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Emberverse #10
The Given Sacrifice
Praised as a “truly original combination of postapocalyptic sci-fi and military-oriented medieval fantasy,” S. M. Stirling’s Novels of the Change depict a future without technology, where people must master skills from ages past in order to survive. Now, to ensure that survival for all he cares for, a king faces his greatest challenge in the latest chapter of the New York Times bestselling saga....
Rudi Mackenzie has won the battle that expelled the enemy from the new High Kingdom of Montival. Now he must free the people who live in the state once known as Idaho from occupation by the legions of the Church Universal and Triumphant and pursue them to their lair over the mountains. There he will finally confront the forces behind the Church—the Powers of the Void.
Yet even a victory will not end the conflict forever. The Powers of the Void are malevolent and infinitely patient, and the struggle is one that involves the entire world. They threaten Rudi not only in the present, but also in the future represented by his children, Órlaith and John. Rudi knows this.
And as his heir Princess Órlaith grows up in the shadow of her famous father, she also realizes that the enemy will do anything to see that she does not live to fulfill her parents’ dream....
Kirkus Reviews
Rudi Mackenzie has won the battle that expelled the enemy from the new High Kingdom of Montival. Now he must free the people who live in the state once known as Idaho from occupation by the legions of the Church Universal and Triumphant and pursue them to their lair over the mountains. There he will finally confront the forces behind the Church—the Powers of the Void.
Yet even a victory will not end the conflict forever. The Powers of the Void are malevolent and infinitely patient, and the struggle is one that involves the entire world. They threaten Rudi not only in the present, but also in the future represented by his children, Órlaith and John. Rudi knows this.
And as his heir Princess Órlaith grows up in the shadow of her famous father, she also realizes that the enemy will do anything to see that she does not live to fulfill her parents’ dream....
Kirkus Reviews
385 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 3, 2013
97 people are currently reading
1263 people want to read
About the author
S.M. Stirling
170 books1,642 followersStephen Michael Stirling is a French-born Canadian-American science fiction and fantasy author. Stirling is probably best known for his Draka series of alternate history novels and the more recent time travel/alternate history Nantucket series and Emberverse series.
MINI AUTO-BIOGRAPHY:
(personal website: source)
I’m a writer by trade, born in France but Canadian by origin and American by naturalization, living in New Mexico at present. My hobbies are mostly related to the craft. I love history, anthropology and archaeology, and am interested in the sciences. The martial arts are my main physical hobby.
MINI AUTO-BIOGRAPHY:
(personal website: source)
I’m a writer by trade, born in France but Canadian by origin and American by naturalization, living in New Mexico at present. My hobbies are mostly related to the craft. I love history, anthropology and archaeology, and am interested in the sciences. The martial arts are my main physical hobby.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 206 reviews
December 23, 2013
Oh, S.M. Stirling, WHY CAN'T I QUIT YOU?!
We finally get the climax we've been waiting at least three books for, and it's rather...anticlimactic, really. That big battle of good and evil? Nah. Here, have a fistfight, Stirling says. And then I'll leave a HUGE CLIFFHANGER OF JUSTICE because I'm not done with the Emberverse.
This is after the first third is reintroducing this huge world and all of its (very large) cast, because the whole thing has gotten pretty huge and a little out of control, quite frankly. The reviewers are right, Stirling is a genius at world-building, but the thing is that worlds are, well, big. They're worlds, after all. But it becomes a horrendous violation of show-don't-tell to bring the reader up to speed for so much of the book.
The battles are still very well described in terms of military strategy and detail, and the world is still great, but the book is kind of meh. I think I'm just spent, reading so much angst all the time and an evil that WON'T DIE BECAUSE SALES (even though I totally appreciate why Stirling would want to spend more time in this world).
I do like where he ended up going with Tiphaine D'Ath, which is good because it took me a long time to like her character. And the younger generation observing the generation we've "grown up" with through the books is something Stirling does really well.
But seriously. This is a terrible relationship, S.M. Somehow I have to leave you.
Even though I know I won't.
Sigh.
We finally get the climax we've been waiting at least three books for, and it's rather...anticlimactic, really. That big battle of good and evil? Nah. Here, have a fistfight, Stirling says. And then I'll leave a HUGE CLIFFHANGER OF JUSTICE because I'm not done with the Emberverse.
This is after the first third is reintroducing this huge world and all of its (very large) cast, because the whole thing has gotten pretty huge and a little out of control, quite frankly. The reviewers are right, Stirling is a genius at world-building, but the thing is that worlds are, well, big. They're worlds, after all. But it becomes a horrendous violation of show-don't-tell to bring the reader up to speed for so much of the book.
The battles are still very well described in terms of military strategy and detail, and the world is still great, but the book is kind of meh. I think I'm just spent, reading so much angst all the time and an evil that WON'T DIE BECAUSE SALES (even though I totally appreciate why Stirling would want to spend more time in this world).
I do like where he ended up going with Tiphaine D'Ath, which is good because it took me a long time to like her character. And the younger generation observing the generation we've "grown up" with through the books is something Stirling does really well.
But seriously. This is a terrible relationship, S.M. Somehow I have to leave you.
Even though I know I won't.
Sigh.
October 3, 2013
Possible Spoiler!
I am very unhappy with the last 2-3 books in this series. How many times do I have to hear about the cottie hardie or a wimple dress and how beautiful the land is.
I mean this series has gone way down hill than the first few books. It seems repetitive and nothing new is really written.
I mean come one, the war is ending and boom it's over. Sorry if this is a spoiler. But if you have been reading the series, you should be able to figure out how it ends.
Too much rambling and setup for Orlaith to continue in her Dad's footsteps. And the way another central figure dies off with just a mention. I mean come one! This character was central to the series for a long time and there from the beginning.
As of right now, I am not reading any more of this series. It'll just be a repeat of the previous books in the series with Orlaith doing what Rudi and Mathilda have done for the last 4-5 books.
Boring fight chapters, no real revelations or enhancements to how battles are fought. I mean one would think a new weapon would be engineered or something. The same old thing from the last 4 books.
I am very unhappy with the last 2-3 books in this series. How many times do I have to hear about the cottie hardie or a wimple dress and how beautiful the land is.
I mean this series has gone way down hill than the first few books. It seems repetitive and nothing new is really written.
I mean come one, the war is ending and boom it's over. Sorry if this is a spoiler. But if you have been reading the series, you should be able to figure out how it ends.
Too much rambling and setup for Orlaith to continue in her Dad's footsteps. And the way another central figure dies off with just a mention. I mean come one! This character was central to the series for a long time and there from the beginning.
As of right now, I am not reading any more of this series. It'll just be a repeat of the previous books in the series with Orlaith doing what Rudi and Mathilda have done for the last 4-5 books.
Boring fight chapters, no real revelations or enhancements to how battles are fought. I mean one would think a new weapon would be engineered or something. The same old thing from the last 4 books.
September 26, 2013
This book is terrible. I think I said that about the last one. I started reading this series because my brother and father were. And the first three books were great--exciting, world building, page turning pulp. A great story and all of the "how do you survive after the apocalypse" fun to be had. They made me constantly think about how useful I might be after civilization collapsed. I loved them.
But many many books later down the line and it feels like he's just cranking out books to make money on a popular series. It's brief. It lacks detail and narrative. There are BIG HUGE battles in this book and he dispatches with them in a chapter or two. And then spends a whole chapter on a "boy scout" civilization that they happen upon. Guh.
This one might finally, at long last, might be the one to keep me from reading another one ever again.
But many many books later down the line and it feels like he's just cranking out books to make money on a popular series. It's brief. It lacks detail and narrative. There are BIG HUGE battles in this book and he dispatches with them in a chapter or two. And then spends a whole chapter on a "boy scout" civilization that they happen upon. Guh.
This one might finally, at long last, might be the one to keep me from reading another one ever again.
November 20, 2013
And with the end of this, I'm out. I don't have to read any more. Though this installment was considerably better than the last one. Stirling didn't tell me, not even once, that Signe and Eric were twins. This did, however, feel kind of rushed. I knew where it would end, near enough, and that took away some of the sting. But at the end of this, Stirling reneges and leaves open a way for continuing the series, a whole new war. The meaty thwack of lance and the tung of crossbow bolts will have to go on without me, though. If I need to revisit this world, it'll be the first three I'll turn to.
October 23, 2016
S.M. Stirling's Emberverse is one of my favorite "pulp" guilty pleasure and this is the tenth book overall, or the last (of seven) books in the second series. The first three books are a pretty self-contained telling of events that happen after humanity is set back to pre-modern technology on a day in 1998 when "The Change" tweaked the laws of physics a bit and electricity, gunpowder, and petroleum no longer worked. It's always been a bit heavy handed and not always the most well-written, but Stirling's Emberverse has a lot of interesting ideas, personalities, and Mr. Stirling himself is a machine--printing one book each Fall in this series since the year 2004.
This is the culmination of the second series, regarding the rise of Rudi Mackenzie, the son of two of the rulers the first series, and how he creates a new nation and rallies troops to defeat the unspeakable evil of the Church Universal and Triumphant (CUT is both their acronym and their war-cry). The series started off as fairly straightforward if you disregarded "The Change" but in the second series all of the various Pagans, Christians, and other faiths started seeing miracles occur. It's an interesting development, but can be a bit hokey at times when one considers the implications if all faiths are indeed truly equal. There are also interesting implications of gender roles and sexual orientations in traditional cultures--nothing that will sway people one way or another, but an interesting take.
This definitely isn't literary fiction, but if you enjoy post-apocalyptic and pseudo-medieval pulp this will be right up your alley. I'll probably wait a year or two before I read the third series of books as, like a TV series, I prefer to binge them all at once. Speaking of TV shows, this would make a pretty good one.
This is the culmination of the second series, regarding the rise of Rudi Mackenzie, the son of two of the rulers the first series, and how he creates a new nation and rallies troops to defeat the unspeakable evil of the Church Universal and Triumphant (CUT is both their acronym and their war-cry). The series started off as fairly straightforward if you disregarded "The Change" but in the second series all of the various Pagans, Christians, and other faiths started seeing miracles occur. It's an interesting development, but can be a bit hokey at times when one considers the implications if all faiths are indeed truly equal. There are also interesting implications of gender roles and sexual orientations in traditional cultures--nothing that will sway people one way or another, but an interesting take.
This definitely isn't literary fiction, but if you enjoy post-apocalyptic and pseudo-medieval pulp this will be right up your alley. I'll probably wait a year or two before I read the third series of books as, like a TV series, I prefer to binge them all at once. Speaking of TV shows, this would make a pretty good one.
September 8, 2013
The Given Sacrifice is a great ending to a story well-told, and a great beginning of a new story. But it has its share of problems, though.
For one, the reader knows how it ends. That is one of the reasons why the prophecies should be avoided in fantasy or science-fantasy novels. That also took away something from the ending made the book as a whole a bit weaker than it should be. SPOILER AHEAD I must say that the deaths of Epona and Astrid left me crying for minutes, but Rudy's death was not even tragic for me. SPOILER ENDS The last hundred or so pages of the book have a feel of the Lord of the Rings ending, when all that is left is to tie away loose ends and wait for that last ship to the West. I feel that this was a bad decision as well and that the novel would benefit more if the ending of the CUT War was given more page count and the last part of the book was used as a beginning of the next one.
But, all in all, I feel that the Change series is a glorious celebration of the genre and the huge homage to the Great Masters of scy-fy literature. Over the years, this became my favorite series, anticipated even more than the next ASoIaF or Malazan novel.
I will use this opportunity to cautiously and with no intend to insult the author who I respect very much state that IMHO it would be grave mistake to put the next series bad guys in Korea or China. I have a hunch that the things are headed that way right now.
Anywayz, great novel and a great series. Each and every true fantasy geek out there should read it.
For one, the reader knows how it ends. That is one of the reasons why the prophecies should be avoided in fantasy or science-fantasy novels. That also took away something from the ending made the book as a whole a bit weaker than it should be. SPOILER AHEAD I must say that the deaths of Epona and Astrid left me crying for minutes, but Rudy's death was not even tragic for me. SPOILER ENDS The last hundred or so pages of the book have a feel of the Lord of the Rings ending, when all that is left is to tie away loose ends and wait for that last ship to the West. I feel that this was a bad decision as well and that the novel would benefit more if the ending of the CUT War was given more page count and the last part of the book was used as a beginning of the next one.
But, all in all, I feel that the Change series is a glorious celebration of the genre and the huge homage to the Great Masters of scy-fy literature. Over the years, this became my favorite series, anticipated even more than the next ASoIaF or Malazan novel.
I will use this opportunity to cautiously and with no intend to insult the author who I respect very much state that IMHO it would be grave mistake to put the next series bad guys in Korea or China. I have a hunch that the things are headed that way right now.
Anywayz, great novel and a great series. Each and every true fantasy geek out there should read it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 9, 2013
the 10th book written in the emberverse series. the threads of the tapestry being woven into a world reaching across the pacific in the last heart wrenching scene which both ends the founding of Montival and begins a new series of adventures for the new generation as the entities which controlled CUT are found again from foreign shores. now when does the next book come out?
March 9, 2018
It is getting better in my opinion, but one thing is certain - it is VERY slow. So, if this kind of thing does not deter you, you might like this story continuation after all!
October 11, 2017
Full disclosure, I didn't finish this one. I got through the first couple of chapters and saw that Rudi Mackenzie was about to start yet another quest and took a few weeks' break to read other things. I circled back today and decided to skip to the last chapter. This was supposed to be the last book in the series (or so I thought), so if the ending was good I would go back and finish it properly.
Well, no spoilers but this ends on a cliffhanger and there are at least 5 (!!!) more books to wade through. I'm done. Do you know how repetitive this story is? I read the first 7 books of the series in 2015, and somehow skipped 8-9, and wasn't lost at all when I started reading this a whole two years later. If you are in love with this series, enjoy yourself! But if, like me, you would have preferred a firm resolution at book 6, spare yourself the agony. This isn't ending until we meet the great grandkids of the original Bearkiller and Mackenzie clans and technology comes back.
The Emberverse is the flip of The Change novels (where present day folks get transported to 14th century America). It was more interesting to me to see how people in the present would deal with having civilization as they know it stripped away. However, the fall of technology somehow means the rise of magic. Magic doesn't figure heavily in the first six books aside from some prophecies and the assumption that harvest rituals really work. It figures more prominently in book 7 and onward but it doesn't make sense. There are nno rules or logic, and the existence of demonic (?) antagonists renders more interesting conflicts based on politics, religion, or other ideals moot and trivial. To be honest, neither of the Rudi books I read felt like they took place in the same world that Mike, Juniper, and the others lived in. It really would have worked better if Rudi was two or three generations after the original protagonists. I would definitely reread the first part of the series, but the story has just become never ending. It's not fun or fresh or exciting anymore.
Well, no spoilers but this ends on a cliffhanger and there are at least 5 (!!!) more books to wade through. I'm done. Do you know how repetitive this story is? I read the first 7 books of the series in 2015, and somehow skipped 8-9, and wasn't lost at all when I started reading this a whole two years later. If you are in love with this series, enjoy yourself! But if, like me, you would have preferred a firm resolution at book 6, spare yourself the agony. This isn't ending until we meet the great grandkids of the original Bearkiller and Mackenzie clans and technology comes back.
The Emberverse is the flip of The Change novels (where present day folks get transported to 14th century America). It was more interesting to me to see how people in the present would deal with having civilization as they know it stripped away. However, the fall of technology somehow means the rise of magic. Magic doesn't figure heavily in the first six books aside from some prophecies and the assumption that harvest rituals really work. It figures more prominently in book 7 and onward but it doesn't make sense. There are nno rules or logic, and the existence of demonic (?) antagonists renders more interesting conflicts based on politics, religion, or other ideals moot and trivial. To be honest, neither of the Rudi books I read felt like they took place in the same world that Mike, Juniper, and the others lived in. It really would have worked better if Rudi was two or three generations after the original protagonists. I would definitely reread the first part of the series, but the story has just become never ending. It's not fun or fresh or exciting anymore.
September 18, 2013
Stirling in a sense finishes the story begun in The Sunrise Lands, but of course a big point of his tale is that it's all ongoing and part of the huge cosmic struggle that mere mortals have a hard time even understanding.
As a single volume, it works better than its two predecessors, which seemed stretched and padded at best. I thought the prose improved in this one over those two. My favorite thing to about this was that Stirling got some more bits of describing landscapes and peoples as they've developed since the Change. Especially the Morrowlanders were fun to see.
I expect some will find the resolution to the war anticlimatic, but Stirling has made a practice of not making his battles and military campaigns conform to conventional dramatic narratives as much as he might. It's all been a little anticlimatic since Rudi got the Sword at the end of The Sword of the Lady. If the series had ended with just a postscript at the end of The High King of Montival, I'd probably have been as satisfied as I am with reading three more volumes, but I like the world, so why not.
As a single volume, it works better than its two predecessors, which seemed stretched and padded at best. I thought the prose improved in this one over those two. My favorite thing to about this was that Stirling got some more bits of describing landscapes and peoples as they've developed since the Change. Especially the Morrowlanders were fun to see.
I expect some will find the resolution to the war anticlimatic, but Stirling has made a practice of not making his battles and military campaigns conform to conventional dramatic narratives as much as he might. It's all been a little anticlimatic since Rudi got the Sword at the end of The Sword of the Lady. If the series had ended with just a postscript at the end of The High King of Montival, I'd probably have been as satisfied as I am with reading three more volumes, but I like the world, so why not.
August 5, 2020
The Given Sacrifice brings the Rudi Mackenzie arc of the series to a close as Rudi and his allies close in on the Church Universal and Triumphant. The narrative covers the last battles with the Cutters, skating over the eventual defeat, and introduces characters that may become important in later books. The last few chapters cover the early years of Rudi’s daughter Orlaith and Rudi’s final battle. (I am not sure this counts as a spoiler since it has been pretty heavily implied that Rudi has a relatively short shelf life.)
I was a little frustrated with this book. There’s a lot going on, but not very much is happening as the focus shifts from Rudi to Orlaith. The big problem I think is that while this is the end of the arc, there is nothing especially climactic about the end. This is very much a transitional book without a sense of an ending or completion, despite the framing of the narrative. It’s pretty clear that with both Mike Havel and Rudi Mackenzie, Stirling was going for various flavors of the Arthurian hero-king (with some Alexander the Great riffs in the case of Rudi), but there was more of an impact with Mike’s death than with Rudi’s.
Orlaith appears to be an interesting, sympathetic character that does not seem to possess Rudi’s “supernaturally-approved hero-king,” aura that we kept getting hit over the head with throughout the arc. (Given the underpinnings of the worldbuilding, I can’t help but give it a glance askance.) It will be interesting to see where Stirling is going with this character.
Overall, I have more issues with the actual arc with its odd pacing than the book. There are some interesting exchanges between the various characters and some surprisingly moving moments. (We run into the “neo-barb Boy Scout” tribe and learn their backstory, and a little later, a former enemy is redeemed.) This is a good book, but suffers from the drawn out pacing and narrative of the previous books in this arc.
I was a little frustrated with this book. There’s a lot going on, but not very much is happening as the focus shifts from Rudi to Orlaith. The big problem I think is that while this is the end of the arc, there is nothing especially climactic about the end. This is very much a transitional book without a sense of an ending or completion, despite the framing of the narrative. It’s pretty clear that with both Mike Havel and Rudi Mackenzie, Stirling was going for various flavors of the Arthurian hero-king (with some Alexander the Great riffs in the case of Rudi), but there was more of an impact with Mike’s death than with Rudi’s.
Orlaith appears to be an interesting, sympathetic character that does not seem to possess Rudi’s “supernaturally-approved hero-king,” aura that we kept getting hit over the head with throughout the arc. (Given the underpinnings of the worldbuilding, I can’t help but give it a glance askance.) It will be interesting to see where Stirling is going with this character.
Overall, I have more issues with the actual arc with its odd pacing than the book. There are some interesting exchanges between the various characters and some surprisingly moving moments. (We run into the “neo-barb Boy Scout” tribe and learn their backstory, and a little later, a former enemy is redeemed.) This is a good book, but suffers from the drawn out pacing and narrative of the previous books in this arc.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 27, 2021
When I first started this series over ten years ago I was fascinated and compelled by Dies The Fire. I fell in love with the characters and listened to the songs of the Clan and loved Mike Havel. I sweated through the Eater encounters and the plague years. I willingly moved on to the Protectors War which wasn’t quite as comfortable as the first book but still compelling. Then came Meeting in Cevalis. When Mike Havel died I couldn’t continue. I grieved for him as though he was a real live person in my life. I put the books down and just stopped reading them. Fast forward to 2021. Retired for four years with the battle scars to prove it I decided to start again. I’m glad I did. I hear a lot of reviews about ‘fillers’ and put downs. To my mind a really good story is like a tree. Every branch and off shoot is part of the tree. Every rustling leaf belongs where it is. That fis how I view this story. That such an amazing and varied world could spring from a total disaster is amazing in itself. I found myself wishing I could be a Bear Killer or a McKenzie. Or a Knight of the protectorate. I wish there were recipes included for some of the dishes described. Some of them sounded delicious! Stirling’s description of clothing, banners, room decor made my head spin. And the stories within stories were a pure joy. The books today, many of them, are fast galloping things short on description and long on action. But Stirling’s books are different. You aren’t just walking into an adventure when you read them. You are entering a world.
September 29, 2013
A considerable step up in my eyes after the disappointing Lord of Mountains. The Emberverse continues to become more of a fantasy world and less a place of science, but the politics and to a lesser extent military actions take the front. The latter half of the book has a lot of up close and personal views of some of the core characters. The end is plainly a setup for a Emberverse: The Third Generation.
There are few things I'm finding interesting about the whole series. The first is the way it is in dialog with the Nantucket series. Trying to figure out what Stirling "personally" believes about the best way for people to live is difficult because the two series give almost diametrically opposite answers, and each answer within its own book has the flavor of author approval. The second thing is the way many characters presented as knowingly consciously evil wind up reforming over time in the Emberverse, but not in the world of Nantucket. The Armingers raise Mathilda to be a good ruler, for a variety of pragmatic reasons, but Walker raises his daughter to follow in his evil footsteps. In the Emberverse, the bad people who don't reform mostly believe they were good all along.
There are few things I'm finding interesting about the whole series. The first is the way it is in dialog with the Nantucket series. Trying to figure out what Stirling "personally" believes about the best way for people to live is difficult because the two series give almost diametrically opposite answers, and each answer within its own book has the flavor of author approval. The second thing is the way many characters presented as knowingly consciously evil wind up reforming over time in the Emberverse, but not in the world of Nantucket. The Armingers raise Mathilda to be a good ruler, for a variety of pragmatic reasons, but Walker raises his daughter to follow in his evil footsteps. In the Emberverse, the bad people who don't reform mostly believe they were good all along.
September 11, 2013
What to say, what to say. I came to the Change books from the Island in the Sea of Time series by SM Stirling. It immediately struck a chord with me, because it's the totality of the Dream for those who larp or SCA or Living History. Of course none of us really wish for the destruction such a Change would necessitate but the idea is still very interesting. Growing with these characters over 10 books it's amazing how they themselves have grown and changed shape in mind and myth.
It's sad to see them passing - from war and age - even though you know the next generation carries on the torch. SM Stirling made this "passing of the torch" novel really have some gravitas. It's sad to see one age end, even as another births.
“The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say”
It's sad to see them passing - from war and age - even though you know the next generation carries on the torch. SM Stirling made this "passing of the torch" novel really have some gravitas. It's sad to see one age end, even as another births.
“The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say”
September 18, 2014
I really enjoyed this one but it seemed like I was reading two books, rather than just one. The first one takes up two thirds of the novel's length and continues the focus on Rudi. The second one shifts characters and focuses on Órlaith instead. While nice to meet another new main character, it would have made more sense, from a character perspective rather than a story arc viewpoint, to publish the stories separately. This didn't disrupt my enjoyment of the book at all, though.
I really enjoyed encountering the Scouts again, and as an Eagle Scout, I really wish we could have spent more time experiencing their post-change culture.
I really enjoyed encountering the Scouts again, and as an Eagle Scout, I really wish we could have spent more time experiencing their post-change culture.
September 19, 2013
I'm so sad his book is over. I kept trying to drag it out since I know it will be a long time to the next book. I love the narrator and he's kept the excellent storytelling consistent through all the books. I look forward to this saga like I do Diana Gabledon's outlander series. Thankfully, Stirling writes faster.
November 21, 2016
Ahh the 10th book of the series and it's a bitter-sweet feeling to see the characters we began with pass on the torch to the next generation. Though this ending was rushed (basically 20 years or so in a couple chapters), I'm glad they're moving on to a new plot line and I'm excited to see where the story goes.
September 5, 2013
Stirling created an interesting world, and then just started playing around in it instead of telling a story. This one is one long wrap-up of plotlines, rather than a story in itself. There was nothing unpredictable, and the writing was mediocre.
November 26, 2023
It's finally here, the finale I had been inexplicably expecting since book 7 or book 8.
It probably should have ended with book 8, because so much time and writing has passed since the crucial point where the "Sword of the Lady" was acquired that has been spent basically either doing nothing or watching Our Heroes easily overcome every single obstacle and challenge to the point where at one point, an entire decisive battle that irrevocably changed the scope of the war was basically skipped over.
A whole lot of the narrative had been treading water for endless pages, and this book almost teases a new stage of the war, occupation. New characters consisting of disaffected United States of Boise forces are introduced, along with finally a (almost) payoff for the long dragging Mary Liu subplot (or main plot) that had eaten almost all of book 8 "Tears of the Sun"; random Boise people have essentially been "infested" by CUT high seekers and, much like Agents in "The Matrix", can become CUT-controlled assassins at any time. Only Rudi's magic sword boop to the forehead can fix them.
Unfortunately, this new strain of the plot doesn't actually affect the course of the war; that has essentially been running on easy mode since Rudi's return west.
In fact well before the ending of the book, it's over. War's won without any further issue and there's still hours worth of audiobook left for an epilogue overrun almost as long and feckless as LOTR Return of the King. This isn't even worth putting under a spoiler because it's already spoiled right in the synopsis of the book, and even if it weren't already spoiled, it would've been blatantly obvious considering that the Church Universal and Triumphant had been essentially depicted as on the brink of total collapse since the end of book 8.
From there, instead of doing what had been done in previous books (leaving off with our main characters and setting the next book up many years later, leaving us to catch up), we go through a period of skipping ahead several years at a time for a series of seemingly pointless "slice of life" scenes of Rudi's new life as father to his little clone Órlaith, almost identical to him in personality and rich in Mary Sue, from being a kid on the (horse-drawn) train, to having sex for the first time, to meandering around in re-colonized California.
The ending, when it does come, is actually an abrupt shift in this bland bit of "easy mode" slice of life moments.
Now, finally, the whole point of book 8's messy Mary Liu subplot pays off with a promise specially designed to interest readers of war fiction and drama,
In the hands of a more capable author, this could be something that could sustain an entire expanded universe of stories. But after 10 books I'm too invested to give up anyway. In order to keep up my interest and hope that it continues to have some connection with it, I plan on re-reading the original "Island in the Sea of Time" trilogy that the Emberverse spun off from.
It probably should have ended with book 8, because so much time and writing has passed since the crucial point where the "Sword of the Lady" was acquired that has been spent basically either doing nothing or watching Our Heroes easily overcome every single obstacle and challenge to the point where at one point, an entire decisive battle that irrevocably changed the scope of the war was basically skipped over.
A whole lot of the narrative had been treading water for endless pages, and this book almost teases a new stage of the war, occupation. New characters consisting of disaffected United States of Boise forces are introduced, along with finally a (almost) payoff for the long dragging Mary Liu subplot (or main plot) that had eaten almost all of book 8 "Tears of the Sun"; random Boise people have essentially been "infested" by CUT high seekers and, much like Agents in "The Matrix", can become CUT-controlled assassins at any time. Only Rudi's magic sword boop to the forehead can fix them.
Unfortunately, this new strain of the plot doesn't actually affect the course of the war; that has essentially been running on easy mode since Rudi's return west.
In fact well before the ending of the book, it's over. War's won without any further issue and there's still hours worth of audiobook left for an epilogue overrun almost as long and feckless as LOTR Return of the King. This isn't even worth putting under a spoiler because it's already spoiled right in the synopsis of the book, and even if it weren't already spoiled, it would've been blatantly obvious considering that the Church Universal and Triumphant had been essentially depicted as on the brink of total collapse since the end of book 8.
From there, instead of doing what had been done in previous books (leaving off with our main characters and setting the next book up many years later, leaving us to catch up), we go through a period of skipping ahead several years at a time for a series of seemingly pointless "slice of life" scenes of Rudi's new life as father to his little clone Órlaith, almost identical to him in personality and rich in Mary Sue, from being a kid on the (horse-drawn) train, to having sex for the first time, to meandering around in re-colonized California.
The ending, when it does come, is actually an abrupt shift in this bland bit of "easy mode" slice of life moments.
Now, finally, the whole point of book 8's messy Mary Liu subplot pays off with a promise specially designed to interest readers of war fiction and drama,
In the hands of a more capable author, this could be something that could sustain an entire expanded universe of stories. But after 10 books I'm too invested to give up anyway. In order to keep up my interest and hope that it continues to have some connection with it, I plan on re-reading the original "Island in the Sea of Time" trilogy that the Emberverse spun off from.
June 14, 2020
The title of this book gives the entire plot away. It's not much of a spoiler to suggest an alternate title: Time for Rudi to Bite the Dust.
This series, which started off strongly entertaining, continues its descending plot lines and to stagger forward into the next generation of survivors of the Change. There is plenty of filler prose recounting previous adventures and regaling the reader with lists of food.
This one starts and ends with some slightly different tacks with some fresh characters. A Bearkiller glider pilot gets herself in a jam and is rescued by a Boise special forces soldier. That might lead to some interesting conflict, but it doesn't. Not much. The couple will then serve in cameo roles.
Then there is the slow roll of the Montevalian Army across Idaho, Yellowstone, and western Montana. The ultimate showdown between the forces of the Sword of the Lady and the CUT. The army has to punch its way through enemy territory. But the obstacles just fall away like waving away some mirages. Even the showdown with Sethaz is barely something to write about.
So how do you kill off a High King who is the smartest, bravest, best fighter, best singer, most loved, best lover, most attractive, kindest, can read minds, talks to gods, etc. and who is armed with a sword that gives him superpowers and that can cut through anything?
Send him off like his father of course. Sacrificing himself for the greater good. But, while this was the foregone conclusion (see title comment above), the ending falls flat. The High King, who unified dozens of groups of people and brought peace to lands from Iowa to California to western Canada decides he "needs" to go to Napa, rides headlong into a battle on the marches of his domain with no understanding of who's fighting (only that it isn't his people), has his squire remove some armor so he can talk Japanese better (oops), and gets a dagger tossed in his neck for the trouble. OK, then.
Stirling has fallen into this trap by building the Rudi character into a faultless superman complete with a bunch of superpowers and a sword of invincibility. As a perfect character, he's difficult to get around in terms of plot. Ascendant Masters buoyed by dark supernatural forces? No problem. Poof! The Sword wins. It's becomes a rigged video game of sorts. But worse, it becomes a very dull read as the sexy superman cuts through obstacles like a hot super sword through butter in August in Miami.
Even if this ending fulfills some previous words of warning (dying young, past near misses, etc.), the premise rings as ridiculous. It's like William IV coming to the Americas to lead a cavalry charge into an unknown collection of native Americans, Spanish, French, or maybe Portuguese. Why? What the actual fig? Who knows? Who cares? It sets up another book and kills off the Emperor, right? But the point of being an Emperor (or High King) is that you're considered too valuable, too important, a symbol, and the living embodiment of the nation as a whole. An Emperor doesn't do that. He buys other people. Those people throw themselves in front of the sharp, hurtful objects.
Finally, the character development of the 3rd generation (the Golden Princess, etc.) really left me high and dry. A glimpse of her as a mischievous youngster growing up in court. A few interactions with her friend Herry. A glimpse of her rebellious side. A chapter about her being a horny teenager. And, well, nothing much to connect her with the reader other than her bloodline and the adventures her ancestors had.
This series, which started off strongly entertaining, continues its descending plot lines and to stagger forward into the next generation of survivors of the Change. There is plenty of filler prose recounting previous adventures and regaling the reader with lists of food.
This one starts and ends with some slightly different tacks with some fresh characters. A Bearkiller glider pilot gets herself in a jam and is rescued by a Boise special forces soldier. That might lead to some interesting conflict, but it doesn't. Not much. The couple will then serve in cameo roles.
Then there is the slow roll of the Montevalian Army across Idaho, Yellowstone, and western Montana. The ultimate showdown between the forces of the Sword of the Lady and the CUT. The army has to punch its way through enemy territory. But the obstacles just fall away like waving away some mirages. Even the showdown with Sethaz is barely something to write about.
So how do you kill off a High King who is the smartest, bravest, best fighter, best singer, most loved, best lover, most attractive, kindest, can read minds, talks to gods, etc. and who is armed with a sword that gives him superpowers and that can cut through anything?
Send him off like his father of course. Sacrificing himself for the greater good. But, while this was the foregone conclusion (see title comment above), the ending falls flat. The High King, who unified dozens of groups of people and brought peace to lands from Iowa to California to western Canada decides he "needs" to go to Napa, rides headlong into a battle on the marches of his domain with no understanding of who's fighting (only that it isn't his people), has his squire remove some armor so he can talk Japanese better (oops), and gets a dagger tossed in his neck for the trouble. OK, then.
Stirling has fallen into this trap by building the Rudi character into a faultless superman complete with a bunch of superpowers and a sword of invincibility. As a perfect character, he's difficult to get around in terms of plot. Ascendant Masters buoyed by dark supernatural forces? No problem. Poof! The Sword wins. It's becomes a rigged video game of sorts. But worse, it becomes a very dull read as the sexy superman cuts through obstacles like a hot super sword through butter in August in Miami.
Even if this ending fulfills some previous words of warning (dying young, past near misses, etc.), the premise rings as ridiculous. It's like William IV coming to the Americas to lead a cavalry charge into an unknown collection of native Americans, Spanish, French, or maybe Portuguese. Why? What the actual fig? Who knows? Who cares? It sets up another book and kills off the Emperor, right? But the point of being an Emperor (or High King) is that you're considered too valuable, too important, a symbol, and the living embodiment of the nation as a whole. An Emperor doesn't do that. He buys other people. Those people throw themselves in front of the sharp, hurtful objects.
Finally, the character development of the 3rd generation (the Golden Princess, etc.) really left me high and dry. A glimpse of her as a mischievous youngster growing up in court. A few interactions with her friend Herry. A glimpse of her rebellious side. A chapter about her being a horny teenager. And, well, nothing much to connect her with the reader other than her bloodline and the adventures her ancestors had.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 1, 2013
Here’s an obvious spoiler: someone dies – is sacrificed. Given that this is the third book of the second trilogy starring Rudi, Mati, and their generation, you figure it’s going to be one of them – but which? Or, witch which?
.
And, given that it’s the ninth book of the series, you can assume spoilers for previous books.
.
We last left our heroes fighting the Ultimate Evil. They’ve gone through the traditional quest, collecting allies and cautious supporters. Your average fairy tale hero(ine) who rescued a bird from a net, pulled a thorn from a paw, or saved an anthill from destruction is always rewarded with the specific help (s)he needs. Just like that, Our Heroes Rudi and Matilda rewarded with just the right combination of heavy cavalry and light cavalry. Foot soldiers from his home kingdom and the Midwest are supplemented by berserkers from the north, or Norheim.
.
Special Forces, AKA those weirdos who speak Elvish, are homegrown help, and Silent Sentry Removal is still something outsiders find difficult but the Dunedin Rangers find a fun diversion. With proper respect to the fallen, of course.
.
“The Given Sacrifice,” the thunderous conclusion to a trilogy devoted to the War Against Ultimate Evil, has all the expected fights. The war between brothers hadn’t ended when one brother died. Legions who were loyal to the wrong brother remain loyal beyond his death. And yes, the soldiers of the United States of Boise are all centurions now, and their army is grouped by legions. Much snark is engendered by the fellow in a kilt, speaking to someone in armor, mocking the peculiar terminology used by the strange folks from over the horizon.
.
Didn’t they get over that when Rudi had his Quest for the Sword of the Lady? Different folks took their comfort from different directions in the Dying Years. If Rudi expects his varied armies of knights and witches, ranchers and Lakota, all to respect the quaint folkways of Norheim Berserkers frothing at the mouth, maybe we don’t need a character to snicker every time someone has a weird command structure.
.
The Ultimate Evil. You’ve absolutely got to be the good guys when you’re fighting Ultimate Evil. Maybe that’s why none of the various forces fighting under High King Rudi the First have no internal quarrels, the kind of power jockeying you find in every governments. “My constituents aren’t getting their fair share of the glory!” Or the spoils of war, or the really good government contracts, or whatever ‘good stuff’ your average post-apocalyptic medieval potentate thinks is the best thing since real coffee came back.
.
Gathering together under a High King shouldn’t mean that power-jockeying between factions are a thing of the past. Even if your tech level is a thing of the past.
.
And yet. The Ultimate Evil. A grand villain, but not much of a rounded character. Where’s the sympathetic angle? Given that Our Heroes have often been touched by the Otherworldly, shouldn’t Our Enemies be allowed to have a superpower over-ally of their own? Take a look at the Clan Mackenzie. They go to battle calling for The Morrigu, the Carrion Crow, who is more blood and guts than she is sweetness and light. Sometimes they call on The Bringer of Fear, whose name cannot be written for fear of strange spelling.* The Bearkillers are Catholic, but some follow gods and goddess even bloodier than the Mackenzie war goddess. It would make sense for The Ascended Masters to be some form of higher being which is helping the side which happens not to have High King Rudi the First on its side. After all, even Norman Arminger, evil wack-job extraordinaire, was not the Ultimate Evil. Even if he did choose the flaming eye as his symbol, proclaiming to all and sundry that his sworn treaty wasn’t worth the paper it was written on.
.
* (Goddesses, witches, spelling – get it? Carry on, then.)
.
The Ultimate Evil. It really isn’t, according to the Three Fates – see retcon in a dream the Witch King has. When he almost dies. But miraculously pauses to have a dream. And miraculously wakes up… for now.
.
Cue Jacky Mason on Opera: Did you ever notice how long it takes for them to die? And then they sing about it! “He stabbed me, he stabbed me. In the heart he stabbed me, he stabbed me in the heart, in the heart he stabbed me. I’m dying, I’m dying, oh I’m gonna die, why do I have to die. He stabbed me he stabbed me….”
.
Page after page, chapter after chapter, book after book, S M Sterling creates a world which builds on itself so well you can almost believe it, but sometimes the people seem to be written comic book form, drawn in thick crayon instead of fine pen and subtle colors. The problem with Ultimate Evil is that you need such a bright light to fight it, it kind of washes out all the softer colors. In previous trilogies, various factions fought with each other – that is, they fought other factions and they jockied for position within their own power structures. That’s believable politics. That’s well-rounded characters. Fighting Ultimate Evil means you square your chin, square your shoulders so hard, you lose any roundness of character.
.
I loved “Dies the Fire.” I really did. It was a great ‘end of the world as we know it’ story, with people racing to save themselves, their loved ones, their society, only to realize that they were badly limited in what they could do. The whole trilogy built up to a climax, showing that different directions might be good and evil, but evil keeps its people alive pretty well, and good is kind of hard-pressed to bring in the harvest without bandits. Might makes right and manly men fight wars, but when the manly men have killed each other off the women are left ruling, either in their own right or as regent for the next generations of manly leaders (except for Princess Matti, who wore armor young to build up her girlish muscles.)
.
The Second Trilogy, where a stranger comes in, gets laid, and gets the girl killed by not warning her of assassins following him, is still a good trilogy. ‘People Do Things Differently Over Yonder’ is entertaining, but finding out that people, in fact, EXIST over yonder is wonderful news. When the Flaming Eye is defeated, a new Big Bad has to show up right on schedule, but this big bad isn’t human enough to have purely human people fight it. This Big Bad needs super humans, and they are drawn in flamboyant, big-crayon, caricatures of the previous generation.
.
Not to worry! The King is dead, long live the Queen – you knew this was going to happen, given the title and the picture on the cover, not to mention Our Hero made it through two trilogies of hair-raising adventures and it’s time to kill him off – but the High Queen, Lady Protector Matilda, is pregnant in the beginning of the book. The baby races though growing up in the chapters after the war (read and find out if High King Daddy dies before watching her grow up!) and by the last chapter, she and her friends complain that the Old Farts have had all the good adventures, there are none left.
.
Is she tempting fate on purpose? She’s ready to start her own adventures, but she doesn’t really believe she or her friends can die. Well, not to worry. Princess Unpronounceable Name will probably live through two trilogies of her own. Maybe three. Friends' lives are a little more chancy. They’re not plot fulcrums.
.
I can’t wait to read her books, even if they are comic books with pictures made of words. Sterling writes such wonderful adventures, cardboard characters are acceptable.
.
And, given that it’s the ninth book of the series, you can assume spoilers for previous books.
.
We last left our heroes fighting the Ultimate Evil. They’ve gone through the traditional quest, collecting allies and cautious supporters. Your average fairy tale hero(ine) who rescued a bird from a net, pulled a thorn from a paw, or saved an anthill from destruction is always rewarded with the specific help (s)he needs. Just like that, Our Heroes Rudi and Matilda rewarded with just the right combination of heavy cavalry and light cavalry. Foot soldiers from his home kingdom and the Midwest are supplemented by berserkers from the north, or Norheim.
.
Special Forces, AKA those weirdos who speak Elvish, are homegrown help, and Silent Sentry Removal is still something outsiders find difficult but the Dunedin Rangers find a fun diversion. With proper respect to the fallen, of course.
.
“The Given Sacrifice,” the thunderous conclusion to a trilogy devoted to the War Against Ultimate Evil, has all the expected fights. The war between brothers hadn’t ended when one brother died. Legions who were loyal to the wrong brother remain loyal beyond his death. And yes, the soldiers of the United States of Boise are all centurions now, and their army is grouped by legions. Much snark is engendered by the fellow in a kilt, speaking to someone in armor, mocking the peculiar terminology used by the strange folks from over the horizon.
.
Didn’t they get over that when Rudi had his Quest for the Sword of the Lady? Different folks took their comfort from different directions in the Dying Years. If Rudi expects his varied armies of knights and witches, ranchers and Lakota, all to respect the quaint folkways of Norheim Berserkers frothing at the mouth, maybe we don’t need a character to snicker every time someone has a weird command structure.
.
The Ultimate Evil. You’ve absolutely got to be the good guys when you’re fighting Ultimate Evil. Maybe that’s why none of the various forces fighting under High King Rudi the First have no internal quarrels, the kind of power jockeying you find in every governments. “My constituents aren’t getting their fair share of the glory!” Or the spoils of war, or the really good government contracts, or whatever ‘good stuff’ your average post-apocalyptic medieval potentate thinks is the best thing since real coffee came back.
.
Gathering together under a High King shouldn’t mean that power-jockeying between factions are a thing of the past. Even if your tech level is a thing of the past.
.
And yet. The Ultimate Evil. A grand villain, but not much of a rounded character. Where’s the sympathetic angle? Given that Our Heroes have often been touched by the Otherworldly, shouldn’t Our Enemies be allowed to have a superpower over-ally of their own? Take a look at the Clan Mackenzie. They go to battle calling for The Morrigu, the Carrion Crow, who is more blood and guts than she is sweetness and light. Sometimes they call on The Bringer of Fear, whose name cannot be written for fear of strange spelling.* The Bearkillers are Catholic, but some follow gods and goddess even bloodier than the Mackenzie war goddess. It would make sense for The Ascended Masters to be some form of higher being which is helping the side which happens not to have High King Rudi the First on its side. After all, even Norman Arminger, evil wack-job extraordinaire, was not the Ultimate Evil. Even if he did choose the flaming eye as his symbol, proclaiming to all and sundry that his sworn treaty wasn’t worth the paper it was written on.
.
* (Goddesses, witches, spelling – get it? Carry on, then.)
.
The Ultimate Evil. It really isn’t, according to the Three Fates – see retcon in a dream the Witch King has. When he almost dies. But miraculously pauses to have a dream. And miraculously wakes up… for now.
.
Cue Jacky Mason on Opera: Did you ever notice how long it takes for them to die? And then they sing about it! “He stabbed me, he stabbed me. In the heart he stabbed me, he stabbed me in the heart, in the heart he stabbed me. I’m dying, I’m dying, oh I’m gonna die, why do I have to die. He stabbed me he stabbed me….”
.
Page after page, chapter after chapter, book after book, S M Sterling creates a world which builds on itself so well you can almost believe it, but sometimes the people seem to be written comic book form, drawn in thick crayon instead of fine pen and subtle colors. The problem with Ultimate Evil is that you need such a bright light to fight it, it kind of washes out all the softer colors. In previous trilogies, various factions fought with each other – that is, they fought other factions and they jockied for position within their own power structures. That’s believable politics. That’s well-rounded characters. Fighting Ultimate Evil means you square your chin, square your shoulders so hard, you lose any roundness of character.
.
I loved “Dies the Fire.” I really did. It was a great ‘end of the world as we know it’ story, with people racing to save themselves, their loved ones, their society, only to realize that they were badly limited in what they could do. The whole trilogy built up to a climax, showing that different directions might be good and evil, but evil keeps its people alive pretty well, and good is kind of hard-pressed to bring in the harvest without bandits. Might makes right and manly men fight wars, but when the manly men have killed each other off the women are left ruling, either in their own right or as regent for the next generations of manly leaders (except for Princess Matti, who wore armor young to build up her girlish muscles.)
.
The Second Trilogy, where a stranger comes in, gets laid, and gets the girl killed by not warning her of assassins following him, is still a good trilogy. ‘People Do Things Differently Over Yonder’ is entertaining, but finding out that people, in fact, EXIST over yonder is wonderful news. When the Flaming Eye is defeated, a new Big Bad has to show up right on schedule, but this big bad isn’t human enough to have purely human people fight it. This Big Bad needs super humans, and they are drawn in flamboyant, big-crayon, caricatures of the previous generation.
.
Not to worry! The King is dead, long live the Queen – you knew this was going to happen, given the title and the picture on the cover, not to mention Our Hero made it through two trilogies of hair-raising adventures and it’s time to kill him off – but the High Queen, Lady Protector Matilda, is pregnant in the beginning of the book. The baby races though growing up in the chapters after the war (read and find out if High King Daddy dies before watching her grow up!) and by the last chapter, she and her friends complain that the Old Farts have had all the good adventures, there are none left.
.
Is she tempting fate on purpose? She’s ready to start her own adventures, but she doesn’t really believe she or her friends can die. Well, not to worry. Princess Unpronounceable Name will probably live through two trilogies of her own. Maybe three. Friends' lives are a little more chancy. They’re not plot fulcrums.
.
I can’t wait to read her books, even if they are comic books with pictures made of words. Sterling writes such wonderful adventures, cardboard characters are acceptable.
June 15, 2020
This is the 10th book out of 15 of a series that I Started a LONG time but now it seems to just keep on dragging on. He has created a fantastic universe in the Pacific Northwest and I guess we call it the upper Midwest so I understand the need for the number of books, but wow this is a long series. The author does a great job of describing the scenes but at times it feels like he gets stuck in the details. Trying to keep track of who is related to who and how made me feel like I was reading Game of Thrones with the number of characters involved. I am sure sooner or later I will get back to reading the next one but for now I will let this series sit lower on my priority list in terms of reading.
September 7, 2024
We're almost there...almost to the end of my stack of these increasingly annoying Change novels. This is the last one in the Artos story arc, preparing to move on to the next generation. And man...this and the last 3-4 books could have been combined into maybe 2 books the way they've been written. By the end we're getting random multi-year time skips between (uninteresting) chapters, we have a whole series of anti-climatic resolves to story arcs and/or character deaths whether protagonists or antagonists. At least he's got the length under control. But these still feel like he's phoning it in to keep the checks coming in and fulfill some obligation to the publisher so they'll keep taking other books/projects he'd rather be working on.
October 27, 2017
While this picked up the action much more over the previous book (which was almost entirely a frame story around a flashback to two years prior, which really could have all been told in a chapter or two and then moved on), the ultimate final battle was...really a bit of a let-down. Four books later, it ends in basically a couple of paragraphs, and then that's it. After that, it's just quick vignettes jumping along over the next 20 years, until the next set of books is set up. Better than the previous, but disappointing on its own.
June 29, 2017
This was another awesome addition to the Emberverse series. I am not a "re-reader" of books by nature, there are simply too many out there I want to read. This book, and series, is one I have now read 3 times through. That should be a testament to how amazing this book is. It has just the right twist of post-apocalyptic recovery with fantasy thrown in. Continuing to follow the stories of the original characters through their descendants is great!
July 30, 2017
This book wraps up the saga of Rudi and Co and introduces us to the next story line and Orlaith. I honestly wish that the wrap up had been included in the previous book and that this book had been the next story line. It's a good story and I like the wrap up though it would have been nice if Stirling had revisited what was happening in Montana after the war ended. In any case it is a good book and a promising start to the next saga.
August 11, 2017
Just finished it and while the last paragraph dances in my head, i got out the next book. "Golden Princess".
I only noticed one error in this book and it is only the second in the series i believe. In one paragraph the princess is mentioned as a she and a he.
Some have commented that he rehashes the old too much. Too that I say yes, but anyone can pick up any book as their first and not be lost.
I only noticed one error in this book and it is only the second in the series i believe. In one paragraph the princess is mentioned as a she and a he.
Some have commented that he rehashes the old too much. Too that I say yes, but anyone can pick up any book as their first and not be lost.
August 4, 2018
A rushed ending of one story and a rushed set up for the next series. I feel like the whole book could have been accomplished in a couple of more meaningful chapters at the end of the last book and then left Orliath's story for the next series. her rushed childhood felt like a blatant attempt to get you invested in her story to want to keep reading without really giving her the chance to have a story yet.
January 18, 2022
And we get to the end of the story, the climactic battle between good and evil... and it happens off screen. Want a huge showdown between hero and villain... well Rudi punches him in the face. And Rudi lives, after 10 books of setup that he has to die for the land, blah, blah, blah. Then you do another big time jump and kill Rudi once his kid has grown up just to make sure that the publisher keeps paying you. Not going any further with this series.
September 18, 2025
A fine novel that concludes the Prophet's War as you would expect. We then go through a series of time jumps that adds little details to the characters who will be primarily featured in the upcoming novels. I'm not sure how to feel about the sacrifice that is foreshadowed in the title, in some ways it feels it doesn't do the character justice, but in other ways it is completely in line with the character's morals. Altogether weaker than some of the other novels in this series.
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