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.

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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.

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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!

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When will this series end?

I'm not one for conspiracy stories, especially if they don't conclude. This series started off well and had a great premise, but books 3 and 4 have left me wanting something else. We started off with a young student who didn't realize the powers he had. In the second book he grew into his new role as a "Hand of Mars". These books are relatively short and I can't help feeling like we're in for a 9 or 12 book series that should have been a trilogy.

It feels like the author is bouncing around trying out ideas that don't quite work, then maybe finds some new science or power to explain it away, if we're lucky. The spaceship battles make no sense for the most part. In this book a ship apparently tracked another, but they don't explain it even though it was a big deal when one character could do that in an earlier book and that character was absent in this one. We are in a universe where mages can jump instantly up to a light year in space, yet it's not explained why they don't do that when their ship is about to be destroyed. In the first book the counting and capability of the jump mages was a big deal, now we're not told anything about it. Now we have the possibility of aliens that are completely absent and a conspiracy that is half-uprooted.

Minor spoilers:

We have zero information about WHY there is a conspiracy. It's alluded to that if the main character only knew why they did what they did he would be on their side. Yet they seem to want him to forfeit his allegiance and side with people committing mass murder in secret before they will tell him? So we're left knowing nothing about why anything happened in this book, leaving the characters' actions meaningless.

I'm somewhat interested in what the author chooses to conclude this series, if he ever does, but I probably won't be spending another credit unless there is just one more book and it has some answers.

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Main characters have limited vocabulary

All the characters seem to talk like marines ... effing this, effing that. Maybe the leaders could be more educated in their speech?

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