Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book in exchange for a review.

ARC received by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is really hard for me to rate due to the fact that it is three books in one. I really enjoyed the first and third while the second sadly fell into that transition territory falling a bit flatter. Still, this series deserves four stars because everything else from the characters to the plot was great. I highly enjoyed all the books as well as how the minor characters felt flushed out as well. This will be a series I hand to people that enjoy sci-fi romps filled with the perfect amount of romance.

I really enjoyed this series of queer sci-fi for young adults. Good worldbuilding. Well rounded exciting characters. Good plot line.

A really good series. I loved it. Nice to see it all in one volume.

Thankyou to netgalley, the publisher and the author for sending me this ARC.

The characters felt really flat to me, the dialogue felt stilted and unrealistic, and a lot of the book felt really uninspired. The protagonist is really, really oblivious and stupid. Most of the characters felt really fake, and I couldn't care about any of them. The characters felt really childish despite their age.

REVIEW FROM BOOK 1:

"Then it had been their people. The soldiers called it volunteering. The villagers called it slavery."

Thanks to the publisher for giving me an eARC in exchange of a honest review via Netgalley.

I got interest for the book because it was called a "Queer Star Wars" and, at really, the LGBTQ+ protagonism is one of the best parts.
The protagonist is bisexual, saying that he already got interested in boys and girls.

The main romance is the best part, it's cute even with all of the caos around, being developed slowly.
I could feel the worry that they felt for each other and how one helps the other when he needs.
Excluding the couple scenes, my experience with the book wasn't so good.

Probably is because I wasn't in the vibe of the book, but I got tired while reading this and spent 1 week to read it (that has 270 pages).

The universe is cool and I noticed the complexity that the author wanted to have, but missed a lot of details and I have a lot of questions.
I wanted more pages explaining the politics and how the worlds works there.

I like the protagonist, but he only started being trully developed in the end.
I wish I could see more of his "other side" in the beginning! But actually he's all made like the big hero that even ingenuous always is right, I wanted more reality.
I liked some 2nd characters, they looked interesting. But the author put a lot of people in only 1 story and in the end they only showed up to do 1 little useful thing and disappeared without development.

The end is good and showed up with a lot of things that can be made in the volume 2 (but it would be better if made in 1).
I want to read more, but not now... maybe someday.

Even with a lot of mistakes I'm giving 3 stars, because the writer had a lot of great ideas and I feel sad knowing that he didn't made them in the "right" way.
I hope he'll make it better with 2 and 3.

I recommend this book for who wants a sci-fi book with protagonist LGBTQ+.

Book one: I have been lucky enough to be granted an e-copy of the electronic box set of this series. It's a great idea to reissue things as an ebook series because it's perfect for taking along on vacation! I love getting stuck into a new series and enjoying it.

The first book in this series certainly grabbed my attention. When the book begins Ren is living a pretty idealistic sounding life with his family on a planet that involves a lot of hard work. But it sounds like a good life... except for the fact there is an impending threat. The Baron's men come looking for young people to put into slavery and this day... Ren isn't lucky enough to escape.

Right out of the gates it becomes clear that Ren is a great guy. He basically sacrifices himself to give his little brother a chance to escape the "recruiters" and immediately falls into the role of leader. He tries to come up with a plan to escape and realizes early on that he's going to have to be clever about it.

What Ren has never realized on his dusty little world, is that he's actually got a special power that allows him to control Tech. Why didn't he realize? Well, because he was never really around the fancy text that comes from other places. I enjoyed the way that Lukens eased Ren into the realization that he was different. Sure, he'd listened to the tales his mother told him of mythical people with the power of stars... but he'd never thought it was actually real.

Once he's captive in an iron cell Ren meets Asher. Asher is in the Phoenix Corps but he's being held captive because his mother is powerful. It's all politics and plays for power in the Baron's world. As Ren becomes aware of the scope of the Baron's takeover, he and Ash ally with one another and begin to come up with a plan to escape - and take as many prisoners as they can with them.

There are some great things going on in this novel. First of all, Ren discovers his control over technology slowly and it's a lovely reveal. As his power grows, he comes face to face with the fact that his power can overwhelm him to the point of no-return - that's IF he doesn't have some sort of anchor. Maybe... that anchor can be a person.

The power of "stars" and the way that people could be lost in it as they merge with tech reminded me of the work of Allistair Reynolds in his Revelation Space Series. I would go so far as to say this is kind of a YA series of the same ilk. This is a great series for YA readers who may be on the cusp of moving toward "adult" sci-fi fiction. The thing is, this is a great book all on its own... I don't really mind the label of YA as this book is about teenaged characters but I feel as though it's a good read for anyone interested in the genre. Don't skip this one just because you don't read YA is all I'm saying.

As always there's a bit of Greek mythology wrapped up into this story. Lukens seems to have an interest in myths and legends... just check out some of their other work. I enjoy the connections and appreciate the research!

There's a lot of loss in the novel. People lose their freedom, their homes, and their control. It's not an in-your-face kind of theme, but Lukens does a great job of weaving the emotional repercussions of loss throughout the story.

One of my favorite things about this book is the wonderful, perfectly paced friendship between Ren and Asher which blossoms into something "more" than they don't want to define. Their sexuality takes a backseat to the emotional connection they feel for one another and I really enjoyed that. I could relate to the ease with which Ren could be attracted to anyone regardless of their gender. It was a pleasure to read this as something that Ren simply... did. It isn't a big deal, it isn't the entire plot... it just is.

Great opening book to a series. Lukens certainly wraps up the first book in a way that would be satisfying if one didn't want to keep reading, but there are more than enough roads remained unexplored!

Book Two: Months in space have left Ren a wreck. He's suffering from anxiety attacks as he fights "the call of the ship", nightmares and he is exhausted. He's losing control of his "star" and that hasn't gone unnoticed by the crew he now calls family. In particular, Ash.

Now that Asher is "supervising" Ren... in other words, keeping an eye on him, the tension between them seems almost insurmountable. There have been some serious incidents on the ship... times when Ren has lost control of himself during a nightmare and nearly killed everyone on board. It's all out-of-hand and Ash takes steps towards trying to make things better.

Ren and Jakob want to go home. They have heard that their village was destroyed, but the need to know the truth is overwhelming for them. A trip to their planet isn't easy to accomplish but ... after yet another sacrifice by one of them... the trip happens. What Ren and Jakob find, isn't what they expected.

There's a lot revealed in this book about Ren's past and the origin of his powers. For obvious reasons, I'm not going into that in my review. I was a little bewildered by Ren's reaction to finding out some of his past - by that, I mean that he didn't act the way that I expected him to. I suppose that I had imagined he had been without knowledge for a long time and would welcome it when he had the opportunity! I know I'm being very secretive, but I don't want to spoil the plot for anyone.

This book continues to really be about caring for found family. The supporting characters are great and continue to demonstrate their commitment to one another. These books are a real exploration of found family and what sacrifices may be necessary to keep loved ones safe.

This installment of the series ends on a bit of a cliffhanger so don't read the next review if you don't want me to give away anything!

Book Three: Poor Ren has really been through it in this series. The previous book ended in a bit of a cliffhanger... with Ren being shot with an antique weapon! If you can control technology then the answer to getting rid of you is to shoot you with an old fashioned gun! When Ren awakens in this book, he's a bit of a mess. He's injured and exhausted...and perhaps, worse than anything else, he has lost Asher.

There's no doubt in Ren's mind that he needs to save Asher and finally say all the things he's kept bottled inside. He sets off on a mission to save Asher... then his brother Liam! Yes! Liam! the brother that Ren lost in the first book has reappeared and needs some help.

I love this little family crew and I'm actually quite sad that I've finished this series. I really enjoyed the dynamics between Asher and Ren. I thought it was great that they didn't just leap into a relationship right off the bat. They seemed to have their feet firmly planted on the ground... even when things were completely falling apart around them. Their relationship was beautiful and  I loved that its solid base was friendship from the beginning.

Darby is a new supporting character in this book and she is great. She's fiercely independent, clever and snarky. I enjoyed all her scenes and she seemed to bring out a lightness in Ren sometimes which was nice to see.

The author did a great job of rounding up all the loose ends in this installment of the series. You'll be satisfied if you've read the entire thing...although, like me, you might be a little bit saddened that your time in this world has ended.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this series to anyone who enjoys science fiction. It's also a great YA voice in the genre!

Thanks to the publisher for providing an DRC in exchange for an honest review.

SPACE BISEXUALS!!!!! Honestly, that could be the review. The Star Host is yet another queer book I went into before knowing it was queer so imagine my sheer delight when after spending the first half of the book gearing up to be pissed that the clearly flirtatious same sex relationship wouldn't turn romantic and THEN IT DID!

The romance in The Star Host is honestly the highlight, the plot doesn't kick in until halfway through but I'm excited to read the rest of the trilogy and hope its more plot-heavy. There's a lot of doing nothing in this one.

My other main concern is how perfect our protagonist is. I really, really, hope we get more flaws later on that aren't just "they thought they were being a hero but accidentally a bad thing they couldn't have possibly foreseen happened". Love my space bis, but imagine having well rounded space bis. (seriously though, bi boys in YA are super underepresented because authors tend to write 'quirky bi girls', 'tough, badass lesbian girls' and 'cute, soft gay boys' so the rep in this was incredible. loved it.)

The Star Host is a fun start to what I hope to be a wonderful sci-fi series. Since I vastly preferred it's second half to its first, I hope the rest of the trilogy plays out similarly.
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Thanks to the publisher for providing a DRC of Ghosts & Ashes in exchange for an honest review!

After reading The Star Host I talked about how my main wish for the series was that Ren became more of a flawed, 3-dimensional character and Ghosts and Ashes definitely delivered.

My favourite part of this section of the trilogy was definitely what it did to develop characters and their relationships! Everything felt incredibly realistic and like a natural progression of the characters and relationships presented in the first book and it was delightful to catch back up with these characters. Can't wait to find out how this story ends!
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Thanks to the publisher for providing a DRC of Zenith Dream in exchange for an honest review.

I'm so sad to be done with this series. Normally with trilogies I try to spread out the books over at least a few weeks but since the compilation book is coming out in about a week I wanted to make sure I had these reviews up in time and now I'm devastated to be done with these characters.

The level of growth between this book and The Star Host is unbelievable. In my Star Host review I talk about how my main issue was how flat and 'perfect' our protagonists felt but over the course of this trilogy everyone (including this book's plethora of side characters) has developped into unique, realistic feeling personalities and relationships.

Speaking of, Asher & Ren have one of my absolute favourite sci-fi relationships to date. Watching them develop and grow together was an absolute delight and I'd definitely recommend this if you're looking for a star wars-esc queer sci-fi trilogy.