Review and Blog Tour: Starfinder by John Marco

The city of Calio is the highest in the world, built in the mountains and home of the Aerodrome where the Skyknights train in their flying machines called dragonflies. Thirteen year old Moth has worked at the Aerodrome for three years, he dreams of being a Skyknight himself but knows that those elite pilots come from the upper reaches of their society. Moth is an poor orphan and has little chance of even becoming a squire for a Skyknight.

To the north of the city stretches the Reach, a vast bank of fog that extends farther than the eye can see. No one who enters the Reach ever comes back and there are plenty of legends about what is in and beyond it.

The novel opens on Moth's birthday. He hurries home to the small apartment that he shares with Leroux, an old man who took Moth in when his mother died, and Leroux's strange pet, a bird named Esme. When Leroux was young he was an Eldrin Knight, a legendary group of warriors who have disappeared into the mists of time. Leroux tells all sorts of strange tales but has saved the strangest one for this night, after Moth's birthday party. He wakes Moth up in the middle of the night and tells him that Esme isn't really a bird. She is from beyond the Reach and the only way to change her back to her true form is to take her back across. Leroux has never been able to do it, he charges Moth with returning Esme to the land beyond The Reach. A wizard named Merceron lives there who will help to change her back.

When Moth awakens in the morning, Leroux has died in his sleep. He is heartbroken and then scared when he finds the Governor's men ransacking their small apartment. The Governor, Rendor, is the designer of the dragonflies and airships used in their world. He is a powerful man and Leroux had something that he wants. It is a device from the land beyond the Reach called the Starfinder

Moth hides from the Governor's men with the help of some friends, one of whom is Rendor's granddaughter, Fiona. When Esme brings Moth the missing Starfinder, he knows what he has to do. He heads into the Reach, accompanied by Fiona, and into an adventure larger than either of them could ever have imagined.

I was completely enchanted by this book. It took me back to when I was nine and spent an entire day on the couch reading The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe from cover to cover. I was also reminded a bit of Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising sequence and Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. John Marco is in good company! He has written an excellent adventure story, created a complete fantasy world and filled it with complex creatures and mythical beasts that will delight readers from nine to ninety. I absolutely loved this book and can't recommend it highly enough!

For more information on this book and the author's other works, visit his website.

I received this book as part of a TLC Book Tour. Here are the other stops:

Wednesday, May 20th: Fantasy & Sci-Fi Lovin’ News & Reviews
Saturday, May 23rd: Fantasy Book Critic
Tuesday, May 26th: Steph Su Reads
Wednesday, May 27th: Shooting Stars Mag
Thursday, May 28th: Becky’s Book Reviews
Monday, June 1st: Stuff as Dreams are Made On
Wednesday, June 3rd: Juiciliciousss Reviews
Friday, June 5th: Beth Fish Reads
Monday, June 8th: Books By Their Cover
Wednesday, June 10th: In Search of Giants
Monday, June 15th: At Home With Books
Wednesday, June 17th: The Written World
Friday, June 19th: Medieval Bookworm
Tuesday, June 23rd: The Magic of Ink
Thursday, June 25th: Reader’s Respite
Monday, June 29th: Drey’s Library


Starfinder: Book One of the Skylords is published by DAW, ISBN 978-0-7564-0551-9