✍The First Page: The Lightbound Saga Series by S.G. Basu

 

 The Lightbound Saga

by S.G. Basu

 

Middle Grade / Young Adult

13-year-old Maia is a land-dwelling Solianese living on the planet of Tansi. She has been raised by her doting grandfather. Her mother, Sophie, supposedly deceased, is accused to be a traitor who fought for the Xifarians who have subjugated Tansi. Loathing her family’s history, Maia has put herself into self-exile, vowing to steer clear of the temptations that led her mother astray. But when she is drafted into a peace summit by the Xifarians, she must walk into Xif, the planet she has always wanted to avoid. Here she meets loyal teammates Kusha, Dani, Nafi, and Ren, as well as Miir, their Xifarian team mentor who is as accomplished as he is temperamental. As Maia and her teammates thwart a plot to harm the underwater settlements on Tansi, she also discovers that her mother, Sophie, was not what she seemed. Sophie sacrificed herself to save Tansi before the Xifarians could destroy the Tansian system.

Maia visits the Jjord nation in their underwater colonies on Tansi. More of Sophie’s secrets come to light while she is in the colonies as well as more of the Xifarians’ plots to rebuild the dark heart of Xif. As Maia’s link with Sophie becomes apparent, Maia soon finds herself in the crosshairs of the Xifarians who kill her family and send her running for shelter across the dead lands of the Solianese. Chased by the Xifarians, Maia barely manages to stay alive with the help of her teammates.

While on the run across Tansi, Maia meets a mysterious man who unlocks a power within Maia. When her mighty Xifarian foes corner her, Maia unleashes the power on them, overpowering everyone, including her former mentor, Miir.

Maia struggles with her newfound power. The team is on the verge of fracturing when Maia reveals she might have killed Miir. Meanwhile, the R’armimon, an ancient and powerful enemy of the Xifarians, are on the way to the Tansian system, seeking vengeance from the Xifarians. On finding this, the Xifarians grow desperate to resurrect the dark heart that would enable them to leave the Tansian system. Maia narrowly escapes the Xifarians’ trap with a mysterious ally but her new alliance takes a toll on her friendships.

Maia is alone and hopeless but she forges on to regain the trust of her teammates and tries to convince the Tansian leaders of the impending threat of the R’armimon fleet. With help from her allies, Maia continues to uncover more of Sophie’s past. Together with her friends, Maia rushes to find the artifacts needed to thwart the R’armimon as the massive Execution Fleet of the R’armimon appears next to Tansi.

Purchase Information for Series

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3Tb71xt

 

                      

 

In the dim light of the distant stars, the ship of the R’armimon looked like a colossal spider hovering in space. For a flagship, it was rather plain, ugly almost. About a hundred wrinkled sacs, dull and worn out, formed the dense clump of a body; knobby, talon-like thrusters jutted out into the endless void. A mesh of beams and bars, stained along the seams, wrapped the egg-shaped core from the stern all the way to the bow where it arched over an observation deck. 

Inside, huddled under a blanket, sat the little boy, Ruche. He stared, open-mouthed, at a show of galactic fireworks dancing across the viewing windows. Blues morphed into vivid crimsons, burgundy and gold swirled and surged into fiery plumes, collapsing into showers of jade in the next moment. 

With every new flare, the boy’s pale eyes sparkled, and his cheeks flushed. Only a time or two, he cast a restless glance at the darkened corner to his right where a lean man stood. Neither joy nor wonder showed on the man’s face as he scanned the faraway lights—his eyes sparkled but only from the unshed tears. The pair continued to watch in silence until a searing flash of red tore through the skies making Ruche gasp. 

The man stirred immediately. “That’s the end of the Ssoiffean stars,” he whispered. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

“End? No . . . not again!” Ruche’s shriek shattered the quiet. His voice quickly sunk into a disappointed murmur. “I wanted to walk on land.”

After what seemed like forever, the man replied, “I failed . . . again, Ruche. We came close this time. But not close enough to save the Ssoiffean stars and . . . the Ssoiffean people.”

 

S.G. Basu is an aspiring potentate of a galaxy or two. She plots and plans with wondrous machines, cybernetic robots, time travelers and telekinetic adventurers, some of whom escape into the pages of her books. Although she’s an engineer by training, writing has been her passion since childhood. Her other loves include extra-hot lattes, fast cars and binge watching sci-fi movies.

Find out more about the futuristic worlds she creates at sgbasu.com. She can also be reached at sg@sgbasu.com.

Books by S.G. Basu:

The Lightbound Saga series (YA Dystopian Science Fiction)

Maia and the Xifarian Conspiracy

Maia and the Secrets of Zagran

Maia and Regency Protocol

The Lightbound Saga 3 Book Bundle

The Firefly League-A Lightbound Saga novella

Elementals-The Serial Thriller (Paranormal Science Fiction)

Population Morpheus (Near Apocalyptic Science Fiction)

Jumpers (Paranormal Thriller)

You can visit the author’s website at www.sgbasu.com or connect with her on Twitter, Facebook and Goodreads.