Customer Reviews

The Price of the Stars: Book One of Mageworlds

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Price of the Stars is the first novel written in the original Mageworlds trilogy. At this time, however, it is the fourth of the series in internal chronological sequence, following The Gathering Flame. In the previous book, Perada Rosselin and Jos Metada headed the resistance movement in the First Mage War and the subsequent establishment of the Republic. Although the Republic won the war, the cost was extremely high; in addition to the military losses, Entibor was rendered uninhabitable by tectonic upheavals, Sapne lost most of its population to plague, and Ilarna was decimated and its Adepts wiped out by invading forces. The Mageworlds also lost heavily, with the Republic destroying its naval forces, exterminating its Mages and dismantling its interstellar mercantile capabilities. Moreover, Arekhon Khreseio sus-Khalgath sus-Peledaen, in his role as Ser Hafrey, was discharged as Armsmaster of the Rosselin family, with Tillijen appointed as his replacement.

Three decades later, Perada is a member of the Grand Council of the Republic and her consort, Jos Metada, is Commanding General of the Republic's Space Force. Ari Rosselin-Metada is a Lieutenant in the RSF Medical Corps at Namport on Nammerin, Owen Rosselin-Metada is an apprentice in the Adept Guild, and Beka Rosselin-Metada is copilot on the armed freighter Claw Hard.

With the help of her brother Owen, Beka had ran away from home to become a commercial star pilot. She is determined that she will never be the Domina of Lost Entibor, but an assassination plot against her mother contravenes her ambitions. At Waycross on Innish-Kyl, she accepts ownership of the Warhammer from her father in order to track down the instigator of the plot. At Embrig Spaceport on Mandeyn, she is saved from an assassination attempt by the Professor, the current persona of Arekhon, who is still protecting the Rosselin family despite his formal dismissal as Armsmaster.

Ari and his friend Nyls Jessan, a fellow medic from Khesat, bring in a farmer who has Rogan's disease, normally a dry world ailment and rather unexpected on the very wet Nammerin. As usual, supply is snafued and cannot provide the required medication, tholovine, in a reasonable time, so Ari and Llannat Hyfid, an Adept and medic, set out to get some through the local Quincunx -- i.e., criminal syndicate -- representative. Unfortunately, this simple task eventually results in a fire, an armed chase, and a deadly duel with a Mage.

Owen has been working for Errec Ransome as a special operative, investigating Mage operations within the Republic, for the last 10 years. His tasks lead him to Pleyver Flatlands, where he crosses paths with Beka and the Professor. They part company and then Beka and the Professor meet Nyls Jessan while being followed and shot at by an estimated 200 armed thugs. The shootouts continue from there on.

This novel initiated the Mageworlds series. It started as a short story that insisted on becoming longer. Now it incorporates 7 novels and still has room for more.

Recommended for anyone who enjoys interstellar action and intrigue on a large scale.

In the first installment of the Mageworlds, Beka Rosselin-Metadi agrees to captain her father's prized starship Warhammer, and sets off on a mission to find her mother's assassins. What follows is a grand adventure with non-stop action and intrigue.

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were well developed and very interesting. I especially liked Beka, with her multiple personas and how we begin to understand her feelings about her estranged family. I also liked the mysterious "Professor" who's identity was an enigma until the very end, and Beka's brother Ari, with his unusual background. In fact, all of the characters were likeable, with their own distinct personalities and quirks. I loved how they were thrown together by unusual twists of fate, yet managed to become an effective team.

The action was great. The plot was interesting and original. There was a surprising amount of humor and witty dialogue. And technology didn't overwhelm the storyline (definitely a plus for me). There were a few spots where it slowed down a bit, but then it picked right back up again, and I couldn't stop turning the pages. I will certainly be looking for the next book in the series, Starpilot's Grave, to see what happens next for this unusual group of friends.

I have never read another Sci-Fi book that could top this one, and I can't wait to read the sequels, which I have on order. I am a huge fan of Star Wars and I love Sci-Fi, especially a well written space novel, so this is one of my all time favorite books, me being a bookworm and therefore having read a lot of books. One of my favorite aspects of Star Wars has been the Force and Jedi Knights, and although this book has similar things (Adepts and Mages equal Jedi Knights and Dark Jedi, with special staffs and strage powers), these things are original and unique at the same time. Wonderfully real characters with great settings and events written masterfully, equals an unforgettable journey that I recommend to anyone who enjoys a simply great book.

I love this story and these characters. I can identify with Beka, and I adore Jessan. Just the sort of adventure I sometimes wish I could have. The characters are full and complex, and therefore very fascinating. Also, it's not your typical "hero" story, or a Xena-type thing; a fresher take on female heroes.

Space pilot Beka Rosselin-Metadi is drawn into galactic intrigue after her mother, a political leader, is assassinated. For reasons that are not entirely clear, the assassins target Beka and her two brothers, none of whom have any particular political aspirations. That results in the assassins exposing themselves and inviting retaliation.

This novel is described on the cover as "Mageworlds Book One." The story left me with the impression that I had missed a previous novel. The authors keep referring back to some supposed previous actions. Many of the novel's characters seem to be only partially developed.

Overall, it is an average adventure novel. The heroine and her allies skip from planet to planet seeking the villains, leaving a trail of dead bodies behind. It is somewhat a Perils of Pauline type story as Beka escapes from a series of confrontations with her enemies.

These books are okay but a basic waste of time. After seeing the reviews here I decided to check them out. I should've listened to my friends who told me not to bother and recommended stick with Hesse and Heinlein and Bradbury instead. Now that I look at these reviews about the Doyle-MacDonald stuff after having actually read them they seem generated by friends of the writers anyway, which is fine, more power to them. (I think they teach a writing course or something). But if you're looking for something that does more than absorb your time, keep looking, you won't find it in by these run of the mill genre imitators. Other than that, the writing is okay.

Thanks again to Amazon.com and its reviewers I found another series that is to my liking. I have seen this series before in the past years but for whatever reason, never tried one - until now! WOW, what a fun and exciting start to a sci-fi series that blends everything I look for in a good book - a blend of fantasy, sci-fi, with lots of action and adventure.
This nice blend has created a fun read with quite a few interesting, and growing characters that I look forward to reading more about in the near future.
I won't bother with telling about the storyline since I seem to be the one behind on reading this series!
If you like your sci-fi mixed with fantasy with lots of action and adventure - this one is for you!

Great action, gut wrenching battles. Excellent character creation.
Doyle and McDonald are GRRRRREEAATTT! Other then that, It a good read

There is a scene in this book where the protagonist steps into the middle of a corridor under fire, raises her blaster, and calmly picks off the enemy one shot at a time. It may well be my favorite scene in any space opera, written or filmed. I pick up this book on occasion just to reread that scene.

The thing is, the whole book is like that. "Price of the Stars" is a throat-grabber from word one, a book I could not put down. If you're looking for Grand Canvas adventure in the classic swashbuckling style, you can't do better than this book.

My one complaint, and it's minor, is that the romance gets short-shrift and seems abrupt when it's brought full circle. I felt that way about the romance in all of the Mageworlds books, but since that's not what I'm reading them for, I'm not too bothered. Certainly it hasn't stopped me buying all the Mageworlds books and devouring them!

Kicking off my second-favourite on-going space-opera series (aside from my brother's books, which i am *required* to like), this was a refreshing find back when i first pulled it down off the shelf and read the first couple pages... and discovered that i had to finish it that same day.While, as someone has pointed out, this *could* be read as a stand-alone book, unlike the first books in some series, a reader who stops here will be missing a lot of fun in the sequels and prequels that follow.The Rosselin-Matadi clan and their friends and enemies are all marvellous characters, but Beka's mentor and co-pilot, known only as "the Professor" is the most amusing and frustrating of the lot, as it becomes more and more obvious that he, somehow, is manipulating history itself.What sets this series aside from more ordinary space opera, i think, is the concept of the Adepts and the Mages -- both posessors of great power, who both sense and utilise what, for want of a better word, we might call "the Force", but in completely different and mutually-conflicting manners. The three Rossellin-Metadi siblings, Beka, Owen and Ari, so different superficially but so similar in their drive and inability to admit defeat are worth getting to know, and the associates and enemies that they pick up along the way are a marvellously-assorted crew (not all of whom are even *nearly* what they appear to be). But i must admit that the villains -- as opposed to adversaries, an important distinction in these books -- are just a bit *too* slimy and odious. {If i ever run into the authors, though, i intend to ask them if they were thinking of "Rio Lobo" or of "Assault on Precinct 13" when they wrote one important sequence...}Recommended -- both this book and the entire series.