Friday, November 23, 2018

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Ignite the Stars by Maura Milan




Ignite the Stars is a Young Adult Science Fiction book that I assume is the start of a series by debut author Maura Milan.  I can't actually recall how I heard of the book (I tend to bookmark books that I see mentioned or recommended around the internet by sources/authors I trust and often don't get to those books till months afterwards, well after I'd forgotten about the initial rec in the first place).

But I'm glad I did, as I enjoyed Ignite the Stars a bit for its three main characters, who all wind up being really well done, even if they begin perhaps as some standard archetypes.  The plot is moderately predictable - I predicted one twist rather early although a second "twist" I expected to happen never occurred, and yet again its very well done and made me want to read more in this universe.  And that's a pretty big complement right there.


--------------------------------------------------Plot Summary------------------------------------------------
The Olympus Commonwealth is the major government throughout known space, conquering other worlds and peoples and then integrating them.  But if there's one person the Commonwealth fears, it is the person known as Ia Cocha - the Sovereign of Dead Space, the Huntress of the Wastelands, the Blood Wolf of the skies, etc etc - a criminal/terrorist whose brilliant piloting and organizing has terrorized Commonwealth space and caused substantial damage to the people and planets of the Commonwealth.

And then the Commonwealth catches Ia Cocha, and to everyone's shock, she turns out to be a 17 year old girl.  And so they come up with a plan, using a device implanted in her heart to threaten her with pain/death, they send her to the Commonwealth military's main training planet to train her to put her immense talents at their disposal.

Ia of course has no intention of working with the government that destroyed all she loves and is evil in its actions toward others, and plots her escape.  But she soon finds herself making bonds with her roommate, a young girl named Brinn who hides her heritage as part of a conquered people by the Commonwealth, and Knives the flight captain in charge of the device implanted in Ia's heart and who Ia starts feeling strange feelings towards.

Can Ia accomplish escape before she becomes indoctrinated into the Commonwealth government she hates?  And if she manages to escape, will she simply be aiding powers even darker than the Commonwealth that are rushing to fill the vacuum caused by her own capture?
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Ignite the Stars splits its time between point of view chapters from three main characters: Ia (who gets the most time), Brinn, and Knives.  Ia is of course the main character who the plot revolves around, with Brinn having the real secondary plot in the story (Knives doesn't really have a side-plot on his own).  This works because all three characters are really well done.

Ia begins the book as a brilliant pilot and as a brilliant fighter - because well, she would have to be based on her background.  And while she forms bonds with the other two characters, this is thankfully not a book where she learns something about herself that changes her completely - it wouldn't be true to her character.  She knows that she's harmed many people - and that many of her classmates are related to those she's harmed - but she knows it was necessary, and isnt apologetic about it.  And while she undergoes some development in her relations with Brinn and Knives, it never gets cheesy in the way it happens (there are no "friendship" speeches here).

Knives and Brinn are also excellent secondary main characters, with Brinn being particularly well done, as the member of a minority group who tries to hide his own heritage and pretends to feel pride as part of the majority, and then comes to learn that things aren't as simple as she pretended they seemed.  Again very believable and with a character arc that is really well done.  Knives is a bit less developed - in a gender flip, he's the love interest who has some past trauma but the story never has him try overcoming that trauma (or shows any sign of wanting that), but he works well in combination with Ia, so he works all around.  And the side characters are generally well done, particularly Brinn's one classmate from home who turns out to have a personality that surprised me.   

If I have one complaint about Ignite the Stars its that the ending seems to ignore one central theme of the book.*  I expect the book to pick up that theme in the sequel, but it's a bit annoying to see Ia end up in that position given where the book is going midway through.  The other complaint I guess again is that one major plot twist is very predictable, but the book still surprised in some other respects to the point where it's not a big deal - in general the plot is very good.  And again the characters are very good and makes this well worth reading.

Spoiler in ROT13: Gur gurzr V'z gnyxvat nobhg vf gung bs gur Pbzzbajrnygu orvat na Vzcrevnyvfg Snfpvfg Tbireazrag juvpu znavchyngrf gur zrqvn gb rapbhentr gur bccerffvba bs pbadhrerq crbcyrf - zbfg fcrpvsvpnyyl va guvf pnfr, gur Gnjarrf.  N znwbe cybg cbvag bs gur obbx vf Vn pbaivapvat Oevaa gb gnxr cevqr va ure urevgntr naq gung gur Pbzzbajrnygu vf jebat, naq fur'f evtug, naq lrg gur obbx raqf hc jvgu Vn ba gur fnzr fvqr nf gur Pbzzbajrnygu sbe abj.  Vg frrzf hayvxryl gb fgvpx bapr fur qrnyf jvgu gur terngre guerng, ohg V jvfu gur obbx fgehpx bhg jvgu ure zber vaqrcraqrag naq yrff haqre gurve guhzo, rira vs fur jnf jbexvat jvgu gur Pbzzbajrnygu eryhpgnagyl.

Hoping to see the sequel get a release date soon, because I will be there for this one.
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