Voice of Mars

Glynn Stewart’s Damien series (Starship’s Mage, Hand of Mars, and now Voice of Mars) continues, with this third installment, to be an entertaining and at times thought-provoking series. Its hallmarks include:
(1) a future human society which is refreshingly positive overall (though certainly with its share of bad actors)
(2) a science-based storyline where technology has advanced considerably, but the only way to transcend Einstein’s limits is to use “magic”, a form of human mental energy originally developed through forced genetic manipulation, but now practiced by a guild of Mages as a service to humanity (except for the aforementioned bad actors)
(3) an emphasis on personalities, situations, and story, rather than detailed science concepts

The basic story revolves around Damien Montgomery, a young Mage who originally struggled just to find a place in society, but discovered a unique gift within himself that has allowed him to enter service to the Mage-King, and become a very powerful diplomat and enforcer of the peace. In this installment, Damien has come into his own as the King’s Hand, and is sent on an important mission to prevent a simmering conflict from erupting into open war.

This third novel is another excellent book. I gave it four stars instead of five mainly because I felt that some of the initial qualities which attracted me to Damien, such as his exploration of his abilities, the moral dilemmas he faced, and his introspective nature, were subsumed beneath the events of the story. This novel was about politics and about space combat, with some elements of whodunit and heavy foreshadowing. Still very well done, but just not the same type of “wonder” that I felt when I originally read Starship’s Mage.

Fans of the series will definitely enjoy this new story. But, if you are new to the series, you should definitely read Starship’s Mage first – I guarantee you will love that novel, and will probably become hooked on Glynn Stewart’s writing (just as I have!)

Side note: Glynn’s “Castle Federation” series (two books, so far) is also an excellent read; a bit more of a military sf storyline, with some very compelling characters.

Glynn – keep on keepin’ on, we are enjoying the ride!!

I’ve read 8 of Stewart’s books. Oddly enough the first (for me), Privateer, was the worst. Until I got to this steaming pile of poo. Writing is ok – if you can tolerate implausible coincidence after implausible coincidence – then his stories aren’t bad. But. One thing I hate is stupid. This book is the third one where a prisoner is allowed kill, threaten, or harm others. I mean literally allowed to do it!!! Sorry, Stewart, any story where the a scene pivots on allowing an enemy to kill or harm those around him (and here, the Hand has allowed it repeatedly!!!) (and I’m not talking about unexpected enemies, I’m talking about known enemies) is so broken that I have no interest in it. There’s lots of other (stupid) problems with this story, but I’ll not go thru them all. There’s too many for me. I wrote in the review of the previous book that that one was like finding a fly in your soup. Once is disgusting & disappointing but twice and I don’t go back to that restaurant. So long Stewart.

An excellent addition to the Starship Mage series, the author has once again written a gripping book with excellent characters and an intriguing plot. Fans of the series will get yet another gripping tale. In the interests of full disclosure, I am a huge fan of this series. Having said that, however:

Okay, not going to sugarcoat it, the book does have a few issues. The enemies (there are multiple enemies) are able to put together pristine crime scenes with absolutely no warning or advance preparation, which is statistically impossible. The enemy was able to either hack or wiretap Damien’s personal communications or the achieved omniscience in some fashion as they are able to act on information known only to Damien or one other person BEFORE Damien actually reads the information. In short, the author made the enemy basically invincible while making Damien and the government completely incompetent. The hero actually acknowledges that the enemy has inside knowledge of their procedures, but no one apparently feels that is worth doing anything about. I also think it’s suspicious that Damien continues to tool around in an unarmed civilian liner when he knows he’s facing well prepared killers with military precision.

I LOVE this series. Hopefully the author decides to scale back the enemy to merely extremely competent as opposed to invincible in future books. I’m rooting for Damien and I think that the decidedly lopsided nature of the conflict just throws off the plot.

Magic let man conquer space and the Mage King of Mars is the most powerful Mage. He gave special powers to his Hands. They are paladins between the stars, speaking in the name of the King, restoring order and justice. Hand Damien Montgomery was called to the Mid-Worlds of Mingliang and Sherwood. They share the Antonius system whose ore and raw materials provide both systems with thriving industry and commerce. But, Mingliang has had 18 ships attacked with over 1,000 dead and they are sure Sherwood is responsible. Sherwood is outraged because their shipping has also been attacked with crews lost. Are pirates to blame or is there a shadow war between the systems? Hand Montgomery must hurry because an arms race has already started and they teeter on the brink of the first galactic civil war.
I highly recommend this book. The suspense never lets up. Who is attacking and why? What group is responsible and what is their end game? Answers are few and they only lead to more question.

I did receive a free copy to proof but that had no influence on my review.

This is the third instalment in Glynn Stewart’s “Mage” series (if you count “Starship’s Mage” as a single publication). This volume hits a bit like an image through a telescope – everything in the field of view coming into a sharper, better-defined focus. Glynn’s “Mage” books have always been written extremely well, but both our Author and his lead characters are all “hitting their stride”.

Voice of Mars opens with a crisp, entertaining and dynamic “set-piece” which, whilst not tightly linked to the broader story arc, sets several pieces in motion, but most of all helps the reader to learn that Mage Damien Montgomery, Hand of the Mage-King of Mars and an un-fathomably-rare and un-speakably powerful Rune-Wright, is growing up. Gone is the boy in awe of his own power and more than a little bit lost in the universe; in his place stands a young man with wisdom beyond his years, a flair for the dramatic, and capabilities that are off the scale.

Stewart throws Damien into a twisting and fast-moving plot with a pace that crackles along, fizzing nicely, giving the characters the space they need to move and breathe and to earn our empathy. The dynamics between the characters really start to flesh out in this story, with the banter between Damien and Julia Amiri, former Hunter and now Protectorate Special Service Agent – and his personal bodyguard – beautifully measured, taught and in un-written and un-spoken words, indicative of the deep trust, respect and perhaps a little bit of affection. Similarly, Mage-Captain Kole Jakab, who had accompanied Damien for his baptism-by-fire visit to Ardennes, holds a fierce and hard-won loyalty and respect for him.

With this volume, Glynn is expanding the universe, bringing new players in to the game [along with a few old ones] and showing the reader not only the vast scale and complexity of mankind’s universe, but also the incredibly fine line that Damien has to walk. Whilst the young man has power almost beyond measure, it is of itself a closely-guarded secret – Damien lives with the eternal conflict between the desire to do the right thing and the need to keep what is becoming as much a secret as possible.

In all respects, in every way, “Voice of Mars” takes the story of Damien Montgomery to new heights. If you have not read either of the first two volumes of this series, do yourself a favour and go enjoy them. if you like a rollicking-good sci-fi yarn, you won’t be disappointed.

Keep it up, Glynn!!!

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