BOOK REVIEW: STARSHIP FOR SALE by M.R. Forbes
STARSHIP FOR SALE by M.R. Forbes is a fantastic fun story about two teenage boys who manage to acquire their own starship and proceed to become outlaws (entirely against their will). It draws from THE LAST STARFIGHTER and other fiction that is frequently overlooked but ones that it puts its own unique spin on. As GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY shows, every kid of the Eighties wanted to be Han Solo, and this is the story about becoming such.
Ben Murdock has had the mother of all bad days when he discovers that he has terminal cancer that his family can't afford to treat. Depressed, he heads out with his friend Matt for a night on the town and ends up experiencing a VR starfighter game that leads to an encounter with a bully he stands up to. From there, events become strange as they are contacted by a man who claims he can sell them a starship.
Well, as the title implies, this is not an elaborate scam (or it is but not in the way that they initially think it is). They find themselves with a fully functioning starship, a mountain full of debt they can't pay, a shapeshifting assassin, and the animosity of an interstellar duke. It is a wonderful adventure story and I liked that the primary concern of our heroes after they reach space is keeping themselves employed to pay for supplies.
I like Ben's relationship with Matt and the way the two friends love as well as support one another. Ben doesn't want to take advantage of his friend or his newfound wealth but he's also someone who doesn't have much hope. After all, with only a few months left to live, why not try to become a space ace? Ben wants to help his friend above all things but doesn't know how to cope with such a horrifying situation (and who does?). My only regret is they didn't bring the girl that flirted with Ben earlier.
The world-building M.R. Forbes achieves is very good with the setting justifying everything from human-like aliens (they're transplanted humans) and why the galaxy is such a terrible place (it's reverted to feudalism). M.R. Forbes even explains why an interstellar con man would target two teenage boys who don't appear to have the kind of money to purchase a starship. He even makes sure the boys maintain just the right of skepticism to the insane offer they have received right up until they're in the ship itself.
The story has the slight flaw of being mostly set up versus a complete story. This isn't something I mind as a reader, but I know some readers feel unhappy if a story doesn't contain a finale to the adventures of a character. Nevertheless, I think this is a series that I very much will be checking out as new books arrive.
In conclusion, I think this is a fun indie science fiction book. It is available on Kindle Unlimited, and the sequel is already out. There's a lot of Kindle Unlimited books out there that suck but this is not one of them. It has just amount of silliness and seriousness mixed to make an offbeat premise work.