Star Time is a new release from YA sci-fi author Henry Melton, and the first in a series called The Project Saga.
Sharon Dae lives deep in a Texas forest, hidden away from ordinary humans since birth. For a long time now she has lived alone, and at only twenty-two-years-old she knows very little about how people really act in the "real" world. Her best guess is from all the books that she reads. She's a telepath, and works to keep the thoughts of the entire world at bay as she works peacefully at the garden she tends and spends time with animals, whose thoughts are simple and loving. But then she begins to sense something dark and dangerous. Something has crashed in the woods near her, and died. It didn't die before she knew it was not anything from Earth though.
Sharon doesn't know it yet, but it was a scout for the bloodthirsty Cerik. They are a race of predatory aliens that have found themselves on top of the universe's food chain and are now nearing Earth to take advantage of the chaos and confusion that the supernova will cause very soon. A supernova (a star burning out) that is closer than any in the past and ready to cause unknown destruction. They'll be reading to pick off those who remain - with glee.
Abe Whiting is a young computer genius who, with the help of his artificially intelligent companion Hodgepodge, is searching for the debris of the crash near Sharon. He finds the remainder of the fragments and takes it back to his lab to study. But Sharon, realizing, through her telepathy, that this puts this strange young man in danger, has to emerge from her seclusion to try and save him and the thousands of others before the Cerik vaporize them just to keep their identity a secret. But she'll have to lie and trick and deceive - and be in the presence of so many more minds!
Star Time is a phenomenal, smart, brand new take on the the Earth as we know it falling apart under the destruction caused by a supernova. Mass casualties, chaos, and a loss of all the technology we have come to rely so heavily on form a scene that is handled with expert creativity through Henry Melton.
But I'm getting ahead of myself!
We get an enigmatic start with our telepathic recluse, a girl who is instantly likable and unique as a sweet, sheltered girl who begins to pick up on this abnormal predator race. It started to get steadily more suspenseful and intriguing as it went on, each and every page and character keeping me fascinated! It didn't take long to get a really good feeling about Star Time - and I am happy to say I wasn't let down in the slightest!!!
There is a hint of brilliance, depth, intricacy, patient plotting, and an incredible payoff that I've learned Melton is oh-so-capable of! Star Time is action-packed and edge-of-your-seat with truly threatening foes. We get aliens, telepaths, seers, scientists, computer geniuses, astronomy, and robots - oh my! You get a reminder of the very best classic episodes of Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits in Star Time, only with more detail, character development, and an epic-feeling layout that makes you feel like Star Time is only the genesis of something bigger - the first segment in a blockbuster series I want to follow!!!
And besides the sci-fi awesomeness, the end-of-the-world paranoia, the supernatural occurrences, and all that jazz - we also get moments of sometimes heartbreaking loss, romance that digs in and grows, maturity and intellect, and an undeniable investment in a large array of characters.
Star Time is Henry Melton at his best! This is a fantastic novel for any sci-fi fan, watchers of disaster movies, smarties, and bibliophiles who just enjoy an extremely well-planned story! Read it and be amazed! I can't wait to read the next book in the Project Saga - and neither will you, I bet!
***ALERT: Due to continued bibliophile reading overdosing, I am continuing the 5 reviews a week through August. After that, I am absolutely returning to only 3 reviews a week in September and on. So, we'll just think of this as a summer special! Thanks for reading!!!
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