The Starchild Compact: A Novel of Interplanetary Exploration (The Starchild Saga Book 3)
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The Starchild Compact: A Novel of Interplanetary Exploration (The Starchild Saga Book 3) Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 58 ratings
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Are we the children of starchildren?

The Starchild Compact is an adventure of heroic proportions, commencing on a planet 500 light-years distant, arriving here just a few years from now, and ending up in the far distant expanses of the Universe.

Is Saturn’s moon Iapetus an artifact? To find out, Jon Stock takes his international exploration team on a 1.4 billion km journey to Saturn, but will Jihadist stowaway Saeed Ismail succeed in sabotaging the mission?

On Iapetus, Jon Stock and his team meet the Founders. Where are they from? How did they get here? How will they impact Earth and the Solar System? Will the Founders' presence signal the end of humanity, or will it pave the way for a joint push to the distant reaches of the galaxy?

The Starchild Compact is hard sci-fi, reminiscent of Arthur C. Clarke or James P. Hogan, with a geopolitical twist worthy of Tom Clancy or Clive Cussler.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

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  1. Listening Length
    14 hours and 50 minutes
  2. Author
    Robert G. Williscroft
  3. Narrator
    Trenton Bennett
  4. Audible release date
    March 7, 2017
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Robert Williscroft
  7. ASIN
    B06XDGHVCP
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
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Product details

Listening Length 14 hours and 50 minutes
Author Robert G. Williscroft
Narrator Trenton Bennett
Audible.com Release Date March 07, 2017
Publisher Robert Williscroft
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B06XDGHVCP

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
58 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Tony Parsons
5.0 out of 5 stars A very awesome book cover
Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2017
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The Cassini II (66-meter-long x 12-meter-wide cylinder, 3 modules) crew: Jon, Ginger, Michele Dr. Bhuta, Elke, Dmitri, Ari, Chen & Noel; just to name a few were all getting to know one another. Quite the cultural diverse group/
Next, they were assigned their separate male & female sleeping quarters & given their job assignments.

20 days had gone by with no crew/ship mishaps.
Ari Rawlston (41, Israel, Mission Specialist, Chief VASIMR Engineer/Computer, Tech, Institute of Technology; Engineer; later crew member of Starchild) & Noel Goddard (45, Mission Specialist & Space Structural Engineer/Backup VASIMR Engineer; Princeton U. MS; Engineering, later retired to Canada private research personal lab) are to perform the EVA inspection so any problems can be addressed ASAP.
Captain Jon Stock (50, American veteran Mars expedition, U.S. Naval Academy, Cal Tech PhD Systems Engineering, former Captain of Starchild) was having quite the conversation with Saeed Esmail (30, Stowaway, Persian Caliphate; Fanatical Shia, (Muslim) Russian Federation-built Mirs Complex).

Jon had informed Rod Zakes (47, Mission Director; later Iapetus Federation Ambassador to Earth; even later President of the Iapetus Federation, served on the 1st. Mars mission with Jon Stock, Duke; Aerospace Engineering) about his discussion with Saeed.

What was the crew of the Merkavah (starship) mission?
Who are the Founders?

I did not receive any type of compensation for reading & reviewing this book. While I receive free books from publishers & authors, I am under no obligation to write a positive review. Only an honest one.

A very awesome book cover, great font & writing style. Wow, a very well written sci-fi book. It was very easy for me to read/follow from start/finish & never a dull moment. There were no grammar/typo errors, nor any repetitive or out of line sequence sentences. Lots of exciting scenarios, with several twists/turns & a great set of unique characters to keep track of. This could also make another great sci-fi movie, animated cartoon, or better yet a mini TV series. Not my normal rad but I like it. That said I will still rate it 5 stars.

Thank you for the free Author; Starman Press; Amazon Digital Services LLC; book
Tony Parsons MSW (Washburn)
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A lifelong fan
4.0 out of 5 stars A Classic sci romp!
Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2014
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Rendezvous with Rama comes to mind, very anti Islam thought a Caliphate would a nightmare for us as the book predicts, good hard science, sexy and hard to put down, I lost a weekend. Great stuff keep it up.
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John B. Rosenman
5.0 out of 5 stars The Starchild Compact is Out of this World
Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2016
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Is Iapetus, one of Saturn’s moons, an artifact, a “derelict starship” or just a moon? In his Foreword, the author says he was motivated by certain geographical features, such as a twenty km high and wide equatorial ridge to research Iapetus and write this “hard science fiction novel” which “contains a lot of meticulously researched science.” Yes, it does, and the result is what readers often find in the best hard science fiction: a story presented so convincingly and well that it blurs the line between fiction and fact. At times I felt the sixty-six meter long Cassini II spacecraft was real, an impression enhanced not just by the wealth of onboard detail but by illustrations, such as the one on page 16. Clearly, Williscroft thought out the ship’s construction and design very carefully.

But the novel is about more than a spacecraft and a ten-member crew (one of whom is a fanatical Shia stowaway) which travels for months to Iapetus to investigate its fascinating mystery. The author juxtaposes the spacecraft and Iapetus with national and international events back home, showing how different cultures react to the stunning discoveries the crew makes (especially Islam and the Caliphate). And there is much more. I don’t want to be guilty of a spoiler, so suffice it to say that by the end of The Starchild Compact, the fate and destiny of the human race itself are involved, with an allusion to Arthur C. Clarke’s Starchild. As in Slingshot, the first book in the series, the novel’s conclusion is exactly right. Steeped in irony, it reminds us that while humanity constantly grows and changes, in many ways we remain just the same.

One of Williscroft’s achievements is that he creates thirty different characters and somehow succeeds in helping us to keep them straight. This is especially true with Cassini II’s crew. From time to time he works in brief reminders of who they are by referring to their role, appearance, and distinctive way of speaking. Of necessity, with so many characters and an emphasis on hard science, the author can’t go deeply into characterization. I do wish though we could know more about Jon Stock, the ship’s captain. He’s described as an Alpha male, and all we basically know about him is that he’s confident and damn good at his job, invariably winning the respect of others. But does he have any inner conflict or emotional problem? If he did, this drama might be even better.

Two more quibbles. When we meet the Founders, we’re given a long info dump of names and physical descriptions. These are difficult to absorb and halt the action. And then there are a few “As you know, Bob” moments when a character tells his friends what they already know—words directed not so much at them as the readers who DON'T know. Less reliance on this one method would have helped.

The novel’s cover, which depicts Cassini II nearing Iapetus with its ringed mother-planet Saturn floating behind it against a backdrop of stars captures some of the majesty and magnitude of this ambitious novel. The author includes so many different elements and brings them together in a cosmic fashion. This is what some of the best science fiction attempts to do, and the author succeeds in his mission.
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Top reviews from other countries

George Elliott
5.0 out of 5 stars A science fiction book like none I have ever read before.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 20, 2016
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A science fiction book like none I have ever read before. This story is so original and captivating I was engaged and intrigued from the foreword and reviews before I even got into the meat and bones of the book. It follows a crew on-board a spaceship as they journey to explore Saturn's moon. On their way, it is discovered they have a stowaway on-board set to sabotage their findings. The mission becomes dangerous, and I was on the edge of my seat throughout. It is a clever book, in that the information is accurate and well supported, and the political views are relevant and current.
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T. Joyce
4.0 out of 5 stars but overall I enjoyed the read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 3, 2016
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I'm hovering somewhere between three and four stars for this, but overall I enjoyed the read. The first part of the book, and particularly the engineering behind the mission to Iapetus, I found excellent. I'm not sure how well the tethered spin scheme would work in practice, or whether there would be enough fuel for the mission, but it read well. Indeed the whole book was well written, but the future global politics I found naive and unconvincing. I won't give anything away about the second half, but I found it far less convincing in all respects. In some places it got downright silly.
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