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  • Alien Arcana

  • Starship's Mage Series, Book 4
  • Written by: Glynn Stewart
  • Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer
  • Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
  • 4.9 out of 5 stars (16 ratings)

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Alien Arcana cover art

Alien Arcana

Written by: Glynn Stewart
Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer
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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

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A Strong Entry in the 'Starship's Mage' series

The author is getting more comfortable with his self-imposed parameters.. this is a very good novel. My read on the series is essentially this:

Glynn Stewart is trying to capitalize on four themes:
1.  An imaginative Magic-Tech hybrid paradigm
(Fantasy-inspired magical abilities and SciFi-based advanced technology share supremacy in his vision)
2. A Space-Opera-worthy Universe
(political machinations and power structures; interstellar relationships between unique colonial civilizations; a sweeping historical back-story; military policing/control dynamics)
3. Action-driven plot elements
(space battles; missions, explosions, and deaths; magical combat)
4. A Techno-thriller attitude
(military jargon; in-depth descriptions of martial tech; tactical decision-making)

In this installment, he delivers a nice balance of these goals. Stewart presents a plot incorporating ancient non-human magical civilizations, secretive traitors to the Protectorate, assassins, and a brewing Civil War. The character motivations make sense, dialogue sounds genuine, action scenes are unparalleled in pace, and there is combat aplenty.

Another plus: Jeffrey Kafer turns in an interested reading performance this time. His pacing is still terrible (I improved his plodding reading pace by accelerating playback speed to 1.25X), and volume modulation between conversations and text still hilariously sucks.. but he puts more emotion into the narration - Kafer's monotone is less noticeable in this book.

This fourth book in the series is the first I've read that's obviously meant to set up the next novel, but it's worth 9/10 stars. I can definitely Recommend.

[*Note: DO NOT START HERE if you want to get the maximum enjoyment out of the book.. you realistically could if (unlike me) you pick up story threads easily.. but starting at least at Book 2 ('Hand Of Mars') is worth doing.]

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Epic moment ruined

The character was written to be intentionally negligent and stupid in a situation he has run into in multuple books... Enemies killing allies/witnesses to keep a secret. And then conveniently forgot it all for a convenient outro/lead into the next book.

Writing an otherwise intelligent and responsible character into a temporary moron for convenience is nearly a capital crime by authors in my opinion. It basically ruined the end of the book for me. I enjoyed most of the book, but I rate what should have been a mostly epic scene and major success a one star flop. Literally destroyed the progress of the book.

I'm in too deep, hopefully the next book is salvageable.

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