The Planet Thieves Dan Krokos Review

Reading Level: Middle Grade
Publisher: Starscape
Source: Publisher
First book in The Planet Thieves series
The Planet Thieves is the first thrilling installment of a new middle-grade series by Dan Krokos.
Two weeks ago, thirteen-year-old Mason Stark and seventeen of his fellow cadets from the Academy for Earth Space Command boarded the SS Egypt. The trip was supposed to be a short routine voyage to log their required spacetime for summer quarter.
But routine goes out the airlock when they’re attacked by the Tremist, an alien race who have been at war with humanity for the last sixty years.
With the captain and crew dead, injured, or taken prisoner, Mason and the cadets are all that’s left to warn the ESC. And soon they find out exactly why the Tremist chose this ship to attack: the Egypt is carrying a weapon that could change the war forever.
Now Mason will have to lead the cadets in a daring assault to take back the ship, rescue the survivors, and recover the weapon. Before there isn’t a war left to fight.

Review
I didn't love this but I did enjoy it. I've never read a sy day middle grade before. 

This tells the story of Mason and his fellow cadets. They are aboard the SS Egypt. They expect an easy ride but are very mistaken. Their ship is attacked. Mason and the cadets are all that's left. 

I feel like the only character we got to fully know was Mason. We got to see the others but I didn't really connect with them. Mason was fabulous though. He was a super great leader. I liked that everyone had their own job to do and purpose to the story. There was a lot of characters with a lot going on. It was a little hard to keep up. I liked seeing the cadets take care of each other. I hope to see more of everyone in the next book. 

I loved the sy fy aspect of this storyline. It was very unique. But, I didn't like that there was always an insane amount of things going on. I liked the good guys vs bad guys. I loved all the pictures. There was lots of actions and suspense. If it focused a little more on the characters and less story it might have gotten 5 stars. It was still very enjoyable and exciting though. I highly recommend!