The Brighter the Stars Book Review

The Brighter the Stars is written by Bryan K. Prosek.

BLURB

Caught between love and revenge, Jake has one chance to live up to the man his uncle was.

Earth crashed into interstellar politics as a lightweight, lagging so far behind other planetary weapons systems everyone feared they wouldn’t survive first contact with other worlds without quick action. By 2185, Earth had united itself into five geographic sectors and developed a defense system powerful enough to keep aggressors at bay-for now, at least.

Jake Saunders became a Legion soldier to honor the memory of his war hero uncle, who was brutally murdered in front of him when he was still a young teen. Fast forward a few years, and Jake and his best friend Cal have been tasked with escorting Cal’s older sister Diane to become Earth’s ambassador on a far-off planet. It’s the opportunity of Diane’s career, very likely a lifetime post. But for Jake, that could mean a lifetime’s heartbreak. He has loved Diane since they were kids, and every step closer to that ambassador assignment is a step closer to goodbye.

But somebody is after more than Earth’s defense, and Jake, Cal, and Diane are on a trajectory to crash headlong into that dangerous plot. Somebody wants to play Earth against its most immediate threat, Craton, and convince both to develop super weapons-and he’s working with the person who killed Jake’s uncle all those years ago. When he reappears on Jake, Cal, and Diane’s journey to the ambassadorship, Jake is faced with difficult choices to look out for his friends and honor his uncle’s memory

REVIEW

The Brighter the Stars is definitely a sci fi novel that is unique and unlike others that I’ve read. I can see the influence of pop culture throughout. It’s YA and is based around a futuristic earth and intergalactic relations.

The world Prosek envisions I can see and I feel like the future may be like it. The characters are interesting and everything is explained in detail.

The pacing was decent and flowed quickly where I didn’t find myself wishing to move on.

I’m not too sure if I would read this book again but enjoyed the story. I would like to thank the publisher and netgalley for the arc.