Reviewed by Dan
TITLE: BRIGHT STAR
AUTHOR: TALIA R. BLACKWOOD
PUBLISHER: DREAMSPINNER PRESS
LENGTH: 162 PAGES
BLURB:
“I am his guardian angel. I don’t know who he is. I know every line of his face—the curve of his lips is carved in my soul—but I don’t know his name. I always called him just Prince.”
Tasked to watch over a young man in suspended animation, Phae, a clone, spends his life alone on an empty spaceship, focused only on the protection of his ward. Prince isn’t scheduled to wake for another twenty years, but an attack on the ship starts the automatic awakening procedure. Prince relieves Phae’s loneliness and teaches him the meaning of love. However, the mission becomes more complicated than either man was led to believe—and far more dangerous. Their destination is a world held hostage, where clones are disposable and Phae is scheduled for “recycling” when his duty is done.
REVIEW:
I want to start by saying I really enjoyed this novella. It was an easy one day read. The characters are likeable and the plot of the story is interesting. I was happy to get a chance to review it. I’ve been a sci-fi/fantasy nerd since I found my way to the adult floor in our town library when I was about 8. A sci-fi with m/m characters? My favorite kind!
In the story we are introduced to Phaedrus, usually shortened to Phae, the lone awake occupant of a very large, very decrepit space ship hurtling through space. The only other occupant is a young man in suspended animation. We learn that Phae is the second clone tasked with caring for the sleeper, and the other, Blasius, died several years earlier leaving Phae, a young child at the time, the only caretaker. When Phae is 19, aliens resembling huge spiders board the space craft. Emergency protocols are initiated and Phae is forced to use the secret code Bright Star to awaken the young sleeper that he only knows as Prince.
The author rapidly carries us along through the story, with human/clone sex (unheard of since the clones are considered less than human and basically disposable slaves), alien interaction, uber-evil politicians, bad-ass soldier clones, a new planet and the further adventures of both Phae and Prince. And the sex isn’t completely vanilla, which is a good thing! But there could have been more….just saying!
Although it is in the m/m genre, it is first and foremost, in my opinion, science-fiction. I personally would really have liked more details on some items and I was left feeling a little dissatisfied about a few things. I would really like to know what happened to the aliens afterwards and what the mysterious orb they gave to Prince actually is. I also think the book had a LOT of room for expansion and greater details in other areas. For example, the entire destruction of the planet Earth was covered in one paragraph! Seriously? Then it is never mentioned again directly. I’ve seen more detailed coverage of incidentals like a barking dog in some books!
Now that I’ve sounded harsh, I want to clarify that I enjoyed it and ended with a smile. I get that the author was keeping the story focused on the relationship between the two men, spanning decades through the liberal use of cold sleep. I get that it is a m/m romance that just happens to take place in the future in a spaceship. I get that a 53 y/o gay man who has been reading sci-fi and fantasy for 45 years probably isn’t the target demographic for the book.
I’m giving it a 4.0 star rating, meaning I liked it a lot. It could easily have been a 4.5 with greater details and length, because the characters and the story are well written and likeable. I hope the author goes on to write more m/m sci-fi, but longer please! I recommend Bright Star for anyone, like myself, who enjoys sci-fi. I’ll be watching for Ms. Blackwood’s future works.
RATING: 
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