Starfire: The Mending: Book 1
by Stuart Vaughn Stockton
Colorado Springs: Marcher Lord Press, 2009, 467 pp., softcover.

Starfire is the opening salvo of an ambitious sci-fi project. Stuart Vaughn Stockton has poured himself into creating an alternate world populated by numerous saurians, or dinosaur species. These saurians use computers and build vehicles, even with having to take time out to shed their skin. Like humans, they have their battles, prejudices, sports and religions, making anthropomorphizing easy.

Book I of The Mending series introduces Rathe of Yanguch, an ambitious saurn of lowly birth. Apparently the subject of a prophecy, he rises above his expected station in life and finds that his choices may impact his entire civilization. Will he enable the Starfire doomsday weapon to be activated despite dire warnings?

The hardest part for me was keeping track of all the terminology because I read the book over a period of months with other books breaking up the flow. I enjoyed it more as I continued on and grew familiar with the vocabulary, although it never captured me quite as strongly as the Dragon Riders of Pern series, to reference another sentient dinosaur/dragon world. That was partly due to the more familiar terminology of Pern.

Starfire reviews have been very positive on Amazon and other sites, so if reading something like "Struth of Grakin Spur found VorTolKo in the Kivorkim Porlko" doesn't make you flee (as I'm sure my wife would), you may be ready for Starfire. A friend's young teen absolutely devoured this book, so it's perfect for youngsters who love alternate worlds and have time to immerse themselves in the story.

Kudos to Marcher Lord Press for publishing another creative attempt to formulate a Christian worldview in a world that is very different world from ours, yet strangely familiar.

Visit Marcher Lord Press.

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