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Emberverse #14
The Sea Peoples
S. M. Stirling’s Novels of the Change are a “truly original combination of postapocalyptic sci-fi and military-oriented medieval fantasy”* about a future where mysterious Powers removed advanced technology, and humanity rebuilds society. However, this new world is not always a peaceful one....
The spirit of troubadour Prince John, the brother of Crown Princess Órlaith, has fallen captive to the power of the Yellow Raja and his servant, the Pallid Mask. Prince John’s motley band of friends and followers—headed by Captain Pip of Townsville and Deor Godulfson—must lead a quest through realms of shadow and dreams to rescue Prince John from a threat far worse than death.
Meanwhile, across the sea, Japanese Empress Reiko and Órlaith, heir to the High Kingdom of Montival, muster their kingdoms for war, making common cause with the reborn Kingdom of Hawaii. But more than weapons or even the dark magic of the sorcerers of Pyongyang threaten them; Órlaith's lover, Alan Thurston, might be more than he appears.
From the tropical waters off Hilo and Pearl Harbor, to the jungles and lost cities of the Ceram Sea, a game will be played where the fate of the world is at stake.
The spirit of troubadour Prince John, the brother of Crown Princess Órlaith, has fallen captive to the power of the Yellow Raja and his servant, the Pallid Mask. Prince John’s motley band of friends and followers—headed by Captain Pip of Townsville and Deor Godulfson—must lead a quest through realms of shadow and dreams to rescue Prince John from a threat far worse than death.
Meanwhile, across the sea, Japanese Empress Reiko and Órlaith, heir to the High Kingdom of Montival, muster their kingdoms for war, making common cause with the reborn Kingdom of Hawaii. But more than weapons or even the dark magic of the sorcerers of Pyongyang threaten them; Órlaith's lover, Alan Thurston, might be more than he appears.
From the tropical waters off Hilo and Pearl Harbor, to the jungles and lost cities of the Ceram Sea, a game will be played where the fate of the world is at stake.
432 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 2017
142 people are currently reading
1241 people want to read
About the author
S.M. Stirling
170 books1,648 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 118 reviews
October 13, 2017
I've been reading the books of this series from the beginning, and this is the first that out-and-out disappointed. 80% of the book consists of a vision quest: John's spirit is being held in an alternate semi-mad reality, and his friends spirits travel through a variant of our world to rescue him.
It's hard to write a book-length vision quests that isn't dishonest, because the author has too-few constraints. Nothing that happens will matter at the end of the vision, except that the participants may come away with a bit of self-knowledge. Or bad things can happen - but that depends upon the whim of the writer.
So this book is a 300-page yarn that will have no effect on the overall story, plus a few short guest appearances from the main story-line. That would be worth reading if the yarn worked as a well-enough-written stand-alone novel, but it does not.
It's hard to write a book-length vision quests that isn't dishonest, because the author has too-few constraints. Nothing that happens will matter at the end of the vision, except that the participants may come away with a bit of self-knowledge. Or bad things can happen - but that depends upon the whim of the writer.
So this book is a 300-page yarn that will have no effect on the overall story, plus a few short guest appearances from the main story-line. That would be worth reading if the yarn worked as a well-enough-written stand-alone novel, but it does not.
December 12, 2017
Skip this unless you're a lovecraftian fan. Look, I love the Emberverse series. I've read it beginning to end multiple times. I understand that not all writers can hit gold every book, and I've learned to give Mr. Stirlings writing shortcomings a pass (copy pasted turns of phrases, we get it, armor sucks to wear. We don't need to be reminded multiple times a book), but frankly this whole book warrants a pass. Theres a number of glaring problems.
1) It does nothing to further the story. Well, NOTHING is a bit strong of a word, because Orrey gets a couple piddling chapters tossed in as kind of a throw away "see we didn't forget her" with every interesting thing she does inexplicably and bizarrely cut down to as brief as it possibly could be. So much so I wondered if Stirling suddenly started hating the character, but couldn't outright abandon her because she's been too big of a part of the recent books. The entire sequence with John could have been toned down to a few chapters and would have been fine, which brings me to...
2) The pacing is awful. The dream sequence with John dragged on about 10x longer than it should have and completely demolished any semblance of pacing in this book. There are a few minor nuggets that are glossed over so fast you're not even sure they happened. Orreys sequences by comparison are far too brief and rushed. Again, I am struck by the impression that Stirling just stopped caring about the plot he's presented and wanted desperately to minimize its impact to this otherwise totally separate adventure.
3) Where is the emberverse? Where is the change? This book is NOT part of the main story, because it has so little to do with any of the previous books and the core dynamic of the Emberverse world. This should have not been an emberverse book. This was a book from a totally different book series masquerading as a book of the Change. Its only connection to the Changed world at all is that Orrey is in it briefly, and some of the names are the same. For eff's sake, at least 80% of the damn thing takes place in an unchanged world, which is directly counter to what this whole series has been about. Its a lovecraftian novel. If Stirling wants to write a lovecraftian novel, then he should do that and make it separate from the Emberverse series. The title of the book doesn't even make sense. We're never introduced to any party that resembles "the sea people." The closest we got was the Hawaiians and brief mentions of the Baru Denpasar peoples. The title is totally superfluous and disjointed with what the book actually WAS. Every other book has some tie in with the title, this has nothing like that.
4)
5)The characters in the dream quest are utterly impossible to care even a bit about. We're given no reason to engage with them, they're totally throwaway trash, and as a result the entire book suffers. We're thrown into this bizarre land that franky felt "borrowed" from another series, and they're presented as if we're supposed to know who they are, and what the hell they're talking about or doing. Unless you've had prior knowledge of the Yellow King, there's nothing here to sink your teeth into and it frankly just leaves the reader confused and bewildered. It honestly felt more like Mr. Stirling was giving us some literary fornication with his love of Lovecraftian horror noir than attempting to tell us about his own world, a world in which he should be proud of, which is also a world his readers would love to see more of.
6)The whole thing just smacks of a phoned in effort. Its a confusing mess of random happenstance that again, we have no reason to care about. So much could have been trimmed out to make way for better events, but instead we get this seemingly low effort... mess. Its jarring, it doesn't fit in the world, and it just so out there that I legitimately cannot consider this as part of the Emberverse series. It doesn't even feature the same villian/nemisis/super natural enemy that has been the mainstay of the series since the Prophets war. Instead we get this seemingly 3rd big bad entity that is clearly being groomed to appear in the series from here on out, when we haven't even resolved the primary conflict. Its just unnecessary, and extremely disappointing I must say. I really wish I could refund this damn book and forget it exists.
To sum it up, and hopefully not to belabor any points I've already made, skip this book unless you like jumbled Lovecraftian horror. I'm sorry I can't rate this book more than one star Mr. Stirling, I truly am. I'm a deep fan of the other books in the series, but this book is a lemon. There's something deeply wrong when you can omit an entire book from a series and the series suffers not at all for its omission. On top of it all I'm just disappointed. Disappointed in this book and Mr. Stirling's treatment of the fans with this release. I hope beyond all hope that the next book is back on track, or at least that Mr. Stirling decides that he wishes to continue the Emberverse series. Otherwise Mr. Stirling, I implore you, if you're tired of Emberverse open it up to licensed authors to continue to expand the wonderfully exciting world you've given us with every other book except this one. This is your Episode 1: Phantom Menace Mr. Stirling. Please don't follow in the rest of the prequel's steps.
1) It does nothing to further the story. Well, NOTHING is a bit strong of a word, because Orrey gets a couple piddling chapters tossed in as kind of a throw away "see we didn't forget her" with every interesting thing she does inexplicably and bizarrely cut down to as brief as it possibly could be. So much so I wondered if Stirling suddenly started hating the character, but couldn't outright abandon her because she's been too big of a part of the recent books. The entire sequence with John could have been toned down to a few chapters and would have been fine, which brings me to...
2) The pacing is awful. The dream sequence with John dragged on about 10x longer than it should have and completely demolished any semblance of pacing in this book. There are a few minor nuggets that are glossed over so fast you're not even sure they happened. Orreys sequences by comparison are far too brief and rushed. Again, I am struck by the impression that Stirling just stopped caring about the plot he's presented and wanted desperately to minimize its impact to this otherwise totally separate adventure.
3) Where is the emberverse? Where is the change? This book is NOT part of the main story, because it has so little to do with any of the previous books and the core dynamic of the Emberverse world. This should have not been an emberverse book. This was a book from a totally different book series masquerading as a book of the Change. Its only connection to the Changed world at all is that Orrey is in it briefly, and some of the names are the same. For eff's sake, at least 80% of the damn thing takes place in an unchanged world, which is directly counter to what this whole series has been about. Its a lovecraftian novel. If Stirling wants to write a lovecraftian novel, then he should do that and make it separate from the Emberverse series. The title of the book doesn't even make sense. We're never introduced to any party that resembles "the sea people." The closest we got was the Hawaiians and brief mentions of the Baru Denpasar peoples. The title is totally superfluous and disjointed with what the book actually WAS. Every other book has some tie in with the title, this has nothing like that.
4)
5)The characters in the dream quest are utterly impossible to care even a bit about. We're given no reason to engage with them, they're totally throwaway trash, and as a result the entire book suffers. We're thrown into this bizarre land that franky felt "borrowed" from another series, and they're presented as if we're supposed to know who they are, and what the hell they're talking about or doing. Unless you've had prior knowledge of the Yellow King, there's nothing here to sink your teeth into and it frankly just leaves the reader confused and bewildered. It honestly felt more like Mr. Stirling was giving us some literary fornication with his love of Lovecraftian horror noir than attempting to tell us about his own world, a world in which he should be proud of, which is also a world his readers would love to see more of.
6)The whole thing just smacks of a phoned in effort. Its a confusing mess of random happenstance that again, we have no reason to care about. So much could have been trimmed out to make way for better events, but instead we get this seemingly low effort... mess. Its jarring, it doesn't fit in the world, and it just so out there that I legitimately cannot consider this as part of the Emberverse series. It doesn't even feature the same villian/nemisis/super natural enemy that has been the mainstay of the series since the Prophets war. Instead we get this seemingly 3rd big bad entity that is clearly being groomed to appear in the series from here on out, when we haven't even resolved the primary conflict. Its just unnecessary, and extremely disappointing I must say. I really wish I could refund this damn book and forget it exists.
To sum it up, and hopefully not to belabor any points I've already made, skip this book unless you like jumbled Lovecraftian horror. I'm sorry I can't rate this book more than one star Mr. Stirling, I truly am. I'm a deep fan of the other books in the series, but this book is a lemon. There's something deeply wrong when you can omit an entire book from a series and the series suffers not at all for its omission. On top of it all I'm just disappointed. Disappointed in this book and Mr. Stirling's treatment of the fans with this release. I hope beyond all hope that the next book is back on track, or at least that Mr. Stirling decides that he wishes to continue the Emberverse series. Otherwise Mr. Stirling, I implore you, if you're tired of Emberverse open it up to licensed authors to continue to expand the wonderfully exciting world you've given us with every other book except this one. This is your Episode 1: Phantom Menace Mr. Stirling. Please don't follow in the rest of the prequel's steps.
December 5, 2017
Disappointing. Which is okay I guess because I expected to be disappointed. But not like this. This was just plain weird. Clearly an homage to a book which was the inspiration to Lovecraft, which is a negative for me. And supporting the idea that there is unreliable narration. But just in general I found John's story annoying. And Ori's story didn't make up for it. The characters made a good cast, but they were poorly used here. So some good bits but not adding up well. And didn't move the plot hardly at all. 2.5 of 5.
August 31, 2017
I don't know about this one. I've tried to read S.M. Stirling books before and I get bogged down in all the would building. Don't get me wrong, world building is an essential part of a good story, but I found that I had a hard time sorting through the description to find the story.
My husband has read a lot of this series, so I know he will like it. This one is going on the "not my style," shelf.
Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.
My husband has read a lot of this series, so I know he will like it. This one is going on the "not my style," shelf.
Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.
October 2, 2017
The Sea Peoples is the 14th book in the Emberverse series by S.M. Stirling and this book brings back many characters from the previous books as well as introducing some new ones. The one thing I admire in S.M. Stirling's writings is how much detail is used in each chapter to describe the scenery. Some people might find this cumbersome and boring, but for people who can easily and vividly imagine a world through the power of books, this is a great tool. The 299 pages was not as bad as I thought it would be and was a good read. I did not speed through it, but it also did not drag on. I would give this book a 4/5
January 26, 2018
The author has obviously grown weary of this tale. The last few books in this series have felt more like "contractual obligation" rather than "inspired tale of adventure".
This novel barely has anything to do with the main thrust of the series; instead it wobbles off into a Lovecraftian tale based on a novella from a fairly obscure writer. While the story is somewhat interesting, it takes familiar characters into a dream-like situation and spends 95% of the time there.
Meanwhile back in the "real world" there is a disjointed sub plot involving a romance between the main protagonist and another character. There is also a "wtf" bit with a death toward the end of the novel. Not in a good way, rather..."huh?"
Stirling would do better to open licensing to the "Emberverse" and let others provide stories in that setting.
This author is an outstanding teller of tales...when he's interested. But as he loses interest, the narratives become repetitive, full of unnecessary description of unimportant details, non stop description of every food item at every meal and worse, irritating backstory reminders that do nothing but pull the reader OUT of the tale.
Seriously disappointed.
p.s. the title in retrospect made about zero sense to me given the subject matter 'tween the covers.
For me, I consider this tale ended with "The Given Sacrifice", as the follow on chapters do disservice to the story. (And even with that novel, you can tell that interest was on the wane.)
This novel barely has anything to do with the main thrust of the series; instead it wobbles off into a Lovecraftian tale based on a novella from a fairly obscure writer. While the story is somewhat interesting, it takes familiar characters into a dream-like situation and spends 95% of the time there.
Meanwhile back in the "real world" there is a disjointed sub plot involving a romance between the main protagonist and another character. There is also a "wtf" bit with a death toward the end of the novel. Not in a good way, rather..."huh?"
Stirling would do better to open licensing to the "Emberverse" and let others provide stories in that setting.
This author is an outstanding teller of tales...when he's interested. But as he loses interest, the narratives become repetitive, full of unnecessary description of unimportant details, non stop description of every food item at every meal and worse, irritating backstory reminders that do nothing but pull the reader OUT of the tale.
Seriously disappointed.
p.s. the title in retrospect made about zero sense to me given the subject matter 'tween the covers.
For me, I consider this tale ended with "The Given Sacrifice", as the follow on chapters do disservice to the story. (And even with that novel, you can tell that interest was on the wane.)
October 26, 2017
This book is set in a post Apocalyptic world where technology has been truncated by some unknown source. I have no idea what number in the series this is. It is entirely too long since I have read anything in this series. This is sometime after the initial characters have kids and those kids are sending out their own children into a world fraught with peril. The peril is a dark, evil force trying to twist mankind to evil purposes. The good guys have their own forces for good providing their champions with magic swords.
I must have missed too many books because this book only made vague sense. It jumps all over which I referred to in my last review of this series.
Polytheism is a staple throughout the series and some explanation of such is provided in this book. I said in my last review based on the way the story jumped from one time and location to another, it often felt like a book of short stories.
I really enjoyed the first few books in this series but the last few have left me feeling cold at best.
I must have missed too many books because this book only made vague sense. It jumps all over which I referred to in my last review of this series.
Polytheism is a staple throughout the series and some explanation of such is provided in this book. I said in my last review based on the way the story jumped from one time and location to another, it often felt like a book of short stories.
I really enjoyed the first few books in this series but the last few have left me feeling cold at best.
January 7, 2018
2.5 or 3 stars. Didn't love this one for several reasons. It seemed to be trying too hard to include diversity: there seemed to be characters of every race, religion, culture, gender, sexual orientation, etc. There was even a ranger of the Dunedain! There was also entirely too much description for my taste of every different style of spear, bow, arrow, armor, etc., used by the representatives of each land/culture. Then there were two different stories going on, one taking place in the "real" world of the book and the other in a kind of spirit realm. The spirit realm was the only one I kind of enjoyed as nothing was happening elsewhere, but I didn't see how it tied in to the rest of the book. I see that this book is part of a series and I haven't read any of the others, so maybe it would work better if the reader were reading the series in order.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me a free e_ARC of this book.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me a free e_ARC of this book.
April 26, 2018
Strong entry in this long-running series. Continuing from the last book's cliff-hanger, John is in trouble from page one until the end. Rather than the regular battle scenes (which Stirling does so well) this book focussed on a more fantastical dream dystopia based on the King in Yellow where John was trapped. What really made this work for me was the secondary character who was also in danger--I was fairly confident Sitrling wouldn't kill off John or Pip, but had no idea what would happen to Secondary Character, which added a lot of tension. Orlaith's plotline was still mostly journey--a stopover in Hawaii on their way to Japan--but better than last book, which bored me to tears.
December 27, 2017
Well, it should be totally obvious by now, but Stirling has gotten bored with these stories and is now just going through the motions to cash in on the poor suckers still interested in the Change. I actually didn't finish this awful book, which the author admits in the introduction has several "borrowed" elements. Unfortunately that didn't save the book at all.
Still think Stirling missed the chance for a really good book resolving the plot after the victory at Horse Hills in book 6 (I think?). Maybe I need to try my hand at fan fiction!
Still think Stirling missed the chance for a really good book resolving the plot after the victory at Horse Hills in book 6 (I think?). Maybe I need to try my hand at fan fiction!
February 11, 2018
Speaking generally about this series, I like the descriptions of places and cultures and do not like all the supernatural and evil forces. So... this book was one of the tougher ones. It was a new high in level of supernatural activity. I definitely did not like a lot of it. But yet, I felt compelled not to go to sleep without finishing it and finished it in one sitting. So, I guess I liked it after all.
If you thought previous books were heavy on the supernatural, then get ready to be surprised. This book literally featured zombies in a dream-hell alternate reality created by an evil God-mind. Not even kidding. Without spoiling the book, I will reveal that the book's main plot and action does not take place in the "real" Change world. Only a few minor things happen in the main storyline (i.e. Órlaith and Reiko arrive in Hawai'i and... that's it). All the stuff that happens is in the dream-hell alternate reality created by an evil God-mind (that I mentioned previously.
I will definitely not read this book ever again. Whenever I reread the initial trilogy (and occasionally beyond), I skip automatically about all the portions involving "evil" and the supernatural, reading only the parts that I actually enjoy. In this case, that means almost the entire book would be skipped.
Like I said at the beginning, somehow I still enjoyed the book and could not put it down, even though the story is one I have no interest in and would never wish to read. I would probably prefer if a different author would write a Change-inspired series more in the style of the "frontier romance" or "Amish wedding" style books. One where all of the world-building, culture, lore, and characters could be carried over and expanded upon without all the supernatural and evil nonsense that makes the original series such a mixed bag.
All in all, if you have the same tastes as me, then don't bother with this one (as you shouldn't have bothered with the quest ones either). If you do not have the same tastes as me and actually enjoy the supernatural and evil elements of the series, then you will probably enjoy this as well.
If you thought previous books were heavy on the supernatural, then get ready to be surprised. This book literally featured zombies in a dream-hell alternate reality created by an evil God-mind. Not even kidding. Without spoiling the book, I will reveal that the book's main plot and action does not take place in the "real" Change world. Only a few minor things happen in the main storyline (i.e. Órlaith and Reiko arrive in Hawai'i and... that's it). All the stuff that happens is in the dream-hell alternate reality created by an evil God-mind (that I mentioned previously.
I will definitely not read this book ever again. Whenever I reread the initial trilogy (and occasionally beyond), I skip automatically about all the portions involving "evil" and the supernatural, reading only the parts that I actually enjoy. In this case, that means almost the entire book would be skipped.
Like I said at the beginning, somehow I still enjoyed the book and could not put it down, even though the story is one I have no interest in and would never wish to read. I would probably prefer if a different author would write a Change-inspired series more in the style of the "frontier romance" or "Amish wedding" style books. One where all of the world-building, culture, lore, and characters could be carried over and expanded upon without all the supernatural and evil nonsense that makes the original series such a mixed bag.
All in all, if you have the same tastes as me, then don't bother with this one (as you shouldn't have bothered with the quest ones either). If you do not have the same tastes as me and actually enjoy the supernatural and evil elements of the series, then you will probably enjoy this as well.
May 6, 2022
Very different but that’s not a terrible thing, added some interesting different stuff!
October 22, 2017
The previous book left off with a cliffhanger, so I was rather glad I forgot to buy it last year and got to go straight from that into this novel. The results of that cliffhanger are the primary plot journy in this novel, again following the "next generation" of Orlaith and John Arminger Mackenzie through their adventures in the post-Change world.
John has had his spirit captured by a great evil, and his new and old friends must make a spiritual journey through a confusing and dangerous landscape to bring him back. Along the way he meets up with another torn/imprisoned spirit, that turns out to be Alan Thurston from the United States of Boise. What they observe inside the nightmare realm is evil, dangerous, disturbing, and might threaten the real world they know and love.
Orlaith moves on from Montival to head west across the Pacific, leading a great army to help her new ally Reiko from the Empire of Japan against the evil that has been attacking them from the shores of old Korea. Most of their story takes place during the midway point in the Kingdom of Hawaii, which is an ally to Montival as well, including learning of what's going on with John and his entourage as well as a surprise attack from yet more evil minions.
Overall, this wasn't a bad book, but there were some issues which have me waffling between 3 and 4 stars. Since 3.5 isn't an option, I'm going to have to go with 3, with a few comments below as spoilers.
Of course, the usual SM Stirling rules apply - if you hate lots of description of food, clothing, armor, setting, and fights, then you're going to hate the book. I enjoy that sort of thing so I liked all of those parts as I typically do with his novels.
Final rating, 3 stars. I'd like to give 3.5, but it's not worth 4 due to the comments up in my spoiler cut. Rated R for violence and horror.
John has had his spirit captured by a great evil, and his new and old friends must make a spiritual journey through a confusing and dangerous landscape to bring him back. Along the way he meets up with another torn/imprisoned spirit, that turns out to be Alan Thurston from the United States of Boise. What they observe inside the nightmare realm is evil, dangerous, disturbing, and might threaten the real world they know and love.
Orlaith moves on from Montival to head west across the Pacific, leading a great army to help her new ally Reiko from the Empire of Japan against the evil that has been attacking them from the shores of old Korea. Most of their story takes place during the midway point in the Kingdom of Hawaii, which is an ally to Montival as well, including learning of what's going on with John and his entourage as well as a surprise attack from yet more evil minions.
Overall, this wasn't a bad book, but there were some issues which have me waffling between 3 and 4 stars. Since 3.5 isn't an option, I'm going to have to go with 3, with a few comments below as spoilers.
Of course, the usual SM Stirling rules apply - if you hate lots of description of food, clothing, armor, setting, and fights, then you're going to hate the book. I enjoy that sort of thing so I liked all of those parts as I typically do with his novels.
Final rating, 3 stars. I'd like to give 3.5, but it's not worth 4 due to the comments up in my spoiler cut. Rated R for violence and horror.
October 31, 2017
Every once in a while Stirling has one of these - a throwaway book that was actually fairly unpleasant to read. Getting through it felt like a real chore. Most of the book is wasted on a floofy dream sequence where none of the characters have agency and a lot of deus ex machina intuiting is used to resolve conflicts. The lion's share of the first third of the book is largely descriptive, too, and has no meat to it. Sets the scene nicely, but... no story. There *could* have been a whole exciting sequence with Orlaith and a rather dramatic-sounding naval battle, but it was given short shrift.
Completely immaterial to the overall arc of the series, and too low stakes enough to merit the detour. I have no doubt elements introduced will come up later, but the framework... the characters reiterate several times that they're in alternate dream realities that don't have exceptional bearing on the main narrative world. It's a shame, too, because it's well-imagined, and the bones of a very interesting alternate world/horror fantasy saga are, like, *right there* - what could have been it's own (very cool) thing has been stuffed into a saga where it didn't fit well.
Completely immaterial to the overall arc of the series, and too low stakes enough to merit the detour. I have no doubt elements introduced will come up later, but the framework... the characters reiterate several times that they're in alternate dream realities that don't have exceptional bearing on the main narrative world. It's a shame, too, because it's well-imagined, and the bones of a very interesting alternate world/horror fantasy saga are, like, *right there* - what could have been it's own (very cool) thing has been stuffed into a saga where it didn't fit well.
August 29, 2018
This is a strange book. It starts and ends as a normal post change war story, but the entire middle of the book is a virtual word for word copy of Robert Chamberlain's short story The Repairer of Reputation. Stirling s characters kind of follow along, but really don't do much. I'm not sure what Stirling was trying to do here.
I've loved this series since it started, but I can't understand this one. It would be worse if I hadn't heard of the yellow king , and had a glimmering of what was happening
I've loved this series since it started, but I can't understand this one. It would be worse if I hadn't heard of the yellow king , and had a glimmering of what was happening
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 2, 2024
This is a pretty good addition to the Emberverse series, but (like Prince of Outcasts) The Sea Peoples largely has Crown Princess Orlaith on the back burner (travelling with the army and navy of Montival making their way across the Pacific) while 2/3 of the book focuses on Pip, Toa, Thora and Deor and they quest through a mad god's dream in search of Prince John. The Dreamquest was generally interesting (in a ghoulish Mythos-y kind of way) but had a rather tiresome section that VERY closely followed the events of Chamber's The King in Yellow). Overall, I enjoyed the book, but have two (minor) quibbles. 1) The cover art. Normally I don't give two craps about a book's cover art, but I feel like the Emberverse's art has been gradually going down hill, from gritty and slightly abstract, to a more fantasy appearance as things got more "ooga-booga" in the series. But the last two: ugh! Prince of Outcasts looks like a romance novel, and this one really looks like it has a YA-type cover. This is not at all how Captain Pip is described; in the series, she's wearing a tropical combat version of the droogs' gear from A Clockwork Orange - on this cover, well you can see for yourself, not so much. 2) For God's sake stop writing versions of "the Blackout, that's what they call the Change in this part of the world." I swear Stirling had at least 30 variants of this phrase in this one book. Low 3 stars.
RE-READ. Nothing to change my mind. Now, on to THE SKY BLUE WOLVES (Emberverse 15).
RE-READ. Nothing to change my mind. Now, on to THE SKY BLUE WOLVES (Emberverse 15).
October 14, 2017
Looked forward to this for a long time, but I have to say I was disappointed. I can accept the odd rules of the Change, but much of this novel was set in an otherworldly fever dream of Prince John, a character I never much liked. Otherwise, the plot was excellent as always. I did not enjoy the heavy reliance on the book "The King in Yellow," an obscure short story collection of over a hundred years ago.
If you're deeply into S.M. Stirling, it's a must read, but I would not recommend this as your introduction to his dystopic novels.
If you're deeply into S.M. Stirling, it's a must read, but I would not recommend this as your introduction to his dystopic novels.
October 25, 2017
Don’t bother
Disappointing. I’ve read every book in this series and would not have bothered finishing this one but for the continuing story. Almost half of the book is some peyote dream. If you must read this, skip every part of the dream world chapters and hope that Sterling’s editor, if he has one, exerts some control for the next book. One of the strengths of this series has been the combined arms tactics of the battle scenes, and the sound history from which they are drawn. Even that is lacking, and character development is nominal at best. Don’t bother.
Disappointing. I’ve read every book in this series and would not have bothered finishing this one but for the continuing story. Almost half of the book is some peyote dream. If you must read this, skip every part of the dream world chapters and hope that Sterling’s editor, if he has one, exerts some control for the next book. One of the strengths of this series has been the combined arms tactics of the battle scenes, and the sound history from which they are drawn. Even that is lacking, and character development is nominal at best. Don’t bother.
October 26, 2017
It is expected that the 14th book of a series will have a drop in quality. Usually earlier than this.
Thus, I was prepared for something less enjoyable than the other books of the series. It would be ok.
However, I found this book simply intolerable and extremely hard to finish.
Boring, dark and with a low quality mysticism that would be unacceptable even from a lesser writer.
I cannot imagine how a writer of S.M. Stirling's caliber was happy to published this.
One thing is for sure. I will not preorder the next in line. First I will read some reviews to see what it is all about...
Thus, I was prepared for something less enjoyable than the other books of the series. It would be ok.
However, I found this book simply intolerable and extremely hard to finish.
Boring, dark and with a low quality mysticism that would be unacceptable even from a lesser writer.
I cannot imagine how a writer of S.M. Stirling's caliber was happy to published this.
One thing is for sure. I will not preorder the next in line. First I will read some reviews to see what it is all about...
December 10, 2017
What I like most about the Emberverse is decidedly lacking in this volume. A few flashes of Hawai'i are not up to the usual tour we get of the post-change landscape. Most of the action drags through the mind of the mad power all tainted with The King in Yellow, and yellow is my least favorite primary. I have had enough tributes to early 20th cent. horror and all of them were better than this. Nothing much happens until the last couple of chapters and the resolutions are scant even for this series.
December 8, 2017
This is the first book by the beloved S.M. Stirling that is just bad. It should never have been written. Phoning it in doesn’t even begin to describe how disappointing it is. Hard to believe that the same author, who create the Draka series, Island in the Sea of Time, and the first three Change books, would write such tasteless mash. I know he needs to finance his other projects by spoon-feeding installments of this series to his loyal readers, but this is too much. Ugh.
August 6, 2019
After 16 Stirling books (Emberverse and Nantucket), he's finally lost me. I've not been a big fan of anything after Emberverse 7 (The High King of Montival) and almost didn't start this one. I really wish I hadn't.
You spend the entirety of the book in one of two worlds:
1. A guy's nightmarish dream
2. The slow lead up to the battle.
I wish I could tell you how the battle ended but either it isn't clear or I couldn't care to pay attention.
Either is fatal to a book.
You spend the entirety of the book in one of two worlds:
1. A guy's nightmarish dream
2. The slow lead up to the battle.
I wish I could tell you how the battle ended but either it isn't clear or I couldn't care to pay attention.
Either is fatal to a book.
November 7, 2017
I would never have guessed I'd give a Stirling book this low a ranking. If I wanted to read proto-Lovercraftian horror stories, I wouldn't be reading Stirling....
Maybe someone who likes that will find this a good book, but I couldn't finish it.
Maybe someone who likes that will find this a good book, but I couldn't finish it.
October 25, 2018
#14 in the Emberverse series. The story continues to decline. Where Stirling had incorporated much of A. Conan Doyle's The White Company into some of his earlier novels, to very good effect, here he has moved into the world of a horror novel I'd never heard of before, and wish I still hadn't.
May 13, 2024
After feeling like the previous entry in the series was one of the worst, this one came at me with a shocking and unexpected bit of excitement.
While the main plot involving Orlaith and Reiko and the War against the nameless entities possessing various people around the world continues at its painfully sluggish pace, suddenly the main plot involving Prince John gets propelled to the central focus again.
Yet instead of more bland and boring descriptions of things in people's line of sight and clumsily and confusingly written battle scenes, we instead get a return to the possibly supernatural elements that the Change seemed to have brought forth.
John's body remains with his friends and allies, but his conscious mind has been taken by the Yellow Raja's servant , the pallid mask , and is now trapped in what is described as an alternate universe or alternate version of reality. Somehow using plot magic, his friends Deor, Thora, Pip, and Toa are able to follow him into this alternate universe where the Yellow King has managed to emerge as a force in the world, threatening to infiltrate the United States and set up an Imperial dynasty loyal to them.
In sharp contrast to the rest of the slop SM Stirling typically serves up, these moments are unusually compelling and often actually fun. It's even fun to see our usually bland and lifeless protagonists interact and navigate this unfamiliar world of 1920s New York.
Then I found out something about half-way through the book; John's entire plotline with the 1920s alternate universe new York and the yellow king mostly wasn't written by SM Stirling.
Its instead, as another reviewer points out, an almost word for word copy of the story "The Repairer of Reputations" by Robert Chambers as part of his "The King in Yellow" book of stories.
That book is in public domain, so legally speaking it is not plagiarism. But considering how awful SM Stirling tends to be at telling a story without being sidetracked or completely derailed with pointless exposition or descriptions of random objects and random locations often swelling a page or two of story into entire paragraphs, it feels like a new low to insert an entire other author's work into his own.
When I say "word for word" copy I am serious. There are entire lines and paragraphs that are word for word identical to Repairer of Reputations, and they are depicted as essentially real events, if unfolding in another world, with no reference to the source author or source material.
I'm still uncertain how I feel about this. After resigning myself to finishing up the Emberverse long past the point of SM Stirling bothering to write compelling stories (sometimes barely even writing competent stories), it was a shocking and refreshing moment to delve into some wilder scifi elements regarding the Change.
These scifi bits were tantalizingly shown to us all the way back in The Sword of the Lady when Rudi arrived on Nantucket, but since then we've gotten little to nothing, beyond some loosely connected dreams from Reiko which had less to do with the Change and its causers and more just to do with her own ancestors.
But then to discover that the author literally did not write the best and most exciting parts of his own book, but lifted the entire story, sometimes word for word, only to insert his own characters in to meander about and largely just observe?
It doesn't make me feel angry or outraged or insulted. It makes me feel disappointed. I genuinely loved SM Stirling's Nantucket series and I was genuinely taken in by Dies the Fire and most aspects of the Emberverse series early on. But I also saw him run out of ideas deep into the series and rapidly deteriorate in writing quality.
A comparison I keep making of the later entries in this series is that SM Stirling's writing makes George RR Martin feel like Ernest Hemingway. He has churned out Emberverse novels one a year for over a decade and a half and filled many of them with lots and lots of excessive exposition, purple prose, droning descriptions of objects, stereotyping cultures to avoid actually creating new post-modern post-apocalyptic societies and cultures, and even had a full book consisting of virtually nothing happening other than endless flashbacks to events that ended up playing no role in the story later on.
But now to copy someone else's better written work and lazily cram it into a narrative that would otherwise have barely merited a free ebook novella? I changed my mind mid-writing this review: I am insulted.
If SM Stirling doesn't care anymore about the story he created and insisted on dragging out across more than 15 books, then neither should I.
While the main plot involving Orlaith and Reiko and the War against the nameless entities possessing various people around the world continues at its painfully sluggish pace, suddenly the main plot involving Prince John gets propelled to the central focus again.
Yet instead of more bland and boring descriptions of things in people's line of sight and clumsily and confusingly written battle scenes, we instead get a return to the possibly supernatural elements that the Change seemed to have brought forth.
John's body remains with his friends and allies, but his conscious mind has been taken by the Yellow Raja's servant , the pallid mask , and is now trapped in what is described as an alternate universe or alternate version of reality. Somehow using plot magic, his friends Deor, Thora, Pip, and Toa are able to follow him into this alternate universe where the Yellow King has managed to emerge as a force in the world, threatening to infiltrate the United States and set up an Imperial dynasty loyal to them.
In sharp contrast to the rest of the slop SM Stirling typically serves up, these moments are unusually compelling and often actually fun. It's even fun to see our usually bland and lifeless protagonists interact and navigate this unfamiliar world of 1920s New York.
Then I found out something about half-way through the book; John's entire plotline with the 1920s alternate universe new York and the yellow king mostly wasn't written by SM Stirling.
Its instead, as another reviewer points out, an almost word for word copy of the story "The Repairer of Reputations" by Robert Chambers as part of his "The King in Yellow" book of stories.
That book is in public domain, so legally speaking it is not plagiarism. But considering how awful SM Stirling tends to be at telling a story without being sidetracked or completely derailed with pointless exposition or descriptions of random objects and random locations often swelling a page or two of story into entire paragraphs, it feels like a new low to insert an entire other author's work into his own.
When I say "word for word" copy I am serious. There are entire lines and paragraphs that are word for word identical to Repairer of Reputations, and they are depicted as essentially real events, if unfolding in another world, with no reference to the source author or source material.
I'm still uncertain how I feel about this. After resigning myself to finishing up the Emberverse long past the point of SM Stirling bothering to write compelling stories (sometimes barely even writing competent stories), it was a shocking and refreshing moment to delve into some wilder scifi elements regarding the Change.
These scifi bits were tantalizingly shown to us all the way back in The Sword of the Lady when Rudi arrived on Nantucket, but since then we've gotten little to nothing, beyond some loosely connected dreams from Reiko which had less to do with the Change and its causers and more just to do with her own ancestors.
But then to discover that the author literally did not write the best and most exciting parts of his own book, but lifted the entire story, sometimes word for word, only to insert his own characters in to meander about and largely just observe?
It doesn't make me feel angry or outraged or insulted. It makes me feel disappointed. I genuinely loved SM Stirling's Nantucket series and I was genuinely taken in by Dies the Fire and most aspects of the Emberverse series early on. But I also saw him run out of ideas deep into the series and rapidly deteriorate in writing quality.
A comparison I keep making of the later entries in this series is that SM Stirling's writing makes George RR Martin feel like Ernest Hemingway. He has churned out Emberverse novels one a year for over a decade and a half and filled many of them with lots and lots of excessive exposition, purple prose, droning descriptions of objects, stereotyping cultures to avoid actually creating new post-modern post-apocalyptic societies and cultures, and even had a full book consisting of virtually nothing happening other than endless flashbacks to events that ended up playing no role in the story later on.
But now to copy someone else's better written work and lazily cram it into a narrative that would otherwise have barely merited a free ebook novella? I changed my mind mid-writing this review: I am insulted.
If SM Stirling doesn't care anymore about the story he created and insisted on dragging out across more than 15 books, then neither should I.
November 26, 2017
I’ve fallen behind on the Change novels, and have clearly missed some important happenings. On the other hand, it’s a good test of a writer’s skill if a reader can pick up the narrative after a few episodes and not be confused. I’m pleased to say Mr. Stirling’s talent for writing a long, complicated series continues unabated.
I try not to include a lot a plot details when I review a book, mostly because no matter how hard one tries, there will be spoilers. So, long story short, The Sea Peoples has one major and one minor plotline, which will be familiar to those who follow this series. The major story line involves a surreal rescue of Prince John Arminger Mackenzie; the minor continues a previous one in which Crown Princess Órlaith Arminger Mackenzie aids her new friend, the Japanese Empress Reiko, battle the Korean hordes. The evil power that has driven most of the villainy in the series hovers in the shadows, this time embodied in the theme of Robert Chambers’s The King in Yellow.
For battle fans, there are plenty of those, both on land and at sea. Not all the enemies are human. That’s all I’m going to say on that score.As someone who has written a fantasy trilogy, I’m very familiar with the difficulty of keeping a multitude of characters, story lines, backstory, history, geography, culture and mythology straight. As someone who has read more than a few longer-running series, I always find it a pleasure when Mr. Stirling takes me back to the world of the Change. Unlike far too many others, he never pads the narrative, leaving the action for the last hundred or so pages, just to drag the conclusion further down the line.
This new episode is no exception. The action is nonstop, and liberally seasoned with humor. The underlying theme of the entire series—that humanity has a huge capacity for survival through cooperation—is one we truly need to hear in these times of chaos when powerful forces seek to divide us into warring tribes.
My one criticism is that the repetition of events from the previous book rather got out of hand. It’s not a good sign when a reader finds herself saying “I got it, already. Move on.” Information is important; redundancy is irksome. Fortunately, most of that happens in the first few chapters, and once we get down to business there’s no stopping for anything except maybe bathroom breaks. Maybe not even those.
The best part of this book for me was the rescue team’s journey through an alternate world slowly being corrupted by a cult of the King in Yellow. There, we observe the development from the villain not from the outside, or even in his own point of view but through the “eyes” of Prince John, whose consciousness travels inside the man’s head. That kind of up close and personal is exceedingly creepy.
Fans of the series won’t be disappointed. Newcomers to the post-Change world should be able to enjoy this book even if they aren’t familiar with what’s gone before and may risk addiction by the time they’re finished. The inevitable unresolved issues at the end, as always, leave the reader anxiously waiting to see what happens next. I may manage to catch up on what I missed by then.
I would personally, as writer and editor, like to thank Mr. Stirling for not referring to the smell of blood as “coppery.” I don’t know who is responsible for starting that particular cliché, but it has become a crutch for far too many writers who apparently don’t have contact with the real thing. And if the reader is a Trek fan, it’s nearly impossible not to wonder whether the dead person was a Vulcan in disguise. But I digress.
The Sea Peoples is another excellent tale from an extremely talented writer who has created a world that looks increasingly enticing to anyone stressed out by the real one. You should buy it. Or ask your local library to buy it.
Standard disclaimer: This review is based on an advanced review copy of the book provided for me by the publisher.
I try not to include a lot a plot details when I review a book, mostly because no matter how hard one tries, there will be spoilers. So, long story short, The Sea Peoples has one major and one minor plotline, which will be familiar to those who follow this series. The major story line involves a surreal rescue of Prince John Arminger Mackenzie; the minor continues a previous one in which Crown Princess Órlaith Arminger Mackenzie aids her new friend, the Japanese Empress Reiko, battle the Korean hordes. The evil power that has driven most of the villainy in the series hovers in the shadows, this time embodied in the theme of Robert Chambers’s The King in Yellow.
For battle fans, there are plenty of those, both on land and at sea. Not all the enemies are human. That’s all I’m going to say on that score.As someone who has written a fantasy trilogy, I’m very familiar with the difficulty of keeping a multitude of characters, story lines, backstory, history, geography, culture and mythology straight. As someone who has read more than a few longer-running series, I always find it a pleasure when Mr. Stirling takes me back to the world of the Change. Unlike far too many others, he never pads the narrative, leaving the action for the last hundred or so pages, just to drag the conclusion further down the line.
This new episode is no exception. The action is nonstop, and liberally seasoned with humor. The underlying theme of the entire series—that humanity has a huge capacity for survival through cooperation—is one we truly need to hear in these times of chaos when powerful forces seek to divide us into warring tribes.
My one criticism is that the repetition of events from the previous book rather got out of hand. It’s not a good sign when a reader finds herself saying “I got it, already. Move on.” Information is important; redundancy is irksome. Fortunately, most of that happens in the first few chapters, and once we get down to business there’s no stopping for anything except maybe bathroom breaks. Maybe not even those.
The best part of this book for me was the rescue team’s journey through an alternate world slowly being corrupted by a cult of the King in Yellow. There, we observe the development from the villain not from the outside, or even in his own point of view but through the “eyes” of Prince John, whose consciousness travels inside the man’s head. That kind of up close and personal is exceedingly creepy.
Fans of the series won’t be disappointed. Newcomers to the post-Change world should be able to enjoy this book even if they aren’t familiar with what’s gone before and may risk addiction by the time they’re finished. The inevitable unresolved issues at the end, as always, leave the reader anxiously waiting to see what happens next. I may manage to catch up on what I missed by then.
I would personally, as writer and editor, like to thank Mr. Stirling for not referring to the smell of blood as “coppery.” I don’t know who is responsible for starting that particular cliché, but it has become a crutch for far too many writers who apparently don’t have contact with the real thing. And if the reader is a Trek fan, it’s nearly impossible not to wonder whether the dead person was a Vulcan in disguise. But I digress.
The Sea Peoples is another excellent tale from an extremely talented writer who has created a world that looks increasingly enticing to anyone stressed out by the real one. You should buy it. Or ask your local library to buy it.
Standard disclaimer: This review is based on an advanced review copy of the book provided for me by the publisher.
December 8, 2021
I'm a fan of the weird fiction of the late 19th/early 20th century. I got the suspicion in the last book that Stirling was referencing another work of literature (as he enjoys doing). My experience with this in the past is that one doesn't have to get the reference to enjoy the story, but it adds an extra layer if you do. I wasn't familiar with Carcosa or The King in Yellow, but I'm glad I looked it up and read some overviews of the stories so that I could see how cleverly Stirling wove them into his world. I'll certainly be adding The King in Yellow to my reading list. :)
This book is very different in tone than some others, but I really enjoyed the glimpse into another world and the strangeness it contained. It was interesting to get to see children of the change reacting to a world where cars and firearms existed. John's predicament and his reaction to it near the end of the book certainly made me laugh, and as always, Stirling's wide variety of characters was fascinating and all were fairly three-dimensional.
My only niggling thought, which I've had for several volumes, is that Faramir and Morfind aren't just first cousins, they're the children of identical twins, making them, in terms of genetic proximity, as closely related as half siblings. Obviously, they're fictional characters and consenting adults, yada yada, but that's a whole different genetic ballgame. There's also the theory of the Westermarck Effect to consider, where people who grow up around each other tend not to be romantically attracted, but there are lots of other examples of that not holding true in the series, and in real life.
Overall, a fun and interesting tale that I tore through in just a couple of days, and I'm bummed that I'm coming up on the end of the series.
This book is very different in tone than some others, but I really enjoyed the glimpse into another world and the strangeness it contained. It was interesting to get to see children of the change reacting to a world where cars and firearms existed. John's predicament and his reaction to it near the end of the book certainly made me laugh, and as always, Stirling's wide variety of characters was fascinating and all were fairly three-dimensional.
My only niggling thought, which I've had for several volumes, is that Faramir and Morfind aren't just first cousins, they're the children of identical twins, making them, in terms of genetic proximity, as closely related as half siblings. Obviously, they're fictional characters and consenting adults, yada yada, but that's a whole different genetic ballgame. There's also the theory of the Westermarck Effect to consider, where people who grow up around each other tend not to be romantically attracted, but there are lots of other examples of that not holding true in the series, and in real life.
Overall, a fun and interesting tale that I tore through in just a couple of days, and I'm bummed that I'm coming up on the end of the series.
January 20, 2021
If Prince of Outcasts was where the third-gen arc went off the rails, here's where it crashes into a ditch. Almost the entire book is a "spirit-walk" in which a group of characters (the newer and less interesting ones, several of them only just introduced in the previous volume) go into a crazy otherworld to rescue John from the King in Yellow. It's basically an excuse for Stirling to do a quasi-retelling of the original Robert Chambers stories and extrapolate a nightmare-world based on them.
Meanwhile the main plotline (the war of Montival and Japan against Korea) gets short shrift and advances glacially, with only a brief glimpse at the end of a naval battle at Hawaii.
Stirling's writing skills remain as good as ever -- the descriptions of the King in Yellow's domain are compellingly horrific -- but taken as a whole this book is a dud, the second half of a two-volume detour that is ultimately pointless (there are no long-term consequences or effects from the King in Yellow plot, which is wholly unrelated to the main story and is simply dropped without a backward glance after this volume).
The frustration is compounded by the fact that the declining sales for this and the previous volume resulted in the publisher forcing Stirling to abruptly wrap things up in the next book, much to the diminishment of the overall third-generation arc.
Meanwhile the main plotline (the war of Montival and Japan against Korea) gets short shrift and advances glacially, with only a brief glimpse at the end of a naval battle at Hawaii.
Stirling's writing skills remain as good as ever -- the descriptions of the King in Yellow's domain are compellingly horrific -- but taken as a whole this book is a dud, the second half of a two-volume detour that is ultimately pointless (there are no long-term consequences or effects from the King in Yellow plot, which is wholly unrelated to the main story and is simply dropped without a backward glance after this volume).
The frustration is compounded by the fact that the declining sales for this and the previous volume resulted in the publisher forcing Stirling to abruptly wrap things up in the next book, much to the diminishment of the overall third-generation arc.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 24, 2017
I LOVE this series!
This series started as urban fantasy/alternate history and has really evolved into more of a fantasy series book by book. I usually run away from fantasy but this series with its characters and storylines has drawn me in over and over again.
This book picks up where the last one left off. We are plunged into the captivity of Prince John by the Pallid Mask and Orlaith is sailing to Japan to help the High Kingdoms new allies defeat the evil that is Korea. The book is a pretty even split between John and Orlaith but it feels like more happens with John's storyline. There are still some pretty funny and entertaining bits between all of the horror.
This is just an extremely well written series that I find hard to put down. I wonder about characters that are really not central to the story but still interesting. I find myself wondering what happened in different parts of the world and then so happy when that part is featured in a book. If you enjoy alternate history or urban fantasy or fantasy or just well written books this series is worth picking up. I don't know if this is the last book or not but I can only hope to continue to enjoy it for many more years to come.
This series started as urban fantasy/alternate history and has really evolved into more of a fantasy series book by book. I usually run away from fantasy but this series with its characters and storylines has drawn me in over and over again.
This book picks up where the last one left off. We are plunged into the captivity of Prince John by the Pallid Mask and Orlaith is sailing to Japan to help the High Kingdoms new allies defeat the evil that is Korea. The book is a pretty even split between John and Orlaith but it feels like more happens with John's storyline. There are still some pretty funny and entertaining bits between all of the horror.
This is just an extremely well written series that I find hard to put down. I wonder about characters that are really not central to the story but still interesting. I find myself wondering what happened in different parts of the world and then so happy when that part is featured in a book. If you enjoy alternate history or urban fantasy or fantasy or just well written books this series is worth picking up. I don't know if this is the last book or not but I can only hope to continue to enjoy it for many more years to come.
February 7, 2018
"The Sea Peoples" eBook was published in 2017 and was written by S. M. Stirling (https://smstirling.com). Mr. Stirling has published more than 55 novels. This is the fourth in his "Rudi's Children" series.
I received an ARC of this novel through https://www.netgalley.com in return for a fair and honest review. I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence and Mature Language. The story is set in an alternate timeline, several years after the Change, when unknown powers disabled technology on Earth.
Earlier in the series Prince John, the brother of Crown Princess Órlaith had been captured by dark powers. His sister, along with Japanese Empress Reiko, are searching the Pacific for John. They are briefly delayed by an assault on the Kingdom of Hawaii by the forces of Pyongyang (Korea).
I found the 9.5 hours I spent reading this 331 page alternate history interesting. While I had found the first novels written about the Change to be exciting thrillers I could hardly put down, I found this one falling far short of that mark. To me this was a slow and dull story for the most part. The cover art is OK. I give this novel a 3.5 (rounded up to a 4) out of 5.
Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.
I received an ARC of this novel through https://www.netgalley.com in return for a fair and honest review. I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence and Mature Language. The story is set in an alternate timeline, several years after the Change, when unknown powers disabled technology on Earth.
Earlier in the series Prince John, the brother of Crown Princess Órlaith had been captured by dark powers. His sister, along with Japanese Empress Reiko, are searching the Pacific for John. They are briefly delayed by an assault on the Kingdom of Hawaii by the forces of Pyongyang (Korea).
I found the 9.5 hours I spent reading this 331 page alternate history interesting. While I had found the first novels written about the Change to be exciting thrillers I could hardly put down, I found this one falling far short of that mark. To me this was a slow and dull story for the most part. The cover art is OK. I give this novel a 3.5 (rounded up to a 4) out of 5.
Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.
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