Read Time: 2 Minutes
Some rough edges, but Stellar Heir is a reasonably well-paced and action-filled space opera that I think lands well in the young adult market for science fiction. It doesn’t have an overly complicated plot, but it was easy to listen to and a fun story to boot. The story follows Jael, a scavenger who stumbles upon a mysterious artifact, a gold and onyx bracelet that immediately binds to his wrist. It makes him awfully hard to kill and the most wanted man in the galaxy.
With the bracelet, he starts getting messages about the future of the galaxy, and it doesn’t look good. There’s something vast and evil trying to claw its way back into the universe, and Jael holds one of the keys to stopping them.
Along with his snarky sidekick, Goni (a kid-sized half-monkey type thing), they battle alien creatures in frozen wastelands and plenty of shipboard combat with gun battles and martial arts. Goni is probably my favourite character. Jael is your standard reluctant hero and saviour of the universe, and Goni is your standard snark-fuelled sidekick who mostly only looks out for himself but has a heart of gold and of course looks out for his friends.
Shamaan Casey, the narrator, gave Goni a gruff New York style voice and I think it fits his character perfectly. I’d quite enjoy a backstory just of his adventures! The banter between Jael and Goni is fun though and adds the feeling that they’ve known each other for years.
There’s a lot of action, and worth noting that being aimed at a young adult market the cussing is kept to clean alternatives. The only f-bombs being dropped are swapped out with “frax” or “fraxxing” – which keeps it clean while keeping the intent.
The narration by Shamaan Casey was smooth and professional, with no obvious retakes or background noises to distract you. My only minor quibble was his pronunciation of “viscount” (rhyming it with “discount” instead of the silent “s”), which stood out to me. I’m not sure if that’s a regional pronunciation, but it comes up a few times throughout and sort of bugged me… but I concede that’s possibly just a me thing! Not a big deal, just something that caught my ear.
Overall, this was a fun sci-fi story with lots of action and a straightforward plot. Well-paced with humour sprinkled throughout and space battles in and out of the star lanes. While it’s not the most groundbreaking sci-fi or reinventing the genre, it delivered what it promised.