The Starter (The galactic football league, 2)

Scott Sigler does it again with The Starter, part two of his "galactic football league" series.I had described The Rookie (part one) as being wildly entertaining, and The Starter continues in the same page-turning manner. If there's going to be only two books I read in a year that have a sports theme, I'll go with Sigler's work.Imagine the universe, but in the future, seven centuries from now. Image other species of life in outer space, intelligent beings who are physically very different than humans, but with thriving planets and huge, populated cities. Like all other races that intermingle, they've had times of war and times and peace. They've long ago staked out planets and territories as their own. Now imagine the larger of the species, including a bigger version of humans called "Heavy Gs," coming together to play the game of football.Sound crazy or maybe like some cheap rip-off of Star Wars? It's not. Sigler's work is original, interesting and engaging, not to mention quite amusing in many places.In The Rookie, we're introduced to our main character, Quentin Barnes, a football quarterback. He's a young orphan from a planet of "Purists" who believe the human race is the only true species and that all others are abominations or even "demonic." But one day during a game on his small home planet, Quentin is purchased by the owner of a Tier 2 football team and ushered into the world of inter-species play. The team owner is a gangster and member of the organized crime world and happens to be of a species called the Quyth. Because of his background, Quentin has to do some hard personal attitude adjustments in terms of how he looks at non-humans. In that sense, this book continues in the theme of being partially a commentary on the problems of racism and differing religious beliefs that exist on earth today.While the first book focuses much on the game and how Barnes must acclimate his skills to the different physical abilities of non-human players, The Starter deep dives into the darker side of the game. Behind the throwing and tackling and game strategies, there's a whole world of high-stakes money, manipulation and power struggle. Many of the football teams are owned by crime bosses, and Quentin, being the team leader, gets caught between some of it. There are times this book gets gritty and even a little scary. But it's all believable.Quentin's team, the Ionath Krakens (from the planet "Ionath"), doesn't do well at first. They are lacking certain good players and have rookies that aren't doing the job. The title of this book reflects the fact that Quentin Barnes ends up being a starter quarterback on a Tier 1 football team. Much of this book is the Krakens struggling to maintain their Tier 1 status. The result is that not only does Barnes have to play politics, he has to deal with getting thrust into the world of stardom and all the baggage that comes with fame and fortune on a galactic-scale.As with part one, I highly recommend The Starter. I can see why these books have been so popular. You start reading and you just don't want to put it down until you find out what happens. That's good fiction.Kelly Libatique, author of "Practical, Part-Time, Paying, Voice-Over"

I ended up binge reading the 5 books in this series. Obviously I found it extremely entertaining (in parts) and wanted to see where the story ended up. On that basis alone the story earned four stars.Overall, its well written with only a few obvious editing flaws. I rarely had to stop to re-read a line because I couldn't grok it the first time through.My complaint in my review of the first book was based on the characters not being well built up. It becomes a bit clearer here that Scott is going out of his way to NOT look at any character in depth. It allowed the story to flow, but sometimes took away.There also was too much exposition at the start of each chapter, where the chapter started with a scholarly section describing some aspect of the universe Scott has created.Now I don't want to spoil these books so I find that I want to restrict what I say beyond the first part. These are by no means perfect books, and there were many plot decisions and points that disappointed me. I also felt that Quinten Barnes was too much of an anti-hero/jerk at times based on him playing sports. He also ended up with far more influence on the team based on him being a second year player. But it worked.Still, its a 4 star read.

The Starter is the second book in Sigler's Galactic Football League series, and essentially picks up right where the first left off. The Ionath Krakens, led by quarterback Quentin Barnes, have been promoted to Tier One in the GFL. Whether they remain there is not certain. The season gets off to a not quite auspicious start, and the Krakens are in danger of being dropped back to Tier Two. When linebacker John Tweedy's brother, Ju, a running back, becomes the prime suspect in a murder, Quentin, John, and a handful of Krakens set out on a rescue mission. They sign Ju to the Krakens, establishing his diplomatic immunity, and saving his life. But bringing Ju onto the team adds a host of other problems to the already shaky Kraken bid to stay in Tier One. Is Ju deliberately throwing games? Can Quentin keep the team together and keep them in Tier One?The Rookie was a fast-paced, sports heavy introduction to the world of the GFL. The Starter, while perhaps a bit less heavy on the gridiron action, is still a swift-moving ride that rarely loses momentum. As a second book, it does delve a bit more into character, helping to develop not only the main characters, but gives insight into some of the secondary ones, as well. As far as Quentin came in the rookie in overcoming his Purist Nation prejudices and lack of broad education on things outside the Nation, we see early on that he still has a long way to go. His temper is still a problem, more often than not. The alien races are drawn a bit more clearly, and differences, both physical and cultural, brought to the front more clearly.Even though character takes the center stage in this story, there is still plenty of football action. It is clear that Sigler is a fan, and understands the game well. He had managed to take the Amercian game and translate it to a galactic scale believalby. It's a rough game out there in the galaxy, and not only are injuries often brutal, deaths are not uncommon. The game descriptions are accurate and will not disappoint any football fan.Football fans, science fiction fans, gangster story fans- all will find things to enjoy in this series.

I've been listening to Scott's podcasts of his novel for awhile, but now I bought his book on my kindle, and I am glad that I did. The Starter follows The Rookie with our hero Quentin Barnes. There are generous helpings of science fiction, action, intrigue and quivering sklorno who worship Quentin. Our hero got the Ionath Krakens into tier one of the GFL. But the fight he has on and off the field to keep the team in tier one is epic. Quentin is faced with tough decisions to keep his team from being relegated to tier 2. He has to let friends go, face danger to bolster his offensive line. I love Scott's characters, in all his books they are unique and individual. Even though I am not into American Football I totally enjoyed this book and can unreservedly recommend The Starter. THE STARTER (Galactic Football League)THE STARTER (Galactic Football League)

A superb fusion of sport, American Football, aliens, space travel, action and adventure. Each novel set over a GFL - Galactic Football League season. I really love this series of books, and have had tremendous success in getting teenage boys to read them in my school library. Even though I know little about American Football, it didn't make any difference. Even though they're big books, I've still found them really popular with reluctant readers. A great present for any boy age 12+. All 4 books in the series, only 2 in the new UK paperback series are out so far.

Husband loves it

Enjoyable addition to this addictive series

Loved by my 12 year old son. He's on his 2nd read through it. Monsters/ aliens/ sport and adventure - what more do you want? A great series.