Title: Written In the Stars
Series: Culture Wars 01
Author: Victoria Zagar
Genre: Science Fiction, Futuristic
Length: Novel (172pgs)
Publisher: Victoria Zagar (Self Published) (6th June 2012)
Heat Level: Low
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥3 ½Hearts
Reviewer: Pixie
Blurb: The year is 2243. Mankind has reached for the stars, creating colonies on Titan and the cold, distant Nereid. Where man goes, war follows, and now two factions warring on Earth have taken their cultural and religious war into space in hopes of dominating Earth’s global government, the Assembly. On one side stands the Moral League, a loose grouping of religious nations and moral conservatives whose aim is to destroy the Freedom Alliance, a group of progressive nations who they claim are leading the human race towards destruction.
Rejected by his family for his homosexuality, Samuel Walden finds himself joining the Alliance’s Space Force. Posted to the fleet’s flagship, the Northampton, Sam meets the ship’s crew officer, Major Tom Averay, and the two embark on a relationship that will change their lives. Love, war, humanity, friendship, sacrifice and death weave through this action-packed romantic novel. Will Sam and Tom work out their feelings in the midst of darkness and uncertainty? Will the Alliance survive against crushing odds to preserve the human rights it stands for?
Purchase Link: USA: http://www.amazon.com/Written-Stars-Culture-Wars-ebook/dp/B008BC28PY
UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Written-Stars-Culture-Wars-ebook/dp/B008BC28PY
Review: Many years into the future war starts on Earth and ends in space. Two factions are fighting for control; the Moral League, a group of religious fanatics who want a moral world and the Freedom Alliance, who just want progression and to love whom they wish. Sam joins the Alliance Space Force when his family throws him out for being gay. When he meets Tom, an officer on the Northampton, the Alliance’s flagship, and they embark on a relationship that will change their lives.
This is a well put together science fiction story that is filled with danger and love. Sam embarks on a life change when his family throws him out for being gay. He joins up with the Alliance to fight for the right to love whomever he wishes. When he arrives on the Northampton and sees his commanding officer, Major Tom, for the first time, the man takes his breath away. Tom fights his attraction for the new recruit, Sam, but before long they both realize that what they feel cannot be pushed to the side and together they fight for freedom and love.
I really enjoyed this story of a global war that was taken into space. a religious fanatical group deciding that the world should worship God to extremes and denying many of the things that had progressed throughout the years, like gay rights and on the other side we have a group that doesn’t want to return to the dark ages and who continue to fight even when the losses are great and the future looks bleak. When I first met Sam, I really wasn’t sure of him as a character. He seemed too easily star struck, but as I got further into the book he seemed to mature rather quickly and became a man of strong character. Tom is a character who has already lived through love and loss, through war and devastation so he has a character that is rock solid.
Although this has a strong storyline of fighting for basic human rights, throughout the entire story there is also the story of friendship and love. Each plot compliments the other weaving a strong story of standing up for what you believe, but with also the small tale that no matter what, there are some things that never change and you will see that in Gracie’s situation. There is lots of action of space fights, death, captures, escapes, reunions and love, and it lulls you into a sense of devastation before rescue comes from a very unlikely source… this is a story that eases you in and then won’t let go.
I recommend this to those who love science fiction, fighting for freedom, fighting for love, space fights, escapes, danger and a very happy ending.