The Exodus Gambit

House Adamant #1

by Glynn Stewart

Her family, gone, destroyed from within
Her kingdom, doomed, tainted by blood
Unless a scion rises to become something… more

In a single ruthless blow, Commander Lorraine Adamant’s favorite uncle murders everyone ahead of him in the succession for the Star Kingdom of Adamant. Only luck and the paranoia of her bodyguard, Vigo Jarret, saves Lorraine’s life.

On the run in a single starship Lorraine should never have commanded, with a crew she can not trust, she swiftly learns her uncle’s hounds are hot on her heels. She must gather every skill, every trick, she has ever learned if she is to survive—and pray the uncle who taught her those tricks is a step behind.

Because one thing is certain: Lorraine Adamant will save her Kingdom—or die.

Genres: Science Fiction, Military Fiction, Audiobook, Space Opera, Military Science Fiction

404 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 19, 2024

About the author

Glynn Stewart is the author of over 60 books, including Starship’s Mage, a bestselling science fiction and fantasy series where faster-than-light travel is possible–but only because of magic.

Writing managed to liberate Glynn from a bleak future as an accountant. With his personality and hope for a high-tech future intact, he lives in Southern Ontario with his partner, their cats, and an unstoppable writing habit.

Reviews

[Ridel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Novel Opening

Exodus Gambit is another new space opera by the prolific author. As a dedicated fan who’s consumed over thirty (30) of his books, it’s impossible to review this novel in a vacuum. Set amongst a galaxy of decentralized nation-states, a ruthless internal coup decapitates the elective monarchy of Adamant. Dogged by treachery and surrounded by traitors, internal strife offers plenty of chances for bodyguard Vigo to flex his mental and physical skills, while hier-apparent Lorraine grows into a leader worth following. The duo are good people trying to do good things. They’re easy protagonists to support. Yet it feels like the author has done this before.

Both worldbuilding and Lorraine’s situation are reminiscent of Kira’s exile amongst the decentralized nations of Scattered Stars. Worse, space combat is generic capital ships mixed with nuclear missiles. For a novel primarily focused on single-ship combat, readers deserve more than Age of Sail in space. And though he deals with often ignored details such as logistics, international relations and even banking, none of these topics are fresh. The author has such a deep back catalogue that I struggle to see what’s unique about Exodus Gambit. Perhaps he could’ve executed the story better, but he keeps making the same mistakes.

Civil wars force friends to face each other across the battlefield, but the author squanders this opportunity. He cuts extraneous viewpoints to the bare minimum and ensures the story moves quickly. What’s great for pacing is terrible for the antagonists. A lack of screen time and insufficient characterization create nebulous villains that are little more than names. They’re exceptionally skilled and cause our heroes plenty of trouble, but they’re just the first of many hurdles. And perhaps that’s the real problem with Exodus Gambit. It’s just the opening act of a series. The story is woefully incomplete. It's an unsatisfying meal, and clever worldbuilding, easy-to-love heroes, and superb pacing will not resolve that.

Recommended, with Reservations.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a follower of the author I read the book on release, and was once again pulled into the excellent storytelling evident in all the author's books. A new science fiction series that looks to have some interesting characters and a great story line, leaving me eagerly looking forward to the next book.

If you have enjoyed Stewart's other books, you will certainly enjoy this. If he is new to you, an excellent place to start.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF at 39%

[Keith Symcox · Rating 3 out of 5]

As far as the naval battles and the hard science stuff went, I enjoyed it. My problem with the plot was with the inability of the MC to see or even recognize that the battle for popular opinion was as important as the naval battles. Nowhere does our MC try to get her version of events out to the public, leaving the coup plotters to write their own narrative unopposed. Given the two years before she could possibly get back, that will be catastrophic. I find it hard to believe that amongst all the smart people on that ship, no one said "hey, send all our evidence to a journalist you trust."
The other suspension of disbelief that I had to grapple with was the huge size of the conspiracy without a single leak. That just beggared belief. I am willing to wait and see if there is an explanation for that one that might show up later.

[Liviu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very entertaining with great characters and set-up. While the storyline is a familiar one, the execution matters a lot and here it kept me turning the pages until I finished it and I definitely plan to read the second series book next.

The universe is also fairly familiar - a central "democratic" and super powerful human polity dominated to a large extent by corrupt and profit-seeking giant interstellar corporations, United Worlds here, the plucky small kingdom of Adamant on the far side of the human space with six habitable worlds and a locally powerful navy, with close enemies (the Richelieu Dominion) and friends (the Concordat of Amal Jadid the native polity of Frederick Adamant-Griffin, the Prince Consort and father of our heroine, lt commander Lorraine Adamant, youngest and fourth in succession to her mother Valeriya the "King" of Adamant), other local polities of the fringe cluster where Adamant is located with diverse relationships in-between and with the UW looming over them.

The government of Adamant, a democratic monarchy has the interesting feature that it doesn't have a crown prince/princess but 5 Pentarchs - in the usual succession order but all need to be over 18, so Lorraine is now 4th Pentarch as the youngest daughter after her two older brothers and older sister but when her twin baby nieces will become of age in 17 years, she will fall out of the Pentarchy, unless the "King" retires or dies and then a 6-month election from the 5 Pentarchs at the time decides the next ruler.

Similarly, her favorite uncle, Benjamin, commander of the Adamant Navy and famed admiral who decisively defeated the Richelieu Dominion in their latest aggressive war a decade past is now 5th Pentarch, though he used to be Second Pentarch and one of the succession favorites alongside his sister Valeriya, but he was badly injured in the accident that killed their father so couldn't really contest the election and lost to his sister, loss which he seemed to have taken with grace, at least until now decades later...

Lorraine, now 28, admired and loved his uncle who taught her the military arts and much more - they have been keeping a long-distance chess contest for years in which Lorraine only recently started having occasional success - and she was eager to follow in his footsteps in the Navy, even being ready to resign her Pentarchy in favor of her cousin, Benjamin's heir, just before the action of the book starts as she most likely would anyway fall out of it in the future...

So when deployed on a space mission on the frigate Goldenrod and Benjamin executes his coup murdering all of Lorraine's family except potentially her second brother who was an army officer and could have been protected by the army who didn't love Benjamin for reasons explained in the book, Lorraine barely escapes assassination by luck and timely action of her chief bodyguard, major Vigo, only to be numb with grief and incredulity that her uncle could have done such a thing. After somehow internalizing all, she realizes that her uncle would have a bunch of other options for her neutralization, from more direct assassination attempts to destroying the ship, to simply faking proof that Lorraine was behind the murders (of course Benjamin faked an attempt on himself too which he "luckily" survived and then took power as emergency Regent until future time when the election for King could be held) so she has to think fast on her feet, hope that both her guard and the crew of Goldenrod would stay loyal and assess her options to respond...

The other interesting thing is the translight mode of travel (slower of course than wormholing) which is done in integral multiples of the speed of light (quanta of c) and of course that dictates a lot of the strategy and tactics of the book.

Overall excellent stuff so far and with a good ending at a tbc point, I am really eager to see what happens next and I highly recommend this series.

[Horhe · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book has the trademark action scenes that Glynn Stewart excels at and, as always, I like his style of writing. The central idea of the chase added urgency and tension to the story. However, I feel that this new series, like the recent preceding ones, can be described as "thin gruel" in terms of worldbuilding because there are too few elements to distinguish it from his other story universes or those of other authors. He usually gets around this by inventing some sort of minimum distinguishing factor that he can base his stories around and play with: magic in space, the skips of the nova drives, real time FTL comms for militaries etc. But I feel like what he has here is not enough. He could have spent more time fleshing a particular tech lore to distinguish his universe from others in this case. And he needs to dial up the strangeness a bit for his next book to create a particular identity.

Glynn Stewart's best series is still Starship Mage.

Edit I see some reviews are suggesting how the story could have been enhanced in the first place, so I will try my best. The naming conventions are a bit off - there is a thin line between cool and cringe and sometimes GS veers into the latter. I would also make the main character a businesswoman, an academic or something (or a systems designer, a tech head so she could come up with the final plan). She is getting evacuated and having to deal with her own ignorance of the naval game rather than having a star struck crew already at her feet. Yet another naval officer does the series no favors in distinguishing itself from Starship Mage (with Chambers) or similar fare from other prolific authors, like Christopher Nuttall's Angel in the Whirlwind series. I will barely be able to tell those two series apart in my mind in a few weeks. David Drake's RCN Series really managed to "innovate" a particular style or aesthetic that could set it apart from others. Lastly, the Rechelieu Directorate is such a cheesy name and bad guy (reminding me of the Brisingr Kairserreich bad guys from the series with Kara Demirci) that I rolled my eyes. Oh, a theocracy you say. There could have been some better hooks to explain the conflict that gave GS some intriguing options for later books, like an alliance or something. It's a good book, but GS is throwing darts at a wall to make these series at this point, and he hasn't been adding any good new ideas after using the previous ones in other series. Cranking these ones out as fast as possible is doing him no favors.

[Gus Smedstad · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s OK.

Lorraine Adamant is a junior member of the royal family of the Kingdom of Adamant, and a naval officer. Her uncle pulls a coup and murders most of royal family, including the current King. He sends people to kill Lorraine, but that plot fails. Lorraine has to flee the system and seek out allies to oppose the coup.

One major sticking point for me is that I’m supposed to take the idea of members of the royal family being the only possible legitimate rulers seriously. Choosing who is in charge merely by accident of birth seems like a spectacularly stupid form of government for a spacefaring nation.

There are some quirks. It’s an elected monarchy… but not really. When a King dies, they pick the next five members of the royal family and elect them king. So it’s an election, but only the royal family can run, and only the members who are closely related to the last king. It’s still choosing leaders via inheritance.

Lorraine is #4 in line for the throne before the coup, and everyone treats her as special and irreplaceable, again because of who her parents are, not any actual personal qualifications. You just have to accept that as a given even though it doesn’t make much sense.

Anyway, there are more attempts to kill her after the first, and some space battles involving missiles and lasers later on. It’s passable military SF, even if the setup seems questionable.

It’s not a complicated book, it’s just about Lorraine and the crew of her ship surviving. It’s the first book in a series, and it ends before Lorraine gets to the part where she start collecting allies, which presumably is the plot of later books.

[Doc Honour · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good story line marred

What’s not to like about a rollicking military sci-fi story? There is lots of good here: a believable protagonist charged with protecting the capable princess, space cruisers and frigates with realistic weaponry, scientific principles only slightly bent, an evil regent stealing the throne. All great stuff.

Unfortunately, the author has a bent toward over-explaining the situations and the politics to the point of confusion, introducing large quantities of ancillary description not needed for the story. This happens thoroughly in the first two chapters, which could be largely discarded for the good of the story.

Even more unfortunately, the story is peopled with an unreasonable and unnecessary mix of genders, where the protagonist appears to be the only man of consequence in the entire story. Every military role from guard to pilot to ship captain is female—without explanation or rationale—with the exception of the Marine commander, who is treated as rigorously neuter.

I skipped ahead to the ending and was further disappointed to find that the story does not end in the book, which is always an author cheat on the reader. I’ll not be buying the sequels.

[Maureen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The start of another great military Sci fi adventure

Military space opera can sometimes be pretty dry, even by an author as esteemed as Glynn Stewart. There’s a lot of mathematical calculations, planetary and battleship notes, as well as personnel juggling.

To counteract it, the characters have the heavy lifting to do … they have to be as stoic as you’d expect from a long-term officer, but they have to be easily readable as you expect from a sibling.

I’ve never cried during one of Glynn’s books, but these two passages on grief really got me.

“He told me that the empty feeling was pain. That the blank I felt, where I accused myself of not caring, was because I cared so much, I couldn’t process how badly I hurt. Beating myself for not feeling was bad for me either way, he said, but I was also misunderstanding my own emotions.”

“But your grief is honest, and no less real for it not fitting what you expected,” he continued gently. “Do not blame yourself for not feeling what you think you should. Accept what you feel and know that you grieve them honestly and deeply.”

Beneath the pseudo-space uniform he wears, Glynn Stewart is both a hard-nosed battle tactician and a warm-hearted humanitarian. And a damn great writer.

[Tony Hisgett · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting start to the book, although once it got past the problem of a sabotaged ship the book got a bit bogged down in the tedium of what exactly is happening and what to do next.
Unfortunately the story never really recovered and turned into a series of unrelenting disasters. I suspect even the last battle was a bit more about showing how ‘clever’ the author is rather than about advancing the story.

Also I wasn’t entirely convinced about the whole plot to take over the throne. That Benjamin was a self-centred sociopath and was able to attract amoral ambitious sycophants was believable, but the author had thousands of naval personnel willing to murder not only the whole royal family including children, but also many of their friends and colleagues. This might have been OK if the Royal family were tyrants and the ‘Adamant’ was a repressed state like Russia, but the way they could do this with apparent impunity didn’t seem right. Perhaps in the next book we will see some ‘push back’ and the entire navy hasn’t succumbed to a sociopath.

If possible I would have given 2.5 stars.

[Blake · Rating 4 out of 5]

(FYI I tend to only review one book per series, unless I want to change my scoring by 0.50 or more of a star. -- I tend not to read reviews until after I read a book, so I go in with an open mind.)

3.5*

Follows two POVs.





First time read the author's work?: Yes

Will you be reading more?: Yes

Would you recommend?: Yes


------------
How I rate Stars: 5* = I loved (must read all I can find by the author)
4* = I really enjoyed (got to read all the series and try other books by the author).
3* = I enjoyed (I will continue to read the series)
or
3* = Good book just not my thing (I realised I don't like the genre or picked up a kids book to review in error.)

All of the above scores means I would recommend them!
-
2* = it was okay (I might give the next book in the series a try, to see if that was better IMHO.)
1* = Disliked

Note: adding these basic 'reviews' after finding out that some people see the stars differently than I do - hoping this clarifies how I feel about the book. :-)

[Leon Andrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Royal Family murdered, as a plot to steal the Crown unfolds.

A New Series, and off to an action filled start. Betrayal from within the family, rapid changes of plan, from what started out as an Exercise, quickly became a fight to survive. I had some lazy days because I couldn’t stop reading.

This new series has the potential to be a beauty, as our Author, Glynn Stewart, once again puts his Characters to the test. Ltcdr Lorraine Adamant is not only a Naval Officer, but a member of the Royal family of the Star Kingdom of Adamant. The murder of her immediate family back home is just the tip of the iceberg, people on her ship want her dead.

Lorraine’s personal Security detail go into lockdown to secure her safety as their Star Ship flees ahead of potential pursuit, while they figure out how to deal with this level of Treason. Thoroughly enjoyed the plot and the diversity which unfolded page by page. I look forward to the 2nd episode very much.

[Henry Lazarus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Glynn Stewart starts a fun series about treachery in a Royal family that rules a star kingdom. Commander Lorraine Adamant was thinking about removing herself from a place in the Royal line so she could have a real naval career. Then her uncle decides he would rather be King and kills most of her family. A chance warning and her alert bodyguard, Vigo Jarret, allows her survival and the survival of her ship, though there are still assassins aboard. Her only hope is to get to a wormhole and execute a desperate plan, The Exodus Gambit (ebook from Faolan's Pen Publishing Inc.) On her tail is a ship bigger and faster than the Frigate Goldenrod. But her captain is smart and there is a bare chance of survival. Lots of fun.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great story - hampered by to much running away

This book is hard to rate as I felt it had a great start and I am very interested in the story. I just felt that the pace was a bit too slow.

The action, fighting, characters and plot line are all good and I preordered the next book.

Two biggest issues I had:
1. Her uncle - why and what motivated him to do so? Not just to take over the throne but to give orders to destroy neutral star systems etc…

The level of betrayal is staggering.

2. The entire book was running away. Lorrain survived, but I was hoping for her to actually accomplish more than just running away

That being said I preordered the next book and I hope that she gets more accomplished soon

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Glynn Stewart is an old hand at writing military space opera that meets all our expectations. The Exodus Gambit, the first volume of his latest series, is clearly built on the Honor Harrington model with a nod to John Scalzi’s Interdependency series. Here’s the elevator pitch: The Kingdom of Adamant is careful to have several ranked heirs to the throne who campaign for election to the top spot when a vacancy occurs. Our heroine, Lorraine, is on the point of renouncing her position as an heir in favor of a military career when her uncle murders the rest of the heirs. She goes on the run in a booby-trapped warship with severe doubts about who she can trust.
So far, this is one of Stewart’s best.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book truly lives up to its name as a space opera! It's an exhilarating adventure packed with drama, keeping you on the edge of your seat until the very last page. While there's no romance—a plot element I often enjoy in this genre—I still found it to be a fantastic read. Lorraine's ability to anticipate and match the moves of her uncle and his disciples was particularly impressive.

My only issue was with the extensive war talk and the overly detailed battle strategies. While some of it felt essential, there were parts that seemed overly technical and unnecessary for the flow of the story. The author clearly has a passion for physics!

Overall, it's a wonderful read that I highly recommend.

[Burt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. The King and most of her children have been murdered, and attempts are ongoing to murder the key surviving member (Pentarch) of the royal family to prevent her from contending for the throne against her uncle who orchestrated the assassinations.

The surviving Pentarch and her team on a small frigate must battle for survival against traitors in their midst on the frigate, as well as against a very formidable battlecruiser sent to kill the Pentarch and destroy her ship. They must survive all challenges in order to be able to travel to a the major inner world powers to attempt to secure their help to retake the Kingdom. The challenges seem insurmountable and odds very long against the Pentarch and her stalwart team.

Read the exciting story.

[fred jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

A high quality space opera. The premise is really superb. When Princess Lorraine's uncle murders the rest of the royal family in a coup she goes on the run to Earth for support. Chased by a vastly superior vessel to her frigate and fighting treachery on board, survival is the only option. The book is well written, full of intrigue, tension and action it is well paced with a full on climax. The book ends but the story continues. It took me a while to get into the narration. Pamela Almond does a good job but lacks the range and gravitas to really do the story justice. Still i want to find out what happens next.

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exodus Gambit is a ok story. The plot was interesting and the action is done well., the MC barely escaping one danger after another.
Couple things that effected my rating was the people’s name and rank, it was very confusing. It didn’t make sense to me. And another thing and I almost stop read the book on this one , was how the gender pronoun was use. When a Marine is refer to as they /them and not a she or he it complete throws me off of the story. If you are going to use the agender like that you should let readers know so they can decide if they want to read the story or not.
2.5 stars
Will not continue series.

[Laura Stephenson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A military space novel

Lorraine Adamant wants to fly shuttles and study physics in her navy. She doesn't want to become king like her mother. Unfortunately, her uncle decides to kill everyone else in the family except for her. Lorraine survives several assassination attempts, and there are very interesting battle scenes in this book. Lorraine is trying to stay alive, and to get help for her kingdom on the edge of civil war from her traitor uncle. The murderous uncle thing may have started with Hamlet, but putting it in a space novel is fascinating. I will definitely read the next book in the series.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Exodus Gambit is the first book in a new series, and although it has some commonallities with other books this author has written, it's still fresh enough to be a very interesting story. This is definitely a series I'll be looking for more books to read, because this is pretty good, and I'm a big scifi fan, so this series looks like it's going to be worth watching.

[(Prime) Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

could you possibly have any more italics?

It seemed like every other sentence had an italicized word stressed to the point of being distracting and annoying.

Action was few and far between and filler was in great supply. You could dump half the words into the trash and have a better book - it was like reading a bad web serial full of filler.

Very disappointing from such a prolific author. I won’t be bothering with his books again, as the it wasn’t the story at fault it - it was bad writing

[Beach Bum · Rating 3 out of 5]

A generous 3*

I read a lot. Usually a book every 2 days. This one took me 5 days, I just could not get into it
It is very slow, takes forever to develop the story and the in-depth background information is just too in-depth
Half the book seems to be spent with the main characters reminiscing about people they used to know and how those interactions have guided them to where they are now
The series is very reminiscent of the John Ringo series, Empire of Man, just based in space, rather than a planet
I can't justifiably give it 2*, but it's close and I won't be reading book 2

[Adena Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

As expected, the author presents us with another enthralling thrilling space opera series. I am particularly taken with the character of Lorraine Adament. She fits very well in the strong female warrior leader with flaws club, along with Honor Harrington and Heris Serrano - but she and Kiera Alexander would probably get along like a house on fire. I look forward to seeing how Lorraine handles the Black Regent.

I received an ARC from the author and I am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Tiuri · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I enjoyed this, I think it's a bad idea to use a character name from another series. The Starship Mage series also has a character named Adamant.
Even worse, the king in this is called Alexander Adamant while the Mage-King in Starship Mage is called Desmond Alexander.
Surely there are other names to use for a king than Alexander (and this is from a Dutch guy, whose king is also called Willem-Alexander.

[Mark Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another group of pursued heroes shed every stereotype in record time!

Glynn continues to build worlds with superior room for growth, and it never ceases to amaze that this same writer is juggling Warhammer 4k, Starship's Mage, and all the others...with this new addition delivering as much varied action and detailed authenticity as we could ask for! I won't spoil the plot with a summary, but Highly Recommended!

[Joe McGowan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the characters and the plot. Mr Stewart spins some contemporary issues which both past and future centuries have not been able to adapt to, solve, embrace. I can’t figure out which term I would like to use.

Overall, think it’s a really good book. As always, his science is interesting and believable. The only thing I hated I mean, really hated about this book was the name of the main character. I so look forward to seeing yuck Lorraine’s next adventure I really do. I just hate that name.

[Ivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got introduced to Glynn Stewart via his Spaceship Mage series, which started rather weakly-written but over the years became a solidly written and engaging series. I persevered reading because it had an interesting premise, interesting characters and it was fun, albeit not so well executed in those first 2* novels. The Exodus Gambit is completely opposite. It's tightly written, characterization is done in a solid manner, the prose is on point and I could go on - but it lacks something.

I'm still going to follow Stewart's series, only not this one, I'm afraid. 3*

[Schiff.gordongmail.com · Rating 3 out of 5]

80% of the book was boring

Not one his better efforts. Book two should be good. Endless prattling about, the loss of her family. Little action. Stewart had to get in his typical non-cis relationship into the book. At least he did not punish his readers with ‘they’, ‘them’ pronouns that make it excruciating to follow.

[Clay Coates · Rating 4 out of 5]

a good read

Like the title says, this book is a good read. It has an interesting plot and the action keeps you reading. The reason I gave it four stars is the authors copious and unnecessary use of italics. It was very distracting especially as the emphasis was mostly focused on the wrong words. Hopefully, it won’t be the same in the next book.