Starfire audiobook

My name is Dan Pratt and I thrilled to have been invited as a guest reviewer by Angela. I am a fan of techno-thrillers, military aerospace, and space exploration. I also have some (VERY minor) technical expertise in these areas. I am also no stranger to Dale Brown’s storytelling. In fact, the very first book that I bought with my own money and read purely for the enjoyment of reading was “Flight of the Old Dog.” That novel introduced a cast of characters that have progressed and evolved over the last 20+ years and 20+ books—creating a parallel, but very similar world to the one that exists in 2014, the setting for “Starfire.”This is the story of Bradley McLanahan, a mediocre undergrad student in the aerospace engineering program at Cal Poly University. Brad and his team of students have taken on an ambitious project related to the collection and transmission of solar power from space down to earth. Much of their success seems tied to McLanahan’s connections, which are mainly rooted in his father, Patrick’s military and civilian career. General Patrick McLanahan is Brown’s most prolific character, and the central figure in the series. Avoiding spoilers, there is espionage, combat, personal conflict and some agonizingly accurate political and bureaucratic gamesmanship by a cast of U.S. and foreign leaders.What remains are the two signatures of a Dale Brown novel. There is suspense and story development that builds steadily into a thrilling page-turner, and exiting technology that is at (or tantalizingly just beyond) the cutting edge. The technology can be intimidating, but Brown is well-practiced at explaining things without getting buried in the details. He even includes a cast and glossary in the front of the book for reference.I suspect that I will make many trips to Google in search of more information on some of the interesting technologies that I was introduced to in “Starfire”.The only criticism I have is that projects and technologies are developing much faster in Brown’s world than they are in the world full of red tape that we live in. I suppose that’s the point, though. As a teenager reading “Flight of the Old Dog," I was spoiled by what could be, and disappointed in what was. As details surfaced about “black” projects from the Cold War, I remember feeling ripped off because there were no space lasers or secret spaceplanes. That is my fantasy world—a world for people who aren't ready for elves or sparkling teenage vampires.“Starfire” is an exciting, easy read—and a good techno-military thriller. Having not read any books in the series for some time, the book stands well on its own, and I suspect ties in well to the preceding ones. The end of the Cold War and shift to fighting insurgencies on the ground put quite a dent in this genre, but it’s nice to see that Dale Brown is still on his game. I give "Starfire" 4 books.

This was a solid contribution to the series. I am always impressed with the imagination of the author, who over the book series has created a new and very realistic future setting for the US military and world political scene. This future is based on real headlines from actual publications about happenings on the world stage, as well as technological developments, but the author further develops these headlines into situations and weapons systems that far surpass reality, but seem well within the realm of possibility. There is an incredible amount of thoughtful detail that enhances believability of his imaginations. What I particularly liked about this book is the political commentary on what seems to be happening in today's world with the political twisting of the truth for political gain in the form of "fake news". Brown demonstrates how dangerous this can be by showing the direct link to international conflict, but then in the closing pages, discloses that even though the fake news that was released with the intent to twist the truth for political gain, the "fake news" ended up being closer to the truth than even those who felt they were the victims of this "fake news" even knew. It was an unexpected twist to learn that even those who had "all the facts" and were "in the know" were far from the truth, and were themselves being manipulated by others who were really in control, but who no one knows are even players in the game. Continuing with his pattern in previous novels, the Americans stave off the attack, but not without significant cost, and though this is probably more akin to how things usually happen in real life, it may be less than satisfying for those who like tidy endings with everything wrapped up in a pretty bow. 4.5 stars

Our hero is Patrick McLanahan's son, Brad; a freshman at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. This freshman finds time to build team who constructs a space laser, gets if funded and deployed to an orbiting space station. That's pretty good stuff except this dude is just a freshman, who probably hasn't taken Math 101 yet, let alone the BS liberal arts class designed to round him out. Ignore that and it's a pretty good and exciting sci fi novel by an author known for very technical details about guns an airplanes. Thought provoking, of course, because it contemplates militarization of space against a crazy foe in the Kremlin. Having read about half the series, I was about ready to give up on Dale Brown, because the technical details of an electronic jammer, e.g., were pretty boring.. but maybe I'll listen to another?

Brown's focus on hard science is what made this book so good. The plot grips me right from the beginning, being an underachieving Aerospace Engineer myself like the protagonist. While I haven't had the opportunity to read any of the other Patrick McLanahan series books, I will definitely give them a shot despite Patrick being one of my least favorite characters. In my opinion Brown sort of wrote himself into a corner or perhaps is just setting up book #20, but the ending fell quite a bit flat compared with the rest of the book. There were several unresolved plot lines at the end and it sort of just fizzled. I'm hoping he was setting up for book #20, but we'll see.

As always, Dale Brown leads the way in "lead the way technology" based fiction. Even when his hero has begun to get "long in the tooth". I think it is time to finally retire Patrick and move on with some of the other characters that he has introduced over the years, however, in this case his development of some of his new characters indicates that he is on his way in that direction. Great book and the development of the Russian conflict shows that we are in for at least a couple more books.

What a great readI have been reading most of the storyline for the Mclanahan exploists this one was agood story to do with the Russians and Americans in the space wars with Patricks son going up to the space station to end up having a war with Russia and China using a laser system to attack there bases it was a great read.

And another time I NEED the 1/2 star rating to give 4 1/2. Almost to the top of the heap for Mclanahan an Co.Fun,excitement, tension. Thanks.

WinnerAnother great story from Mr Brown. Brings excellent storytelling and experience in to everything he writes. You won't be disappointed.

Another great dale brown adventure!Cool high tech space weapons. A good villain and a bunch of heroes. What’s not to like. It was hard to put down

Exciting Sci-fiGreat characters, lot of excitement, suspense around an adventure we hope never happens. Very technical language but not enough to spoil the adventure.

Good read waiting for moreGood read Waiting for the next one. They should be as good as the prior ones. A fast read for all

This was a Goodreads giveaway winner. Very good story.

heart breaking read!So sad all the way around! Fast and furious; and hard to put down... but just heartbroken over this whole book.. on to the next one, I guess.

Loved all the tech stuff.

UNC