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The Book of the Black Earth #4
Sun and Serpent
A Simon & Schuster eBook. Simon & Schuster has a great book for every reader.
- GenresFantasyEpic Fantasy
365 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 17, 2019
2 people are currently reading
99 people want to read
About the author
Jon Sprunk
30 books362 followersFantasy author living in central Pennsylvania. I love to travel (especially places with old ruins), watch football (American NFL, not that soccer stuff), drink (rum and coke, preferred), and enjoy life.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 1, 2020
An OK, but not great, end to the Book of the Black Earth series. In general, I'd give this series a mild endorsement for fans of sword-and-horses fantasy.
The fourth and final (?) book in the series, Sun and Serpent finds the remaining main characters (after Alyra's disappointing death in an earlier book) being pursued across the desert by hordes of undead. Horace, the powerful sorcerer still getting used to his power, finds himself further removed psychologically from his friends as he heads to confront his nemesis, the Dark King Astaptah. Jirom, Horace's friend and leader of the army of rebel slaves, has found himself striking deals with soldiers of the empire he used to oppose, in the face of the threat posed by the risen dead. As Jirom and his lover/captain Emanon take this combined army across the wastes toward the capital, they pick up some wandering refugees, including Princess Dasha, daughter of the Akeshian emperor, and Dasha's personal guard, Elia, as they travel incognito after the fall of the capital to Astaptah's undead army. The army of the living marches towards the capital for a final showdown with the Dark King, but to do so requires Horace, Jirom, and Dasha to overcome obstacles and tasks, and then face the most powerful enemy the world has seen in thousands of years.
I've generally enjoyed the storyline of this series, but I can't help but feel this fourth book became a bit repetitive. The rebels march; the undead arrive; hack/slash ensues; blood and gore pools on the ground and runs in the gutters; rinse and repeat. It seems like the end of the second novel, when the undead first arose, signaled the beginning of this never-ending chain of violent encounters that all read the same, as if one battle with the undead could be cut-and-pasted a few chapters later with only minor tweaks to the setting with virtually no effect on the story. They're mindless, they keep coming, they claw and bite, they stink of death, they stop when their heads are destroyed -- we get it.
And not only does the action get a little redundant, but the character development kind of ceases, as well. Jirom is still the reluctant leader (up to the final pages); Horace is still the standoffish weapon of incredible magical power who doesn't seem to have grown or learned since the last book and intentionally walls himself off from the rest of humanity; Emanon is still as skeptical of Horace as he was before, despite Horace having come through with every one of his promises to Jirom and his army; Astaptah and his minions have kept the same level of crazy/evil, and his herald, Pumash, is still wishy-washy in his allegiances. By the end, I don't feel that the characters I've been following through 4 books have really progressed much in the last book and a half. The introduction of a brand new character in Dasha (who ends up being a bit of a deus ex machina in the denouement) provides really the only bit of character development (a true emotional growth arc) in the book, but she's introduced so late in the series that this arc is abbreviated, and her companion, Elia, who is also a new character who could have been a compelling one, gets almost no character development at all.
The final showdown was ... fine, I guess. It had some really cool parts, as Sprunk had some good ideas about how good and evil superpowers would appear when they clash; but it also had some really confusing parts, as the showdown chapter played around with timelines and points of view to an extent at which the true mental picture of what occurred was kind of fuzzy. The epilogue was likewise lukewarm to me; some of the right things happened to make it a satisfying resolution, but it was done in such an inchoate and awkward way that it felt like the book should have ended at a couple of other points, but actually ended sort of mid-thought. The final words teased a possible continuation of this story in another series, and I would be interested in seeing where that might go, but I wasn't as satisfied by the wrapping up of this series as I wanted to be.
And, oh, the mechanics! The book is woefully edited in many respects (grammar, syntax, spelling), and Sprunk returns with a vigor in his maddeningly persistent use of "a couple" to describe any small number, both with and without the "of" (as in, "a couple days" or "a couple of days"), so he's not even internally consistent with his own overuse of certain phrases. A decent edit would have identified all of these problems and solved them without changing the author's voice, and I continue to be disappointed that such a job was not done throughout this series.
In sum, I liked this series, but I stopped loving it after book 2, and only mildly enjoyed how the series came to a conclusion. It was sort of like the flume ride: not the most amazing ride in the amusement park, but still somewhat enjoyable despite its slow or unenjoyable parts. I'll give this a mild thumbs-up for fans of ancient-setting fantasy.
Thanks to Pyr (and my Queen of the Book Fairies) for providing me with a copy of this book.
The fourth and final (?) book in the series, Sun and Serpent finds the remaining main characters (after Alyra's disappointing death in an earlier book) being pursued across the desert by hordes of undead. Horace, the powerful sorcerer still getting used to his power, finds himself further removed psychologically from his friends as he heads to confront his nemesis, the Dark King Astaptah. Jirom, Horace's friend and leader of the army of rebel slaves, has found himself striking deals with soldiers of the empire he used to oppose, in the face of the threat posed by the risen dead. As Jirom and his lover/captain Emanon take this combined army across the wastes toward the capital, they pick up some wandering refugees, including Princess Dasha, daughter of the Akeshian emperor, and Dasha's personal guard, Elia, as they travel incognito after the fall of the capital to Astaptah's undead army. The army of the living marches towards the capital for a final showdown with the Dark King, but to do so requires Horace, Jirom, and Dasha to overcome obstacles and tasks, and then face the most powerful enemy the world has seen in thousands of years.
I've generally enjoyed the storyline of this series, but I can't help but feel this fourth book became a bit repetitive. The rebels march; the undead arrive; hack/slash ensues; blood and gore pools on the ground and runs in the gutters; rinse and repeat. It seems like the end of the second novel, when the undead first arose, signaled the beginning of this never-ending chain of violent encounters that all read the same, as if one battle with the undead could be cut-and-pasted a few chapters later with only minor tweaks to the setting with virtually no effect on the story. They're mindless, they keep coming, they claw and bite, they stink of death, they stop when their heads are destroyed -- we get it.
And not only does the action get a little redundant, but the character development kind of ceases, as well. Jirom is still the reluctant leader (up to the final pages); Horace is still the standoffish weapon of incredible magical power who doesn't seem to have grown or learned since the last book and intentionally walls himself off from the rest of humanity; Emanon is still as skeptical of Horace as he was before, despite Horace having come through with every one of his promises to Jirom and his army; Astaptah and his minions have kept the same level of crazy/evil, and his herald, Pumash, is still wishy-washy in his allegiances. By the end, I don't feel that the characters I've been following through 4 books have really progressed much in the last book and a half. The introduction of a brand new character in Dasha (who ends up being a bit of a deus ex machina in the denouement) provides really the only bit of character development (a true emotional growth arc) in the book, but she's introduced so late in the series that this arc is abbreviated, and her companion, Elia, who is also a new character who could have been a compelling one, gets almost no character development at all.
The final showdown was ... fine, I guess. It had some really cool parts, as Sprunk had some good ideas about how good and evil superpowers would appear when they clash; but it also had some really confusing parts, as the showdown chapter played around with timelines and points of view to an extent at which the true mental picture of what occurred was kind of fuzzy. The epilogue was likewise lukewarm to me; some of the right things happened to make it a satisfying resolution, but it was done in such an inchoate and awkward way that it felt like the book should have ended at a couple of other points, but actually ended sort of mid-thought. The final words teased a possible continuation of this story in another series, and I would be interested in seeing where that might go, but I wasn't as satisfied by the wrapping up of this series as I wanted to be.
And, oh, the mechanics! The book is woefully edited in many respects (grammar, syntax, spelling), and Sprunk returns with a vigor in his maddeningly persistent use of "a couple" to describe any small number, both with and without the "of" (as in, "a couple days" or "a couple of days"), so he's not even internally consistent with his own overuse of certain phrases. A decent edit would have identified all of these problems and solved them without changing the author's voice, and I continue to be disappointed that such a job was not done throughout this series.
In sum, I liked this series, but I stopped loving it after book 2, and only mildly enjoyed how the series came to a conclusion. It was sort of like the flume ride: not the most amazing ride in the amusement park, but still somewhat enjoyable despite its slow or unenjoyable parts. I'll give this a mild thumbs-up for fans of ancient-setting fantasy.
Thanks to Pyr (and my Queen of the Book Fairies) for providing me with a copy of this book.
March 11, 2020
One of the best end fights I ever read!
December 10, 2023
The Book of the Black Earth was a great read!
It's not a brand new idea or something spectacularly surprising, but it was awesome to read. It has an interesting set for it's magic.
I also like books that have "something after the end". I mean, you get to know what happened after the climax, how life went on. Respect for such authors! I hate open endings!
I'm not often book-sick, but I am now. I haven't read anything for the past ~2 weeks after finishing the series.
P.S. For a LOTR die-hard fan, it was easy to find a few references to Tolkien's works. But hey, name a fantasy author who wasn't somewhat inspired by His Majesty J.R.R. Tolkien?!
It's not a brand new idea or something spectacularly surprising, but it was awesome to read. It has an interesting set for it's magic.
I also like books that have "something after the end". I mean, you get to know what happened after the climax, how life went on. Respect for such authors! I hate open endings!
I'm not often book-sick, but I am now. I haven't read anything for the past ~2 weeks after finishing the series.
P.S. For a LOTR die-hard fan, it was easy to find a few references to Tolkien's works. But hey, name a fantasy author who wasn't somewhat inspired by His Majesty J.R.R. Tolkien?!
December 7, 2024
4.5 / 10 ✪
https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com...
Undead overrun the desert.
With only a handful of cities still standing, darkness threatens to consume the land. The resistance is still fighting, but they are hunted across the desert. With Alyra fallen, Jirom and Emanon and Horace
Darkness threatens the land, with only a handful of cities standing. Undead overrun the desert. The resistance is still fighting, but with Alyra gone, and allies few and far between, Jirom and Emanon have their work cut out for them.
Horace knows what it will take to stop the Manalish, but his friends have other ideas. While he runs around seeking allies, they plot to save his life. But to what end? Nothing short of his entire power can stop the darkness from falling, and Horace has little left to live for. The price may be high—but it’s one he’s more than willing to pay.
—
As I’ve said on a number of occasions in the build-up to this book: this isn’t JUST the series conclusion—it’s the author’s Swan Song. Seven book from Jon Sprunk, and it’s like he’s just bundled it up and pushed it out the door so he can move on with his life. And… I get it, man. Writing is hard. Life is hard. And sometimes things don’t work out how you intend them to.
There are a number of issues with this book, but let’s start at the top. With something that was a challenge to peg exactly. It’s been annoying me for a while and I’ve just figured it out: none of these people are real. Yes, I know it’s a work of fiction. But they’re not even trying, just going through the motions. It’s like the author had mapped out a plot and then gone for the old “quickest way through is a straight line” bit. Only everyone’s running a straight line. All the heroes and villains and even the bloody undead got together and said “okay, here’s what’s going to happen. We have one chance to pull this off, so everyone remember the goal. No getting distracted, no going off script”. Only the script is a bit shit. There are still plots and intrigue, only none of it matters, because everyone is too busy pandering to the overarching plot to disagree with anyone else. Eamon and Horace hate each other—and they’re not even arguing, they just call each other names and moan—and then end up going along with whatever the other proposes. Dasha is an entirely useless character; I’m pretty sure the only reason she’s here is to break up the sea of testosterone that is the POV cast. A hallucination could’ve filled her role, and probably done a better job of it. This is just the author realizing that he killed off his only female character and inventing another on the spot.
The ending redeemed everything a little bit. The lead-in may’ve been hit-and-miss, but that ending—minus the bit where the author works in the book’s title, for some reason—brought everything full circle. I wasn’t sure at times where we were going, but we got there in the end. I still see this as the author’s last gasp, but he left the door open a crack come the last, if that’s in the cards somewhere down the line.
TL;DR
I realize my review was a bit of a ramble, so if you skipped straight here, I can’t really blame you. Short of it is: this was all a bit pear-shaped. There was a lot of inconsistency throughout, poor characterization, uninspired plot, and even worse execution. It may have limped over the finish line, but Sun and Serpent finishes the Book of the Black Earth with a flourish. Even keeps the door open for something more in the future, if that’s on the cards. The problem is this has all the hallmarks of a swan song. If you’re a fan of the series this one may be a no-brainer to pick up—but for the rest of you (me as well), even if the author isn’t done, he’s going to need to do a lot to win me back after this. Writing is hard. But this was still a bit of a train-wreck, even if it was one I was glad I saw through to the end.
https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com...
Undead overrun the desert.
With only a handful of cities still standing, darkness threatens to consume the land. The resistance is still fighting, but they are hunted across the desert. With Alyra fallen, Jirom and Emanon and Horace
Darkness threatens the land, with only a handful of cities standing. Undead overrun the desert. The resistance is still fighting, but with Alyra gone, and allies few and far between, Jirom and Emanon have their work cut out for them.
Horace knows what it will take to stop the Manalish, but his friends have other ideas. While he runs around seeking allies, they plot to save his life. But to what end? Nothing short of his entire power can stop the darkness from falling, and Horace has little left to live for. The price may be high—but it’s one he’s more than willing to pay.
—
As I’ve said on a number of occasions in the build-up to this book: this isn’t JUST the series conclusion—it’s the author’s Swan Song. Seven book from Jon Sprunk, and it’s like he’s just bundled it up and pushed it out the door so he can move on with his life. And… I get it, man. Writing is hard. Life is hard. And sometimes things don’t work out how you intend them to.
There are a number of issues with this book, but let’s start at the top. With something that was a challenge to peg exactly. It’s been annoying me for a while and I’ve just figured it out: none of these people are real. Yes, I know it’s a work of fiction. But they’re not even trying, just going through the motions. It’s like the author had mapped out a plot and then gone for the old “quickest way through is a straight line” bit. Only everyone’s running a straight line. All the heroes and villains and even the bloody undead got together and said “okay, here’s what’s going to happen. We have one chance to pull this off, so everyone remember the goal. No getting distracted, no going off script”. Only the script is a bit shit. There are still plots and intrigue, only none of it matters, because everyone is too busy pandering to the overarching plot to disagree with anyone else. Eamon and Horace hate each other—and they’re not even arguing, they just call each other names and moan—and then end up going along with whatever the other proposes. Dasha is an entirely useless character; I’m pretty sure the only reason she’s here is to break up the sea of testosterone that is the POV cast. A hallucination could’ve filled her role, and probably done a better job of it. This is just the author realizing that he killed off his only female character and inventing another on the spot.
The ending redeemed everything a little bit. The lead-in may’ve been hit-and-miss, but that ending—minus the bit where the author works in the book’s title, for some reason—brought everything full circle. I wasn’t sure at times where we were going, but we got there in the end. I still see this as the author’s last gasp, but he left the door open a crack come the last, if that’s in the cards somewhere down the line.
TL;DR
I realize my review was a bit of a ramble, so if you skipped straight here, I can’t really blame you. Short of it is: this was all a bit pear-shaped. There was a lot of inconsistency throughout, poor characterization, uninspired plot, and even worse execution. It may have limped over the finish line, but Sun and Serpent finishes the Book of the Black Earth with a flourish. Even keeps the door open for something more in the future, if that’s on the cards. The problem is this has all the hallmarks of a swan song. If you’re a fan of the series this one may be a no-brainer to pick up—but for the rest of you (me as well), even if the author isn’t done, he’s going to need to do a lot to win me back after this. Writing is hard. But this was still a bit of a train-wreck, even if it was one I was glad I saw through to the end.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews