What do you think?
Rate this book
Commonweal #4
Under One Banner
Egalitarian heroic fantasy. Career options after your Talent-mediating brain tissue catches actual fire, what became of the Shot Shop, and certain events involving Scarlet Battery, Fifth Battalion (Artillery), First Brigade, Wapentake of the Creeks.
May contain feels.
May contain feels.
394 pages, ebook
First published August 15, 2018
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 26, 2018
Not only have I read this, I'm the copyeditor. So I spent the summer with this book and I still really like it. This book is so good I liked it even when it felt like Graydon and I were going to need to invent an entire new system of punctuation to make it work.
Higher praise I cannot.
If I were attempting to be clever I would describe Graydon Saunders's works as bearing the approximate relationship to civic, civil, and, occasionally, grammatical infrastructure as Tolkien's do to language.
I would enthusiastically recommend these books to anyone who has ever been seriously disappointed and annoyed by an author breaking off a gripping story—in which we think our heroes are going to have to face a real challenge to the moral and social bones of their society —in order that their characters may prove themselves in the face of personal physical and moral danger, leaving all the really big questions as far up in the air as ever.
If you'd prefer to spend time with a fascinating cast of characters busy about the work of transforming a crapsack into a seedbomb, this is undoubtedly your book.
Also, since I'm not allowed to share the Book of Words with the world: this series will be genuinely enhanced if you take some notes as you read. You can get by without it, but it adds to the fun and you'll catch more cool stuff.
Higher praise I cannot.
If I were attempting to be clever I would describe Graydon Saunders's works as bearing the approximate relationship to civic, civil, and, occasionally, grammatical infrastructure as Tolkien's do to language.
I would enthusiastically recommend these books to anyone who has ever been seriously disappointed and annoyed by an author breaking off a gripping story—in which we think our heroes are going to have to face a real challenge to the moral and social bones of their society —in order that their characters may prove themselves in the face of personal physical and moral danger, leaving all the really big questions as far up in the air as ever.
If you'd prefer to spend time with a fascinating cast of characters busy about the work of transforming a crapsack into a seedbomb, this is undoubtedly your book.
Also, since I'm not allowed to share the Book of Words with the world: this series will be genuinely enhanced if you take some notes as you read. You can get by without it, but it adds to the fun and you'll catch more cool stuff.
August 27, 2019
The first half of this book was a goddamn nightmare, a never-ending procession of disjointed, difficult and pointless discussions, serving mostly as an extended disproof that 'they' is always sufficient as a gender-neutral singular pronoun. I had previously thought that the disconnected style of Saunders' dialogue was conscious, an attempt to convey the communication style of a group which also reads each other's minds. It turns out I was wrong, Saunders just thinks all communication happens like this, with people never needing or bothering to explain what they meant by their sudden interjection of a strange phrase referring to a tangent to the current topic. While certainly annoying, some of this could be forgiven if these mysterious conversations were important to the story, but they aren't, because Saunders has no interest in writing a real story.
The injured and delicate Eugenia arrives on the scene having blown herself and her classmates up by trying to do the wrong sort of magic after studying something Team Amazing have produced. She can't do magic any more, and while it would be possible to fix her entirely, doing so isn't legal because it might change her mind. They fix her physically instead (I discern this only from later in the book, because the discussion itself is not at all clear about what they have decided to do), and she gets a job trying to describe how Team Amazing do things so other people might replicate it properly without blowing themselves up.
This is a horrific way to torture someone, because nothing anyone in the book ever says about magical engineering is clear, it's always describing abstract things vaguely inbetween long spells of being impressed with yourself. There are long, long periods of Saunders introducing Eugenia to things that were created in previous books and having her be amazed or cry or something, which frankly comes off as a bit masturbatory. There are lots of conversations where it is difficult to discern what the topic even is, but it eventually becomes clear that Eugenia is a strawman pacifist, and is really here to be converted to the view that Team Amazing et al. are right about everything.
Eventually even the author seems to get tired of this, and we go out into the desert for training and get involved in a surprise 'conflict'. Remember The March North, where the Commonweal fought a dangerous and unknown foe in strange terrain, and we got to watch them deal with the pressure and also reveal their own strengths? Imagine that, except without any of that pesky peril or danger or even any set-backs at all. Oh, and Eugenia happily takes command of the battery and leads it perfectly and slaughters twenty-thousand people, because she read a book earlier that told her that was the way to do things. The battle scenes are at least clearly and purposefully written, leading me to wonder if Saunders' real skill lies in writing after-action reports for tabletop campaigns.
Yadda yadda. Grue dies suddenly, unleashing a cool magical weapon which is in fact described such that you can understand it, but we can't have a character like Grue, who struggled with the Commonweal, just disappear without first absolving it of all responsibility for her being sad. So they retcon her cool weapon out of reality, and we have an awkward undeath scene, involving more weird discussion where it's not really clear what if anything anyone's deciding to do. The fact that they should have a judge there for this is mentioned but then ignored, for no good reason, mostly just highlighting that it doesn't matter what a consistent interpretation of Commonweal practice would suggest should be done.
Talking of which, Eugenia is permitted to pass the Shape of Peace because, uh, they're sorry they can't fix her properly. She is then given a special magic bracelet by Team Amazing that means she can do more magic than she ever could have normally, as a reward for overcoming her ideals and agreeing that they're right about everything.
The writing is pretty much as painful as always. Saunders somehow manages to include in here multiple of the exact same errors made in previous books in the series -- not just the grammatical errors, but things like the from/to calling sequence in the artillery banner addresses getting mixed up. I don't understand how you can make that same, very obvious, cockup in two different manuscripts, and have neither you nor your copyeditor notice. It seems almost intentional. At times I was left paranoid, wondering if Saunders was actually addressing me directly, deliberately referencing irritants I raised in previous reviews.
All in all, annoying. I'm not usually one to use 'indulgent' as a criticism, but if it's appropriate anywhere it is here. Little to no plot development, no conflict, plenty of characters being impressed by stuff other characters have done, or worshipping at the feet of the society the author is imagining, all written in a style that punishes you for not being inside Saunders' head.
The injured and delicate Eugenia arrives on the scene having blown herself and her classmates up by trying to do the wrong sort of magic after studying something Team Amazing have produced. She can't do magic any more, and while it would be possible to fix her entirely, doing so isn't legal because it might change her mind. They fix her physically instead (I discern this only from later in the book, because the discussion itself is not at all clear about what they have decided to do), and she gets a job trying to describe how Team Amazing do things so other people might replicate it properly without blowing themselves up.
This is a horrific way to torture someone, because nothing anyone in the book ever says about magical engineering is clear, it's always describing abstract things vaguely inbetween long spells of being impressed with yourself. There are long, long periods of Saunders introducing Eugenia to things that were created in previous books and having her be amazed or cry or something, which frankly comes off as a bit masturbatory. There are lots of conversations where it is difficult to discern what the topic even is, but it eventually becomes clear that Eugenia is a strawman pacifist, and is really here to be converted to the view that Team Amazing et al. are right about everything.
Eventually even the author seems to get tired of this, and we go out into the desert for training and get involved in a surprise 'conflict'. Remember The March North, where the Commonweal fought a dangerous and unknown foe in strange terrain, and we got to watch them deal with the pressure and also reveal their own strengths? Imagine that, except without any of that pesky peril or danger or even any set-backs at all. Oh, and Eugenia happily takes command of the battery and leads it perfectly and slaughters twenty-thousand people, because she read a book earlier that told her that was the way to do things. The battle scenes are at least clearly and purposefully written, leading me to wonder if Saunders' real skill lies in writing after-action reports for tabletop campaigns.
Yadda yadda. Grue dies suddenly, unleashing a cool magical weapon which is in fact described such that you can understand it, but we can't have a character like Grue, who struggled with the Commonweal, just disappear without first absolving it of all responsibility for her being sad. So they retcon her cool weapon out of reality, and we have an awkward undeath scene, involving more weird discussion where it's not really clear what if anything anyone's deciding to do. The fact that they should have a judge there for this is mentioned but then ignored, for no good reason, mostly just highlighting that it doesn't matter what a consistent interpretation of Commonweal practice would suggest should be done.
Talking of which, Eugenia is permitted to pass the Shape of Peace because, uh, they're sorry they can't fix her properly. She is then given a special magic bracelet by Team Amazing that means she can do more magic than she ever could have normally, as a reward for overcoming her ideals and agreeing that they're right about everything.
The writing is pretty much as painful as always. Saunders somehow manages to include in here multiple of the exact same errors made in previous books in the series -- not just the grammatical errors, but things like the from/to calling sequence in the artillery banner addresses getting mixed up. I don't understand how you can make that same, very obvious, cockup in two different manuscripts, and have neither you nor your copyeditor notice. It seems almost intentional. At times I was left paranoid, wondering if Saunders was actually addressing me directly, deliberately referencing irritants I raised in previous reviews.
All in all, annoying. I'm not usually one to use 'indulgent' as a criticism, but if it's appropriate anywhere it is here. Little to no plot development, no conflict, plenty of characters being impressed by stuff other characters have done, or worshipping at the feet of the society the author is imagining, all written in a style that punishes you for not being inside Saunders' head.
December 3, 2019
I love the Commonweal books. This on took on a whole new direction. About a month after I finished these four books, I read them all again. Saunders is just dazzling.
May 8, 2025
The Commonweal is back, with a new character. Eugenia is a student sorcerer who's suffered a near-fatal brain injury attempting an external working from the characters from the prior two books (Edgar, Dove, Zora, etc. I saw someone else refer to them as Team Awesome and that's going to stick). She's got less than a year to live before the dead section of her brain kills her, but she's lucky. The rest of her class died immediately.
Eugenia just wants to be useful to the Commonweal in her remaining life, and fortunately, Team Awesome is on hand to patch her up so that the next time she bumps her head on something she won't die. She gets assigned to the Shot Shop, making artillery and shells for the Second Commonweal, and we learn a lot more about the next generation of weapons available.
And this is where the book is most fun, because frankly, those weapons are awesome! (As an aside, the cover photo is one of my favorite images, a National Geographic picture of a MIRV test at Kwajalein atoll. I had a poster of it for years). Eugenia takes the experimental battery out to some wastelands for test firing and runs into more guys from Reems. The hostile nation is on the march, or more accurately, on the run from a power that is eating them. Commonweal diplomacy does not do much for second chances. Squid rounds (made from demons, turns landscape into writhing mass of tentacles) encourages the hostile force to march to the wrong location. Then they're annihilated at point-blank range of 12 km by red-red shot, which is the kind of thing where if the battery didn't have a ward up they'd also have suffered a fatal sunburn. That MIRV cover photo is entirely appropriate.
More stuff happens. Fan favorite character Grue wanders into another group of guys from Reems and dies in a way that Team Awesome can't bring her back. There's a lot of handwringing about the ethical limits of the Commonweal and its Independents.
Again, either you like The Commonweal or you don't. I still do, and while this book doesn't cover a lot of new ground, it goes back to the military fiction of The March North and moves more briskly than books 2 and 3.
Eugenia just wants to be useful to the Commonweal in her remaining life, and fortunately, Team Awesome is on hand to patch her up so that the next time she bumps her head on something she won't die. She gets assigned to the Shot Shop, making artillery and shells for the Second Commonweal, and we learn a lot more about the next generation of weapons available.
And this is where the book is most fun, because frankly, those weapons are awesome! (As an aside, the cover photo is one of my favorite images, a National Geographic picture of a MIRV test at Kwajalein atoll. I had a poster of it for years). Eugenia takes the experimental battery out to some wastelands for test firing and runs into more guys from Reems. The hostile nation is on the march, or more accurately, on the run from a power that is eating them. Commonweal diplomacy does not do much for second chances. Squid rounds (made from demons, turns landscape into writhing mass of tentacles) encourages the hostile force to march to the wrong location. Then they're annihilated at point-blank range of 12 km by red-red shot, which is the kind of thing where if the battery didn't have a ward up they'd also have suffered a fatal sunburn. That MIRV cover photo is entirely appropriate.
More stuff happens. Fan favorite character Grue wanders into another group of guys from Reems and dies in a way that Team Awesome can't bring her back. There's a lot of handwringing about the ethical limits of the Commonweal and its Independents.
Again, either you like The Commonweal or you don't. I still do, and while this book doesn't cover a lot of new ground, it goes back to the military fiction of The March North and moves more briskly than books 2 and 3.
August 23, 2018
Graydon's 'Commonweal' books are superb. This is the first I've rated at less than five stars, and that because this book doesn't stand on its own. 'The March North' and 'A Succession of Bad Days' are both good entry points. 'Safely You Deliver' is not, but it would enchant a reader new to the series. 'Under One Banner' simply won't work on its own; it is too introspective.
That said, if you read and enjoyed the earlier books, you won't want to miss this one.
The viewpoint character is Eugenia - a student of sorcery whose studies come to a sudden stop when her sorcery is, literally, burned out. As a student of sorcery, she has an inescapable commitment to appear for evaluation in a number of months - and since she no longer qualifies, her life has a time limit. She spends the time she has left helping in what the Shot Shop has become. In the background, the Commonweal is under attack. The Commonweal has fought off Reems - but not what Reems is fleeing from. More recently it has fought off invaders from overseas - but not what they are fleeing from.
For the most part, the book isn't about Eugenia. Mostly, the book is a look under the hood of the Commonweal. There are a lot of monologues, some of them disguised as dialogues. Good ones.
That said, if you read and enjoyed the earlier books, you won't want to miss this one.
The viewpoint character is Eugenia - a student of sorcery whose studies come to a sudden stop when her sorcery is, literally, burned out. As a student of sorcery, she has an inescapable commitment to appear for evaluation in a number of months - and since she no longer qualifies, her life has a time limit. She spends the time she has left helping in what the Shot Shop has become. In the background, the Commonweal is under attack. The Commonweal has fought off Reems - but not what Reems is fleeing from. More recently it has fought off invaders from overseas - but not what they are fleeing from.
For the most part, the book isn't about Eugenia. Mostly, the book is a look under the hood of the Commonweal. There are a lot of monologues, some of them disguised as dialogues. Good ones.
November 1, 2021
The series started dropping off for me a bit here: I didn’t find the protagonist compelling, and her recovery from an active magic user to a military adviser only as interesting as the world it exposed. But the focus on military matters didn’t interest me for the most part, so I focused on the implicit bits of civilian worldbuilding (I loved those, to compensate).
For example: Necromancers are highly useful, since they can sterilize large amounts of matter, particularly water. Or: to argue complicated cases, 15 judges split in teams of 5 judges, and everybody argues for the view they least support. Also: more gender worldbuilding, in that some human races construct their gender based on the concepts of “creative” and “supportive”. The whole gender and pronoun thing gets some more explanation, as does the “races of humans living together”, which is very neat: It was mostly ignored before, but clearly there looking back. Proves careful thought on Saunders’ part (though nobody can claim he doesn’t overthink things, to be fair).
Oh, and the language, of course. Military slang is even better than civil servant slang, in this world, and “comprehensive alteration of terrain contour” was particularly nice.
January 14, 2019
Hey hey, it’s another Commonweal book! This is so deep into the previous events in the setting that I don’t see much point reviewing it as an independent object, so instead I’ll just say that it’s a solid Commonweal book ~if you’re into that sort of thing~ (AND I AM). A new main character dealing with different kinds of problems, and a move back into a more March North-style military milieu after the last two books’ wizard homeschool setup.
In terms of series-scope movement, this advances the slow-motion freakout about the Second Commonweal’s fairly dire situation vis-à-vis getting enough resources on-line to deal with a very likely existential threat (whose outline you still can’t quite make out over the horizon but whose kicked-up dust is starting to make a little bit of distant haze).
Anyway, I dig these, see prior reviews for more, and I’ll reiterate that these books are not at all cliffhangery and are a safe exception to your policy against starting a new unfinished open-ended fat fantasy series.
In terms of series-scope movement, this advances the slow-motion freakout about the Second Commonweal’s fairly dire situation vis-à-vis getting enough resources on-line to deal with a very likely existential threat (whose outline you still can’t quite make out over the horizon but whose kicked-up dust is starting to make a little bit of distant haze).
Anyway, I dig these, see prior reviews for more, and I’ll reiterate that these books are not at all cliffhangery and are a safe exception to your policy against starting a new unfinished open-ended fat fantasy series.
Read
May 9, 2020Another Saunders master worldbuilding.,
July 26, 2023
I am at an utter loss of how to review this, maybe after my first reread I will be better equipped. I couldn't believe
Yes, so many feelings. I haven't read the fifth one yet because when I do I will have to wait for m0re, but when the sixth comes out I will probably reread this one and then read the fifth.
Yes, so many feelings. I haven't read the fifth one yet because when I do I will have to wait for m0re, but when the sixth comes out I will probably reread this one and then read the fifth.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews