The Golden Princess

Emberverse #11

by S.M. Stirling, Todd McLaren (Reader)

Unabridged Fiction 15 compact discs/ 18.25 hours

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Alternate History, Post Apocalyptic, Science Fiction, Audiobook, Adventure

Audio CD

First published September 2, 2014

About the author

Stephen 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.

Reviews

[C.J. Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somewhere in this volume is a pretty good story...that was done much better in "The Sunrise Lands".

Too many words, Herr Stirling. --blatant stealing from the criticism: "too many notes, Herr Mozart"

The author describes everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) constantly, and as he has done more and more frequently over the course of this series he repeats things multiple times that the reader is already (or should be) aware of, to the point of wondering if the author even remembers that he already made those points earlier in the narrative.

There is nothing more distracting than getting to some plot point via wading through yet another meandering descriptive assault as to what type of birds are singing in the verge, or what type of animals tend to forage near the sword fight, or the details of what the characters are eating...every single time they eat.

I loved this story arc. I loved the characters who inhabit this world. But it has become a chore to wade through the eye-glazing, mind numbing rambling the author does to TELL this story....

With this volume, now the story isn't even new...it is "history repeating". A quest for a sword...and the offspring of the generation that already DID a quest for a sword are now assisting in a quest and sneaking away because their elders somehow have forgotten that they did the EXACT SAME THING to save the world.

Disappointed would be the word I'd use after slogging through this one.

[Annette · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll be honest: I'm going to read Anything set in the Emberverse. The world of the Change is just too imagination-inspiring to let go. And Stirling certainly brings his high quality character sketches, painterly place descriptions, and in-depth research on everything from sword making to sailing ships to bear on "Princess." Sadly, he also appears to have been taking lessons from David Weber in the "how to make a series last forever" school. In other words, the book is about 80% character sketches, language lessons, landscape descriptions, and - oh yeah - recap of everything that's happened before - to a bare 20% plot, if that. To top it off, that plot is unabashedly "same song, second verse" as Rudi's heir organizes a second semi-secret quest to find a second magical sword, this time on behalf of their new Japanese friends who are being chased by a second band of zombifying CUTter types.
Oh well. Like I said: I love the Emberverse. But this looks like it could go on for Years, which is a bit annoying. At least I always get mine at the library!

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stirling writes well, but this is another book that moves slowly. No, moves glacially, and reads like backstory plus page after page of:

This is how we now live after the Change. This is what we eat. This is what we wear. Here is how we farm. This is what Mackenzie's are like. Here is how we fight. Our weapons work like this. Magic sword, magic sword. Magic sword. We worship these gods and goddesses. Fight. Food. Clothes. Clan. Protectorate. Slightly wink, wink, nudge nudge banter about hankypanky. Iron faced stiffness from Nihon group. One bizarre chapter set in North Australia?

He has one more chance to convince me to keep going with this series.

[Ronny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok story, but like the latter books in the original series, it gets a bit bogged down in too much description and not enough story progress.

[Josh · Rating 2 out of 5]

The major problem with this series has been its slow pace. I was ok with it taking its time, especially when they were crossing the country meeting new people and cultures every hundred pages or so, but the so-called "War of the Prophet" killed any momentum this series had. I was wiling to give this series one more chance as it looked that it could be going off into an interesting direction, and while it could still be going in that direction the pace it's getting there is way too slow for me. If anything this book feels incredibly indulgent. If I was being polite, I would say that the author was mostly interested in his world building, but a lot of times it just feels feels like he wants to share with us all the research that he's done. I don't need to know the minutiae in the differences between the japanese feudal system and the european feudal system. The final chapter of the book really doesn't need to be spending pages discussing the difference between the characters' fighting styles, especially when there's no more fights in the book. A chapter was devoted to an Australian king who doesn't make a reappearance in this book and all we learn is that he likes beer. Practically all the characters from the original books are dead by this time. Almost none of the characters that appeared in the past few books appeared in this one and the few that did were not in it for long. That left us with new characters and while the main character was fine. The secondary characters we were forced to spend time with I found completely dull. I am done with this series.

[Bear Field · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I enjoy Stirling's novels of the Change, I was slightly disappointed with this latest installment, which was more of a transition than a stand-alone novel. In part, the transitional feel is because the book introduces an entire new generation of characters--the second generation born after the Change--as well as a new set of potential allies--the post-Change Japanese. There are many new (or previously mentioned-in-passing) characters whose personalities and relationships need to be established.

Much of the book is also taken up by repetitive description--both of the physical aspects of the communities familiar to readers of the previous novels and, even more repetitively, of the effects the Sword of the Lady has on its wielder. How many times does one need to emphasize that the Sword gives its holder knowledge of other languages at need? There are several digressions for Orlaith's amazement at how well she now speaks Japanese, plus a seemingly random incident where she suddenly understands the Spanish that her younger brother is singing in.

As a result of all the introductions and repetitions, The Golden Princess ends with the new quest just barely begun. Therein lies my real disappointment. I wanted to read more of the actual quest.

Final verdict: 3.5 stars out of 5

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm going to start out by saying I've loved this series - the "Novels of the Change." In 1998, something weird and mysterious happens. Electrical power doesn't work. Gunpowder doesn't work. Gasoline doesn't burn. The world is plunged into medieval times, but with modern knowledge. I've been fascinated by how the survivors at first converted products of our technology to their needs (converting automotive and truck leaf springs into swords, for example). And the different personalities of the various communities and cultures as they evolved were fascinating to watch. And there's usually plenty of action.

Until this book.

We learn a few new things here, meet a new generation of characters, and make a new connection that is crucial to the ongoing story. But in this book, Stirling gets so bogged down in describing the landscape and refreshing us on the society that not too much really happens. I believe that this could easily have been folded into the next volume of the series. Maybe there's a better reason that I can't see yet, but I sure hope it's not the publisher getting greedy and pressuring the author to stretch it out.

[Stephen Woerner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a new chapter of a truly genius post-apoc/fantasy world created by S.M. Stirling. The "Change" universe is one of my absolute favorites. This is a the first book in a new series with new characters and a new adventure. The epic evil present in the first series has a new face, but the same skin crawling creepiness. If a thoroughly developed post apoc world with strong character development and an epic adventure sounds like your cup of tea, give "The Golden Princess" a try.

As a side note, go read "Dies the Fire" Period. You'll thank me.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, I'd have given this four stars if more had actually happened. Also, there was this random chapter in Australia that was kind of unnecessary. I'm assuming it'll be important later.

But, there were so many good female characters in this book! That alone will make this part of the series more interesting to me. Sadly, as I expected, this book was mostly world-building and preparations for the next books, but I so badly want the next book now! Reiko and Heuradys are my favs.

[Shane · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5 Stars I remember falling in love with this series. Still one of my top rated.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

The High King is dead, killed by a prisoner taken while rescuing a Japanese detachment on a quest to North America as is the Japanese leader. Now the daughters of the two men plot revenge and the continuation of the Japanese quest. Though well written, The Golden Princess just sets the characters of a new generation in The Change series with little real action.

[James Wilde · Rating 5 out of 5]

Latest volume of SM Stirling's "The Change" series. Highly recommend these SF/Fantasy books, starting with "Dies the Fire." Stirling creates highly structured, highly believable, anthropologically sound societies after a great worldwide catastrophe altered the laws of physics. One day, the world significantly changed, so that man-made explosive energy was curtailed. Even steam engines failed to provide useful energy, so no chemical-energy-based machines would work. "The Golden Princess" is far into the series, and recounts the beginning of a new quest by the the 3rd generation after "The Change." Stirling's vivid, cohesive, and logically consistent stories are highly detailed; his characters are strongly drawn, very compelling, and oh so human. There are so many threads, so many great characters, and so many lucid environments, most in Northwestern North America, and many logical and consistent adaptations to the new world and new societies, that these books please my anthropologically and scientifically trained mind. Even though gods and magic are significant, the people themselves always have to figure out how to survive, thrive, grow their own technologies, societies, and cultures, and learn how to interact with each other, so that the magic can work when it's required. Excellent reads, these books. "The Golden Princess" is no exception.

[jammaster_mom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the start of a series about the next generation; the grandchildren of those who first survived the Change.

This is not a super exciting book with lots going on in it, but it is a really good book. This book introduces and expands on the next generation of heroes. Before starting this book I was thinking about how much I would miss Rudi and his compatriots. I really needed to get to know the new characters: who they are, what they think, what is important to them, how they are different from their parents, and how they are similar. I love how in this book we are able to see what happened in other countries since the Change.

There are some issues with the book. There is a lot of description mostly about setting and weapons. There is also repeating of information already mentioned or things the reader should know from previous books.

After reading this book I am really looking forward to the next books. I want to know more about these characters and what they will do in the fight against the Void.

[Dan Crowther · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two problems dog this latest installment in the Emberverse series. First, at least at this point, there's very little new as far as plot goes. This is just a re-write of the "Sword of the Lady Quest" that Rudy went on. Second, Stirling is starting to fall prey to a writing style that is becoming all too common among writers of extended series; he spends FAR too much time including back-story. This book could easily have been 1/3 shorter if he wasn't constantly explaining who's related to who, why they feel/react the way they do. Let's face it, if you're starting this series at book *11*, you should probably go back and read them, not rely on the author to "catch you up". And, likewise, the author shouldn't feel compelled to include that info. If you're still reading at book 11, you probably enjoy the series well enough to keep track of the backstory all on your own.

[Sotos · Rating 3 out of 5]

The post-apocalyptic, neo-medieval world created by S.M.Stirling remains very interesting. There are, after all, infinite cultural and military variations to explore.
I read the book and enjoyed it, and I will buy any new addition to this series.

The story, however, begins to feel stale. The "change world" can be used as a base for juicy short stories, but no longer related to the same people in generations to come.
I would expect a writer with the,proven, imagination of S.M.Stirling to get out of his "cosy" world and start something new.

[Steve · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you have not been reading Stirling's novels of the Change this is not one to start with. It picks up from Rudi's demise and handing over the reins of the kingdom to his daughter. This book had very little real action between the good guys and the bad guys. The book is a set up for the next quest to find a special (magic or other worldly) weapon to help combat the evil force at work still in the world. I am ready for the quest, but didn't think an entire book was needed for the set up. Only an OK read, not really a good read.

[Mick · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm disappointed. I felt the previous book ended the protagonist in a short hand way. Now it's all new characters and a new challenge. I've grown weary of the writing style which spends too much time on the trivia and minutiae of living in a world without electricity. I appreciate the author is knowledgeable about some cultures and lifestyles and incorporates that into the story. But he goes overboard with that at the expense of the story and character development.

I'm done with this series and Stirling.

[Edward · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, the previously published tenth book of this series was a perfectly acceptable ending. What started in this volume is basically a repeat of the fourth book, which features the heroine's father going off on a quest pretty much identical to this one.

It wasn't bad. But I've read this story already.

[Ellen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tried to read this book but could not get beyond the first chapter. Too convoluted and went nowhere. There are very few books that I will not give a decent chance to. This is one of about 5 in my lifetime of reading that I had to call it quits on before wasting any more time.

[Aimee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh

[January · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sadly, this is the last Emberverse novel I'll be reading. Thanks for the ride my friend.

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still loving this series:o)

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

This could have been condensed into a chapter or two of actual plot

[Alex Halo · Rating 1 out of 5]

What SM Stirling did with "Tears of the Sun" he does again here.


This is the opening of a new chapter in the Emberverse series. Picking up immediately after the epilogue of the previous book, we are now 46 years into this new world of no electricity and no guns and no vehicles, a world of people who have been born in a medieval-type era where once cities stood and airplanes raked the skies, now there are people who are being born and growing up and getting around to planning their retirement having never fully experienced that world.


What SM Stirling gives us in this suspiciously short entry (only 18 hours in unabridged audiobook), is a thin sliver of plot heavily padded with lots and lots of NOTHING.

Every time the writing started to ramble off with pointlessly excessive descriptions of things, like plantlife or geography or recent history or armor, I would audibly say "oh my god". By the end of this book I had said it so many times I couldn't even come up with a joke to end this sentence with.


The idea of expanding the underlying "War in the Heavens" style conflict that had been playing out in the previous decades as the war against the CUT was a great one full of possibility. And intriguingly, based on some of the exposition given for post-Change Japan and North Korea, it would seem that the puppets of the "evil" faction don't all operate in the same way; things that the CUT did and did not do are different from what the Koreans did and did not do.


The idea of Japan reverting to a stereotypical Sengoku Jidai-era samurai and katana type society is a rather bland, uninspired idea, but then the overall development of the Portland Protective Association and Clan MacKenzie also followed a fairly bland, ordinary development, putting the "What if modern day was medieval?" concept into action and then not really doing anything different with it. Aside from the presence of the dead cities, the American geography, and occasional modern slang terms mostly used by older people, this may as well be any other Medieval european setting.


I'm mostly fixating on this because there's nothing else really happening. I've already moved on to the next book in the series and aside from the new Japanese Empress Reiko and the adoptive daughter of Tiphane, Heuradys d'Ath, none of the characters made any impression at all. All the events of this book could have been trimmed down and included in the next book, or cut in half and included as epilogue to the last one and prologue to the next one.


One of my initial fears for this series was the idea that the further away we got from the Change, the less interesting the setting as a whole would become because it would cease to be "Our World" in a post-apocalyptic setting, or a culture clash between the survivors of the Change and the newborn "changelings", and just became a bog standard medieval type story that just so happens to be in a post-apocalyptic setting.


A good author would avoid that by having the Old World remain a constant factor in everything to come. SM Stirling so far isn't proving to be a good author. Despite bringing up the ideas of cultural fusions and syncretism, merging of "Our World" morals and ideas with medieval-style technology and politics, and the idea of history becoming legend with Ken Larsson's discussions with Mike Havel, SM Stirling hasn't done anything with it so far. And aside from the United States of Boise being a hybridization of America and Ancient Rome, he hasn't bothered to make anything truly new or unique with any of these new nation-states in terms of their cultures or religions or military. Over here is a Medieval France/English style protectorate based on the Normans. Over here is a bunch of Gaelic/Celtic types. All the way across the country there's some Nordic viking-types. Why would people from Maine flock to a Viking-type culture? Who knows? Who cares? SM Stirling doesn't.


I'm in too deep with the series to drop it now but as it stands, this sucks. So much more could've been done with the setting, but after 10+ books here we are, BUT instead of actually doing anything interesting with what we have, SM Stirling is busy describing random objects or going into great detail on post-Change Japanese customs and traditions, almost identical to medieval Japanese customs and traditions.


You might think the rapid changes in Japanese culture between the end of the Meiji era and 1998 might have had some effect on how the survivors of post-apocalypse Japan would set up their new society, but SM Stirling didn't care to explore any of that in between describing types of bows or differing fighting styles between MacKenzies and Portlanders and Japanese.

[Richard Tolleson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Imagine 420 pages of plot exposition. That's pretty much what we have here. If you're reading this series, and can come upon a good synopsis of this book, you'd probably be better off to skip this and move on to the next book in the series. This takes place between two major events, and there's a couple of exciting chapters, but most of it is just...meh. S.M. Stirling has created a marvelous universe, and his imagination seemingly knows no bounds. This future world is so real to Stirling that he is able to explain it and have his characters move about in it in such a way that the reader doesn't have to suspend disbelief--the world of "The Change" is made equally real to the reader. The problem with this particular entry in the series is that Stirling has fallen so much in love with his world that he feels the need to explain every last detail to the reader. Maybe some readers appreciate this, but most of this book was about as exciting as reading City Council minutes. Important, yes; exciting, no. I'm definitely going to read the next book in the series because this one set up what is bound to be an extremely exciting book. One more of these dry tomes, however, and I'll have to give up The Change.

[Nathan Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

TGP and the previous novel, The Given Sacrifice, could almost be the same volume, for all that this one picks up immediately after the previous one. But that would make for one THICK book! And speaking of thick, I noticed an awful lot of recap in this volume, much of which I felt was unnecessary and/or redundant, and its omission would have trimmed the page count noticeably.

Two things saved this novel for me: the Japanese; and another quest.

I spent a few years of my boyhood living in Japan and have a lot of very fond memories from that time. Alas, I was too young to really pick up on much of the cultural richness and nuance. Which made me appreciate the author's research all the more.
And, okay, the book concludes with our main characters going off on another quest for another magical sword. Which, of course, we've seen before. But, well, I'm kind of a sucker for quests, so I'm going to read the next volume, which is even thicker!
Oh, I guess there's a third thing, a greater view of the stuff that's been happening elsewhere in the world.

Another alas, I'm still finding the author's handling of certain internal monologue to be a little tedious.

[Shawn Ritchie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Change. A great Deus Ex Apocalyptica for a now quite long-running series of books. A long-running series of books that, for the middle run, I struggled with continuing to read.

I liked the first few books very much; going through the actual horrors of The Change and watching tiny bands of devastated survivors struggle to establish new societies and fight off their enemies was very enjoyable.

Then, the Ren Faire nonsense started becoming increasingly prominent and I enjoyed it less and less. This is a personal thing; I just generally don't dig fantasy, magic, any of that, and would have happily enjoyed reading about the neo-medieval + understanding germ theory and having bicycles world that was being established. But magic swords and seers and demons all started becoming prominent.

Stirling lost me for a while, though once a year or so I would begrudgingly zip through the latest release in the series, reading the occasional paragraph aloud to my wife until I could actually hear her eyes roll and she started Googling divorce lawyers...

All of that said, I'm enjoying this... what I'll refer to as Third Generation series a bit more. We're a few generations into The Change. Honestly, Game of Thrones (TV show, not the turgid doorstop of a book series) has opened me open a little to fantasy in general, though The Change could stand to borrow a little more of the latter's much more believable grittiness and shittiness of humanity rather than the pretty stark black and white world it presents. So I'm more accepting of the premise that magic-y stuff exists, though lightly outside of the actual ruler of Montival and their sword and the bad guys (formerly CUT, now without even a name throughout an entire goddamned book because we haven't even really MET them yet but hey, gotta churn one of these out a year... do I fear some creeping Turtledove-ism? Maybe). And while I still find the lack of environmental impact of the complete collapse of the industrial world (aside from literally one toss-off sentence about how Pacific fish might not be super-safe to eat near the shores of dead Seattle, c'mon now) nor much mention of just how much shit would still be lying around even 50 years after The Change... I dunno. Stirling is a pretty compelling world builder, and now the series is taking place in entirely his own creation instead of a mix of our time and his new one, and it generally works.

I like the expanded scope he's setting up this new series (or three) to take place in; the chapter featuring "King Birmo", a VERY thinly-veiled future version of contemporary author John Birmingham (who is just outstanding himself, if you haven't read him or somehow don't follow him on Twitter) and describing what's going on in post-Change Australia is delightful, even if it sets us up for a whopping zero bit of followup (though I fully expect we're not done with Australia yet, just might be another book or two before we get there).

Likewise, the extended sections covering Queen Reiko's past and how Japan got through The Change are thoroughly enjoyable as well.

That said, this book is all setup for what I imagine will be four-five books before we're all said and done. Every generation must have its Quest, in the post-Change world, and they are not tales told quickly.

The addition of non-American (Montival-an?) elements goes a long way towards squashing the incessant dopey medieval English/Scottish/Irish-isms that were about all we got in the middle books of the series; now I can at least pretty much glaze over the excessive descriptions of what a McClintock is wearing or what feast a Mackenzie is eating or yaaaaaaaawn... this is Stirling's big weakness, and he indulges the SHIT out of it in this book, as he has in every preceding one as well. You either like it or you don't; I don't love it but can get past it.

Stirling's love of descriptive writing serves him better with the military side of things, not that there's much of that in this entry.

The key thing to know about The Golden Princess, as a book, is this: It's ALL setup for future books.

And that's fine, but know that going in. If you're expecting a typical self-contained three-arc genre action novel, you'll be disappointed; there's no payoff at all, not even really a cliffhanger because no action really occurs; we're being introduced to a wide new set of characters in great detail, and the nature of what they'll have to accomplish is being woven into detail, but THAT'S IT in this particular book. You're committing to reading a bunch more over the next few years so if that kind of commitment is off-putting, don't get started).

That said, Stirling's batting average over his entire career, for me, is quite high, and he's a stellar world-builder who can really give the reader a sense of the world being acted in, so I don't mind that an entire not-short novel was spent here on that sort of thing at the expense of anything actually happening. I think this new Quest for this new generation is going to be entertaining, and it sounds like a good chunk of the early action is going to take us through post-Change Los Angeles and Southern California, which should be great fun. And Birmo's Australia looms in the background, waiting to be looped into the story, and I'm sure that will be as crazily fun as Birmo's own writing is in THIS timeline.

So, if you've already been enjoying The Change series, you'll probably enjoy this. If you're daunted by how big this series is already, you can safely start here because it's basically a whole new story at this point, and there's more than enough background on how we got here presented in this volume to get you up to speed.

I just hope the payoff is worth the investment, because I can already tell this series is going to weigh in a quite a few thousand pages when it's all said and done.

[Marshall Clowers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spoilers (maybe) if you have not yet read The Given Sacrifice. If you haven't read that yet; why are you here???

I had to push myself to give it 4 stars. I've loved the Emberverse so far and I wanted to love this installment. But it seems to me that this was really filler material to set up the next book. We all know what happened to Artos, and of course there are people that are really annoyed about it.
Add to the mix a Japanese Empress who got her title the same way that Orrey will get hers.

This is (I hope) the beginning of another quest, much like "The Sunrise Lands" only this is a search for a different sword (katana). Why it's here in the US is anybody's guess, hopefully the next book will explain it. So a new and bigger group of questers set out towards what was the SW United States. There you have it.

[Nathan Porrata · Rating 3 out of 5]

Books like this frustrate me. I should have loved it. It's the newest entry to a series I've enjoyed, it's beautifully written, I love the world, and I genuinely believe SM Stirling is a great writer. So what's the problem?

The problem is that nothing happens. This book is 80% descriptions, and the plot that does exist is paper thin. Descriptions of nature, descriptions of clothing, of food, of facial hair and weapons and ships and on and on it goes forever. It is so annoying to pick up a book as long as this one and get almost nothing in the way of plot. I get it. This is fantasy. Fantasy writers love their overlong descriptions. As a fan of fantasy I'm totally on board with that. But a story needs a plot, and there just isn't any plot here.

I'm going to stick it out and read further into the series, but if this keeps up that won't last long.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started reading this series at Dies the Fire when suddenly most modern conveniences just stopped working. This book takes place two generations later as Orlaith, first born of Rudy Mackenzie takes the Sword of the Lady from her father upon his death. The societies newly formed right after the Change are still going strong. The aliens who would take over the earth if allowed have reemerged. Orlaith now sets off on a quest with Reiko, Japanese empress, and their gang to find the mythical grass cutting sword. Of course, all this is done in stealth as her mother, the High Queen might not really want her going just yet.
Nicely done. S.M. Stirling hasn't forgotten the world he made so many years ago.