STARCHILD: Exile Audiobook By J Washburn cover art

STARCHILD: Exile

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STARCHILD: Exile

By: J Washburn
Narrated by: Simon Wright
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I'm a prisoner on my own ship.

It's a Bloody Wing, one of the most valuable objects in the galaxy—a starship that leaps across spacetime without going through the surge gates. It means I can travel planet to planet completely off the record.

And I stole it.

Stole it from Taiberos, a galactic tyrant, whose red-clad troopers are hunting me on every world. He plans to get his revenge by crushing my skull with his cybernetic hand.

As long as I keep the ship, I'll be not just a fugitive but one of the galaxy's most wanted.

If I give up the ship, I'll have nowhere to hide.

Either way, I'm fed.

©2019 J Washburn (P)2025 J Washburn Science Fiction Space Opera Fiction Interstellar Aviation Magic

Critic reviews

“Washburn is good at emotion and has an instinct for dramatic style.” —Brandon Sanderson, author of The Stormlight Archive

“J’s stories share the quality that makes Star Wars immortal—their heroes seek not just to save the world but also the villain.” —Bentley Snow, author of Six Fingers Left to Lose

“Deeper than most space operas.” —Joseph Bendoski, author of When the Sky Falls
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What an amazing ride! I loved this story and the characters. I kept thinking I knew where it was going to go, and then it would change! At first I thought it was just like OG Star wars, and then it was nothing like it at all. The imagery that the author used was stark and vivid and it helped to make the characters pop out with memorable quality. This is well worth your time!

A fantastic blend of the best Sci-Fi, with truly cool original ideas and world building! Well worth it!

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It's an audio dramatization with music, sound effects, etc. The narrator does a fantastic job and was especially engaging during character conversations. It's a lot of fun. I'm now interested to hear other works the narrator has been involved with. I would note that sometime the sound effects were a bit too loud compared to the reading of the story, so be careful with your volume.

As for the story, it's George Lucas meets Ayn Rand meets The Buddha. It's definitely reminiscent of Star Wars, but it sort of gave me the feeling I had when reading The Hunger Games. I particularly enjoyed the main character, Nak, and his sidekick, a cubed consciousness named Cup. The dialogue was fun and witty, and the story intriguing. The magic system has quite a bit of Eastern influence and is wielded by warriors passionate about political philosophy. There are many interesting perspectives I will be thinking more about. I’m looking forward to listening to the entire trilogy.

More Than Just an Audiobook...

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Washburn tells a fun story with great twists and creates a fun and exiting world in this book. The audio book is read super well making it an extra good listen

Super fun adventure sci-fi story

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I read Exile years ago, then picked up this recently. The narrator takes the entire journey to the next level. The characters feel even more alive with the unique voices he has given. I hope he does the whole series and I get to experience this story again through his telling.

The narrator takes this story to the next level

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Listener received this title free

I enjoy space opera-style stories for the most part, and even though Star Wars has never been my thing, I am familiar enough with it to see some of the inspiration in this story that others have mentioned. That said, it's not Star Wars. I was into this story. It was well written, imaginative, and had some good character development. J can turn a phrase, and craft an engaging plot that makes you wonder what's next.

It was interesting to see the different philosophies that were intermingled throughout the story, and I wonder if they will have a larger part to play in the story at large, or if they are simply details as to the inner workings of the characters at the time. Seems like there was a lot of inspiration from modern monotheistic religions, humanism, and the more ancient spiritual practices of Buddhism and Hinduism. Either way, understanding what makes a character tick is one of my favorite parts of a book, and these were helpful additions.

I deducted a star from the performance because every place where a curse-word seem like it was going to be placed, the audio "scrambled," which pulled me away from the story, and left me wishing they would either just say it or remove it completely. I'm not sure if the written book does the same thing or not. That one piece aside, the audio narration was a performance and it was well done.

All this to say that I'm glad I took the risk and gave it a listen. J has given us a solid offering into a new Space Opera story that as a listener (or reader), is easy to tell is a labor of love and creativity. Give it a try, I think you'll enjoy it. Well done.

Enjoyable and Creative Storytelling

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Just as my title says - Just Star Wars. Don't waste your time or money on this series.

Just a retelling of Star Wars

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