Off the Bookshelf: STARFIRE: The Mending

Confession time: I had planned to read through all my books published by Marcher Lord Press before going to the Realm Makers Conference in St. Louis this week ... but time ran out!

This novel by Stuart Vaughn Stockton is the first book in a series -- evidenced by labeling it Book 1.

How many books in the series? Not sure, but considering the vast amount of world-building the author put into it ... I'm guessing the war between saurian races and the prophecies to be fulfilled and all the complicated politics and soul-searching and military maneuvers to come ... decades, generations will be covered in the coming books. It could go on forever!

I have to admire the world-building and all the thought and effort and organization expended on this book. I lost count of all the different species, the colors, the sizes, the personality types involved in the many saurian races who inhabit this world and this book. It almost makes my head hurt.

What's that? Saurian? Yeah -- the characters in the book are all different species of sentient dinosaurs. And they're at war. If I was a dinosaur fan I would probably have devoured this book in 1/10 the time it took me to read it, even discounting editorial deadlines and making a living and Vacation Bible School and other things. But I'm not a dinosaur "person," so that slowed me down -- but here's the thing: I was able to ignore the things I wasn't "into" quite often with this book, caught up in the action, the conflict, the problems that the hero, Rathe, faces. Which tells you just how good this writer is. If you're into military, dinosaurs, massive world-spanning conflicts and heroes who just can't seem to win ... any combination of these factors or all of them together -- Read this book!