Be careful what you wish for is a phrase I hear often, but rarely heed. I got what I wished for after the end of Mage-Commander. Rosyln Chambers continues her Horatio Hornblower-style naval career in Beyond the Eyes of Mars, and this time, the challenges come with a heavy cost. After three novels, Rosyln finally faces challenges that feel like they require the painful costs that Damien routinely paid.

While my main criticisms of this series are addressed, there's something still missing that doesn't capture the magic of the original novels. I think the First Legion is not a sufficiently challenging antagonist (by definition they are the leftovers of a greater, but defeated opponent), and we aren't given personal viewpoints for us to hate the remnants of the Republic. We've also already done this: Kelly Lamonte and Rosyln Chambers team up to track down an interstellar foe, and in broad strokes, it's basically the same plot as Mage-Commander.

I find it hard to rate this novel. On its own merits, it's better than the majority of books I read and should be an easy five stars. Yet relative to its predecessors, it's not the blow-out success of the early Starship's Mage stories. Ultimately, I can't consider this book nearly perfect given its similarity to Mage-Commander.

Still - highly recommended.