"Stewards of the Flame" focuses on starship captain Jesse Sanders. Sanders is seized by a dictatorial medical regime and detained on the colony planet Undine. He has no idea that he is about to be plunged into a bewildering new life that will involve ordeals and joys beyond anything he has ever imagined, as well as enduring love. Still less does he suspect that he must soon take responsibility for the lives of people he has come to care about and preservation of their hopes for the future of humankind.

BookSurge (2007)
ISBN 9781419675065
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (10/07) 

What if our government took full control over monitoring our physical and mental well-being?  What if we were forced to submit to health screenings to see if we had any problems?  What if we were forced into treatment we did not want?  What if we were no longer allowed to die, but had to be put into stasis in vaults to continue our heartbeat, so that the government could continue to profit from our investments?

Starship Captain Jesse Sanders finds himself in such a predicament after passing out in a bar on planet Undine.  Even though Jesse limits his drinking to when he is off duty, he is targeted as an alcoholic and locked up for treatment. The treatment is quite painful and invasive.  He loses his rights as a Starship Fleet Officer.  Now he has nothing.  Jesse encounters some people who work in the medical system who do not want to live this way.  They believe that people have a right to die and should not be kept alive after their brain is dead.  However, against their belief, if you intentionally allow a person to die, you are considered to have committed a crime.  To dispose of a body without putting it in stasis is another crime.  There are people on the planet who are elderly and ill who just want to be allowed the dignity of death. 

The group that Jesse encounters calls themselves, “The Stewards of the Flame.”  They say, “We are stewards of a flame that will illuminate future generations.”  To them, the symbol of the mind’s power is fire.  They help Jesse escape from the hospital and take him to an island retreat where they teach him how to develop his mental powers. He learns to mentally overcome pain, and to communicate by ESP.  The leader of this group recognizes Jesse from a precognitive dream and knows that he holds the key to helping them escape from this tyranny.   

“Stewards of the Flame” is an excellent fictional novel, however, it inspires a lot of thought provoking “what if” kinds of questions.  The author points out that our own society has moved in a direction where our government and technology have accessed more control over our lives.  Such as on the planet Undine, some people find this reassuring, however, others would prefer to limit the governments control over their bodies.  This is an excellent novel to read, just for pure enjoyment, however, I would highly recommend “Stewards of the Flame” to bio-ethics classes.  It will certainly lead to some stimulating conversations.