Birth of Fire is a science fiction novel by American writer Jerry Pournelle.
It is related to the books Exiles to Glory and High Justice, and with those two, form a starting point for the CoDominium series.
He is sentenced to prison for twenty years but takes up his lawyer's offer of being shipped out to a colony on Mars where the conditions are rough and the pay unfair.
Once arriving the events stir up and he ends up playing a prominent role in a revolution led by a group of farmers out on the rim of a large crater in Mars southern hemisphere.
Garrett is noticed as an excellent student by Commander Farr, who tells him to go to the city, and wait for someone to find him.