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trying to find a book that a college classmate told me about ~20 years ago in an off-hand dorm room conversation and has always left me curious.

It involved a child having the power of "luck" fighting some type of evil organization. The child was able to find each other children with the power of "luck" to join forces (because of their luck) and eventually were able to "weaponize" their luck by harnessing it into this shield/blocker devices (?).

At the time, the classmate made it sound like a silly story (i.e. he wasn't actively promoting people read the book)... but the fact that the plot idea has remained with me decades later makes me want to check it out.

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  • If someone posts the correct answer, you can accept by clicking on the checkmark by the voting buttons as per the tour.
    – FuzzyBoots
    May 9 at 16:48
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    I have closed your question as a duplicate, but that does not mean it's not a good question, just that it's one that's been asked before. :) You can still accrue upvotes on the question, and in fact, this can sometimes drive traffic your way due to how things get linked. Welcome to the site. I hope you stick around.
    – FuzzyBoots
    May 9 at 17:13

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Starluck by Donald Wismer as per Young adult book, read in the 1990s, about a young boy who is inherently lucky who breaks a testing unit

The above is my first science fiction novel. It is based on the idea that luck is an objective quality that can be developed and possibly increased. I wrote the book before I read Larry Niven's Ringworld -- honest. Our young man hero is identified by the Emperor's government as being preternaturally lucky and therefore a long term threat. He is targeted for elimination but luckily escapes and joins an interstellar circus. He travels about the galaxy, learns martial arts, discovers he is a part of a rebel group and eventually confronts the Emperor.

The rebels weaponize the existing portal technology in a wearable form that basically allows them to channel all attacks (and attackers and obstacles) into space, with their luck allowing them to activate it at just the right times.

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  • scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/132881/… has more matching details.
    – FuzzyBoots
    May 9 at 16:48
  • Thanks... I tried searching for "luck" and couldn't find it. Didn't think to search for "lucky." I also ran into Ringworld entries as a red herring since the start of that book does involve a discussion about luck as a tangible, inheritable trait.
    – GentlemanScholar
    May 9 at 16:58
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    @GentlemanScholar: If correct, you can accept by clicking on the checkmark by the voting buttons.
    – FuzzyBoots
    May 9 at 16:59

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