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The Stars Came Back Kindle Edition

by Rolf Nelson (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

154 ratings

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Helton Strom is just a guy between contracts when he runs afoul of both officialdom and space pirates. He is left with nothing but the clothes on his back, and not even a citizenship to his name. Is the ancient, broken-down military surplus starship and the young lady living aboard it the key to a bright future, or will his repairs and new mercenary friends reawaken the demons lurking in the ship’s murky and lethal past?

THE STARS CAME BACK is part space-western, the story of folks just trying stay alive, seeking work to earn money for repairs to get to the next job, with no shortage of action and adventure along the way. It is part military sci-fi, with a company of mercenaries, spaceship combat, mortar and rifle combat, spear-and-shield battle, and PTSD. And it is part philosophical investigation, pondering the lessons of Achilles, if a computer can have a soul, what freedom means, and how one stops a bar fight with earplugs.

Written in a format similar to a screenplay, the book includes various graphics, including the blueprints of the ship.

Print length

561 pages
Language

English
Publication date

March 18, 2014
File size

2697 KB
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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00J3F8Q0O
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Castalia House (March 18, 2014)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 18, 2014
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 2697 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 561 pages
Lending ‏ : ‎ Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #959,300 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #8,890 in Space Opera Science Fiction (Kindle Store)
- #9,993 in Military Science Fiction (Kindle Store)
- #14,630 in Military Science Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
154 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		59%
4 star		25%
3 star		6%
2 star		4%
1 star		7%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Scott Stine

Richly developed Universe and a satisfying story

Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2018

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An ancient ship with an infamous but murky past will either be the ticket to freedom and significance for Helton Strom and new friends, or perhaps a shortcut to a spectacular end.

My genre's of choice tend to lean more toward fantasy, horror, and thriller. If I do read SF, I prefer the character-driven space opera variety. Often, the harder SF feels bogged down with sterile tech sperg.

Fortunately, The Stars Came Back is a great example of the former, but with impressive effort given to the world building. The universe that Nelson delivers feels as accessible as something from Frank Herbert or Neal Stephenson. This reader was quickly acclimated to the environment even as history and technology is rolled out in paced iterations.
The cast of characters, the ones that primarily make up the crew of the Tajemnica have a chemistry that would translate well to the screen. I've seen other reviewers refer to Serenity. It does have a similar feel.
One of the greatest inventions of this universe is the existence of a tightly enforced war convention where different sides of a conflict are required to agree on certain pre-defined levels of military technology. This allows for battles scenes that vary from hard-boiled future tech to swords and pikes.

Highly recommended for both SF fans and SF dabblers.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

D. Garsys

As to the story - if you like Firefly, you may like this one

Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2015

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I'll grant it's unpolished in a few spots, but given the choice of rounding up to five or down to four, I chose to round up.

Right out of the gate, the thing that may throw you is the STYLE. It's written in script format. Little or no introspection, few descriptions of smells, tastes, etc. Instead, the book takes the maxim "show, don't tell" to the extreme, where every important piece of information is gleaned from the dialog, or from the sparse setting descriptions that quickly sketch out the environment, leaving your imagination to fill out the rest, and relying on describing how the characters act to interpret your mood.

As to the story - if you like Firefly, you may like this one. A down-on-his luck spacer buying an abandoned near-hulk, repairs it, and goes to space with a ragtag crew. The ship is more than it seems, and so is the crew. Adventures follow. Things are learned, people grow, and stuff happens.

I plan on rereading this one soon.

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

Lydia Ruth Byers

In the theater of the mind, the one-eyed monkey hitting you in the face with a wrench is king.

Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2019

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Confession: I might be running a slight fever while writing this, but I've stopped caring about how many degrees above 100 I am.
This book is great- while the narrative style takes a bit of getting used to it eventually blends into the background and you get pulled along for one heck of an amazing ride. Just relax, let it happen, and stop listening to your children when they interrupt your reading this book to ask for trivial things, like *food and or a bath.
10/10 Spartans, would kick-start an intergalactic man/ship-hunt again

*don't actually ignore them.. also no child really will ask for a bath, they are more likely to run naked, sudsy, and screaming down the halls of the ship in an attempt to avoid such a thing

Helpful

Lots of Potential Missed - Okay story as is.

Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2015

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Story has a lot of potential and was pretty fun. However, the series of events the crew goes through do not really advance the story line. Its like each encounter, after the initial set up, were there just for action.

The main plot happens just at the beginning and end.

All the encounters could have been separate short stories. They would have been better if the crew was ever challenged by the encounter, instead they always wipe the other guys out... no problems.

The main ideas, self aware AI ship and an ancient civ. were interesting and could be pursued. In this story the self aware ship is kind of like another crew member and the ancient civ is hinted at (very neatly done), then shows up, says hi and leaves. Ends up being pointless.

Helpful

Isaac Valenzuela

The Best TV Show I ever read

Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2015

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This book is truly classic sci-fi. Bad-ass characters that it's fun and easy to root for, set in a future that is creative and well thought out, with plenty of realistic military combat and adventurous space sailing, complete with pirates and gov thugs, once this book got rolling, it was impossible to put down.

This is a book about people trying to do the right thing, and figure out what their place is, and the obstacles they must overcome to do so. These obstacles mainly consist of people who feel our heroes' proper place is dead or subjugated; Captain Helton Strom, his amazing ship and his stellar crew, disagree- vehemently.

This book made me laugh, it made me think, and it left me feeling thoroughly satisfied and entertained. I give it my highest recommendation.

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Gabby

Good story, different style of writing!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 15, 2014

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It's engaging but different, written in the style of a screen play. Interesting concept, fun universe. You get to like the main characters and it is a good read once you get used to the format.

jet11x

just about worth £2.50 - irritating style

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 16, 2014

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The movie script style grated. Silly but fun plot. Made it to the end, which I didn't think I would manage.

Michael Versi

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 18, 2014

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So good!

Eric A Weder

Great space opera!

Reviewed in Canada on September 24, 2015

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Exciting and compelling story -- written in a screenplay format. It reminds me of Firefly quite a bit, but story and characters are more developed as you'd expect. And now coming out in a novel format as well.