Reviewed by Scott Cahan for Readers' Favorite

Academy Bound by J.C. Mastro is the story of sixteen-year-old Zach Aurelian as he enters a futuristic flight school academy. He dreams of being a spaceship commander just like his famous mother who went missing eight years earlier in a space battle. As Zach begins at the academy, he enters a whole new world of friends and enemies. The challenges of the academy are overwhelming at times for Zach, especially the flight simulator group missions that he and his friends are forced to endure. With every success comes a failure. It soon becomes clear to Zach that powerful forces within the academy are expecting him to fail. But in his heart, Zach knows he has what it takes to be the commander of a fighter vessel. He must succeed. It’s the only way he’ll ever be able to fly into the stars and find his mother.

Zach is an emotional teenager. He readily admits in the story that he has an anxiety problem. Much of the story focuses on Zach’s relationships with the people around him. Author J.C. Mastro does an excellent job of making every character interesting, colorful, and distinct in their personality. He shows us the warm feelings Zach gets as he interacts with new friends, including several attractive females. We are also given a front-row seat to observe Zach’s inner turmoil that comes from others in the academy who stand against him. All this teenage angst is coupled with lots of thrilling action as these same young people are pushed beyond their limits in many ways. This combination of human drama and battles in space is effective and highly entertaining. By mid-story I found myself cheering for Zach and his friends, wanting them to succeed. I highly recommend Academy Bound.

I enjoyed this audiobook so much that I found it difficult to stop listening when I had to go and do something else. The audiobook is narrated by Fred Berman. He does a phenomenal job of reading the story with the perfect amount of drama and emotion. I found his ability to change his voice slightly for each character to be absolutely amazing. He draws the reader in with his talent for bringing the story to life. Academy Bound will appeal most to teens, simply because it's about teenagers. But, it’s so well written and expertly read that I recommend this book to readers of all ages.