Hand of Mars (Starship's Mage Book 2)

This book follows the career of the young Mage, now training to be an agent of the Mage King, from the previous book. Due to his ability to sense magic flow, he has become even more powerful. He is sent with his teacher Aleanna to check out a rebellion in an outlying planet. It turns out that the ruler is insane and power hungry, manipulating both the mages and his population. Aleanna ends up murdered as part of his plot, but her ward escapes and is promoted to a full Hand of the Mage King in her stead. He manages to unravel the plot and the insane ruler is captured. I didn't really like it because of the death of a main character, though. Ah well.

It has no DRM, however, so at least you own the book should you buy it.

Loved the first book. The originality made it possible to ignore most flaws.
But in the second one, the earth bound story, the implausible events and mind numbing technological gaps just killed the enjoyment for me. Apparently in this universe with a civilization capable of antimatter engines, computers and complex magic based logic, a simple voice modem is to advanced.

I had thought that after Stewart had cut his teeth on several books and gotten the extensive feedback that he did, that his writing would feel much stronger and much more polished. I expected this book to be an order of magnitude better than the first book in this series.

While I feel that there are some major improvements to his style -- the action was easier to parse, and the descriptions seemed less ho-hum, I felt like other aspects of his style had suffered. There was a pompousness to the writing I hadn't detected before, and there were still too many pop-culture jokes that didn't suit the serious tone of the book.

The plot pacing and tightness was much better, in my opinion, than the first book. Unfortunately, it felt 'ripped from the headlines.' There is also one section that relies on our hero forgetting about a long-distance communication device that would have prevented all the trouble, only to remember it later after all the trouble is mostly in-escapable. There is no lampshade on this, no smoke, no mirrors. As a reader, I felt that was hard to swallow. Overall I felt the plot contained too much current political commentary. I also felt that the references to Christianity were painfully heavy-handed. I know other readers will like that, however.

As for the characters.... I felt that there was some assassination of Alaura's character. She was defeated far too easily, based on the insane power we saw in the previous book. Damien continues to be rise to the occasion too quickly and without real struggle. He's also over-powered. I never feel that he is in any danger. The villains are very-cookie-cutter, very stereotypical. I expected one of them to say "No, Mr. Montgomery, I expect you die" at least once. I do appreciate that Stewart put many women in both the army and the navy he's invented. At the same time, I wish they'd been fleshed out beyond "The Good Lady Captain" variations.Regardless of these issues, I do feel like, with the exception of Alaura, all the characters were written very consistently.

The book was a quick read, and not a bad one, but it felt forced and ultimately the end wasn't satisfying. However, I still like the concept and the moments of awesome really were awesome. I just wish that they felt more satisfying.

Just finished reading Hand of Mars, the second full-length novel in Glynn Stewart's novel series about Mage Damien Montgomery. It was a thoroughly enjoyable read. Like the previous novel, I would recommend it to anyone who might enjoy quality science fiction with a little "fantasy" thrown in . . but this fantasy has at least a plausible explanation based in genetics and ESP.

Stewart's style has clearly progressed from the original novel, which is understandable given that he has now nearly a half-dozen published novels to his credit. The main and supporting characters are well fleshed out and their motivations are complex. Once again, Stewart takes a refreshingly positive view of future society (which is opposed the current trend in much of today's sf.)

One thing I did note is that the "villains" seem a bit less well fleshed out, and definitely more stereotypical, than in the original work. The motivations are not as well explained here, and their actions when confronted with their evils do not always seem logical for "real" people.

But this is a minor flaw in an otherwise very engaging yarn. A page turner, to say the least, and Stewart's skill as an author is clearly still on the upward path. Enjoy!

Damien has just finished his training, and thinks he is starting a year long apprenticeship. Instead, he is quickly elevated to the final galactic authority to deal not only with the corrupt planet governor and his leadership team, but also with one of his own space force squadrons turned traitors. With the reluctant help of the local rebels and two secret agents, he is able to use his exceptional personal skills and his new training to solve this extensive crises. Very well written and fast paced storyline make this and excellent read for Science Fiction lovers.

Plotwise, didn't progress from the first book to the second as I'd have hoped. This didn't ruin it, but I was less motivated to care about the plot as a whole because of this.

The dialogue was much better than the first book.

However, I still had issues. I had a much harder time caring about Damien this book. It's as if the book has an emotional wall built around him, which is the opposite of the effect the author should be going for. I'm going to continue because I'm a completionist, only because it's available thru Kindle Unlimited. I'd never pay individually for these books, at least not as of yet.

The world-building and character development was so good it was humbling. Marvelous suspense. Yet, something about the ending bothered me . . ..It seemed a little rushed, somehow. The naval battle scene needed more fleshing-out, I think. Also, the preparation for assembly of the task force was a skeleton. Both the naval battle and the dual between Vaughn and Montoya lacked the tension and suspense of the earlier scenes. It was as if the author had already finished the book in his mind, but left a lot of the good stuff unwritten as he hurried to finish up.

Build on the earlier collection of short stories. Not sure if I'm as happy going from a short, tightly plotted story to a longer one. Again it's based in the universe where psi's can affect detailed models, but it seems a bit more loosey goosey (to use a technical term). The protagonist, now recognized for his unique psi gifts is fully trained and seems almost too powerful and self-assured. And he's harder to identify with..
Still - a good book, and I just went out and got the next book in the series. Looking forward to what happens next in this universe.

Just found this author, when I bought the first book in the Mage series and really enjoyed it, since then I have bought this one and both books in the Space Carrier Avalon series. It is always enjoyable to find a new (to you) author who understands characters the readers care about, stories that stick together, plots that make sense in the world the author has created; these things are the building blocks for a good story. Toss in some humor and you get a superior story that is not just a 'cut-and-paste' of other authors works. I recommend this author and look forward to giving him more of my money.

Just found this author, when I bought the first book in the Mage series and really enjoyed it, since then I have bought this one and both books in the Space Carrier Avalon series. It is always enjoyable to find a new (to you) author who understands characters the readers care about, stories that stick together, plots that make sense in the world the author has created; these things are the building blocks for a good story. Toss in some humor and you get a superior story that is not just a 'cut-and-paste' of other authors works. I recommend this author and look forward to giving him more of my money.

I really like this series. The second book was just as good as the first and definitely did not disappoint. I always hate sadness in a book but it's reality, right? So, I'll deal with it! It will be interesting to see the next adventures of the Hand in book three, which I'm going to begin directly.

GOOD read four stars for this book. Recommend this book. For anyone who enjoys a good space opera and looking forward to more of this series. Good action characters and enough twists and turns to keep me guessing. Very impressed with the power of the mages.

This was a great second installment in the Starship's Mage series, this time our intrepid mage embarks on a supposedly minor mission that goes pear-shaped in a most spectacular fashion. Action packed from beginning to end.

I'm really enjoying reading this series by Glenn Stewart. Job well done, sir! I'm going to dl the next book in the series and keep on reading... after grabbing a few hours of sleep of course.

Thank you, Glenn, for the hours of non-stop entertainment.

This was very straightforward, and predictable in many ways... But that didn't detract from my enjoyment of it. A very pleasant, light read. Other reviewers have commented on some plot elements they didn't like, but I did not find them jarring...and in reality most fantasy is relatively straightforward… And I still found the main character quite believable

The contemporary political commentary was heavy-handed and naive; particularly the bit about staying the course when toppling foreign regimes. I mean, really? We've never successfully crammed democracy down anyone's throats before and we never will. Not by force of arms. Especially not with our own messed up motives.

Also the hard right turn into spouting scripture constantly was a pretty big turnoff, too. Apparently everyone has the Bible memorized in the future.

This is an excellent sequel to Starship's Mage. It is a steady reading with pacing that does not encourage you to take a break or set it down. The characters remain interesting and show growth. Hand of Mars continues to tell the evolving tale of the protagonist without needing to read the first book and leaving you wondering how he will continue to evolve in the next one.

You may find some points that will leave you considering today's political policies when dealing with foreign situations. It was a nice approach that reminded me of the statements that used to be made in episodes of Star Trek: TOS.

Well done and well worth the time to read! You will be finished before you know it!

only complaint is that the magery involved seems too simple and underutilized. although the protagonist can immobilize people in one half of the book, he doesn't think to immobilize someone at the end of the book. in the first two books he seems to get extremely powerful but then seems to get extremely exhausted doing the simplest things in the last two books. it does NOT generate tension...it just makes the author look inadequate. the author seems good at combat situations and weaponry but inexperienced at magical abilities and energy uses.

This book walks the line between bad and good. This is a departure from the first book so much so it almost feels like a different genre. The book felt much less active and the rebel feeling the first books crew gave was also gone. If I was to use two words to describe this book it would be generic fantasy.

Another true masterpiece from Glynn Stewart!
+ setting: most original, a perfect mix of fantasy and science-fiction that results, extraordinarily, in a truly realistic universe
+ story: the plot was very engaging and dramatic, it's very difficult to stop reading the whole book in a single session
+ characters: interesting, complex and deep, heroes or villains are true people with many layers of personality
+ writing style: flawless
Conclusions: I strongly recommend this book to everyone that likes his magic strictly realistic and characters alive and real

Started fast and the momentum continued throughout. I did expect this book to be a sequel to the first book, but I saw very little connection. Maybe the rest of the trilogy will tie things together.

Well written. Good character development. Believable interactions with characters. Story flows well.
Enjoyed both Starship mages books.
I have reread both books and enjoyed them the second time.
Level of writing is Young Adult to Adult.
Will be looking forward to future offering by this author.

This was an excellent read. Fast paced, good battles and good character development. Totally enjoyed this second book. It could stand alone but to enjoy this make and his mission, the third book will be necessary.

I found that this book flowed much better than Starship's Mage. My only complaint is that there was some sloppy editing, a few misspelled words and such, but for the most part it was very well written.

Enjoyable read, without the spelling/grammar/editing issues that so many self-published authors' works seem to have. Makes for a smooth transition from the short story episodes of the series up to this point.