Review: Star Bringer (Star Bringer #1)

Star Bringer, Book 1 in the Star Bringer Series by Tracy Wolff and Nina Croft

Published By: Red Tower Books
Publication Date: July 11, 2023
Date Read: June 16, 2026
Genre: Adult – Sci-Fi
Source: Bought
Format: Audiobook
Pages: 608

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The sun is dying…and it’s happening way too damn fast.

With the clock ticking, the Nine Planets’ only hope of survival rests on a fancy space station and the alien artifact it’s carrying. Which is why it really sucks when some jackass doesn’t want the universe saved and blows that station up-while you’re still on it.

So if your only choices are flaming death or stealing a flying hunk of space junk-you pick that busted-ass spaceship. Even if it leaves seven strangers with deadly secrets trapped together: a princess, a prisoner, a con artist, a warrior, a priestess, a mercenary, and an asshole in charge of us all.

Now every faction in the galaxy is hunting this ship-from the Sisterhood to the Corporation, and the rebellion’s joining in on the fun, too. We just need to stop drinking, fighting, and screwing long enough to evade them all and save the freaking universe…somehow.

Because apparently the only thing standing between a dying sun and ultimate salvation is seven unlikely misfits…ahem, heroes.

Star Bringer is a book that has been on my radar for a while. Despite me actually not reading it all that often, I am a huge lover of sci-fi books. Especially those set on different planets or in spaceships within the solar system. So when this one was recommended to me for my ‘Read 12 Books Recommended by 12 Friends’ challenge, I immediately took it as a sign that I needed to read this one. I had such high hopes for this one but unfortunately for me this one fell a little bit flat.

Star Bringer follows a rag tag team of misfits who coincidentally end up on the same space station when someone attempts to blow it up. Forced together in a bid to survive, they end up on the run together trying to figure out who tried to kill them all, and why they seem to be following them. As they are running against the clock they have to figure out how to save the universe while also trying to protect each other… even if they don’t fully know or trust each other.

Star Bringer really should have been the perfect book for me. I felt like the premise really gave me ‘Illuminae Files‘ and ‘Aurora Rising‘ vibes, which considering those are two of my all time favourite series, I was super excited about. But unfortunately this one just didn’t quite hit as I was hoping. It had great premise, but the multiple points of view and the uneven pacing of the book let it down for me. In this book was have many points of view, and while the audiobook did very well with this, it just left me feeling like the characters were a little bit flat, and I really didn’t connect with many of them. I ended up loving two or three of them but the others very much felt the same to me and I was very indifferent about them.

In addition to this, I did feel like the pacing of this book was a bit all over the place. There were times within the book that I was really interested and excited to see what was going to happen, the next I was bored and very much ready to put the book down. I listened to this one on audiobook, and I honestly think that that’s what saved it for me. The narrators for each of the characters were truly fantastic. I think if I’d been reading this physically, I would have DNF’d it. I was just praying for it to go quick and for us to get to the end. I just feel like this book was a lot longer than it needed to be. There’s not a whole lot of complex world building so, in my opinion, it didn’t need to be as long.

Star Bringer was an intriguing first book in a sci-fi series. I think if you’re a big fan of space station type action books, but don’t mind a bit of slower pacing then this book will definitely be for you. It was a good read, but unfortunately for me I had a few issues. I will say the pacing ramped up towards the end, and the ending was a very good mid-series book ending. Is it enough to get me to continue? Probably not. Especially considering I have read this 3 years after publication, and there is still not a book 2. I think for me this is where my Star Bringer journey ends, but I am glad I gave it a go, and it did remind me that I really enjoy sci-fi and so I will be looking out for more in this genre.