Starpilot's Grave: Book Two of Mageworlds

Starpilot's Grave (1993) is the second novel written in the original Mageworlds trilogy. At this time, however, it is the fifth of the series in internal chronological sequence, following The Price of the Stars. In the previous book, Beka Rosselin-Metada had joined with the Professor, her brother Ari, Nyls Jessan, and Llannat Hyfid to capture Nivome the Rolny, the man who masterminded the assassination of her mother. In this novel, Jos Metada realizes that there are others involved in the assassination plot and asks Beka to take the Warhammer into Mageworlds space to continue the investigation. Moreover, Jos gives Jessan permission to accompany her and he promotes and reassigns his aide, Jervas Gil, as Commodore of the fleet. Beka and Nyls travel through the Net to Mage space looking for Ebenra D'Caer. On Raamet, they take on a passenger who later tries to kill them. Yet they extract enough information from his brain to divert to Ninglin to meet the assassin's contact. Owen Rosselin-Metada manages to elude the Magelords on Pleyver and returns to Galcen with important information. Errec Ransome, his boss, then assigns him to watch the Mages on Nammerin. There he meets Klea Santreny and starts training her as an Adept. When Ari and Llannat returns to Nammerin, Owen warns them that he is undercover and not to be noticed if seen. Ari is soon promoted and reassigned to the Fezrisond in the Infabe sector, but Llannat remains behind. Jos and his new aide, Commander Quetaya, travel incognito to Infabe for an unannounced inspection. After they depart, however, security guards discovered a body stuffed in a trash container within RSF headquarters. While this is the second volume in a trilogy, the plot does not let up on the suspense and action. The plot is much more complicated than the incidents related in this review. The final volume has a lot of story elements to tie together. Recommended for Mageworlds fans and anyone who enjoys tales of covert action and special operations on an interstellar scale. -Arthur W. Jordin

This way-more-than-adequate sequel to The Price of the Stars surpasses the first volume in its two great virtues: breathlessly fast action and fascinatingly developed characters. We get to see much more of the enigmatic and powerful Owen Rosselin-Metadi, and the relationship between his brother Ari and Adept Llannat, hinted at in the first novel, begins to strengthen, despite their being stuck in different sectors of the galaxy. Beka, their hellcat sister, just gets tougher and cooler and more heroic by the page. I profoundly admire the authors' ability to portray her as 100% woman and 100% strong. She is never more awe-inspiring than at the end of the novel, confronting and defying her ultimate fear.