paperback, 343 pages
Published Dec. 21, 2018 by Glynn Stewart.
A loyal world torn apart by corruption The Protectorate’s shield cracked by treason Their only hope: a rogue mage turned royal envoy
Three years ago, as Ship’s Mage of the starship Blue Jay, Damien Montgomery was pursued to the edge of human space by both the agents and enemies of the Mage-King of Mars — before being brought in from the cold.
Now, trained in new skills by the Mage-King himself, Damien has been sent to the planet Ardennes alongside Alaura Stealey, Hand of the King. A rebel movement there has destroyed cities fighting a Governor seemingly lost to corruption.
But not all on Ardennes is as it seems. As allies become enemies and an entire world comes apart in chaos around him, Damien will find both his skills and integrity tested to the utter limit.
I really enjoyed this story, it was fun exploring the planet with the characters, and it was exactly the right mix of politics and action. Great fun.
3.5ish.. Another episodic and I enjoyed the overall flow. Felt a bit more like a Jack Ryan episode which was entertaining if not predictable. The one thing that kept kicking my butt though was the weird use of exclamation points. You'd read a maybe impassioned sentence but not one that rose to the level of exclamations to just to find '!' staring at you. Which made me re-read the sentence and roll it around in my head too long. Like a fingernail that catches I could find a few of these each chapter and it drove me oddly bonkers. I even started having my wife proof read them to make sure I wasn't crazy.
The other weird thing is they keep calling Damien a kid but he's 35. Yes he's short of stature but there's a difference between 20 something, 30 something, etc.
My only two real foibles. It was …
3.5ish.. Another episodic and I enjoyed the overall flow. Felt a bit more like a Jack Ryan episode which was entertaining if not predictable. The one thing that kept kicking my butt though was the weird use of exclamation points. You'd read a maybe impassioned sentence but not one that rose to the level of exclamations to just to find '!' staring at you. Which made me re-read the sentence and roll it around in my head too long. Like a fingernail that catches I could find a few of these each chapter and it drove me oddly bonkers. I even started having my wife proof read them to make sure I wasn't crazy.
The other weird thing is they keep calling Damien a kid but he's 35. Yes he's short of stature but there's a difference between 20 something, 30 something, etc.
My only two real foibles. It was a fun read. I think I can handle one more before I need to eat something with more fiber! (<--get it?)
I really think that the writing and the characters got a lot better with this one.
