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The Planet of Thieves

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The Planet Thieves
by Dan Krokos
Starscape, 2013.  253 pgs. Science Fiction.

     Thirteen year old Mason Stark is a junior Captain Kirk figure in this neckbreaker of a sci-fi adventure for tweens.  Stark, a space cadet (not that kind) from the Academy for Earth Space Command is on the country-class ship Egypt where his sister Susan is a senior officer when it is attacked and boarded by the Tremist, an alien race who have been duking it out with earthlings for over 60 years over an inhabitable planet that both races want. When the crew of the Egypt is mostly killed or captured, the cadets have to take over the ship with Mason in command. Then the fun begins.  Mason and company battle the Tremist to save his sister, the Egypt, and even earth.  Artificial wormholes, heavily-armored Tremist rumored to be blood-sucking space vampires, the mysterious purple-glove-wearing Radoghast, and a wide array of vaporizing weaponry make this a terrific sci-fi thriller with a twist of an ending.  First in a series, The Planet Thieves, will make you hope that Dan Krokos isn't wasting time doing anything else besides writing a sequel.
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