Alien Arcana

Starship's Mage Series, Book 4

By: Glynn Stewart

Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer

Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's Summary

When a scientist is murdered after finding signs of alien magic in an archeological dig, Mage Damien Montgomery, Hand of the Mage-King of Mars, is sent to investigate both the murder and the alien runes.

His investigation is interrupted when a mysterious ship attacks the ruins with weapons only available to the Martian Navy. Despite saving the dig site, Montgomery is left with more questions than answers.

His investigations reveal questions about the origin of his magic and his nation - and lead him back to the one place that should be safe: the court of the Mage-King of Mars.

©2016 Glynn Stewart (P)2016 Tantor

Behind the OODA Loop

I've been having loads of fun with this series. very original concepts, good prose, solid characters. That said, and I'll try to do this without spoilers, our protagonists spend much of this book suffering from a sudden case of plot-induced stupid.

Damien does have an endearing knack for finding problems by obliviously whacking his sad little face into the sticky bits, and yes, it's entertaining to see him creatively wizard everything into submission (or pieces) once he catches on, but I thought he'd picked up at least a little guile in his last few years. He issues several of his trademark ultimatums here, where he might have otherwise employed his wits and knowledge to make threats that would use the opponent's priorities to make compliance, negotiation, or further explanation of the opponents' opinion more attractive than the course they did choose. Our protagonists seriously need to quit reacting sometimes, and try to proactively screw with opponents' ye olde OODA loops.

I love a good conspiracy, but some of the secret plots and criminal organizations in this universe are just getting unreasonably competent for their size. Their funding and motives are plausible, but the scale of the things kept secret over this book and the last seem to imply a future that lacks Snowdens and Clintons. (Too soon?)

This is, nevertheless, absolutely worth a read, and the Starship Mageoverse continues to develop in interesting directions without a hint of staleness.

Space Opera meets Magic!

The entire serise is a wonderful blend of colorful space opera and a new flavor magic.

Being selfish for the multitude, "Where's the next one?"

All of Glynn Stewart's audio books have been /are good listens!

An improvement over Book 3

Glynn mixed the characters up in this book which made the novel less predictable and more interesting. The introduction of several new first tier characters also improved the story; although, the new teenager seemed more like a literary device created merely to assist in his subterfuge rather than any other meaningful role, at least as far as this book used her.

The narration is still very good, however, I'm still not pleased with the tone and inflection of Damien's voice making him sound too self-important, all the time.

Even so, a nice addition to the series.

Over powered

The main character can shield aerial bombardment, deflect missiles, and talks in a loud voice, "I am the hand of the mage king of mars..."

good addition

while I enjoy the series and love the concept there are a few things that sort of bug me. Mainly plot holes and new abilities that poof into existence to ramp up the tension or trap the protagonist. without spoiling this book, in the the previous books we have jump tracking that comes from no where and if rarely used afterwords, communication tech from the previous book that still isn't explained, etc. I don't mind advancement but when characters say"that's impossible" to many times it starts to feel less like a world with rules and more like a story master is randomly changing the rules for convenience because they can't think of a way to create the tension they want within the rules they had previously set up. this is particularly annoying when the protagonist is part of an organization that should be at the forefront of most developments and has the shot network to know if anyone elses advancements. yet they are spectacular clueless. it breaks immersion

This is the fourth book in the Mage of Mars

I'm a huge fan of this series and look forward to each new edition. This Author knows exactly how to give the reader just the right amount of intrigue and action with a mystery twist . These books always leave me wanting more and I find myself always coming back to them .

Great story really enjoyed it.

The story was interesting, as with the ones before it, and I'm eager to get the next one to read.

this story gets better and better

well written and read.

character development is believable and consistent.

battle sequences are well conceived and has excellent technical merit

addicted to glynn stewart.

Damon is looking for a vacation after the previous 2 books. He then states what could go wrong. Listen to this book to find out. On to book 5.

Awesome

This book is probably my favorite so far out of the series. So far kinda reminds me of Mass effect 2/3 and
cowboy Bebop but with magic.if you like good conspiracy this book is right for you I hope the author has more books to come for this awesome series

another good story.

another conspiracy plot that gets found out and the poor main protagonist who gets involved in this. amazingly it needs to be continued so I have to wait for the next book to find out what happens next.

the plot thickens

with this episode we learn more. characters are blooming and battles and secrets are rife, we await the next installment

Fun and engaging!

A great continuation of the story. Excited to see where the author will take the story next!

great

i enjoyed this very much. the story was fast paced and the narrator was perfect.

finally some action

the past few books I've found a little tame but this one has finally found some action.

Highly recommended

The book was very well written and very engaging. I would definitely recommend. The series as a whole are interesting and I personally didn't stop until I had read all the books.

brilliant!!

loved them all so far...can't wait for the next installment...very cleverly conceived plot....it's not just all power magic...he uses his brain as well to solve problems.

Please change the narrator!

Once again a book is ruined by Jeffrey Kafer. Differentiating between characters is impossible based on voice - he uses the same one for everyone, even the women - and his downward infection on the final word of each sentence drives me mad. He is, without a doubt, the worst narrator around and having already made me give up listening to anything by C.T. Phipps, I'm close to doing the same with Glynn Stewart's books too.