Are you looking for a good book for your teen? Or are you a teen looking for an awesome book? Then stop looking. You found one. Starlighter by Bryan Davis is a must read for everyone!
Koren is a slave to dragons. To her humans living in freedom seem like a fairy tale. But when the dark prince shows Koren a boy from the human world she begins to think the tales might be true. A slave free world may really exist! But can she ever get there?
At the same time, Jason lives in a world where people disappear and never come back. Some say they were eaten by bears, others say dragons kidnapped them and took them to their world to become slaves. When Jason comes face to face with the truth, he must take the lead, slay the dragons, and rescue the Lost Ones.
Starlighter is told in a third person’s point of view. It starts off with Jason and Elyssa's story:
Tibalt
tapped the sign with his ax handle. “This is as far as my old
noggin remembers clearly. The last time I went to the gateway, I was
just a little tyke, and the dungeon spiders spun cobwebs in my brain
over the years. I could try to lead us, but we wouldn't want to fall
into any bottomless pits.”
“Bottomless
pits?” Elyssa repeated. “That's not possible.”
“Is
that so, little lady?” Tibalt raised a finger. “My own pappy told
me about them, and he never told a lie in his life.”
Elyssa
winked at Jason before shifting back to Tibalt. “Can you tell me
who fell into one of these bottomless pits and then came back to
report that there was no bottom?”
Then it tells Koren's story:
While
Zena was speaking, a soft voice sounded. “Are you all right?”
Koren
glanced at Arxad. It couldn't have been his voice. The call was too
soft, too weak. And it couldn't have been Zena's. She was talking
already. Koren rose to her tiptoes and looked behind the egg. No one
was there – only an empty goat-hair bag with a long strap lay near
the egg.
“Shall
I take her to the Zodiac now?” Arxad asked.
While
staring at Koren, Zena nodded. “If she is a Starlighter, the sooner
she begins her duties, the better.”
“And
if she is not?”
A
blend of a frown and a smile twisted Zena's face. “Then terminate
her. She knows too much.”
I believe that the story would be confusing if it wasn't in the third person. This way it allows you to see everything that is going on, since you follow multiple characters. If it only followed one character there would be a lot of holes in the plot.
Starlighter is very interesting. One way Davis made it interesting is creating cliffhangers that make you want to turn the page over and over:
In
the midst of a series of lighting flashes, the figure finally came
into view. It was Randall, his cloak drenched and dripping and his
scowl displaying a determination he had never shown before.
“You’re
alone,” Jason said as he raised his sword, fighting to keep the
blade steady. “You know you can't beat me.”
Stopping
out of reach, Randall pulled a photo gun from underneath his cloak
and aimed it at Jason's face. “Drop your sword.”
This isn't a great cliffhanger. However, it was the only example that you don't have to know the surrounding details to understand what's happening. I'm not exactly sure what a photo gun is. I do know one thing though. It doesn't work when it's wet, but when it does work, it will kill you.
Davis also does a good job at describing the setting. I can completely see where the event is taking place when I am reading the story. It is sometimes hard to follow a story when you can't picture where the characters are.
As
he swiped gravelly dirt from his pants, he scanned the chamber. A
gray ceiling loomed overhead with a few stalactites just out of
reach, each one dripping cloudy water at the rate of a slow
heartbeat. Three brackets hung on a side wall, two holding antique
swords and scabbards and the other empty.
Behind
him, the river flowed swiftly past a sheer rock wall. Dim radiance
emanated from somewhere, but there seemed to be no hole to the
outside world.
He
looked at the river – dark and deep with islands of white foam
speeding by.
It's fun to read a book with a good setting out loud, then see everyone's opinion on what it looks like.
Bryan Davis is also the author of Dragons in our Midst, Oracles or Fire, Children of the Bard, Dragons of Starlight, Tales of Starlight, and the Echoes from the Edge series. After working as a computer professional for twenty years, he pursued his dream of becoming a full-time author. Davis has been married to his wife Susie for 30 years, and they have seven children. They make their home in western Tennessee with three of their children. Their first two sons live in Florida, their eldest daughter lives in India with her husband and two children, and their youngest son is going to college at the University of Memphis. Davis is a graduate of Avon Park High School (Avon Park, Florida) and the University of Florida.
He has received many awards, including:
- 2012 Family Fiction Readers Choice: #1 Speculative Fiction Author, #1 Young Adult Author, #2 Overall Author, #1 Novel (Song of the Ovulum), #1 Series (Children of the Bard).
- 2012
Darrel Award for best Young Adult Novel (Starlighter)
- 2010
Clive Staples Award
- 2010
Darrell Awards Hall of Fame
During an online interview Davis says, “My goal is to write captivating stories that encourage readers to embrace faith, courage, and love so that they will follow God’s light and show sacrificial love to Him and others.” Based on what his readers have told him he believes he has reached that goal.
When asked how he got the idea for Starlighter he replied, “My daughter Amanda gave me the idea. We were brainstorming to come up with new ideas, and she gave me the foundation for Starlighter. I expanded on it quite a bit, but the framework was hers.” He goes on to say, “I wrote Starlighter in about four months, including editing.”
In response to questions about Starlighter's cliffhanger ending, Davis countered that the ending wasn't really a cliffhanger. "The major part of the story was over, and the main characters were out of danger. Certainly there were many unsolved mysteries, but it’s important to leave some issues unsolved so readers will want to go on to the next book in the series." Finally, Davis' characters are not based on real people in his life: "I sometimes borrow certain characteristics from people I know, but no character matches any real individual to any extent."
I read this book for hours at a time. Every spare moment, I read it in the car, I read it while I was doing my chores, and I read it when I was supposed to be sleeping. I must admit, there were quite a few times that I fell asleep while I was reading. I don't have any negative thing to say about this book. It is safe. There is no objectionable language. Sin is shown as wrong not “okay.” It isn't filled with junk like most teen books. It may be scary to young children, though. There are battle scenes, near death experiences, etc. They aren't overpowering, but just enough to keep the book interesting.
I definitely give this book a 6 star rating for being interesting and clean. This is going on my shelf for sure! So if you are looking for a wonderful book to read that has values but is still interesting, read Starlighter, part of the Dragons of Starlight series, by Bryan Davis.
References:
Davis, Bryan, “Bryan Davis.” Facebook. (January 12, 2009): Bryan Davis. September 18, 2014.
https://www.facebook.com/BryanDavis.Fans/timeline
Davis, Bryan. Full time Author. September 22, 2014
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