The Iron Tactician

Merlin #3

by Alastair Reynolds

A brand new stand-alone deep space adventure from Alastair Reynolds, featuring the author's long-running character Merlin, who has previously appeared in "Merlin's Gun" (1999), "Hideaway" (2000) and "Minla's Flowers" (2007).

When Merlin encounters the derelict hulk of an old swallowship drifting in the middle of nowhere, he can't resist investigating. He soon finds himself involved in a situation that proves far more complex than he ever anticipated.

"Reynolds is one of our finest SF writers, creating a universe rich with detail and thrilling in scope." -- Peter F. Hamilton

"Reynolds is a master of modern space opera..." -- Publishers Weekly

"Minla's Flowers is a touching, heartrending story..." - Booklist Review

"While it may be difficult to write grand space opera in short story form, it's not impossible, and two linked stories, "Hideaway" and "Merlin's Gun" show just how well it can be done." - SFSite

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Novella, Space Opera, Speculative Fiction, Short Stories, Hard Science Fiction

92 pages, Paperback

First published December 20, 2016

About the author

I'm Al, I used to be a space scientist, and now I'm a writer, although for a time the two careers ran in parallel. I started off publishing short stories in the British SF magazine Interzone in the early 90s, then eventually branched into novels. I write about a novel a year and try to write a few short stories as well. Some of my books and stories are set in a consistent future named after Revelation Space, the first novel, but I've done a lot of other things as well and I like to keep things fresh between books.

I was born in Wales, but raised in Cornwall, and then spent time in the north of England and Scotland. I moved to the Netherlands to continue my science career and stayed there for a very long time, before eventually returning to Wales.

In my spare time I am a very keen runner, and I also enjoying hill-walking, birdwatching, horse-riding, guitar and model-making. I also dabble with paints now and then. I met my wife in the Netherlands through a mutual interest in climbing and we married back in Wales. We live surrounded by hills, woods and wildlife, and not too much excitement.

Reviews

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

With "The Iron Tactician" Alastair Reynolds spins a tale of an interstellar space captain named "Merlin" rescuing the lone survivor in a heavily damaged space ship. I guess that Merlin never watches old science fiction moves, as this kind of act leads to nothing but trouble and complications.

The method used to travel at faster than light speed through the vast distances of space intrigued me, and I know that Mr. Reynolds has mined this concept in prior stories (“Merlin’s Gun” (1999), “Hideaway” (2000) and “Minla’s Flowers” (2007)) which I'v sadly have not read. Another nice touch was the relationship that Merlin had with the (sentient) ship itself.

The interstellar story evolves into a local planetary story of an ages old warfare taking place within a solar system which then further evolves into a kind of soliloquy of the futilities of war. This to me got kind of preachy and unappreciated by this reader, not that war is ever good.

What Merlin then discovers about his rescued passenger and the ongoing war is resolved in a quite human manor.

At only slightly over ninety pages in length the book is a bit pricy however NewCon manages to publish an interesting variety of books this one featuring cover artist: Chris Moore.

This is copy 60 of 250 signed and numbered hardcover copies, signed by Alastair Reynolds.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

This new Merlin story by Alastair is terrific, with slow but sure character introductions, a combination of technologies and cultures and needs in the first half of the book or so.

Then the pace picks up, with action and clever scenes, ending in a nice surprise. This is not as strong as some of the other Merlin stories, such as Minla's Flowers.

Minla's Flowers is special, a tragedy and a warning, poignant and beautiful.

I also urge you to read Turquiose Days (novella), House of Suns (novel), and short stories Enola, Weather, and Zima Blue. Superb, full of heart and joy and vision.

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great story from Merlin’s universe; same stunning ideas, same gripping writing style. For about 100 pages it comprises a lot of action and twists.

According to AR, as posted on his blog, the chronological order is:

Hideaway (2000)
Minla's Flowers (2005)
The Iron Tactician (2016)
Merlin's Gun (2000)

But it can be read at any time as it stands on its own.
Wouldn’t mind another one in the future :)

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid entry in Reynolds' "Merlin" series of short works. This one finds the Cohort's prodigal son scavenging a derelict vessel for tech and instead finding Teal, its last surviving inhabitant. Together they become embroiled in the system's long running civil war, with the outcome hinging on the titular battle computer.
The ending is a little too pat, and there's a lot more infodump than you would normally tolerate from a short work like this. This one could have benefitted from a little more fleshing out.
Still, the action, setting and characters are top notch Reynolds, with an old school moral conundrum rounding out the narrative when our heroes finally come face to face with the Iron Tactician.

[Ian Payton · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Iron Tactician is the third novelette in the Merlin chronology, and is a fast-paced plot-driven story featuring space battles, moral choices, and some surprising royal ancestry.

Merlin’s syrinx is damaged. This is a navigation device left by the builders of the Waynet - an ancient network of inter-stellar conduits. Without his syrinx, and access to the Waynet, Merlin cannot continue on his long standing quest to find a weapon that will defeat the Huskers, who threaten to eradicate the whole of humanity.

Merlin finds out about a star system in which two factions have been fighting a long lasting war. One faction has a syrinx, and Merlin finds himself negotiating with them: he must help recover a stolen tactical computer - the Iron Tactician - in exchange for their syrinx.

There are themes here around the morality of attempting a short, sharp military victory - along with some exploration of whether that’s ever really possible. There are echoes of the previous story, Minla’s Flowers, here, where similar themes were explored. And, of course, these questions are pertinent to real life conflicts that have happened in recent memory.

However, the story primarily revolves around some plot-heavy military conflict, and it’s exciting stuff. When a book gets particularly exciting, I have an annoying (to me) habit of starting to skip forwards - so keen to find out what happens next. And I found myself having to control this habit several times as the pace picked up in the second half of the story.

The was an enjoyable episode in the Merlin series, although with more action and less depth than the first two stories, Hideaway and Minla's Flowers. And while Reynolds writes the action sequences very well, I preferred the more thoughtful content in the first two books. The series concludes in the next book, Merlin's Gun.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Almost gave this 4 stars-the characters needed a bit more development. Loved the world building and plot though. 3 stars is not a bad rating from me!

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 Stars

The Iron Tactician by Alastair Reynolds earns full marks from me. This should come as no surprise to those that know me as he is one of my very favorite authors writing today. I am not a huge fan of the novella as they are tough to pull off with their size constraints. Surprisingly, the Iron Tactician is a complete story with a surprising amount of world building and back story included. Merlin returns with this one, but you need not have read about him in the past to enjoy this story.

Reynolds writes this as a tight and focused novella allowing the plot to come to fruition without much extras along the way. I thoroughly enjoyed all of the characters. Merlin, Teal, The Prince, and of course his ship Tyrant. Reynolds is one of the very best writers out there today and he is a giant in his genre. Reynolds writing has evolved over the years and is no longer exclusively hard science oriented. His science fiction now encompasses so much more from light weight science fiction to fantasy, and also is appropriate for a much wider audience. He has written steampunk with a young adult flair.

I love Reynolds he is one of my favorites. This is a great fast read and fun start to 2017.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice to revisit Merlin's universe, but I did not enjoy this as much as the previous Merlin stories. The plot itself is fine, but the writing felt a little too slapdash.

[York · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3.5 stars 🌟 ...100 page novella that doesn't take place in the Revelation Space universe...as always the story has some cool Alastair Reynolds ideas ...he plays with time dilation in some interesting ways. Merlin is the main character, and he has been in other short stories and novellas.

[Jules · Rating 5 out of 5]

Top notch story with so much delicious pulp and so many ideas in a small book.
More of these, please, mr. Reynolds.

[Jorgon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Merlin story, and as such, operating in High Baroque mode: armoured moons, thousand-year long interplanetary wars and all that. But those are pretty much standard Reynolds tropes, and underneath them there isn't much of a story; solid and entertaining as it may be, Merlin is just as far away from the goal of his quest as before, and his situation hasn't changed that much. The twist towards the end of the story is surprising, but not too much. There probably should be a novel in this Universe; one that resolves the central plotline.

[Jemima Pett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve read other Alastair Reynolds books, and I like his take on the time dilation conundrum. That’s where you don’t age much if you go at the speed of light, but the worlds you leave behind age a lot faster. That’s really the heart of the matter here, and leads to much fun for the author in playing around with the timelines of the characters.

I’m not sure I really like Merlin, the lead role here, and don’t think I’ve read others in his saga. But he’s a good protagonist, since he’s sarky, ambitious, has a conscience, and is reviled by the universe. As it says in the blurb, he investigates a bit of spacejunk and discovers it’s not all it seems. And it has useful secrets, one of which could solve the technical problem on his ship.

This is a really enjoyable story; I’ve not met one like it for either space junk or weird planetary systems. It all feels very plausible, and if there is one twist too many, well, that’s not really a bad thing.

[Odo · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5.0

[Tudor Ciocarlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never can have enough Alastair Reynolds.

[Lars Dradrach · Rating 4 out of 5]

A small gem from Reynolds in the (unfortunately) now completed Merlin Series.

Reynolds wrote 4 novels including Merlin as main Character.

Hideaway (2000)
Minla's Flowers (2005)
The Iron Tactician (2016)
Merlin's Gun (1999)

It's highly recommended to read them in the correct order as at least 1,3,4 is one long storyline.

It's classic Reynolds space opera with a little reminiscence of house of suns.

[MadProfessah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great to have another Merlin story

Merlin and the ship Tyrant are familiar (and fascinating) characters. The story is interesting, but overall it does seem like there is just enough story for a novella. It would be great to read an entire book of Merlin stories, or even better, a novel-length story featuring Merlin.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

too short, but liked it. i enjoy the way he gives a human touch to some of the AIs in various stories.

[Dale Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

War had been raging across the galaxy for more than a thousand years. But...really...it wasn't much of a war. The Husker's had been scourging their way through system after system... planet after planet... destroying just enough to achieve their ends, then moving regardless of the desolation in their wake or the fate of the dead...or survivors...they leave behind. Merlin and his ship Tyrant have been traveling the Waynet in hopes of finding a rumoured weapon that can turn the tide of the war. But, the search may soon come to its own tragic end as his ships systems are fading and the odds of finding the replacement his needs are beyond calculating. So...it's with a renewed hope that he finds a derelict ship and its one surviving crewmember that may lead him to his chance at renewal...but in actuality takes him into a millennias long conflict between two worlds whose only reason for fighting is that their battle computers tell them to. Soon... secrets are revealed that can end the conflict...or ensure that it never ends.

In the span of 88 pages, Alastair Reynolds, crams an adventure that feels like it was a novels worth of story. Love...hate...discovery...loss...conflict....resolution. Reynolds is at his best when he can blend the emotions and the actions of his heroes...and Villains... with the adventure of space and exciting new worlds and people.

This is numbered story 3 of the tales of Merlin but in actuality it takes place after the events in story number 4 MERLIN'S GUN that was published 4 years previously.

Reynolds is the master of both the grand space epic with galaxy spanning battles and adventures while also crafting the space opera that focuses on the people and their emotions and tragedies.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another of the Newcon novellas and I have to say 2 for 2 I really enjoyed this book. Though the book was short (only just over 100 pages) it packed a lot in. I will admit that I am not totally unfamiliar with the main thrust of the story (no dont worry no spoilers here) although that could be down to reading far too many science fiction stories.

However I guess what makes up for second guessing the storyline are the characters and the way scenes are set - both of which are expertly done by the master craftsman Alastair Reynolds.

Now I think is one of the reasons why I enjoyed the story so much as we once again travel back to familiar territory. Mr Reynolds likes to builds worlds (and universes) and I guess when you go to such lengths you want to make the most of them. So it comes as no surprise when you return the world of Merlin and his legendary quest. But as the back "blurb" says this is a new standalone story so no worries if its all a bit new - it pretty much does its own introductions.

[Apa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short story with a lot of content: effects of near-light speed travel, high adventure, some character development, plotting and mischief and of course a few twists. Basically a simple short story with a lot of everything - I liked this one.

While Reynolds writes great 2000 page sagas I'd say he is even better at short form writing.

[Gregg Kellogg · Rating 2 out of 5]

The two-dimensional plot of a graphic novel/comic book, but without the graphics. Likely a stylistic choice (lost in me) but characters lack motivation, and jump to seemingly enormous decisions. Only in the end did it start to feel just a little like a Reynolds piece of fiction.

[Marc Stephan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've never read a single thing by Alastair Reynolds, but this was an enjoyable introduction. I realize it's not in order of the series or anything, but it worked as a stand-alone and I recall reading on the tin it is a stand-alone story so I didn't worry too much about it. The characters are decent but no one truly memorable, the plot is simple, but it does what short stories aught to do well: potential. I'm tempted to read the other books to find out what is what.

Nothing here is new, but it reminds me of the first episode of Telltale Games' Batman series. Everyone knows the origin story of Batman, yet Telltale Games went over familiar territory as if we didn't. It was predictable, but that doesn't stop anyone from telling a good story.

[Ryan Yan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having enjoyed the Merlin mini-trilogy while reading Zima Blue and Other Stories, I took a detour from amidst the latter into this novella.
Still an enjoyable read, especially the witty twist with a hint of a tribute to Ender's Game. But the closure seems a bit rush. Rating: 3+

[Tim F. Mensbrugghe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Leuk tussendoortje.

[Konstantinos Georgokitsos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Merlin is an excellent setting to do these little escapades down the civilisation rabbit hole. Even if they only come out once every so many years. Good one.

[david james · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent Novella from Reynolds, one of the masters of SF space opera. It's only 92 pages long, but manages to fit in a decent story with beginning, middle and satisfactory ending, and also fits in a bit of a twist. As always with Reynolds, the prose is good, the story flows, and there is a good balance of SF tech without unnecessary 'bloatware'. Everything a novella should be, really.

I didn't even realise it continued the 'Merlin' story arc (the main character, Merlin, has appeared in previous short stories from the author) - I've read those earlier short stories, but that was around 15 years ago. I'd have to go back and re-read those stories to see if they make any difference to this book. But my initial thought is that they don't as I can't even remember them and the story stood up well without the knowledge of those earlier books.

Apparently there's a continuation from this book, another short story featuring Merlin, that continues his story arc, called Merlin's Gun. That will be my next book purchase, after checking that I've still got the previous 'Merlin' stories and re-reading those.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reynolds, Alastair. The Iron Tactician. Merlin No. 3. NewCon P, 2016.
The Iron Tactician is the third novella in the internal chronology of the Merlin series but the most recent to be published, and I think it is the first one to be published originally as a stand-alone novella. Once again, Merlin is delayed in looking for a galaxy-saving super weapon by having to negotiate with some warring human beings who are about to destroy themselves. Reynolds incorporates more actual science into his story than most far-future space operas. For example, no faster than light travel, but there is an alien network that makes it easier to accelerate to near-lightspeed, which solves the fuel problem. Merlin is a little like Odysseus in that his quest for the super weapon has as many stops as the author can think up. Well, on to Merlin’s Gun, unless Reynolds comes out with another prequel in the meantime.

[Dan Trefethen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novella can easily be read as a standalone, although the main character Merlin (not the wizard) is featured in some of Reynolds' earlier work.

It's space opera with a basic premise: A guy needs to get a new machine, another guy has the new machine but needs a favor, and complications ensue.

What underlies this plot line is a treatise on incessant warfare. Merlin, having seen thousands of years pass due to time-dilated high speed space travel, is jaded about mankind's apologies for waging war. But when Merlin himself gets into a battle situation, his attitude changes. This is the part I had the most trouble with; although Reynolds seems to be pointing out the discrepancy between what you believe and how you act, it felt forced to me. But then, it's a battle situation where adrenaline takes over from reason.

Anyhow, it's a fast, interesting read. Reynolds always populates his space opera with interesting characters, and this novella is no exception.

[5t4n5 Dot Com · Rating 5 out of 5]

The third book in Alastair's Merlin Series , and should be read immediately after Minla's Flowers .

More shenanigans as Merlin finds another system to play fixer in, this time it's because he needs a new syrinx and this system happens to have one the cohort sold them.   Merlin knows this because he picks up a hitch-hiker along the way, who is the only surviving member of the Cohort ship who sold the syrinx.

So it's all big war things and all that sort of stuff.

Next book -- and final book -- in this enjoyable little tetralogy will be Merlin's Gun .   I wonder if the title gives away the fact that he finally found it? We shall soon find out: at least, i shall.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read by Alastair Reynolds about his recurring character Merlin. In this novella the syrinx in Merlin's ship is damaged. The syrinx is what allows the ship to travel the Ways between planets. When Merlin finds a seemingly abandoned spaceship he goes aboard hoping to find a syrinx to replace his damaged one. Instead he finds a lone survivor named Teal. She knows about a star system not to far away where Merlin might be able to find a syrnix so they embark together to find it. Upon arrival they a find a star system in the mist of an ancient war. Against his better judgement Merlin allies with one side in the hopes of procuring a syrinx that they had traded for centuries before. Things are not what they seem however, including the fact that Teal had been there over a thousand years before! A good quick read by Alastair Reynolds.