Lucifer's Star

by Michael Suttkus and C T Phipps

[Melanie]

I’m a huge fan of C.T. Phipps, so I was excited to try this new-to-me space opera. I do like science fiction, though I don’t read it as much as fantasy. This story follows Cassius Mass, a great star pilot for the Crius Archduchy. He’s hailed as a hero by some and a war criminal by others. Now he’s hiding under a different name.

In this world, there are clones and robots that are very human-like. There is even a woman who is able to pass as human and does for a while. It is really hard to know who is what, with the clones and humanoid-like robots, not to mention spies. Even when you think you know something about someone, you learn something else.

I really liked Cassius. He was able to look back at his actions and know he did some pretty horrible things during the war and does what he can to make up for some of those deeds. He knows he can never make up for the large number of lives he took. He takes a memory drug to help him “forget” his past. There is also a lot of drinking.

If you like stories that are twisty-turny, this is a fun story for you to try. It seemed like I learned something new about a different character in each chapter. I never knew what was going to happen next. I don’t want to go more into the story, because I really like to avoid spoilers.

I have to say, my favorite part of this story is the characters. I just love the characters that Phipps develops. They are just so relatable, real, fun and likable. If you’ve never tried Phipps, I highly recommend him.

Narration:
This was my first time listening to Eric Burns. I really liked his narration of this story. It has a fairly large cast and he didn’t do a bad job with all the characters. Each had a pretty distinctive voice. I think his female voices could’ve been a little bit better, but not bad overall. Those voices became the voices of the characters. I would definitely listen to him read another book at some time.

**I'd like to thank the author for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.