"Starfire: A Red Peace" eBook was published in 2017 and was written by Spencer Ellsworth. Mr. Ellsworth has published five novels. This is the first book in his "The Starfire Trilogy".

I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence. The story is set in the far future.

Genetic half-breed between Humans and Jorians have been created, and now they have risen up as rebels. Their forces have just won their revolution. The primary characters are Jaqi, a navigator who is trying to just stay off everyone's radar and survive. Araskar is a soldier with the Rebels. Both are half-breeds. 

Jaqi comes across Human children and takes it upon herself to help them escape. Araskar is tasked to find the Human children and recover the intelligence they are carrying. Jaqi keeps seeing the need for her assistance as all indications are that the Human children, and all other Humans for that matter will be killed by the forces of the Rebels.

Araskar pursues the Humans, but he is loosing faith in the Rebels. The war is over. Why are they still fighting? Why are they fighting people who had supported the Rebel cause? Why must all Humans die?

This science fiction novel was an interesting 6.5 hours for the 210 pages. Some of it was a little difficult to read because of their dialog. I did like the plot and the characters, and expect to read more in this trilogy. The cover art is OK, reflecting on one aspect of the plot. I give this novel a 4 out of 5.

Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.

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Unsettling at first but once you get used to all the jargons used in this book, you’ll find yourself having a hard time in putting it down. The basic premise is that the age of humans is coming to an end when the crosses (term for human/alien hybrids) that they’ve made—through vat culture—rallied together and started a resistance . Our female protagonist, Jaqi, who is a cross herself wanted nothing to do with the war and had spent her life in hiding and doing shady stuff. But just like the girl of destiny, she suddenly found herself in the thick of it all. Then, we have our male protagonist who is also a cross and a high ranking soldier of the resistance. Plus, he’s suffering from a terrible PTSD to the point that he got addicted to drugs.

It’s pretty interesting to follow the story particularly that we have these seemingly underdog hybrid crosses (who were once treated as machines and servants by the superior human race) made a reversal of their pitiful lives and are now doing everything to wipe out their overlords, the humans. I think it would have been more interesting if the book gave me a chance to know our characters (main or supporting) more because the way Ellsworth wrote them made me feel like I was just scratching the surface.

Also, I didn’t buy the idea of Jaqi throwing out all of her rules out the window for a couple of kids she just met. It just didn’t compute with her happy-go-lucky and always on the run personality. Personally, it’d made more sense if she had just left the kids to die and maybe…the author should’ve used another and more realistic way to trigger the events of the book.

Another thing that I wished for this book is for a more comprehensive world-building given the ambitiousness of the whole story. There’s a galactic war to raze the human race to extinction, a Dark Zone threating to swallow the whole universe, and hate-filled alien/human hybrids who, instead of using high-powered ammo, wield swords that suck the memories of its victims. There a lot of things worth showing in this book and I hope that Ellsworth will do such in the sequels.

All in all, I’m really glad to have given A Red Peace a try. It may not be as intense as Luke Skywalker discovering that he’s a Jedi but it’ll surely feed your sci-fi hunger. I’m looking forward to read the next book in the series.

I just never got caught up in the story or the characters. I got about half way through and put it down. There was nothing wrong with the writing it was just on of those books that never drew me into the story.

A great story with a fantastic world-building. Very entertaining, waiting for the next one.

A review in spanish: https://dreamsofelvex.blogspot.com/2017/08/a-red-peace-spencer-ellsworth.html

Starfire: A Red Peace is an intense read set in outer space with a plethora of characters that will either surprise you with their hidden badassery or shock you with their sudden demise. This isn't for the faint-hearted which is unexpected when compared to other grimdark books. This book sneaks on my subconscious and whatever it elicits on me lasted for days. This is one of those books that you thought you wouldn't really give a care the moment you open it but will stay with you long after you close it. Simply put, the story was surprisingly exceptional.

A Red Peace is the first in the Starfire Trilogy written by Spencer Ellsworth, and along with an interesting plot (more on that in a minute) it comes with an utterly stunning cover. Please take a minute to appreciate the artwork, detail and color palette of the cover. I’m in love with it. As far as the plot is concerned, it’s a bit like space opera meets the Wild West. It’s full of aliens, giant space bugs (who doesn’t love giant space bugs?) and psychic weapons galore.

A Red Peace starts off with the end of a war; which is unexpected, despite the name of the title. The Resistance (a group of Jorians seeking their freedom from the humans) have won, but their job doesn’t appear to be over yet (yay for plot continuation!). There’s more going on in the Resistance than there appears to be at first glance; and there’s certainly more to their motives than the lower ranks are allowed to know.
Jaqi (a name I had a lot of fun imagining how it was pronounced) is a half-breed Jorian girl looking to find her place in the world; especially if that place involves tomatoes, but really any actual food will do. I was immediately drawn into liking Jaqi’s character, her motivations are very straight forward and human (yes, I see the irony in that statement, but you know what I mean). Despite knowing better, Jaqi constantly finds herself doing the right thing, even if it means putter herself at risk (for little to no payout to boot). It’s hard not to like and even respect a character like that.
Araskar is a perfect foil for Jaqi’s character – he’s been through hell (I think being on the Resistance during the war probably counts as such) and has completely lost his hope. He’s content with the idea of dying; especially if that means none of his slugs (lower ranking soldiers he’s in charge of) die in his stead. While that sounds honorable, to me it read mostly as him looking for a way out, an escape. Just like his drug addiction. While Jaqi is looking for hope, Araskar is all but lost to the concept. It makes their meeting so much more intense and meaningful.
Earlier I mentioned Jaqi’s love of tomatoes because it’s basically the reason she gets pulled into this whole mess (and thus the plot) in the first place. I personally loved that part; that something so little ended up spinning out into something so massive and unanticipated.
What I particularly loved about Ellsworth’s work was the way he blended his imagery with music and color. It was exceptionally evocative, and didn’t even have to be subtle in some cases – such as when Araskar was directly interpreting it for us. The most poignant moment (for me at least) was later in the novel (I promise this isn’t a crazy huge spoiler) where Jaqi gives Araskar a guitar and tells him to learn how to play. To me this not only connected the musical element to the characters (again), but represented Araskar physically being handed a chance at hope. It was beautifully done.
I really enjoyed reading A Red Peace, and am greatly looking forward to the next installation. Unfortunately I have a bit of time before that happens, and patience is not one of my virtues.

The world-building is interesting although a bit over the top. The action is fast paced - but the storyline crumbles in the second half of the book.