Starman’s Saga Book Review

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This sci-fi novel concerns the protagonist, Leif Grettison or “Leif the Lucky”. He, half-heartedly, decides to enter a lottery to be in with the chance of joining humanity’s first starflight which is set to explore a planet which could be the next Earth. Leif is very shocked when he learns that he was the one chosen, and his life as he knows it, will now change. Joining a plethora of interesting characters on the ship, what they encounter in space, may not be as challenging as the clashing personalities onboard.

As a genre, I think sci-fi is one of the hardest to get right because the ideas have to be original and the storyline has to be interesting. If I were to categorise this one, I’d say it’s a mix between The Martian, Passengers, and Predator. The idea of a normal person being part of this crew was an interesting one, and I liked that there was a lot of hibernation, and how that worked to allow them to travel so far into space.

As a character, Leif was interesting enough, and I liked that the author briefly harked back to Leif’s past to give us an idea for it, while also not focussing on it for too long. However, I don’t think he was particularly likeable – this is not necessarily an issue, but I do prefer to read about characters I think I’d get along with.

I found it slightly irksome how much the author decided to focus on the politics between the characters and where they came from. Most of their interactions seem to focus on the country they were born, and the friction that caused between them. While I get why this would be interesting, I don’t think it was necessary to continually bring it up at every opportunity.

What I liked about this book was how very human it felt; despite the fact it’s set in the future and includes a lot of sci-fi elements, little things, like the argument they had about what to name the ship, made the whole thing more relatable, and having that humanity I think also made it more likeable because it became compelling.

Overall, I enjoyed this book but also kind of felt indifferent towards it. The way it was broken up in time and ended up spanning decades made the characters’ stories more intriguing and the sci-fi elements, most notably, the hibernation technology, really interesting. Starman’s Saga is a refreshing take on a futuristic sci-fi story but I do think the characters’ personalities and relationships with each other could do with some work.

Thank you to the author, Colin Alexander, for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Also, click here to learn more about the book and buy a copy!