STARCHILD: Exile

De: J Washburn

Narrado por: Simon Wright

Flying an ancient alien spaceship, STARCHILD may have the key to saving the rebels. Only he wants no part of their war... until he meets HER.

* * *

Tyranny rules the galaxy.

TAIBEROS has crushed every hint of rebellion. Like the grip of his cybernetic hand, he maintains a relentless hold on the populace. The power he hates most is the psionic magic of THE SONG—a force so strong it flows out as light from the eyes. People with such powers are called RADIANCES, and Taiberos’s Witch Hunters kidnap any that surface.

As the radiances slowly vanish, so does the galaxy’s hope.

Till Kalhette Whitesun, one of the last radiances, gives a risky speech, denouncing Taiberos and the extermination of her kind. The message spreads across the galaxy like the light of a supernova. She becomes revered as the UNCROWNED QUEEN, the one with the power to finally unite the people.

And then doom falls—

In the form of the crushing hand of Taiberos. He captures Kalhette, sentencing her to the darkest dungeons and imminent death.

All hope is lost.

Until a lone pilot appears. A pilot who wants nothing to do with Kalhette or her rebellion yet who may in fact be the galaxy’s last hope. A pilot whose ship, THE SPIRIT, was created by an ancient alien race. A pilot who stole that ship from Taiberos himself...

A renegade pilot named STARCHILD.

* * *

Get ready for a reading addiction like you HAVEN’T EXPERIENCED SINCE YOU WERE A KID.

The moment you open the book, you’ll be transported away at lightspeed.

SO, ARE YOU READY to take an intergalactic leap?

©2019 J Washburn (P)2024 J Washburn

A fantastic blend of the best Sci-Fi, with truly cool original ideas and world building! Well worth it!

What an amazing ride! I loved this story and the characters. I kept thinking I knew where it was going to go, and then it would change! At first I thought it was just like OG Star wars, and then it was nothing like it at all. The imagery that the author used was stark and vivid and it helped to make the characters pop out with memorable quality. This is well worth your time!

More Than Just an Audiobook...

It's an audio dramatization with music, sound effects, etc. The narrator does a fantastic job and was especially engaging during character conversations. It's a lot of fun. I'm now interested to hear other works the narrator has been involved with. I would note that sometime the sound effects were a bit too loud compared to the reading of the story, so be careful with your volume.

As for the story, it's George Lucas meets Ayn Rand meets The Buddha. It's definitely reminiscent of Star Wars, but it sort of gave me the feeling I had when reading The Hunger Games. I particularly enjoyed the main character, Nak, and his sidekick, a cubed consciousness named Cup. The dialogue was fun and witty, and the story intriguing. The magic system has quite a bit of Eastern influence and is wielded by warriors passionate about political philosophy. There are many interesting perspectives I will be thinking more about. I’m looking forward to listening to the entire trilogy.

Super fun adventure sci-fi story

Washburn tells a fun story with great twists and creates a fun and exiting world in this book. The audio book is read super well making it an extra good listen

The narrator takes this story to the next level

I read Exile years ago, then picked up this recently. The narrator takes the entire journey to the next level. The characters feel even more alive with the unique voices he has given. I hope he does the whole series and I get to experience this story again through his telling.

Enjoyable and Creative Storytelling

I enjoy space opera-style stories for the most part, and even though Star Wars has never been my thing, I am familiar enough with it to see some of the inspiration in this story that others have mentioned. That said, it's not Star Wars. I was into this story. It was well written, imaginative, and had some good character development. J can turn a phrase, and craft an engaging plot that makes you wonder what's next.

It was interesting to see the different philosophies that were intermingled throughout the story, and I wonder if they will have a larger part to play in the story at large, or if they are simply details as to the inner workings of the characters at the time. Seems like there was a lot of inspiration from modern monotheistic religions, humanism, and the more ancient spiritual practices of Buddhism and Hinduism. Either way, understanding what makes a character tick is one of my favorite parts of a book, and these were helpful additions.

I deducted a star from the performance because every place where a curse-word seem like it was going to be placed, the audio "scrambled," which pulled me away from the story, and left me wishing they would either just say it or remove it completely. I'm not sure if the written book does the same thing or not. That one piece aside, the audio narration was a performance and it was well done.

All this to say that I'm glad I took the risk and gave it a listen. J has given us a solid offering into a new Space Opera story that as a listener (or reader), is easy to tell is a labor of love and creativity. Give it a try, I think you'll enjoy it. Well done.

Just a retelling of Star Wars

Just as my title says - Just Star Wars. Don't waste your time or money on this series.