BAD LUCK CHARLIE: The Dragon Mage Book 1 by Scott Baron tells the story of Charlie, an engineer who unwillingly joins his team on their new spaceship’s practice run. Things get out of hand quickly, as a wormhole swallows the ship, crashing it on a desolate planet who-knows-where. As Charlie tries to make the best of things with the other survivors, alien slave traders pay the totaled ship a visit, and from there the book’s protagonist gets taken captive, meets a whole bunch of aliens, finds himself shanghaied on a pirate spaceship, and learns that magic and technology are the same thing in this part of the universe. But that’s just some of the story, as the nerdy engineer does plenty of other stuff he thought he would never do in a bazillion years.
Featuring an intriguing plot that promotes quick page turning, BAD LUCK CHARLIE is essentially the journey of an unlikely protagonist. While Charlie may be in decent physical condition and plenty smart, how he evolves is astonishing. By the end of the story, the geeky engineer has been replaced by a skilled, accomplished gladiator, with more than a few powers fascinating to his alien friends and captures. This isn’t a story about finding the way home again–it is a tale about making the best of current circumstances, and forging a new life that is arguably way better than the one that has been left behind.
While classic science-fiction and fantasy elements pepper the book, Baron has managed to create an entirely new universe full of magic, as well as a few dragons. Like John Crichton in Farscape, the book starts with Charlie getting sucked through a wormhole and finding himself extremely far from home, surrounded by aliens. Unlike Crichton, an astronaut and military dude who already possesses the skills he needs to survive, Charlie must continually adapt, learning things about himself he never thought possible….or probable. Since BAD LUCK CHARLIE is the first of three, it ends on a cliffhanger that makes the reader excited for the second installment and the reality Charlie is now living in.
BAD LUCK CHARLIE: The Dragon Mage Book 1 keeps readers guessing what will happen next to nerdy protagonist, Charlie, and author Scott Baron ups the stakes with a page-turning story, an intriguing plot and a brilliantly conceived new world.
~Kent Page McGroarty for IndieReader