Star Voyager Academy

by William R. Forstchen

Book Overview

As civil war threatens between the United Nations of Earth and Earth's colonies on Mars, the Moon, and in the Belt, the conflict threatens to tear apart the elite Star Voyager Academy.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671876082
• ISBN13: 9780671876081
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Baen Books
• Length: 274 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Wish there was more

This was a fun coming of age story about a scrawny kid who never thought he could live up to the shadow of his hero father. He learns that it's impossible to become that person the world idolizes and that he needs to become his own man. Overall a good quick read.

A great new series

Star Voyager Academy is the beginning of a great new series of military fiction written in the spirit of Heinlein. Justin is the ordinary child of a martyrd space hero, trying to fill some enormous footprints and fearing that he just isn't big enough. Matt is a "Solar Sailor". Orphaned as a small child he grew up saiing the solar wind with only his uncle and an ancient robot for company. The two orphaned cadets become close friends as they stuggle through the plebe year at the Academy.This was a great beginning of what promises to be a good quality series and I anxiously await the sequal.

THIS BOOK CHANGED MY LIFE

A friend loned me a copy of this book over three years ago. I am now 17 and that friend has long since graduated and moved on to college. He gave it to me when I first became a cadet with the Civil Air Patrol, a United States Air Force Auxilary. Inside the book I found many of the bases for my leadership style today. The book is a wonderful read and lends insite on building a strong moral base. The interaction between the characters is wonderfully written. The focus of the book is on cadets at a military academy in lunar orbit. These cadets are on a platform that represents all people in the solar system, and as civil war looms they are all forced to make crucial decisions about their futures. The author uses wonderful detail in displaying the myriad of emotions these young adults go through. This book recieves my highest commendation - I am now the cadet commander at my squadron and an officer. Thanks

This book changed my life!

I picked up this book when I was fifteen to read during summer vacation. Now eighteen, soon to be a freshman at Johns Hopkins, I recall how profoundly this book shaped many of my views. On the surface it is a coming-of-age tale of a young man at an elite academy-- dealing not only with the typical pressures of being a teenager, but with the very real possibility of war in the near future. But if you look deeper than that, you find that some very complex issues are being discussed as well-- issues of space exploration, revolution, human progress, manifest destiny, and politics. Not only was this wonderful book entertaining and hard to put down, but it made me think as well. It forced me to question my stance on these issues. It helped develop my outlook on life. No matter how old I get, I will never stop enjoying this enthralling tale-- and personally, I would prefer that William Forstchen NOT write a sequel, for the point of the book has been made; it needs no further e! ! laboration. I perceive the point of this book is that the future is up to us-- it is what we make of it. I am not only happy, but proud to have read this book... I recommend it to all.

I like this book so much, I came here looking for a sequel!

Star Voyager Academy is the story of 16 year old Justin Bell and his classmates as they experience scrub summer at the U.N. military academy 150 years in the future. Justin won his appointment to the academy when his father, a military officer, died saving 500 people. Justin feels he doesn't belong and doesn't deserve appointment when so many of his classmates are the best and brightest of Earth and its colonies. In the background is the hot political question of whether the colonies should be given their independence and freedom from the governmental control and taxation of Earth. There are strong emotions on both sides, and many of Justin's classmates already feel torn by their oath to the academy and their loyality to their homes. Mostly though, this is the story of young men and women as they struggle to survive their first summer and adapt to life at Star Voyager Academy. This is essentially a juvenile science fiction novel. It's main characters and, I believe, it's intended readers are young adults. This is not to knock the story though. I greatly enjoyed this novel, and I no longer fit into the catagory of a young reader. I found it very engrossing and hard to put down. I enjoyed its story of a young man maturing and finding his future as well as its representation of what a young military cadet goes through in his or her first summer. I enjoyed the book so much I immediately began searching for a sequel. Unfortunately there is none, but I hope that one day William R. Forstchen may develop Star Voyager Academy into a series. I would certainly enjoy reading more.