OnlineBookClub.org

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Highway To the Stars: The Beginning" by B.E. Wilson.]
John Kemp isn’t having the best of luck lately. Not only did he lose his job after twenty five years as an engineer but he has caught his wife, Gloria, having an affair with their neighbor. His entire team consisting of Bobby, Robert and Frank, have lost their jobs as well. Jasper, the arrogant, argumentative know it all, is the only person that was part of the research team to still have a job. Jasper will be taking all of their data to Detroit where he hopes to discover the secret to sustainable fuel. John and his team worked for the automotive industry and had been actively researching ways to create the first sustainable fuel, hoping to be capable of traveling one hundred miles on a single gallon. Now their dreams of being the first to reach that goal have been shot down. Or have they? The guys have come up with a plan to continue their research, with samples Rob had stolen from their old jobs before they were fired. Working in secrecy they discover a new power source. A source they find others are willing to kill for.

Highway to the Stars: The Beginning is science fiction adventure novel that follows the journey of four friends and partners pushing themselves toward a common goal: sustainable fuel. Everyone’s personal lives were affected by their terminations from their job. It took great amounts of courage for them to decide to pursue their dreams and continue through their struggles and hardships. None of them knew if it would be worth it but they trusted and had faith in each other. With John as their leader they faced each obstacle thrown their way in hopes of persevering. They wanted to succeed and that drive set them on the course to an amazing discovery.

Wilson created an easy read full of entertainment, laugh, mystery and suspense. Well written and imaginative the science behind the processes was believable and thought not intensely drawn out, explained concisely. Most of the characters were well developed and their motivations clear from the beginning. John was a capable leader that I found easy to stand behind and trust. His intentions were pure and the amount of respect he was shown by his friends made this as much of an emotional journey as it was a harrowing one. The sense of family and comradery made this story enjoyable and made me invest in the characters and their success and failures.

This novel did have a few minor issues that were distracting enough to take away from parts of the story. The antagonists, which for the most part were used for comic relief, weren’t well developed and though constantly around were hard to take seriously as a threat. Instead of devoting time to fully flushing out these characters they were randomly mentioned within chapters and ended up as caricatures. There were also small details about the story that seemed to be neglected or overlooked. Though these details didn’t derail the plot or its progress they left unanswered questions and took away some of the integrity of the story.

Regardless of the few mishaps I’ve mentioned I still found Highway to the Stars: The Beginning to be an enjoyable, easy to read novel. I give it 3 out of 4 stars and would recommend it to anyone who likes science fiction novels with comedy and adventure mixed in.

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*NOTE*!!! Barnes and Noble has not yet updated to the revised edited version!! Please direct all purchases to Amazon until B&N gets the edited version of the book updated. Thank you!!

Good summary of the plot.

This doesn't seem like the kind of book I generally look for, but if I need a light sci-fi read, I'll definitely keep it in mind.

I feel like this book is good. Who's read it?

Sounds like it could be good. Thanks for the review.

I am very obviously biased since I know the author on a personal level, but I'd have enjoyed the story even if I didn't know him. I'm a redneck girl, so I connected with the wit and sarcasms between the guys.

The book wasn't hard to follow. Nothing annoys me more than having a potentially good story written so verbosely that it derails the meaning. (Kinda like that very sentence just did haha) Simply said, I like a book that's more laid back like this one.

I know the sequel (Blood Red Sky) is in the works and almost complete! He's torturing me making me wait until it's published before even I get to read it. (Talk about cruelty to animals..pffft) Once it's out, I'll let everyone know. Until then, if you haven't already, check out The Beginning.

If anyone has any questions for the author, you can always post them or contact him directly. He answers every email personally.