Starship's Mage

After reading some other reviews, I know now what bothers me about this book. It's not sci-fi and it's not fantasy. It's marketed as both.

This is just a book about a guy that can do anything, get the girl, save the world(s), and unrealistically get the protection of all the factions without even knowing them. He happens to have some kind of unexplained magical ability and the setting happens to be in space. But the book has a low amount of science, sci-fi, or fantasy elements,

It's just a series of repetitively worse factions chasing some dude across the galaxy while some factions that barely know this guy risk their lives, ships, reputations, and everything to save him... for no real fleshed-out reason.

An extra star for the fun show more multiple solar systems explorations. Too bad the author didn't expand on this strength more than a few paragraphs in each chapter. show less

I picked this up through kindle unlimited and I freely admit to inflating my rating on this series because it was just so much fun to read (and is a step up from the typically stuff you get on kindle unlimited). I basically binged this series over about 1 weeks time.

I like Hard Sci-Fi
I like Fantasy

This series gives you both. All of the SciFi stuff that typically gets a tech hand wave as being so advanced it appears to be magic (I am looking at you FTL and Antigrav devices) actually IS magic ... and it is awesome. IMHO the author does an amazing job blending these two elements into his stories and I simply love the world building (plus 1 star for something I have only seen in more of a steam punk genre instead of SciFi).

The stories are show more more of the cookie cutter, classic hero's tale that simply makes you feel good when you finish it. The good guys are very good (and relatable and easy to like/identify with). The bad guys are actually reasonable intelligent and provide a decent foil for the protagonist with enough humor to make it a fun afternoon read (you get another star there). It is never going to be a classic ... but it will be one of the few stories that I plan to re-read.

I so wanna be a "Starship's Mage" now!!! show less

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Title: Starship's Mage
Series: Starship's Mage #1
Author: Glynn Stewart
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 337
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Damien Montgomery has graduated from the Mage Academy. Unfortunately for him, every other graduate is a family member of the ruling family and they get all the prime picks of starships to be mages of. At the same time, a freighter, the Blue Jay is ambushed by pirates and it is only by the sacrifice of their show more mage that they escape. That mage was the youngest son of the System Governer. Who then blacklists the freighter and it's Captain, David Rice.

Thus is born a most convenient pairing. Unfortunately, Rice is running from organized crime, as he got the son of a crimelord killed. The mob is pursuing the Blue Jay and only by illegally modifying the runes does Damien save the ship and the crew from yet another ambush. This tampering gets him thrown in jail. The crew of the Blue Jay break him out when they find out that a Hand of the Emperor has been assigned to strip Damien of his magic.

Now on the run from Imperial Forces, the Mob and bounty hunters, the Blue Jay must figure out a way to survive. Unknown to them, the Hand is actually wanting to recruit Damien for his ability, not strip his magic.It all comes to a head when two opposing Crime Lords and the Imperial Fleet collide.

Damien survives and comes under the tutelage of the wise and benevolent Mage King of Mars.

Now isn't that cute?

My Thoughts:

I enjoyed this quite a bit. So I'm going to lead with my complaints and then end on a good note.

Stewart shows his big government love and goes all starry eyed at how wonderful and benevolent the Mage King and his Hands are. The Imperial Worlds that all accept the Mages are keystones of civilization while the few worlds that won't allow mages on them are corrupt, backward horrors. There is one world that was based on Libertarian principals and Stewart really shows his contempt for personal freedom there. Everyone carries a firearm and children begin training at a young age and Stewart manages to convey his utter horror at such a thing. My goodness, imagine a whole world where people are actually trained in how to use guns?!? I'm in shock. Just think, they might resist the Benevolent oversight of a Government that knows better than them. I'm having heart palpitations just thinking about such a travesty. And the romance. Damien gets involved with a crew member and then at the end when he's off on his merry way to become the protege of the Mage King, it is like “hey,nice knowing you. Goodbye”. It would have been better if there had been no “romance” than something like that.

Once you get past that, things are pretty smooth sailing. This was originally a 5 part serial, so each part is a complete story that tells its tale while propelling the overall arc. It was like 5 rather long chapters. It worked out really well but it also convinced me that I am right in avoiding serials. I need the one long story narrative for me to keep interested.

Ok. The fighting was good stuff! The Blue Jay was the underdog the whole time so they had to get creative. Damien was the major force behind that, but other crew members handled creative thinking as well. From personal gun battles on space stations to major ship engagements, Stewart kept me very well entertained.

The whole “magic” thing just kind of “was”. It ws vaguely explained as eugenecists from long ago messing around with genes and human atrocities committed. From their experiments came the Mages. Magic came from Super Science. Just go with it. It is not a major point of the story so the less time you think about it, the better.

I am looking forward to the rest of this series. Because come on, does it get much better than Mages making Starships jump through space? The only thing that would have been better is if Damien invents himself a light sword. I'm hoping that happens later.

On an unrelated note, my reviews are getting longer, much longer. I apologize to my future self and to anyone else who happens to read these.

★★★★☆ show less

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 show more 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. show less

Stewart, Glynn. Starship’s Mage: Omnibus. Starship’s Mage No. 1. Faolan’s Pen, 2014.
I picked up Starship’s Mage because Nathan Lowell, one of my favorite authors, said that Stewart is a comfort read for him, even though Stewart’s brand of space opera fantasy was what Lowell’s novels reacted against. Stewart cranks out genre fiction at a prodigious rate. This omnibus edition was originally published in five novella-length episodes. In the last four years, Stewart has produced nine more full-length novels in the series. At the same time, he is been producing several other series of science fiction novels. The premise of Starship’s Mage is simple. At some point in the recent past, human beings have discovered how to use show more rune-based magic to power interstellar spacecraft and other technologies. Every starship needs a mage to cast the spell that will jump them between stars. OK. I know. But it is either that or wormholes and tachyons. Some mages can use spells in combat, others can use them to control the minds of others, and some can do it all. There is now an interstellar empire run by the Mage King of Mars. Our hero, Damien, is a starship’s mage who does not come from one of the aristocratic magical families. He is thus a cross between Harry Potter and Horatio Hornblower. As his skills develop, it turns out that he can do it all. So. Add an adventurous plot, and there you have it. A comfort read. At least it is better for you than hotdogs and beer. show less

The concept of magic to jump a ship a light year at a time drew me to this book. I enjoyed the way that figured into the plot and I especially liked the Mage character who matures as the story progresses. The beginning of the story was especially good. I am not a fan of battle scenes, but those were not long and drawn out. I found myself on the edge of my seat toward the end and enjoyed the way it went. The possibilities for the future are enticing.

I would have given this book a rating of 5 stars, but it was a bit repetitive and choppy due to having been written as 5 separate episodes. There were quite a few typos, but it was excellent writing and story telling, so good that I plan to read the next book in the series.

I couldn't decide what to read, so I asked my 16 year-old son to choose fantasy or sci-fi. He chose sci-fi, and this book was the only one already on my kindle. I'm glad he picked the one he did.
The pacing was just right, not too fast, and not too slow. I wanted to know what happened to Damien and the crew.
Now, I have to go find and buy the next one!