Ashe is young. She is smart. She is going places and doing great things. But Ashe is scared and has every right to be. In her area, young girls her age are going missing at an alarming rate, and no one seems to be taking the situation seriously. When she finds out she has been nominated to participate in AmeriCorps National Service Program, she is ecstatic. Her mother is a former member, and that only makes the opportunity sweeter. Ashe has what it takes to be an asset to the program, but she can’t seem to shake the fear that being away from her mother may lead her down a dark road.
Black Star, by M.J. Jones, addresses many tough and timely topics including human trafficking and racism. Jones’s main character, Ashe, is both mature and caring. She gives everything she has to the betterment and protection of others. Jones spends a great deal of time in the first chapters developing her character and drawing readers toward her. While she is portrayed as socially conscious, Ashe is also the typical teenager with interests in music and pop culture. This makes her a grounded and authentic character that is easy to empathize with.
I was honestly taken aback at the turn events took early on in Jones’s novel. I had some expectations going into the book after reading the early conversations between Ashe and her mother Mia. To say I was stunned at the sudden shift is an understatement. Jones has given readers the ideal introduction to her main characters right before plunging into the heart of the plot. I truly did not anticipate Ashe and Mia’s storyline spinning toward the science fiction genre, but Jones has managed this twist masterfully.
Not usually drawn to books written in the present tense, I was, at first, put off by Jones’s choice to present her narrative in this way. After a few chapters, however, I completely forgot any misgivings, and I realized that seeing the story in what amounts to real-time gives readers an even stronger sense of urgency when it comes to Ashe’s dilemma.
Black Star is a thought-provoking and spellbinding story and I enjoyed the science fiction elements immensely. Jones has handed readers a well-developed and well-written cast of characters within an amazing storyline. Readers across genres will appreciate Jones’s work and look forward with anticipation to the next book in this trilogy.
Author M.J. Jones Presents the Black Star Trilogy: Black Star, Black Star Eclipsed, and Black Star Rising, an Ingenious, Inspired book series framed in the realms of science fiction.
While the world was thrust into chaos during the pandemic, she started building a universe based on an alternate reality where mundane topics many people face today, are not prevalent. Instead, she decided on the one topic that mattered. No matter what universe you are in, no matter which society you are a part of, universally there is always a great divide between the Elite and the Poor.
“Black Star Trilogy” was inspired by M.J.’s revelation about the complexities of humanity as well as the “what if” scenario. What if this happened? What would you do? How would you change your circumstances to still be a beacon of hope, not only to yourself but to your child who has the responsibility to carry on future generations? M.J. explores the ability to become a “Black Star”- A Supernova. Through this metaphor, M.J. Jones illustrates the dynamism of power using an epic drama involving the titular characters Mia Black and her daughter Ashton (Ashe). Mia’s entire family and their unique world are filled with mystery, science, and history.
This talented American author, makes readers stop and think about the world in which they live and then stretches their minds and imagination at every iteration. She challenges her readers to stop viewing this world from a visual eye but to instead view this world with one’s mental eye. Coined a psychological thriller, this book series is “captivating and thought-provoking” as heralded by Literary Titan.
M.J. Jones takes her fans and readers on an amazing journey as she typifies contemporary issues across the globe, especially as it concerns diversity and power struggles. With her fantastical mind and thoughts, through medicine and technological advancements as well as through time and space, she deals with profound loss, mental health, insecurities, and growth; yet through her writing, she shines illustrating the undying spirit of humanity through a mother’s love. The mother throughout the trilogy teaches her daughter that it is selfish to only think about one’s own impact on society.
This book series attempts to balance the struggles of parents, at the same time educating children to be leaders, while still staying true to the lore of comic books, and fantasy, all rolled up into a fantastic tale of hope.
In the Black Star Trilogy, her characters navigate their alternative reality, where things are not quite a mirror image of our world.
M.J. hopes that people will use her series as an escape from their own worries; that her example will inspire parents who lost their passion to remember their creativity, and more importantly, through reading this series, people will think and reason and allow silo perspectives to be widened. “We are all the same no matter where in the world or universe we are, we all have experiences and viewpoints that need to be heard. We all have value and deserve love and respect.”
To know more about Author, M.J. Jones visit her official website: www.blackstartrilogy.com or email authoress@blackstartrilogy.com
