Hi guys, we have F.T. Lukens popping in today with her new release The Star Host, this is a great science fiction story and F.T. is sharing an excerpt so you can check it out for yourself, so enjoy the post! <3 ~Pixie~
The Star Host
F.T. Lukens
Ren grew up listening to his mother tell stories about the Star Hosts – a mythical group of people possessed by the power of the stars. The stories were the most exciting part of Ren’s life, and he often dreamed about leaving his backwater planet and finding his place among the neighboring drifts. When Ren is captured by soldiers and taken from his home, he must remain inconspicuous while plotting his escape. It’s a challenge since the general of the Baron’s army is convinced Ren is something out of one of his mother’s stories.
Ren finds companionship in the occupant of the cell next to his, a drifter named Asher. A member of the Phoenix Corps, Asher is mysterious, charming, and exactly the person Ren needs to anchor him as his sudden technopathic ability threatens to consume him. Ren doesn’t mean to become attached, but after a daring escape, a trek across the planet, and an eventful ride on a merchant ship, Asher is the only thing that reminds Ren of home. Together, they must warn the drifts of the Baron’s plans, master Ren’s growing power, and try to save their friends while navigating the growing attraction between them.
Excerpt
Whatever this was. Whatever Ren could do. He was going to master it and he was going to use it to escape.
* * *
Ren chuckled and folded his arms behind his head. He squinted up into the deepening blue, and spotted the broken moon of Erden hanging low, emerging slowly among the wispy clouds. Liam dropped beside him and shook his head, spraying Ren with icy droplets.
“Ugh. Stop it,” Ren said, pushing Liam on the shoulder. “Go shake like a dog over there.”
“Why do you always do that?”
Ren dropped his hand to the sand. “Do what?”
“Look up at the stuff in the sky. You’re never getting up there, you know.”
Ren frowned. “I might.”
“Not likely,” Liam answered. He lay down next to Ren, their shoulders touching.
Ren was older than Liam by two years. They shared a mother, but not a father. Ren’s father was gone, a member of a Phoenix Corps regiment which passed through their village eighteen years ago.
Ren never knew him. And where Liam took after their mother, short, stocky, and fair, Ren was his father’s child, tall and gangly with dark hair and dark eyes.
“You’re so sure of that, are you? One day, I’m going to be on one of those ships and find work on a drift.”
“Doing what? Harvesting their nonexistent fields? You can wish on the stars all you want, Ren, but you were born a duster. Dusters don’t leave their planets.”
Ren sighed. His brother was too pragmatic for his age, too stuck in the way of things. Ren could dream. He always did, of a place among the stars.
“We’re not meant to be planet bound. We’re part of them, you know.”
“You’re not seriously quoting the bedtime story Mom always told us.”
Ren elbowed Liam in the ribs and earned a grunt. “It’s not a story. It’s a legend.”
“It’s fiction.”
“Legends have truth in them.”
Liam sat up, brushed away the sand clinging to his arms. “You honestly believe we’re made of stardust?”
“It’s better than believing we’re made of dirt.”
Liam rolled his eyes. “And do you believe there are men so powerful they broke the sky? And in women who can tell the future? And humans who became machines? And meteorites can grant wishes?”
About F.T.
F.T. wrote her first short story when she was in third grade and her love of writing continued from there. After placing in the top five out of ten thousand entries in a writing contest, she knew it was time to dive in and try her hand at writing a novel.
A wife and mother of three, F.T. holds degrees in psychology and English literature, and is a long-time member of her college’s science-fiction club. F.T. has a love of cheesy television shows, superhero movies, and science-fiction novels—especially anything by Douglas Adams.
Connect with F.T. at authorftlukens.wordpress.com on Twitter @ftlukens, on Tumblr at ftlukens.tumblr.com and on Goodreads at goodreads.com/ftlukens.
Review
Title: The Star Host
Author: F.T. Lukens
Genre: Science Fiction
Length: 258 pages
ISBN: 978-1-941530-73-3
Publisher: Interlude Press (March 3, 2016)
Heat Level: Moderate
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥ 4 ½ Hearts
Reviewer: Shorty
Blurb: Ren grew up listening to his mother tell stories about the Star Hosts – a mythical group of people possessed by the power of the stars. The stories were the most exciting part of Ren’s life, and he often dreamed about leaving his backwater planet and finding his place among the neighboring drifts.
When Ren is captured by soldiers and taken from his home, he must remain inconspicuous while plotting his escape. It’s a challenge since the general of the Baron’s army is convinced Ren is something out of one of his mother’s stories.
He finds companionship in the occupant of the cell next to his, a drifter named Asher. A member of the Phoenix Corps, Asher is mysterious, charming, and exactly the person Ren needs to anchor him as his sudden technopathic ability threatens to consume him. Ren doesn’t mean to become attached, but after a daring escape, a trek across the planet and an eventful ride on a merchant ship,
Asher is the only thing that reminds Ren of home. Together, they must warn the drifts of the Baron’s plans, master Ren’s growing power, and try to save their friends while navigating the growing attraction between them.
Product Link: http://store.interludepress.com/collections/ebooks/products/the-star-host-by-f-t-lukens-ebook-edition
Review: Wow, just wow. I loved this book. Filled with mystery, adventure, secrets and drama this story takes you on a journey that may or may not end in tragedy. A Baron who takes people from villages for power, invades Ren’s village. In an attempt to keep his younger brother from being taken he diverts their attention to himself.
I seriously hated the soldiers. They were brutes that did not care about the captives in any way. Ren is isolated from everyone in his group. In a cell next to his he meets Asher, an ex-military man. The two grow closer as the story progresses. Ren is very powerful in his own right as he has a piece of a star inside him. But he can be dangerous if in the wrong hands of someone who controls him.
I really felt bad for Ren as he witnessed his friend’s treatment or demise. No one should have to go through that. Some scenes were horrifying and left me in a state of shock while others made me angry on behalf of the way the victims were treated.
This was a riveting story that holds the reader spellbound until the very end. I really liked this world. It was full of danger and uncertainty as to the end results.
Great read.