In the distant future, Earth’s armies and allied alien forces claim victory after a nine-year war against the Kastazi, a highly-advanced bug-like species. With the remaining survivors, military, and technology available, Earth and its allies now train classes of students and cadets to continue space exploration. Devastation Class focuses on seven cadets aboard a spaceship filled with war veterans and dozens of students; however, an unexpected second wave of Kastazi forces ambushes their ship and Earth, suddenly forcing the cadets to overthrow those in charge to ensure survival of everyone on board. Fans of Ender’s Game will greatly enjoy this new book from experienced screen writers/producers/directors Glen Zipper and Elaine Mongeon. 

JD Marshall and Viv Nixon are cadets who have passed the grueling and highly competitive selection process to earn their titles and hopefully escape the shadows of their legendary war hero parents. Having grown up together since childhood and shared grief of parental loss due to the war, they share a unique bond that comes along with being in a military family. Their fellow cadets look to them for leadership, and the remaining 70+ students who didn’t make the cut resent them all for their status and perks. As one might have guessed, this is a recipe for conflict (hint: Devastation Class is an earned nickname).

While docked at an Alliance base gathering supplies, the cadets and students remain on the spaceship when they are suddenly ambushed by Kastazi forces. The only two higher-ranking individuals left on the ship panic and mentally break down. Consequently, JD, Viv, and the remaining cadets stage a mutiny to save everyone aboard. They narrowly manage to escape but pay a heavy price; the ship is severely damaged, lives are lost, and their escape route directs them to unfamiliar territory with no other Alliance forces in sight for direction or guidance. In addition to addressing disaster relief, they have to find answers.

Understandably, the surviving students in Devastation Class have no idea what happened. Plus, they don’t trust that the cadets are telling the truth about anything. Basically, JD and the crew have to wield authority over a group 10x their size who see no reason to follow orders. As the story continues, we learn that their escape was successful but they didn’t completely understand or even know the serious consequences involved. Once the reality sets in, they must grapple with the fact that there’s no going back and there’s little to no help to be found. 

There’s so much more to this book than I can mention into a brief(ish) review. Zipper and Mongeon get major points for suspenseful and action-packed storytelling. The book delivers enough background to get us up to speed, with some foreshadowing sprinkled in as well. The cadets are truly on their own and must evade enemies both outside and within the ship. They must also mentally absorb the implications of their new reality. I shared their confusion and hopelessness, and had more questions than answers as I approached the end of the book. 

One major setback to this story was the character building and development. We read the events from multiple points of view – JD, Viv, a fellow cadet Nick (who becomes a pivotal player) and Liko (a student who happens to be the son of a Kastazi sympathizer and a victim of bullying and ostracism). While this is a great tactic for building suspense and keeping the reader engaged, there was little to no distinction in voice among the characters. Basically, the only way I could tell who’s point of view I was reading was the chapter title with the name. I’m a sucker for character development, and the lack of it in Devastation Class was disappointing. Some readers might struggle with this flaw, but the suspense and action pulled me along just enough to look past it. 

Zipper and Mongeon have an impressive background in on-screen entertainment; Elaine Mongeon is an award-winning filmmaker who wrote and directed the short films Good Morning for Warner Bros. Pictures and Swiped to Death for Hulu and the Sundance Institute. Glen Zipper produced the Oscar-winning documentary Undefeated and the Netflix series Dogs, in addition to the HBO series What’s My Name | Muhammad Ali. Their extensive experience in film production undoubtedly helped them create an entertaining novel – however it might be the reason for their struggle with character development in this particular medium. Nevertheless, since Devastation Class is their debut novel and is set to become a trilogy, I’m confident they will improve with the sequels, in addition giving the readers (i.e. me) what we want in terms of finding out what happens next. 

Both authors were generous enough to squeeze me into their schedule to discuss their experience in writing the novel as a team, the challenges of writing literature vs. film making/producing, and plans for remaining installments. Listen to episode 102 of The Nerd Cantina podcast and order Devastation Class today.