From Publishers Weekly
Interstellar fix-it men Gar and Dirk and their trusty computer, Herkimer, battle injustice again in Stasheff's fourth Chronicle of the Rogue Wizard (after A Wizard in War). On a long-lost colony world, Puritanism, "the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy," has dominated the lives of the planet's citizens for a thousand years. To combat Puritanism and its Cromwellian Protector, who rules with an iron fist, Gar?aka Wizard Magnus Gallowglass?recruits dissenters such as Miles, who's fleeing from a state-mandated marriage, Orgoru, a quixotic misfit, and Ciletha, an embryonic feminist. Stasheff's usual wit is in sleep mode here, overwhelmed by gratuitously grisly torture scenes and heavy-handed injections from the Bill of Rights. Insipid characterizations and limp dialogue will enhance only the ennui likely to strike all but the most loyal Stasheff fans. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
The fourth book in the "Rogue Wizard" series finds interstellar liberator Magnus Gallowglass recruiting two star-crossed lovers to fight the tyranny and oppression of the Protector. Stasheff (author of the famous "Warlock" series) again provides plenty of action and political scheming. Recommended for collections with the series.Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
The fourth adventure of Magnus Gallowglass, interstellar reformer, is much the best. Magnus finds a planet on which a postcollapse bureaucracy has established a rigid if secular state resembling Cromwell's England. The sentient computer aboard the ship that brought the planet's original colonists has also survived, however, and it takes care of a motley array of lunatics by allowing them to imagine themselves lords and ladies. Magnus and the computer restore the wits of the pseudo-aristocrats and have them infiltrate the bureaucracy. In due course, the infiltrators make their move, yanking the rug out from under the protector and his minions. Witty and charming, the story is vintage Stasheff, and Magnus is far less the deus ex machina than in previous books. A thoroughly entertaining treat, likely to win Stasheff and Magnus new fans as well as please established ones. Roland Green


From Kirkus Reviews
Fourth in a series (A Wizard in Mind, 1995, etc.) about the ``wizard''--actually esp-powered--Magnus d'Armand, who now calls himself Gar Pike. Gar's companion is Dirk Dulaine, a former serf freed by Gar during a previous adventure; together they roam the galaxy in their intelligent spaceship, Herkimer, seeking repressive and dictatorial planets requiring their wacky, irreverent brand of liberation. This time, they happen upon a planet ruled by a Protector so brutally ill-liberal that the citizens can't travel, marry, or even think for themselves, on pain of ghastly torture. Gar and Dirk, then, need some locals to front the revolution: Who better than the star-crossed lovers Miles and Ciletha? Light and reasonably entertaining, with lots of cliff-hangers and jolly chortling. Stasheff more and more resembles Piers Anthony, both in style and prolificness. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Book Description
Under the nom de guerre of Gar Pike, renegade psychic wizard Magnus D'Armand travels the stars fighting injustice and oppression, like his father, Rod Gallowglass, the Warlock in Spite of Himself. But this time the Rogue Wizard may have encountered a tyrant even he can't overthrow: a stern Protector who dictates the very thoughts of his "loyal" subjects. So successful if his regime that Magnus is hard-pressed to find anyone willing to oppose it--until a misguided handful of would-be aristocrats unwittingly provides a spark of rebellion. Here is Christopher Stasheff in top form: swashbuckling, stylish, and slightly subversive adventure from the author of the bestselling "Warlock" chronicles.



About the Author
In addition to his Rogue Wizard novels, Christopher Stasheff is the author of the popular Warlock series, beginning with the bestselling The Warlock in Spite of Himself. He lives in Champaign, Illinois, with his wife and four children.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

A Wizard in Peace is Stasheff in top form as interstellar liberator Magnus Gallowglass encounters the toughest tyrant of his checkered career - a stern Protector whose oppressive regime makes Oliver Cromwell's look like a Sunday-school picnic. For a thousand years, this lost colony planet has preserved order by dictating every detail of its citizens' lives - where they live, what they think, even whom they may love and marry. Any dissent is punished with the torturer's rack. So successful is this brutal system that Magnus is hard-pressed to find anyone willing to oppose it - until he recruits a pair of star-crossed lovers to lead the revolution, and reeducates a band of deluded would-be aristocrats to become the planet's new rulers.

FROM THE CRITICS

Kirkus Reviews

Fourth in a series (A Wizard in Mind, 1995, etc.) about the "wizard"—actually esp-powered—Magnus d'Armand, who now calls himself Gar Pike. Gar's companion is Dirk Dulaine, a former serf freed by Gar during a previous adventure; together they roam the galaxy in their intelligent spaceship, Herkimer, seeking repressive and dictatorial planets requiring their wacky, irreverent brand of liberation. This time, they happen upon a planet ruled by a Protector so brutally ill-liberal that the citizens can't travel, marry, or even think for themselves, on pain of ghastly torture. Gar and Dirk, then, need some locals to front the revolution: Who better than the star-crossed lovers Miles and Ciletha?

Light and reasonably entertaining, with lots of cliff-hangers and jolly chortling. Stasheff more and more resembles Piers Anthony, both in style and prolificness.