Valor's Child (Children of Valor Book 1) by Kal Spriggs

Valor's Child (Children of Valor Book 1) Reviews

• 
  Tony Hisgett

  A decent start to the book, but it didn’t take long to degenerate into a series of clichés and I was just about ready to give up, but there were a couple of interesting things that I thought might make up for the usual academy tripe.
  To be fair, a book about a military academy is going to follow a certain pattern, but I hoped for something better than the usual stupidity and collection of clichéd characters found in seemingly dozens of similar books.
  
  The last half-a-dozen chapters looked like they might be interesting, a pity the author had to make Jiden naively stupid for the first couple of these chapters, but at least the final chapters were an improvement.
  
  If possible I would have given 2.5 stars. Perhaps if I had read this before dozens of others I might have given three stars.
  
• 
  Pat Patterson

  Jiden is almost 17 in Earth years, and on the lonely planet where she finds her home, it's time for her to leave home, and go off to the equivalent of work or college. Nobody majors in Music History on her world; they are fighting too hard to stay alive.
  Mom and Dad want her to go to college. Jiden wants to get a plum internship with Champion Industries, where her not-quite-boyfriend Tony is placed. Of course, in Tony's case, it was a foregone; his grandfather is THE Mr. Champion.
  Dilemma: Champion wants applicants to apply ONLY to their program; Jiden has promised her parents she will apply to two other colleges, so: she forges her mother's signature on the Champion application.
  Parents hit the ceiling.
  And they ship her off to her grandmother.
  NOT the sweet cookie-baking grandmother; no, she goes off to the ADMIRAL grandmother, who is in command of the Military Academy.
  And that's how Jiden spends her summer vacation.
  
  I LOVE these stories. I love military sci-fi in general, but specifically, I have deep, deep affection for the stories of basic training. Doesn't matter if its Heinlein, or Hooten, Buettner or Torgerson: there is a grinding similarity between what THEY went through, and what I went through. If you are one of the fortunate who through some nasty bad luck or nasty bad choices found yourself at some Reception Station with your hair scraped off and needles being jack-hammered into your arms, then you will share the visceral experience: yes; it was like that. If you have NOT had that experience; I don't know. Maybe. I think plenty of non-vets liked Starship Troopers.
  But, hey: I DID that. I PAID for the memories.
  And not even if I could be nineteen years old again would I go through that a second time.
  There is a LOT of backstory here, that some of the characters know about, but others don't. Jiden doesn't know ANYTHING. Her roommate does, however, including the fact that their families have histories with each other.
  But nobody will tell her anything! They all say, it isn't their story to tell. Well, maybe so; that culture may be close-mouthed. She sure handles the ambiguity better than I would.
  Three periods to training: equipment issue and orientation; a combat field problem called 'Grinder; extensive classroom presentation. All of that has to be crammed into four months, and that's one of the not-believable aspects of the book. I'm gonna pass it by, though, because this is a prep school experience.
  However, unless I utterly read it wrong, the troops are dumped into the intense combat experience of the Grinder after: EIGHT DAYS. Sorry, that idea hits the wall. However, the story is so well told, the entire thing, that I just suspended disbelief, and kept reading. Yes, the story is that good. He probably could have gotten away with other stuff, as well, but he didn't try.
  So much more I could say! I will not, however, because you need to read it for yourself. Just keep in mind that the plot lines left hanging are on purpose, because the sequel is on the way.
• 
  Keith

  Engaging coming of age story with a female protagonist on a colony world in the future. Elements of this book reminded me of a variety of series, including Harry Potter, Starship Troopers and Honor Harrington.
  
  The initially self absorbed, self pitying MC lies to Mommy and Daddy, and is punished by being sent to a military prep school by Grandma. The direction she goes from there was not quite what I expected, but was definitely worth the read. The plot development is a little slow, some the teasers in the first 2 books are still teasers, and the backstory / worldbuilding is sparse, but in a way that leaves me wanting more.
  
  The following is spoilered because it gives away some back story, but is mostly Meta
  
  
  What I did not realize until halfway through book 2, is that this planet was colonized by Mormons. There a references in book 1 to "missionary ships" and going to chapel on Sundays, with the Protestants and Catholics having different services from the main one, with no real explanation. It was not until some of the names of the colony founders were given, and I saw names like Brigham, that I figured it out.
  
  This book is set on a hot, arid, fresh water poor, planet - more Great Basin / Utah than Arrakis. There is a focus on community, banding together to survive on a hostile world, self sufficiency, military service, and other things that make more sense when you realize they are set on a secularized / multicultural arid colony world that was first settled by Mormons.
  
  It also explains a number of "Americanisms" such as the discussion of the Miltary's oath being to the constitution rather than the government. Elements of these discussions in the military academy reminded me of Starship Troopers, but much less heavy handed.
  
• 
  Glenn Murphy

  Spriggs seems to have borrowed heavily from Harry Potter and Divergent, but the future universe of planetary colonies he creates is unique and interesting. Jiden Armstrong is a naive and unprepared student at a military school she had never dreamed of attending. She is mostly ignorant of her family’s history at the school and in the service, and has to learn to navigate school rivalries and old family feuds, while trying to keep up with her classes, and avoid being killed. The plucky, think-outside-the-box misfits are now the “Sand Dragon” section instead of House Gryffindor, and their do-anything-to-win, ethically challenged, bullying rivals are the “Ogre” section instead of House Slytherin. Scores are kept, and are far more important than the pride and bragging rights house competition in the Potter series. The events of the story only hint at a larger plot that will span all of the books in the series. This book sometimes feels more like a military recruitment propaganda piece than a sci-fi story (service is almost portrayed as the only honorable calling to aspire to, and civilians are mostly clueless, lazy, selfish, and don’t know how much they need to be protected by the selfless men and women of the armed services), but I’m hoping that the alien archeology dig that Jiden’s parents work at and the cybernetic implants that are barely hinted at will play are larger role in future books of the series.
• 
  Hilton mather

  Surprisingly good
  
  I went into this book thinking it wasn't going to be that great but I decided to give it a try, I'd also never heard of the author. I was pleasantly surprised. Well written, good character development and a great tempo. Totally going to read the next one.
• 
  John Hibdon

  Very good book.
  
  Very good and we'll written. Enjoyed it a lot. Recommend it to anyone one old enough to understand the hidden thoughts.
• 
  Eric Green

  Eh, you could file off the serial numbers and it would be any number of misfit-kid-goes-to-military-academy-and-becomes-a-super-warrior wish fulfillment novels. That said, it's done pretty well. The main character is appealing enough as are the most important ancillary characters, and it's clear that the author understands the military and why the military trains the way it trains. You won't find many of the miscues that are typical of this sort of YA novel where an author who is ignorant of the military goofs things up entirely. Still, there just isn't much "there" there. This series has been written before, many, many times before, by any number of writers of military science fiction. The fact that it's done relatively well still doesn't elevate it above the rest of its genre, and still doesn't change the fact that the misfit kid usually *doesn't* end up being top of her class at a military academy -- that's not how it works in real life. The guys who come out on top are a lot of things, but misfits aren't one of them -- they're team players with leadership skills honed through years of practice.
  
  Oh yeah, the bad guys are pretty much telegraphed from the start of the novel. Only an idiot can't figure out that they're up to no good, and the supposedly smart protagonist can't? Nah. Not gonna.
  
  Still, if you are looking for entertainment with a strong (if flawed) female lead this will definitely do the job. It was entertaining enough for me to read the whole series anyhow...
• 
  Thomas James

  Heroes
  
  We have to few heroes. We acknowledge too few people who are heroes. In this book, we get an overview of many of those who volunteer for the armed forces, but could also apply to any of the many first responders of our country. In my opinion EVERY ONE OF THEM IS A HERO. It takes a special person to risk their lives and the lives of their families - WHO ARE ALSO HEROES. We tend to think the jobs of soldiers and police is to kill. That's false. Their job is to protect. I recommend this book as a reminder to all first responders to the reason you originally enlisted, and also those who don't know the commitment it takes.
• 
  Sarah

  I really enjoyed this story as I feel that the author hit the nail on the head with the whole basic training scenario. The main character is young, annoying, and figures she knows everything. Not atypical for a teenager. In a brief stint in the Reserves in my youth I can remember having some of the exact same thoughts and feelings as the protagonist does. I really identified with that part of the story but also delighted in the science fiction flavor of it. I'm looking forward to the next one and finding out more about the history and family connections of the main character.
• 
  James Conley

  Its pretty obvious the author of this book attended an Academy based on how things are referenced
• 
  TSN ☮

  3.5 stars
• 
  Langley

  I always love a good military space opera and this series was fun. Good female protagonist, overpowered but not perfect, who works her way up.
• 
  Mark Coe

  Outstanding story!
  
  This might seem like a young adult growing pains story but it is much deeper than that. It has grit and purpose.