Stargazer [Mass Market Paperback]

Stargazer is the story of Princess Lilly of the planet Oasis and a condemned murder, Shaun Phoenix.

Lilly is the niece of the King of Oasis, her father was the King's brother and her mother was a Circe witch. At her birth, her mother was condemned to die for murdering the King's wife and son, her father had died trying to protect the queen and her babe. As the King's last living relative, Lilly is heir to the throne.

Shaun Phoenix was raised underground on a planet that's surface was covered by poisonous gas, his parents were in hiding. They had been forbidden to marry, fleeing to have the life together and going in hiding. They were murdered when the leaders decided they wanted the planet the couple was living on, killed by the soldiers sent to remove them. Phoenix saught out each man who had murdered his parents and killed them, for this he was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in the darkest hole that could be found.

The couple meet when Lilly and her protector took transport undercover on a cargo ship. As Lilly enters the bay, she senses Phoenix and goes to stand before his cryo tube. She touches him mentally, then enters her own cryo tube, next to her protector. The death of her protector penetrates her sleep and awakes her to the the danger she is in, The ship is being attacked by the Ravigans, the enemy of her people. She helps Phoenix escape from the soldier trying to kill him and they flee to an escape pod, where they eject to safety. It is from here where their adventure truely begins. Are they safe? Don't count on it, enemies turn up at every turn and are people you would least suspect.

I refuse to tell you more, I don't want to spoil the story. You won't regret reading it and I know it will be on your read again shelf. I know I put it on mine.

Being the daughter of a murdering Circe witch who killed her father has hurt Lilly as much of upper society starting with her uncle blames her from the moment of her birth almost as much as her mother though Lilly was born after the homicide. Two decades later her uncle, Sovereign Alexander of Oasis still holds her culpable for his brother's death due to her mother's actions; still he assigns Lilly as his representative to the senate with war beckoning that could destroy the world.

Ravigans attack her ship and her bodyguard Krebb is killed. Desperate she frees a cyro-prisoner Phoenix, whom she already held a telepathic chat with, from his frozen cell that stated "Do not revive without authorization". The prisoner was to be dumped in the deepest known hole for murdering five Senate soldiers. He sees his actions differently as he was avenging the murder of his parents. He is an anomaly as an unprecedented male surviving descendent of the Circe witches, but agrees to protect Lilly. As they fall in love, they have doubts about the underlying reasons for the upcoming war and investigate how he survived the Circe witches when they kill male infants immediately.

STARGAZER is an exciting action-packed science fiction romance in which the worlds envisioned by Colby Hodge seem so real the audience will believe she is an ET from one of them. The story line hits hyperspeed immediately and never decelerates until the climax. The mystery of Phoenix adds depth on a personal level to this fabulous outer space tale that in some ways feels like a medieval historical tale as love and war are enhanced by trust and betrayal respectively.

Harriet Klausner

Lily, niece of Sovereign Alexander, is the only royal on Oasis who can save her threatened planet and protect its natural resource from being plundered. During a secret mission to address the Senate, Lily boards a cargo ship to disguise her presence from the marauding Ravigans who've surrounded her home world. When the ship is attacked, and her bodyguard Krebbs is killed, she has no choice but to join forces with the only man on board who can save her life. What better person than a man guilty of murdering five Legionnaires? It doesn't hurt that his only other choice is imprisonment in the bowels of a prison planet. Yet, Lily's telepathic trip inside the prisoner's head shows her there is more to him than meets the eye. It begs her to answer the question--What kind of special secrets does Phoenix hold as the only male Circe ever left alive?

This is the fundamental question that spurs Lily and Shaun Phoenix on, through a labyrinth of political intrigue to save her planet and their lives. When they can no longer trust anyone except each other, their relationship jumps at warp speed to a whole new level. From their first meeting, they're connected by a special bond as Circe witches which allow them to enter each other's heads (and adds a surreal sensual realm during their intimate moments). By overcoming their emotional weaknesses and supporting each others individual strengths Shaun and Lily multiply their "natural" powers to uncover the secret plots brewing around them. Their adventures immerse them in a myriad of cultures and several planets are fleshed out in complete detail, including a blood lust gladiator fight to the death and snakelike creatures waiting to pounce underwater.

As Susan Grant noted in her praise for STARGAZER the novel does have connotation of Riddick and Star Wars. In fact, several times I caught myself reflecting back to various Sci-fi sources that could've inspired Colby Hodge's imagination. Even though some of the pieces reflect classic moments captured on film, the way the author has mixed and matched the elements is masterful. Colby Hodge has taken the best pieces and twisted them into a tail that is intricately weaved and fast paced enough to have readers racing to the end to discover whether or not the hero and heroine's epic struggle will truly have a happy ending.