Mason Stark is a thirteen-year-old cadet from the Academy for Earth Space Command. He and seventeen of his fellow cadets have boarded the SS Egypt for a short voyage - just enough for the cadets to log their requisite space hours. Mason's sister serves aboard the ship and the two of them can't help playing practical jokes on each other, but Mason's come at a bad time - in front of the captain just as a real danger approaches.

The Tremists, an alien race that's been at war with Earth for over half a century, attacks the SS Egypt on its routine cruise. The Egypt's captain orders the cadets to hide in safety, being that they aren't yet trained for conflict. But no one was ready for the surprise attack and the captain and most of the crew are either killed or captured in the fray - only the hiding cadets are currently safe.

The group of teens appoint Mason as their temporary leader and they set out to take back the ship (if possible) and notify the ESC of what has happened. What they don't understand, is why the Tremists would bother attacking a ship with a bunch of cadets aboard. But then the answer is revealed to them ... the Egypt is transporting a weapon that could turn the tide of war in humanity's favor.

This is clearly a middle-grade reader, based on the age of the protagonists and the high level of action and the sibling practical jokes. It's definitely exciting and nearly every age-appropriate reader can put themselves in Mason's shoes.

But for all the action and excitement, there's really not much to this story - it is almost embarrassingly simple and nothing here is particularly original.

Author Dan Krokos knows how to keep the reader turning pages with all the action and he certainly understands what appeals to middle school age readers but this is the sort of book that provides temporary enjoyment but most readers won't remember much after the reading.

Adult readers may find this a bit hard to enjoy. While it's a minor point, I was annoyed by constantly seeing the acronym for Earth Space Command. Every time I saw ESC I read it as "Escape Key". Maybe younger readers won't make that connection as easily as I did?

Overall, the book is fine. Not great, not terrible.

Looking for a good book? If The Planet Thieves by Dan Krokos gets a child to read and enjoy a book ... GREAT! But it's not on my list of books to recommend for younger readers.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

The Planet Thieves
by Dan Krokos
Starscape
Macmillan-Tor/Forge
Children's Fiction , Sci Fi & Fantasy
This won the Hal Clement (Golden Duck) Award for YA SF fiction.



Cadet Mason Stark boarded the SS Egypt with seventeen of his fellow cadets from the Academy for Earth Space Command. It was supposed to be a routine trip, so he sneaked off to where he wasn't supposed to be to pull a prank on his sister. Except suddenly there's a red alert indicating the Tremist were near. The Tremist were aliens who had been at war with humanity for sixty years.



Stark is caught and sent to the brig. A friend springs him as the battle isn't leaning toward the humans. He, Tom, and Merrin grab projectile weapons and sneak up on the Tremist kind who is gloating over the vanquished humans, demanding to know where the "weapon" is. The cadets launch into battle but their weapons have little effect. The king's armor just seems to absorb the energy. All seems lost, but Mason has a few tricks up his sleeve and gets a Tremist suit of his own. Can he and his cadets be enough to turn the tide against the Tremist?



I picked this one for its fantastic pulpy title alone. Pure genius. It's a thrill a minute--perfect for readers who want high-impact, high energy narratives. Here's a sample to get a feel for it:



Tom waited for them in the elevator, holding it open with his arm. “Get in!” he hissed.
Just as the talon stopped cutting into the wall.
“Shh, quiet,” a man’s voice said from down the corridor. “Listen.” But Mason knew there could be no men left; the chuffing sounds the P-cannons made had faded to silence. So who had spoke? It didn’t matter: facing the Tremist unarmed would help no one. Mason and Merrin padded toward the elevator as quietly as they could. Now he wanted to run, but their footsteps would give away their presence.
Then the ship’s computer, Elizabeth, said, “Cadet Renner, please stop blocking the elevator door.”
Mason and Merrin jumped into the elevator and spun in time to see three Tremist charge around the corner. They were at full sprint, faster than he thought men could move. Their plate armor shimmered wetly, shifting between purple and black, catching the sterile light of the spaceship and making it alien. Mason saw his own face in the flat mirrored surface that was the leading Tremist’s faceplate.
Tom had moved his arm, but the door was still open. They were only thirty feet away now.
“Shut the door!” Mason yelled, pressing himself against the wall.
“Thank you,” Elizabeth replied airily, and the door began to shut.
The three Tremist paused when they realized they wouldn’t make it in time, and then lifted the talons to their shoulders. The soldier part of Mason’s brain, the part that didn’t get afraid, noted the angle at which the Tremist held their weapons, how, in the next second, each beam would slice through them at the breastbone.
The door sealed; Mason dragged Merrin and Tom to the floor as the talons’ green beams crisscrossed through the door and heated the air above them until it was crackling. Then the car descended, giving the illusion of the beams rising up through the door until they disappeared through the ceiling.
The air was hot and baked and smelled like electricity.
Image result for The Black Stars The Planet Thieves, Book 2 By: Dan Krokos noble "excerpt"The door opened on the next level down, into a corridor identical to the one they just left.
Tom had his dataslate plugged into a port on the elevator. “Erasing our destination level . . . now! Bought us a few minutes.”
Merrin took the pad out of his hand. Her fingers danced over the screen until it flashed red. “There—the elevator is frozen.”
I loved it, but did wish for a little wider scope or canvas. There is some bogus science here--about a planet throwing off the balance of gravity in a solar system, but oh well. The novel's a blast and hopefully it will encourage kids to stretch their imaginations and maybe investigate the sciences.



There's a second book in the series where Mason is on edge of getting kicked out of Academy II for defending cadets from bullies. Fun stuff. Fingers crossed that more in this series are forthcoming.

The story started out great: A space ship full of a regular crew and a team of cadets getting their first chance to go into space is attacked by an alien enemy. This enemy has refused all attempts at contact in the past, and seems bent only on destroying humanity. The writing seemed realistic and exciting at this point.

Then, maybe 40% into the book, we learned the cadets were all 8-13 years old. That made me frowny, as their actions thus far seemed very mature and experienced -- I would have bought them in the 18-22 range, with all the schooling and ground-training a crew getting ready to go into space would have by that point.

Then every single adult on the ship was killed, and these children had to take over the ship. Based on one single class about how all Earth spaceships work, these 8-13 year olds were not just successfully able to fly the ship, they took it into battle.

Up until this point in the book's history, no one had won a fight against the aliens. These kids beat a boarding party of more than a dozen of them...

Mason lives on the USS Egypt with his sister Susan as an ESC Cadet after the death of his parents. When Tremists (an alien race hostile to humans) attack the ship, the captain is killed, his sister is taken hostage, and Commander Lockwood is so gravely injured that he puts Mason in charge. Tom, the captain's son, is a bit put out, but knows that the cadets must take back the ship if there is any hope of defeating the Tremists. They have been fighting with the ESC over the habitable planet Nori-Blue. When they board the Egypt, their goal is to steal a large "gate" which collapses space and makes travel faster. Once they get the gate, they use it to transport Earth nearer to their planet! Mason realizes that his friend Merrin is actually a Tremist when the Tremist King insists that she's his daughter... and after he sees under the Tremist uniform and realizes that Merrin's violet colored hair and eyes do make her look just like them. A hostage exchange (Susan for Merrin) is arranged, to be conducted on the neutral planet of Nori-Blue. Once there, the cadets realize that Nori-Blue, thought to be uninhabited, is not. Secrets about the past of both the humans and Tremists are revealed. The ending is full of lots of twists, and I don't want to ruin the suspense!
Strengths: This is classic, action-packed science fiction. Travel around in space, deal with hostile aliens, travel to new planets where there are even more dangers, figure out that the aliens are not that different from us. Have cool weapons, used judiciously, and add children in charge-- awesome! There is even a jet pack at one point. Still not understanding how it's 2013, phones can send pictures, and I STILL don't have a jet pack!
Weaknesses: Hmmm... can't think of much. Of course it stretches credulity to have the cadets in charge of the ship, but when everyone else is captured or disabled, what can you do?