Glynn Stewart

I was recommended this novel when I requested "a science fantasy with Star Wars vibes". And yes, this was what I was looking for. It's diferent from Star Wars (no epic fight between good and evil, no monastic order of mystics, no aliens), but in many ways it has a similar feel.

This is a space opera with fantasy elements. We have space travel which is made possible by mages. These jump mages can instantly transport spaceships equiped with adequate magical runes across vast distances. However, there is a limit on how often and how far a mage can jump, which means that interstellar travel requires multiple jumps. Military vessels usually carry more than one mage, so that they can jump more often and therefore travel faster.

Mages belong to a guild, but they live independently and hire their talents to merchants, official military forces and so on. The Protectorate, led by the Mage-King of Mars, is a loose coalition of space systems that brings law and order to human civilization. However, apart from a few common laws, each planet is free to establish its own laws and system of government, and some of the worlds in the fringe of the Protectorate are quite lawless. There are powerful criminal organizations, pirates, slavers, wars between settlers and megacorporations...

To maintain the peace and enforce the laws of the Protectorate, the Mage-King employs agents, powerful mages in their own right, who are called the Hands.

The story is about a young mage who works for a trader vessel. Under attack by pirates, this mage manages to modify the magical runes of his ship to allow them to be used not only to jump, but also as a weapon. This is something extremely illegal and supposedly impossible, but he manages to pull it off. When the modification is detected in their next port of call, his ship is soon pursued by a criminal cartel and by one of the Mage-King's Hands.

This is the first book in a series, but it has enough resolution to work as a standalone. The book was a lot of fun, but it was not perfect. The writing is only functional. Don't expect great stylistic feats. Also, the focus was on the action and adventure more than on the depth of the characterization. Nevertheless, it is a quick read, and very enjoyable if you are in the mood for space battles, magic and adventure.… (more)

Glynn Stewart is an old hand at writing military space opera that meets all our expectations. The Exodus Gambit, the first volume of his latest series, is clearly built on the Honor Harrington model with a nod to John Scalzi’s Interdependency series. Here’s the elevator pitch: The Kingdom of Adamant is careful to have several ranked heirs to the throne who campaign for election to the top spot when a vacancy occurs. Our heroine, Lorraine, is on the point of renouncing her position as an heir in favor of a military career when her uncle murders the rest of the heirs. She goes on the run in a booby-trapped warship with severe doubts about who she can trust.
So far, this is one of Stewart’s best.… (more)

Half-a-megaton-a-second positron lances. Sure sounds high-tech? Give Glynn Stewart this: he never strays far from the generic tree. You want space battles? We give you space battles. You want a patched-together ship facing overwhelming odds. Got ‘em. You want to go twenty-first-century diversity politics one better? How about an interstellar commonwealth where the leadership all have names that sound Native American—Walkingstick, and Tecumseh, for example? Why doesn’t it work as well as it should? Glynn, I think your formula is showing.… (more)

Kyle Roberts is the most battle-tested captain in the Castle Federation space navy. He is also the youngest captain with the least time in service. He lost his last ship diving into the wreckage of an enemy battleship. What is the navy to do with such a hero? They meet public demand and give him a new ship with the same name. Once again, he will be overmatched; this time, his crew will include an admiral and a few dangerous enemy spies.
Robert’s nickname, the Stellar Fox, is an unlikely and unwanted homage to Gen. Rommel. The plot is in the C. S. Forester to David Weber tradition. The tactics owe more to World War II’s Pacific campaign than to either the African campaign or the Napoleonic wars.
Glynn Stewart provides just what we expect from him—old-school space opera.… (more)