Star Knight Saga, Book One: Reavers of the Void Review

Star Knight Saga, Book One: Reavers of the Void
By Bradford C. Walker

Some time last year, a few folks were discussing the decline in the quality of mech-focused sci-fi from Japan, and the disappointment that was most of western sci-fi. From these discussions sprung the #AGundamn4Us movement, led by authors Brian Niemeier, Bradford Walker, and Rawle Nyanzi. Each author set to work on their own answer to this gap in the market, hoping to remedy the lack of quality that had been seen so far.

Personally, I was not that big of a fan of Mecha sci-fi, I don't generally watch anime, and the sci-fi I read does not exactly focus on big stompy robots. But as I have enjoyed the work of the authors mentioned previously, I was interested to see what they came up with.

Both Brian and Bradford crowdfunded their entries on Indiegogo, and I have backed both of them.

As far as I know, Rawle Nyanzi's foray launches later this year. However, Brian Niemeier's fantastic Combat Frame XSEED has already launched successfully and was an excellent start which I thoroughly enjoyed. So, does Bradford's attempt succeed?

In a word? Yes.

Reading the first entry in Star Knight Saga, I couldn't help but feel both the anime and western influences that obviously inspired Bradford's work. The cast is colourful, with valiant heroes, graceful ladies, scheming nobles, and so on. But don't let that fool you. There is intrigue, and high stakes, plenty of action-packed battles and thrilling fights, and the characters are varied and interesting.

There wasn't a moment that passed where I felt that the story dragged, and in fact, the pace steamed along so much so that I was saddened when I reached the end, and realised that I now have to wait for the next entry.

If you are in the market for sci-fi, with a slice of mecha-combat, and a good helping of intrigue and action then you may just want to check out Star Knight Saga: Reavers of the Void. I certainly enjoyed it, and I think you might too.