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Tales of the Phoenix Titan #3
Prisoner
PRISONER is the third instalment in the best-selling series Tales of the Phoenix Titan. This space opera saga is perfect for fans of Firefly, the Expanse, Star Wars and Mass Effect.
SADDLE UP. LOCK ‘N’ LOAD.
Following the Society's false flag operation at Valour, the Commonwealth has imposed martial law on Paradisium, and the galaxy is more divided than ever. With all eyes firmly locked on the turmoil, Alastair Roth has fled to the ancient planet of Helia, intent on unlocking a deadly Enkaye device with his prisoner, Doctor Gordon Taggart.
Yet, amidst the chaos, a glimmer of hope endures.
Nathan Carter and the crew of the Phoenix Titan are on Roth's tail, venturing into a deadly part of uncharted space known as the Breach. Outnumbered and outgunned, the crew, along with David Jareth and Eric Garland, must face the Society in hostile territory, where danger and secrets lurk in every corner.
Meanwhile, Tariq Mahmoot awakens on a Commonwealth Warship in orbit of occupied Paradisium. Tasked with a covert mission, Tariq races against time to expose the Society's treachery before Paradisium is wiped out.
Once again, the fate of the galaxy hangs in the balance, its salvation resting in the hands of the courageous few.
SADDLE UP. LOCK ‘N’ LOAD.
Following the Society's false flag operation at Valour, the Commonwealth has imposed martial law on Paradisium, and the galaxy is more divided than ever. With all eyes firmly locked on the turmoil, Alastair Roth has fled to the ancient planet of Helia, intent on unlocking a deadly Enkaye device with his prisoner, Doctor Gordon Taggart.
Yet, amidst the chaos, a glimmer of hope endures.
Nathan Carter and the crew of the Phoenix Titan are on Roth's tail, venturing into a deadly part of uncharted space known as the Breach. Outnumbered and outgunned, the crew, along with David Jareth and Eric Garland, must face the Society in hostile territory, where danger and secrets lurk in every corner.
Meanwhile, Tariq Mahmoot awakens on a Commonwealth Warship in orbit of occupied Paradisium. Tasked with a covert mission, Tariq races against time to expose the Society's treachery before Paradisium is wiped out.
Once again, the fate of the galaxy hangs in the balance, its salvation resting in the hands of the courageous few.
645 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 12, 2024
8 people are currently reading
26 people want to read
About the author
S.M. Warlow
7 books14 followersS.M. Warlow is an Amazon best-selling sci-fi author from the United Kingdom. He was born and raised in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire --a town once dubbed the home of the breakfast cereal and featured heavily in the Simon Pegg/Nick Frost movie the Worlds End.
From a young age, S.M. Warlow had a keen love for all things science fiction: with a particular love of Star Wars, Stargate and Star Trek.
In 2022, S.M. Warlow published his debut novel Heritage. In its first week on sale, Heritage held a strong position at #8 on the Amazon UK science fiction chart. It subsequently rose to #1 in May of 2022 and again in June 2022.
S.M. Warlow is currently hard at work on the third entry into the Tales of the Phoenix Titan: expected in 2024.
From a young age, S.M. Warlow had a keen love for all things science fiction: with a particular love of Star Wars, Stargate and Star Trek.
In 2022, S.M. Warlow published his debut novel Heritage. In its first week on sale, Heritage held a strong position at #8 on the Amazon UK science fiction chart. It subsequently rose to #1 in May of 2022 and again in June 2022.
S.M. Warlow is currently hard at work on the third entry into the Tales of the Phoenix Titan: expected in 2024.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 4, 2024
Okay settle in. This is going to be a long review because honestly I feel I need to get the words and emotions out after spending the last few days binge reading another great book from SM Warlow.
TLDR; I give this book 5/5 stars. A brilliant story, characters and setting. I cannot wait for the next entry in this series.
Now onto the meat of this thing! Prisoner is a very solid book and feels different enough from previous entries to stand out from the two. There’s a very palatable sense of hopelessness from the start that fits well considering where we left off at the end of Invidious. Speaking of Invidious, I reread the second of SM Warlow’s books in the run up to Prisoner and would suggest others do the same as there is a lot of plot points that carry over. I found this made the experience very rich and really put my brain right back in the zone.
Like previous entries SM Warlow executes multiple POVs brilliantly, with each voice being distinct enough to not be samey. All the usual suspects are there but there’s some new inclusions which really stood out.
As for the overall plot (without getting spoilerific) it’s really epic in scope but also oddly poetic when it comes to certain character arcs. My big callouts here are James, Tariq and Roth. James was particularly well fleshed out and really struck a chord that I didn’t see coming. As for Tariq’s story, he’s very much the B-plot but wow what a B-plot it is! Alastair Roth is the unique one of the three as he only had 1 or 2 POV scenes but still managed to stay at forefront of the plot as our central antagonist. Any boy oh boy I didn’t think I could say it before but I came to hate him even more this time around (in the right way!) I’m not sure if this was intentional on the authors part but the way I see it, Invidious showed us the man Roth believed himself to be whereas Prisoner showed us the man he really was. If that is the case bravo!
Make no mistake though, Nathan and the Phoenix’s crew are main draw here. Once again Warlow develops the characters we’ve come to love and really puts them in trenches here. Their story is pretty wild with a lot of action, drama with the same witty exchanges and banter that I’ve come to expect.
The overall world-building is just as solid giving us some much needed answers that have been hanging over us since Heritage. It definitely opens up some interesting possibilities with future books.
In conclusion, I had a good time with Prisoner. It’s a 10/10 for me, but then again I’m a stickler for the universe SM Warlow has crafted. From what I’ve seen on the Author’s Instagram this is planned to be a longer saga so I’m eager to see where it goes next.
Considering this is now a trilogy, you can really see the shape this wider arc has taken on. I can really sense that the author has a plan for the characters and world and it’s all coming together beautifully. As a trilogy I’ve gotta say that overall this really is shaping into a true tour de force of modern sci-fi. It is smart, dramatic and epic in scope and style. Considering the utter tripe that’s getting recognised these days in the SF/Fantasy scene I’m astonished Tales of the Phoenix Titan isn’t bigger. I can only hope the author continues to plug away and ultimately gets the recognition he deserves.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - beautiful book, shame I have to wait for the next entry, but waiting keenly.
TLDR; I give this book 5/5 stars. A brilliant story, characters and setting. I cannot wait for the next entry in this series.
Now onto the meat of this thing! Prisoner is a very solid book and feels different enough from previous entries to stand out from the two. There’s a very palatable sense of hopelessness from the start that fits well considering where we left off at the end of Invidious. Speaking of Invidious, I reread the second of SM Warlow’s books in the run up to Prisoner and would suggest others do the same as there is a lot of plot points that carry over. I found this made the experience very rich and really put my brain right back in the zone.
Like previous entries SM Warlow executes multiple POVs brilliantly, with each voice being distinct enough to not be samey. All the usual suspects are there but there’s some new inclusions which really stood out.
As for the overall plot (without getting spoilerific) it’s really epic in scope but also oddly poetic when it comes to certain character arcs. My big callouts here are James, Tariq and Roth. James was particularly well fleshed out and really struck a chord that I didn’t see coming. As for Tariq’s story, he’s very much the B-plot but wow what a B-plot it is! Alastair Roth is the unique one of the three as he only had 1 or 2 POV scenes but still managed to stay at forefront of the plot as our central antagonist. Any boy oh boy I didn’t think I could say it before but I came to hate him even more this time around (in the right way!) I’m not sure if this was intentional on the authors part but the way I see it, Invidious showed us the man Roth believed himself to be whereas Prisoner showed us the man he really was. If that is the case bravo!
Make no mistake though, Nathan and the Phoenix’s crew are main draw here. Once again Warlow develops the characters we’ve come to love and really puts them in trenches here. Their story is pretty wild with a lot of action, drama with the same witty exchanges and banter that I’ve come to expect.
The overall world-building is just as solid giving us some much needed answers that have been hanging over us since Heritage. It definitely opens up some interesting possibilities with future books.
In conclusion, I had a good time with Prisoner. It’s a 10/10 for me, but then again I’m a stickler for the universe SM Warlow has crafted. From what I’ve seen on the Author’s Instagram this is planned to be a longer saga so I’m eager to see where it goes next.
Considering this is now a trilogy, you can really see the shape this wider arc has taken on. I can really sense that the author has a plan for the characters and world and it’s all coming together beautifully. As a trilogy I’ve gotta say that overall this really is shaping into a true tour de force of modern sci-fi. It is smart, dramatic and epic in scope and style. Considering the utter tripe that’s getting recognised these days in the SF/Fantasy scene I’m astonished Tales of the Phoenix Titan isn’t bigger. I can only hope the author continues to plug away and ultimately gets the recognition he deserves.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - beautiful book, shame I have to wait for the next entry, but waiting keenly.
May 13, 2025
I was wondering from the spiel of the book how he was going to make a 600 page book set mostly in one location tense, exciting and making me turn the next page but he did it. The end of some characters and the start of other storylines taking shape brilliantly.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews