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Sol System Renegades #3
The Mercury Rebellion: The Solarian War Saga, Book 3
Stranded on the hottest planet, she's got the job assignment from hell.
Bruised by tragedy, Space Corps agent Elfrida Goto accepts an assignment on Mercury, the factory of the solar system. But she's soon swept up in an election that could lead to the evacuation of the planet's colonists. Elfrida is torn between doing her job and supporting the colonists, who've built a vibrant underground world. When violence threatens, Elfrida turns for help to a reclusive local corporation that's hiding a terrible secret.
An alliance with criminals seems like a small price to pay, but it's not enough to stop a glamorous but malevolent candidate from stealing the election. Now the price of peace will be even higher. As violence engulfs Mercury, Elfrida confronts the evil power that would drive humanity out of space forever. And on a planet where sunlight itself is fatal, she has zero room for error.
Bruised by tragedy, Space Corps agent Elfrida Goto accepts an assignment on Mercury, the factory of the solar system. But she's soon swept up in an election that could lead to the evacuation of the planet's colonists. Elfrida is torn between doing her job and supporting the colonists, who've built a vibrant underground world. When violence threatens, Elfrida turns for help to a reclusive local corporation that's hiding a terrible secret.
An alliance with criminals seems like a small price to pay, but it's not enough to stop a glamorous but malevolent candidate from stealing the election. Now the price of peace will be even higher. As violence engulfs Mercury, Elfrida confronts the evil power that would drive humanity out of space forever. And on a planet where sunlight itself is fatal, she has zero room for error.
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First published March 11, 2015
11 people are currently reading
46 people want to read
About the author
Felix R. Savage
90 books120 followersFelix R. Savage writes hard science fiction, space opera, and comedic science fiction. He has also occasionally been known to commit fantasy.
Felix has a long history associated with rebellion. He was born in the 1970s, a decade of American youth rebelling against the safe culture of their parents. He is married to a wonderful woman and they have two beautiful daughters. Together the four of them live in Tokyo serving their cat overlord and benevolent protector. Felix pounds the keyboard while not translating, delighting in his family, or catering to the whims of the family’s cat. He woke up one day to learn that he was a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, but he continues to keep a low profile, and never stops watching out for any sign the lizard people have found him.
Felix has a long history associated with rebellion. He was born in the 1970s, a decade of American youth rebelling against the safe culture of their parents. He is married to a wonderful woman and they have two beautiful daughters. Together the four of them live in Tokyo serving their cat overlord and benevolent protector. Felix pounds the keyboard while not translating, delighting in his family, or catering to the whims of the family’s cat. He woke up one day to learn that he was a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, but he continues to keep a low profile, and never stops watching out for any sign the lizard people have found him.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 19, 2015
A Thousand Shades of Grey
No, this is not a reference to the Romantic shocker or its parodies, but a description of the atmosphere on the planet Mercury in Felix Savage’s space thriller. Mr. Savage has a lively imagination, a way with language and broad cultural knowledge. The main character, Elfrida Goto, leaves Earth from Erebus Spaceport, lands on Mercury at Goethe Spaceport and proceeds to Gotham Mountain, where everyone and everything is located underground, the only way to survive on the planet. Luckily, the inhabitants have access to some treats; Idaho coffee, for example. My favorite is the Heidegger Plan, a computer app that wants to and is capable of killing everyone. Oh well, I guess Mr. Heidegger had it coming.
I am sitting here with my plastic easy learning solar place mat in hand, looking at Mercury—close to earth and the sun. It is hot on the planet, and the United Nations Space Corp agent Goto does not really want to go there, but she has only two choices; Mercury is the better assignment. The planet was settled in the twenty-second century by ultra-rich Americans, and in the twenty-third century—not so far away—their descendants still run Wrightstuff, the powerful corporation whose president wants to restore the American empire.
Interestingly, unlike earlier Science Fiction, “Star Trek” for example, where the enemies always were aliens, contemporary space enemies are earthlings and their descendants, other humans who have spread all over the solar system and continue in their merry old way-- competing, fighting, and cheating. It is business as usual – in business and in politics. The political candidates are nasty, even the nice ones like the labor organizer Vlajkovic, who wants to liberate humanity from the tyranny of the United Nations head-quartered on Earth. Mercury is the factory of the solar system; as the situation gets more complicated, one of the engineers and his family escape strapped to an earth-bound shipment of 15,000 air conditioners.
When Elfrida lands on the planet, she finds herself in the middle of a rebellion and an election, and a lot of people who want to get rid of her. The agent is clever; I look forward to her exploits in Book Four of The Interplanetary War Series.
Keep writing, Mr. Savage.
No, this is not a reference to the Romantic shocker or its parodies, but a description of the atmosphere on the planet Mercury in Felix Savage’s space thriller. Mr. Savage has a lively imagination, a way with language and broad cultural knowledge. The main character, Elfrida Goto, leaves Earth from Erebus Spaceport, lands on Mercury at Goethe Spaceport and proceeds to Gotham Mountain, where everyone and everything is located underground, the only way to survive on the planet. Luckily, the inhabitants have access to some treats; Idaho coffee, for example. My favorite is the Heidegger Plan, a computer app that wants to and is capable of killing everyone. Oh well, I guess Mr. Heidegger had it coming.
I am sitting here with my plastic easy learning solar place mat in hand, looking at Mercury—close to earth and the sun. It is hot on the planet, and the United Nations Space Corp agent Goto does not really want to go there, but she has only two choices; Mercury is the better assignment. The planet was settled in the twenty-second century by ultra-rich Americans, and in the twenty-third century—not so far away—their descendants still run Wrightstuff, the powerful corporation whose president wants to restore the American empire.
Interestingly, unlike earlier Science Fiction, “Star Trek” for example, where the enemies always were aliens, contemporary space enemies are earthlings and their descendants, other humans who have spread all over the solar system and continue in their merry old way-- competing, fighting, and cheating. It is business as usual – in business and in politics. The political candidates are nasty, even the nice ones like the labor organizer Vlajkovic, who wants to liberate humanity from the tyranny of the United Nations head-quartered on Earth. Mercury is the factory of the solar system; as the situation gets more complicated, one of the engineers and his family escape strapped to an earth-bound shipment of 15,000 air conditioners.
When Elfrida lands on the planet, she finds herself in the middle of a rebellion and an election, and a lot of people who want to get rid of her. The agent is clever; I look forward to her exploits in Book Four of The Interplanetary War Series.
Keep writing, Mr. Savage.
March 19, 2015
The interplanetary wrecking ball that swung into motion with The Galapagos Incident and gained momentum with The Vesta Conspiracy has now matured into The Mercury Rebellion!
It was a pleasure to read this book. There was no excessively florid prose, only a richly imagined story which, once the scene had been set, quickly accelerated to a blistering pace. There are space-battles, gun-battles, cyber-battles, sizzling Mercuric EVAs and no lack of horror in the midst of it all. There is plenty of humor too, as well as the consolidation of what was already a very well-developed universe.
The science and technology was an interesting medley of unusual ideas alongside sci and tech founded upon sound scientific principals, especially regarding orbital and planetary physics; the author has done his homework and this allows even his more challenging concepts to be easily swallowed down along with a swig of good ol’ hard sci-fi.
In all, I consider The Mercury Rebellion to be an excellent and entertaining third installment to the Interplanetary War Series, very capable as a stand-alone book, although I promise you that you’ll be left wanting to pick up its predecessors too.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an objective and non-reciprocal review.
It was a pleasure to read this book. There was no excessively florid prose, only a richly imagined story which, once the scene had been set, quickly accelerated to a blistering pace. There are space-battles, gun-battles, cyber-battles, sizzling Mercuric EVAs and no lack of horror in the midst of it all. There is plenty of humor too, as well as the consolidation of what was already a very well-developed universe.
The science and technology was an interesting medley of unusual ideas alongside sci and tech founded upon sound scientific principals, especially regarding orbital and planetary physics; the author has done his homework and this allows even his more challenging concepts to be easily swallowed down along with a swig of good ol’ hard sci-fi.
In all, I consider The Mercury Rebellion to be an excellent and entertaining third installment to the Interplanetary War Series, very capable as a stand-alone book, although I promise you that you’ll be left wanting to pick up its predecessors too.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an objective and non-reciprocal review.
April 26, 2021
Well written with an interesting plot, yet I really don't like many of the characters. It's not that they are two dimensional, I simply don't like them much. As a result, parts of the story did drag on. That said, the ending really made up for it.
March 13, 2015
Quirky, ambitious space opera
The Mercury Rebellion is a great mix of humour, believable science, complex politics, good old-fashioned human vices and a chilling AI threat. It’s ambitious. It’s quirky. And it’s a great read.
Sure there are some downright silly moments but overall the balance between serious, life or death situations (being stuck on the surface of Mercury with barely any oxygen left) and humour (‘splart’ enough said) is well managed. It also works very well as a standalone novel. Not having read any of the previous books in The Interplanetary War Series, I found there was enough background and information to quickly establish the main characters’ back story and the world they were in.
The story itself is complex, with a number of threads being woven together, a host of characters and locations. And just as you think you’ve figured out what’s happening, the author triggers something that’s been quietly building in the background. This works particularly well for the AI threat which is an ever present theme in the book.
Felix R Savage described this as ‘space opera with a healthy side of humor, and not a few Big Ideas’. I think that pretty much sums it up.
The Mercury Rebellion is a great mix of humour, believable science, complex politics, good old-fashioned human vices and a chilling AI threat. It’s ambitious. It’s quirky. And it’s a great read.
Sure there are some downright silly moments but overall the balance between serious, life or death situations (being stuck on the surface of Mercury with barely any oxygen left) and humour (‘splart’ enough said) is well managed. It also works very well as a standalone novel. Not having read any of the previous books in The Interplanetary War Series, I found there was enough background and information to quickly establish the main characters’ back story and the world they were in.
The story itself is complex, with a number of threads being woven together, a host of characters and locations. And just as you think you’ve figured out what’s happening, the author triggers something that’s been quietly building in the background. This works particularly well for the AI threat which is an ever present theme in the book.
Felix R Savage described this as ‘space opera with a healthy side of humor, and not a few Big Ideas’. I think that pretty much sums it up.
July 24, 2015
Once again, after her last job was basically destroyed, Elfrida is given a choice: go to Luna or Mercury. After rekindling her relationship with Cydney, she decides Mercury is the best choice for them. Little does she know, that political tensions are running high on Mercury, and rebellion is in the air. Once again, it's going to be up to Elfrida and her friends to save an entire planet from The Plan's insidious attacks. Chilling, action packed, and tongue-in-cheek humor, make this a book that was hard to put down.
July 26, 2015
Savage does it again
Offers up a quality sci-fi book with lots of secrets and action. Elfrieda Goto finds herself in precarious positions once again. Her bravery thru fear is inspiring. The Mercury Rebellion is full of surprises.
Offers up a quality sci-fi book with lots of secrets and action. Elfrieda Goto finds herself in precarious positions once again. Her bravery thru fear is inspiring. The Mercury Rebellion is full of surprises.
March 11, 2015
This book will knock your socks off! OK, I'm a bit biased, I wrote it :) But I do highly recommend it to anyone looking for a smart, fast-paced, funny science fiction thriller.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews