Miles Rozak's Starship Found, Child Missing

One of the best pieces of advice I can offer to anyone is to never mess with a Marine. They're generally in pretty good shape, they have combat training and they've been taught to be aggressive in all things. The Marine way of making war is to charge straight at their objective and take it by whatever means necessary. The government issues them firearms and explosives for a reason. Here's an even better piece of advice though: Don't ever mess with a Marine's kid. They've still got all of the aforementioned skills and abilities and they're even angrier. Seriously.

In Miles Rozak's Starship Found, Child Missing someone is just beginning to learn both of these lessons. It's going to suck to be him once our main character, Tyson Gage, catches up to him. Gage is every bit as interested in taking the subtle route as you would expect a devil dog to be, and he's not really into promoting the general health and well being of those who get in his way.  He seems a bit cranky at times and for good reason. Someone snookered him, then stole his kid and now he's a bunch of centuries in the future and his planet has been destroyed. I think I'd be in a bad mood, too.

Starship Found, Child Missing is clearly marked as the first in the series and this a good thing for a couple of reasons: One is that Rozak's universe is build sandbox style and there is a lot of it we have yet to see. He's done a great job of giving the reader enough to keep them interested without getting excessively bogged down in worldbuilding. While good in and of itself, this left me wanting more, and I'm confident that I'll get that in future books. We'll chalk that one up as a win.  Also, there is a lot more story left to tell at the end of the first book and I'm looking forward to see what happens to our faithful friends as things move on. I don't want to spoil too much, but it almost feels like the end of SF,CM is the beginning of the story in a way. I mean, if the Alien Ship for Sale series were a three act play, this would make a good first act. We've got a bunch of the main actors on the stage now, and it's time to see how bad things get before they get better. 

Gage is my favorite kind of protagonist: He has a clear goal that I can agree with. He has a strong moral code. He doesn't give up just because things look bad. He can come up with a good plan when he needs one and is resourceful enough to improvise when things go south on him. In short, he's not just a hero, he's a heroic hero. This guy is in some ways the antithesis of Thomas Covenant: He's on a mission that he cares about and he wants to see it through. If he has to hurt someone to accomplish him mission that's on them, but honestly at that point they deserve it. He builds a team of deserving individuals and he shows them the respect that they deserve, at least after he removes his cranium from his rectal cavity. Then again, it's natural to worry about people you care about and that's why his head is lodged in an unnatural position. I love heroes I can cheer for and Tyson Gage is that guy. 

Of course, having a villain that kidnaps kids and uses people as human shields is a good thing too. Seeing the good guy win is even better when I can see the bad guy lose. And while I believe there is quite a while left for the ultimate resolution, I'm willing to wait and savor the journey because it will be epic when it hits. 

There is a lot of backstory here, at least as far as Tyson goes, and we're just beginning to get a look at what makes him him. He's a man who has been through some things and they effect him in ways that he probably doesn't realize. As a matter of fact, I don't know much about Rozak as a person, but I'm guessing that either he has some training in psychology or that he's done some independent research because there is a bit of psychoanalysis that goes on at one point and it makes sense to someone who has a very little formal training in Psych (I took the freshman level intro in college and I aced it, but that's the extent of my training) but has done some independent reading here and there. Also, I'm watching the Sopranos and at least one conversation sounds like it could have happened between Tony and Dr. Melfi and that's a good thing. Whatever big time Hollywood writers wrote that knew what they were doing. 

That's not to say that Starship Found, Child Missing bogs down in psychological minutiae. There is enough action here to keep even a vicarious adrenaline junkie like me happy. You've got everything from gunplay, to fist-fighting, a couple of fights that could be either described as lightsaber duels or kendo depending on preference, a mecha battle and some deep space fighting. At some point even Gage's dog gets involved, and he has Marine training too. They served together. Don't blink, because you'll miss something.

To say that Starship Found, Child Missing held my attention would be a massive understatement. I read just under three hundred pages of this thing in three hours. I haven't done that in years. I couldn't put the thing down. It seems like something totally different is happening on every other page. Seriously, buckle up before you crack this thing open because it's a wild ride and you're going to want to forget about life for awhile. Then again, that's kind of the point, right?

All in all, I'm really excited for the next one. I'll be downloading it soon. I can't wait to see where Gage and his intrepid group of friends end up. 

Bottom Line: 4.75 out of 5 Opening Gambits

Starship Found, Child Missing (Alien Ship for Sale, Book One)
Miles Rozak
Megaulcite Press, 2023

Starship Found, Child Missing (Alien Ship for Sale, Book One) is available for purchase at the following link. If you click the link and buy literally anything from Amazon, I get a small percentage at no additional cost to you.