up a bit and give the reader the perspective of different characters in the tale without having to go through the entire story from only one character's point of view.

We both look forward to future installments in the trilogy and eagerly anticipate continuing our journey along with Moth and company. ( )

Moth was raised by a retired Eldrin knignt, Leroux, who was always telling him stories of the magical and dangerous land across the Reach. Just before Leroux dies, he makes Moth promise to return Esme, his pet bird, across the Reach, becasue, according to Leroux, she is actually a cursed Skylord woman. After Leroux's death the govenor comes to their apartment demanding that Moth give him Esme. Confused and frightened, Moth flees to his friend Fiona. Fiona is lonely and unhappy, so when they find Esme, they decide to leave the city and cross the Reach hoping to fullfill Leroux's wish and figure out what is going on. Unfortunately for them, the Reach is often fatal for humans.
I kept waiting for the story to pick up, but it just kind of meandered along. Even the few action scenes didn't feel intense and then they were very brief and so many of the storylines were not answered that it really just felt like a big introduction for the next book. We only get very superficial information about most of the characters and I found myself lost as to their motivations. Are the bad guys actually bad or just misguided? So by the end of the story I just kept finding myself thinking, "I don't understand why he (or she) did that." Especially since every other action switched between good and bad, or cruel and kind. I managed to finish this book, but I don't think I will bother picking up the next one, I didn't get attached enough to any of the characters to care what happens next. ( )