Secret Agents of the Galaxy by John C. Wright, Tuscany Bay Books, March 11th, 2025
In October last year Space Pirates of Andromeda, the first book in John C. Wright’s Starquest series was released. I reviewed this book favourably and I was certainly looking forward to the sequel which arrived last month. I have decided that I will continue to review the series as each book releases and so my review of Secret Agents of the Galaxy follows below. As with the last review, this will generally avoid spoilers and I will leave anything more in-depth until after the series is concluded.
Secret Agents of the Galaxy continues directly after the events of the original with Athos Lone of Star Patrol and the astral projecting Space Princess Lyra both making a return. Though they are not the only two characters and Athos’ brother Napoleon Lone as well as their late father’s Polarian servant Ko-Manu are also introduced along with a few others. The latter is a conscious nod to Han Solo’s faithful Chewbacca though Ko-Manu is able to speak. These new characters both appear on what is another excellent cover. The action is not as frequent or intense in the second book as Wright spends pages giving more background to this world as well as introducing the new characters. Athos is surprisingly absent for a large portion of the book though he returns for the action-packed climax.
Something I didn’t really mention in my last review was the swashbuckling genre this fits within. This shouldn’t be thought of simply in terms of sword-fighting (of which there is very little so far), but with regard to the spirit of the story. The characters are chivalrous, daring and as sure of themselves as they are of the difference between right and wrong. There is also a general spirit of fun in the book’s tone which is so often absent from so much fiction today. This fusion of fantasy, science-fiction, swashbuckling adventure is the formula that made the original Star Wars films so popular. Wright understands this much better than the current rights-holders to the once beloved franchise ever will.
Something else I didn’t discuss in the last review was the use of many anthropomorphic animals as characters. I’m not sure if the author is familiar with Nintendo’s Star Fox series of video games but there are similarities to that and this series. As well as the aforementioned Ko-Manu, there are talking ducks, lions, walruses as well as foxes most notably in the villainous pirate Liska introduced in the first book. The heroic Lone family are actually part Nemean which is the lion race, which was also touched on in the original.
So the sequel both continues to build the world introduced in the first but also the escalating conflict the fledgling republic is having with bands of pirates showing more and more signs of sophisticated organisation.
I have included a short exert from the text to give a taste of the sort of action found within that won’t spoil the narrative.
Here, before his eyes, Hannigan looked into the face of a man he had seen die. Twice.
In the moment of blinding flash, Hannigan had his gun in hand, whereas Athos had his blaster holstered at his hip. The pistol barrel was turned towards Athos. It was at point blank range. There was no way a shot at this distance could miss.
It seemed to take forever, as if time itself had slowed. The raindrops seemed to hang in the air like diamonds of fire, each one reflecting one spark.
A moment of inattention, a moment of mistaking one voice for another, and it was the end of him. Athos was sure that the lightning flash would last until the end of his life.
But the blue man was hesitating. Hannigan was trembling.
Fear froze Hannigan for less than a second, less than a tenth of a second. But that small fraction of time was long enough.
Athos drew and shot. The wad of plasma struck Hannigan’s gun hand and gun, and the charge spilled into the barrel. The energy chamber of the other weapon, which at that moment was holding a bolt excited to plasma-state and ready to shoot, hot as a cubic inch from a sun’s heart, now broke under impact. The magnetic sabot was disrupted. Hellfire ignited. The double explosion blasted out of the breach Hannigan’s weapon, travelled up his arm, evaporating muscle and bone, and then vaporized his head and shoulders and chest.
The lightning flash passed. The whole drama was over that quickly.
The headless corpse swayed on its feet, and fell. Water splashed and turned red. Rain drummed down.
This passage also indicates Wright has taken some inspiration from the Western genre, native to his nation which come to think of it, was also certainly present in Star Wars. This is certainly true of the famous scene in the cantina which Wright also makes an unsubtle but very welcome reference to within the pages
The third book which is titled Catburglar of the Constellations is set for release next month and as with this, I’m very much looking forward to it!