Black Star Renegades by Michael Moreci – Review

Published: January 2, 2018

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Genre: Science Fiction

Series: Unknown

Pages: 352 (Hardcover)

My Rating: DNF

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:

Cade Sura holds the future of the galaxy in his hands: the ultimate weapon that will bring total peace. He didn’t ask for it, he doesn’t want it, and there’s no worse choice to wield it in all of space, but if he doesn’t, everyone’s totally screwed. The evil Praxis kingdom is on the cusp of having every star system under its control, and if that happens, there’ll be no contesting their cruel reign. Especially if its fanatical overlord, Ga Halle, manages to capture Cade and snag the all-powerful weapon for herself.

Cade can’t hide from Praxis, and he can’t run from the destiny that’s been shoved into his hands. So he only has one option:

He has to fight.

Cade’s not going to let destiny send him on a suicide run, though. With some help from his friends—rebels and scoundrels alike—Cade’s going to use this weapon to chart a new destiny for the galaxy, and for himself. He just has to do so before everyone around him discovers that he’s a complete and total fraud.

---

Black Star Renegades was a book that I was very much hoping to like. Having been likened to Star Wars and Guardians of the Galaxy I was sure that I would be in for a treat, but that didn’t end up being the case. Black Star Renegades has earned the dubious honor of being my first DNF of 2018.

After the attention grabbing intro chapter, things quickly went southwards for me. I did see the tributes to Star Wars and Guardians which was kind of cool… BUT it felt like I was reading something written in my writing voice. That’s literally the only way I can explain it. I hate going back and reading pieces of my writing and that’s kind of what this was like. The dialogue was pretty cheesy, the plot was okayyyyy I guess. Black Star Renegades ended up being disappointing in the 100 pages I gave it.

I try to give books plenty of time and chances to grab my attention or improve, but I decided that this year I’m not going to force it and if something doesn’t appeal to me in 100 pages, I’m going to put it down. I’ve seen plenty of positive reviews for this book, so definitely check out Goodreads for those if you’re curious. Sadly, this just didn’t work for me!