Alexey Ivanov’s "Ruthless," a summary Automatic translate

"Ruthless" is a fantasy novel about the war between aristocratic houses, corporate intrigue, and the coming-of-age of an artificially created human who learns to live among humans, trusting almost no one. The text was published in 2022 and is connected to the "Time of Dead Stars" series. At the center of the book is Mark Ortiz, the head of House Phobos, a clone with a cool mind and a rare ability to calculate consequences several moves ahead, even when everyone around him is consumed by glory, revenge, or greed.

The beginning of the war

The novel opens with Gnaeus Sert de Veloth’s victory over the Redorians. Gnaeus returns to his father, Baron Corvus, confident that the allies should have finished off the enemy, but Marcus Ortiz of House Phobos chose not to waste his energy on a grand gesture and instead took what could be taken without unnecessary risk. The book’s main conflict emerges already in the prologue: some heroes seek honor and a resounding victory, while Marcus seeks profit, stability, and control.

Corvus takes a sober view of the situation and understands that Ortis is no coward, but a man unwilling to pay for someone else’s triumph with his ships. Capturing the system requires complete control of orbit, the suppression of the fortresses, and a readiness for a new war with other houses, which turns victory into a dangerous trap. Against this backdrop, Gnaeus appears brave and noble, but too straightforward, while Marcus is portrayed from the very first pages as a politician and commander of a different kind.

House of Phobos

The book then shifts focus to Mark Ortiz himself and how he strengthens House Phobos after successful operations. He doesn’t rush into battle for the sake of fighting, but rather buys up production lines, licenses, old weapons, assault suits, and equipment suitable for a long war and economic growth. Conversations with traders gradually reveal that Mark is preparing for a conflict larger than a simple fleet skirmish in the borderlands.

He’s interested not just in victory, but in a new base of power. Therefore, alongside weapons are food supplies, processing facilities, and technologies that can be used to build an economy capable of feeding an army and holding captured territories. For those accustomed to the old rules of war, such purchases seem strange, as they hint at ground campaigns and a desire to gain a serious foothold.

Mark’s relationship with the Abraj al-Bait trading house and with Fairy is built along the same lines. Mark understands the value of connections and agrees to a deal that provides him with distribution channels, transportation, and security, while his partner receives shelter for his family. He’s even willing to cede a portion of the profits if it helps him more quickly transform the spoils and raw materials into a sustainable supply chain.

Mark’s People

Ortiz is surrounded by people and systems who stick by him for various reasons. G supports him as a sharp and daring tactician, August analyzes data and supports command, Psycho remains a blunt but reliable force, and his other subordinates perform the work that can’t be entrusted to the weak or hesitant. At the same time, Mark doesn’t idealize anyone and always operates on the premise that betrayal is always possible.

This line is especially clear in the story of Christina Finch. Finch underestimates Mark, seeing him as a successful product of the lab, and decides she can seize power at a moment of vulnerability. However, Ortiz anticipates this danger and exposes the clone to attack, after which he quickly destroys both the traitor and her hopes for an easy coup.

The scene with Finch is important not only as an episode of violence. It demonstrates Mark’s ability to navigate an environment where loyalty is bought, tested, and, at the first sign of doubt, replaced by fear. For him, rebellion isn’t an exception, but a necessary risk that must be factored into any plan.

Space battles

Much of the novel hinges on the clash between Mark’s military logic and the more conventional logic of his rivals. When the allied forces hesitate and the enemy fleet still maintains an escape route, Gee proposes a drastic maneuver involving the Wolf and Octavian. The plan is dangerous because the ships risk engaging with weakened defensive fields, but it is precisely this audacity that allows them to strike the retreating fleet where they least expect an attack.

Mark accepts the risk not for the sake of a fine gesture, but for the sake of political gain. Heavy losses force the enemy to consider negotiations, and the strike itself demonstrates that House Phobos is capable of acting precisely and quickly, without unnecessary noise. The book repeatedly reiterates the same idea: the winner is not the one who shouts the loudest about glory, but the one who chooses the moment and the price of the strike.

Glock and Severov

As events unfold, Mark also uncovers old corporate power centers connected to Glock. Severov’s capture becomes one of the novel’s most powerful scenes, as the action temporarily gives way to a difficult conversation about family, loss, and the nature of Mark himself. Severov explains that he once lost his wife and son in a disaster, and this wound shaped his future life.

Against this backdrop, Mark’s admission that he doesn’t understand family as a personal and emotional bond resonates particularly poignantly. He knows the definition, he knows the external form, but the inner experience is inaccessible to him, because he was created as an instrument, not as a son, husband, or father. The conversation with Severov doesn’t soften Ortiz, but it does reveal more clearly how deeply he has been separated from ordinary human life.

Mark doesn’t kill the prisoner immediately, though he has the opportunity. He knows how to restrain his impulse and keep someone who might still be useful alive, which again highlights his habit of thinking not emotionally, but calculatingly. Even when Psycho is standing nearby and a single command is enough, Ortiz chooses to pause.

Jodok Doyle

The novel’s ending revolves around a destroyed secret laboratory, where everything converges on the source of Mark’s origin. In the dim light of emergency lighting, among biogel, hidden niches, and emergency exits, Jodoc Doyle appears — the man involved in Ortiz’s creation and the technologies that allowed him to swap bodies and cheat death. Doyle hopes to escape, escape in a capsule, and begin life anew in a younger body.

Mark’s encounter with Doyle is structured like a conversation between a son and his monstrous father, though Ortiz himself immediately reveals that for him, the word almost sounds like an accusation. He tells Doyle that he is the one who made him who he is, and therefore bears direct responsibility for his birth, upbringing, and inner emptiness. In response, Doyle tries to argue, lie, and reach for a weapon, but Mark gets ahead of him and stuns him with a stun gun.

With this episode, the novel concludes its central personal arc. Mark doesn’t seek reconciliation or beg for love or recognition from his creator. He seizes power from the one who once controlled his life like an experiment and delivers a harsh statement about his inheritance, after which it becomes clear: the hero is no longer fleeing his origins, but rather subjugating them.

Throughout the book, Mark Ortiz moves from being a useful tool to becoming an independent master of the game. He takes systems, people, ships, trade connections, and secret laboratories, but his greatest trophy is the right to determine his own destiny within this cruel cosmic order. Therefore, "Ruthless" tells not only of a war between houses, but of how a being created by an alien will wrests its own destiny from its creators.