SPOILERS AHEAD! BE YE WARNED!
So, being a fan of the series from the beginning, I automatically Kindle-d the book within minutes of Amazon releasing it.
Overall: B+ (that might go up to A-, depending on the next book, as this is not by any means a standalone novel).
Highlights:
It's early days, yet....but Orlaith is much much more fun to read about (especially as a POV character) than Rudi ever was.
She's an actual person, with real problems and limitations, and the rest of the characters just like her...as opposed to the
supernatural charisma that Rudi used to mind-control half the cast. Scenes don't revolve around her automatically, and other
characters don't stop their narration to mention how awesome she is.
The MacKenzies are fairly limited in how much they infect the story. They aren't simply shuffled off to the sidelines like
the Bearkillers were, but there's a minimal amount of "...and now back to Dun Wherever!" in this book.
It's 20+ years after the Quest, and nearly 47 years after the Change, so things have been settled down for quite a while.
That means bigger populations, more populated places (including several places that had previously been thought utterly
depopulated turning out to have major civilizations), and more for Stirling to work with (bigger battles, etc).
From the context, this is going to be a much shorter arc of novels than the last story (which took 7 books). Possibly as few
as three (quest setup, quest, resolution).
We're going to see LA!
The Japanese are well-written. The obligatory "So velly solly!" scenes are mercifully brief, occasionally funny, and don't
have the comedy-for-comedy's-sake feeling. The language barrier (the Japanese knowledge of English is very limited, and from
3rd/4th hand sources....and nobody from Montival except Orlaith speaks Japanese) is a pain, but everyone is able to work
around it.
Stirling has answered a question/critique I had raised several books ago (seeing that Rudi is the only dude on the Planet with
a magic item). There is more than one Magic McGuffin/Sword! The Grasscutter (one of the 3 Imperial Regalia of Japan) is in
North America, and seems to be the same as (or somethign similar to) the Sword of The Lady.
Which poses some questions of its own. Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi is a historical item, not a post-Change development. Did the Powers insert the Grasscutter into
History in advance of the Change? Did they just empower an already-extant item (as opposed to the Sword of The Lady, which is
definitely post-Change)? Or did they create a seperate item that replaces the historical sword (which the priests at the
shrine where it is kept won't even show the reigning Emperor...so the sword may not exist IRL)?
The Negatives (a lot of this pertains to the series in general, and not specifically this book):
With so much going on with Orlaith and Heuradys, there's not really a lot of screen time for the secondary characters to
really establish themselves. Hopefully the next book (which doesn't have to lay the groundwork this one did) will give them
more time to shine. The secondary characters really made the last story arc palatable, in spite of Rudi, and have been a
major strength in this series since DtF (the first book).
No internal tension. The main cast all get along (either because they are BFFs or because they are sufficiently down the
social totem pole that they don't really have any other choice), no matter what is being discussed, and there are no serious
arguments or disagreements. Opinions may be voiced in contrary to the Plan....but once the Voice Character has spoken,
everyone suddenly submits to the Plan.
Rudi's story suffered much from the fact that there was no "anti-Rudi" on the side of the Good Guys, to balance him out.
There was nobody who was able to scupper a plan, or seriously interfere with what Rudi was doing, despite being on the same
side. Nobody whose cooperation was neccessary was unwilling to cooperate, and able to make it stick. Nobody who could show up
and suddenly impose his plan/policy on the main characters (to their dismay).
This trend looks to continue on into the 3rd Generation. Everybody is on the same wavelength, or can be made to submit.
there are no arguments that can't be resolved by the end of the scene, and all plans more or less go smoothly. Nobody falls
out with someone else.
The main characters make the Trek TNG Bridge Crew look like bomb-throwing anarchists. That's not good. Nobody wants to read
about people arguing endlessly....but the opposite, where there are no serious tensions, really does a disservice to the
story.
Everything works out. Literally. If there's a problem that would discomfit the Main Characters, but is logically beyond
their control, Fate resolves it for them. The PPA won't accept a Pagan Lord Protector (and the MacKenzies won't accept a
Catholic High King)....well, don't worry, because the kid who doesn't get the Sword conveniently chooses to become Catholic,
and the kid who will get the Sword conveniently chooses to be Pagan.
TBH, I'd really like to see Montival having to deal with a serious internal stressor like the PPA refusing to recognize John because he was Pagan, or the MacKenzies up in arms because
Orlaith chose to be Catholic.
Too much of the society and how it works is still left unexplained. Given Stirling's World-Building skills are one of his
main strengths...this is kind of curious.
There have been questions begged since the end of the first trilogy that have never been addressed by any character. Why was
Eilir never in the running for Tanist (especially in the first Trilogy, before anyone knew anything about Rudi)? Why were the
Twins never in the running for Bear Lord (despite being years older than Mike, Jr)? What happens if the oldest child of the
High King/Queen isn't the person chosen by the Sword? How the hell did the Wiccans in the core MacKenzie group produce a
society that buries rapists alive?
I am sort of disappointed that the Japanese turned out to be (nearly) straight Edo-period retreads. Japan has been heavily impacted by
the post-Meiji period, to the point that post-Change Japan (formed by the survivors) would (IMHO) be limited in its visible
resemblence to the Sengoku Jidai or Edo-period culture. Even a conscious attempt to closely imitate the past would be
obviously not the same. Not enough of the traditional culture has made it through the 20th Century, especially outside the
cities. You'd end up with a kitbash that would resemble Montival (but with less impact from the period Nazis in the SCA,a nd
more influence from half-remembered Kurosawa epics).
Even the Martial Arts would be different, given that the Koryu are heavily urban-centered and practiced by a comparitively
miniscule percentage of the population. Any swordsmanship school in CY 40's Japan would likely be descended from the skills
of a devoted Kendo player (adapting his sport back to a combat system), rather than TSKSR or Itto-Ryu.
Repetition. The same exact dialogue and/or exposition happens again and again and again, being repeated by multiple
characters in different locations. Literally, the same "males are walking penises that are foolish, and less mature than
equivalent-age females" conversation/observation is dropped into the narrative at least 4 times in this book. Given that
Stirling has an unfortunate habit of veering into Grrl Power territory to begin with...this is pushing the narrative a bit
far, to the point that some of the scenes begin to sound like Womyns Studies debates. Especially after you've already heard
this exact paragraph once in the book, already. Catchphrases and speaking habits also recurr across multiple characters.
Stirling is very female-friendly, and that's good, because a lot of writers in the Fantasy Genre are really not. That said,
the number of "male transgresses against female and is punished for transgressing against females (rather than just
misbehaviour)!" scenes begin to add up, and it starts to be story-haltingly Anvilicious. It's not very empowering to have
your female warriors need to hide behind social rules to win the day or to play at the level they do (the otherwise-awesome
Tiphaine suffers from this at the end of the previous arc). Nor is a scene where the female characters sit around and objectify their male friends/relatives any more fun to read than one in which the male characters reduce their female
counterparts to Objects.
A few eye-rolling blips, like people doing handstands on railings next to a hundred-foot drop...you know, because why not? In the otherwise painstaking realism (which is not the same thing as realistic) of the Emberverse (where people do get hurt), stuff like that stands out. Stirling tends to overstate what physically optimal people are capable of, and what they would actually do. Tiphaine has a few Batman moments in the previous two arcs, as does Astrid (cutting dragonflies precisely in
half, on the wing, from the draw, etc) and Rudi was always overtly superhuman (even before the Sword). Unwelcome blemishes on
an otherwise spotless rug of realism.
Hard to believe the Haida haven't been wiped out. I mean really hard to believe, given the context.
Stirling, immensely talented writer though he is....will never, ever, sell me on the idea that the Iowans call themselves a
"Bossmandom". No. No.
Bottom Line:
I highly recommend this book. It's worth reading. The series looks to have found its way back from the Rudi Pit, and feels a
lot more like the first Trilogy than the Rudi books.
Anyone else read it yet?
So, being a fan of the series from the beginning, I automatically Kindle-d the book within minutes of Amazon releasing it.
Overall: B+ (that might go up to A-, depending on the next book, as this is not by any means a standalone novel).
Highlights:
It's early days, yet....but Orlaith is much much more fun to read about (especially as a POV character) than Rudi ever was.
She's an actual person, with real problems and limitations, and the rest of the characters just like her...as opposed to the
supernatural charisma that Rudi used to mind-control half the cast. Scenes don't revolve around her automatically, and other
characters don't stop their narration to mention how awesome she is.
The MacKenzies are fairly limited in how much they infect the story. They aren't simply shuffled off to the sidelines like
the Bearkillers were, but there's a minimal amount of "...and now back to Dun Wherever!" in this book.
It's 20+ years after the Quest, and nearly 47 years after the Change, so things have been settled down for quite a while.
That means bigger populations, more populated places (including several places that had previously been thought utterly
depopulated turning out to have major civilizations), and more for Stirling to work with (bigger battles, etc).
From the context, this is going to be a much shorter arc of novels than the last story (which took 7 books). Possibly as few
as three (quest setup, quest, resolution).
We're going to see LA!
The Japanese are well-written. The obligatory "So velly solly!" scenes are mercifully brief, occasionally funny, and don't
have the comedy-for-comedy's-sake feeling. The language barrier (the Japanese knowledge of English is very limited, and from
3rd/4th hand sources....and nobody from Montival except Orlaith speaks Japanese) is a pain, but everyone is able to work
around it.
Stirling has answered a question/critique I had raised several books ago (seeing that Rudi is the only dude on the Planet with
a magic item). There is more than one Magic McGuffin/Sword! The Grasscutter (one of the 3 Imperial Regalia of Japan) is in
North America, and seems to be the same as (or somethign similar to) the Sword of The Lady.
Which poses some questions of its own. Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi is a historical item, not a post-Change development. Did the Powers insert the Grasscutter into
History in advance of the Change? Did they just empower an already-extant item (as opposed to the Sword of The Lady, which is
definitely post-Change)? Or did they create a seperate item that replaces the historical sword (which the priests at the
shrine where it is kept won't even show the reigning Emperor...so the sword may not exist IRL)?
The Negatives (a lot of this pertains to the series in general, and not specifically this book):
With so much going on with Orlaith and Heuradys, there's not really a lot of screen time for the secondary characters to
really establish themselves. Hopefully the next book (which doesn't have to lay the groundwork this one did) will give them
more time to shine. The secondary characters really made the last story arc palatable, in spite of Rudi, and have been a
major strength in this series since DtF (the first book).
No internal tension. The main cast all get along (either because they are BFFs or because they are sufficiently down the
social totem pole that they don't really have any other choice), no matter what is being discussed, and there are no serious
arguments or disagreements. Opinions may be voiced in contrary to the Plan....but once the Voice Character has spoken,
everyone suddenly submits to the Plan.
Rudi's story suffered much from the fact that there was no "anti-Rudi" on the side of the Good Guys, to balance him out.
There was nobody who was able to scupper a plan, or seriously interfere with what Rudi was doing, despite being on the same
side. Nobody whose cooperation was neccessary was unwilling to cooperate, and able to make it stick. Nobody who could show up
and suddenly impose his plan/policy on the main characters (to their dismay).
This trend looks to continue on into the 3rd Generation. Everybody is on the same wavelength, or can be made to submit.
there are no arguments that can't be resolved by the end of the scene, and all plans more or less go smoothly. Nobody falls
out with someone else.
The main characters make the Trek TNG Bridge Crew look like bomb-throwing anarchists. That's not good. Nobody wants to read
about people arguing endlessly....but the opposite, where there are no serious tensions, really does a disservice to the
story.
Everything works out. Literally. If there's a problem that would discomfit the Main Characters, but is logically beyond
their control, Fate resolves it for them. The PPA won't accept a Pagan Lord Protector (and the MacKenzies won't accept a
Catholic High King)....well, don't worry, because the kid who doesn't get the Sword conveniently chooses to become Catholic,
and the kid who will get the Sword conveniently chooses to be Pagan.
TBH, I'd really like to see Montival having to deal with a serious internal stressor like the PPA refusing to recognize John because he was Pagan, or the MacKenzies up in arms because
Orlaith chose to be Catholic.
Too much of the society and how it works is still left unexplained. Given Stirling's World-Building skills are one of his
main strengths...this is kind of curious.
There have been questions begged since the end of the first trilogy that have never been addressed by any character. Why was
Eilir never in the running for Tanist (especially in the first Trilogy, before anyone knew anything about Rudi)? Why were the
Twins never in the running for Bear Lord (despite being years older than Mike, Jr)? What happens if the oldest child of the
High King/Queen isn't the person chosen by the Sword? How the hell did the Wiccans in the core MacKenzie group produce a
society that buries rapists alive?
I am sort of disappointed that the Japanese turned out to be (nearly) straight Edo-period retreads. Japan has been heavily impacted by
the post-Meiji period, to the point that post-Change Japan (formed by the survivors) would (IMHO) be limited in its visible
resemblence to the Sengoku Jidai or Edo-period culture. Even a conscious attempt to closely imitate the past would be
obviously not the same. Not enough of the traditional culture has made it through the 20th Century, especially outside the
cities. You'd end up with a kitbash that would resemble Montival (but with less impact from the period Nazis in the SCA,a nd
more influence from half-remembered Kurosawa epics).
Even the Martial Arts would be different, given that the Koryu are heavily urban-centered and practiced by a comparitively
miniscule percentage of the population. Any swordsmanship school in CY 40's Japan would likely be descended from the skills
of a devoted Kendo player (adapting his sport back to a combat system), rather than TSKSR or Itto-Ryu.
Repetition. The same exact dialogue and/or exposition happens again and again and again, being repeated by multiple
characters in different locations. Literally, the same "males are walking penises that are foolish, and less mature than
equivalent-age females" conversation/observation is dropped into the narrative at least 4 times in this book. Given that
Stirling has an unfortunate habit of veering into Grrl Power territory to begin with...this is pushing the narrative a bit
far, to the point that some of the scenes begin to sound like Womyns Studies debates. Especially after you've already heard
this exact paragraph once in the book, already. Catchphrases and speaking habits also recurr across multiple characters.
Stirling is very female-friendly, and that's good, because a lot of writers in the Fantasy Genre are really not. That said,
the number of "male transgresses against female and is punished for transgressing against females (rather than just
misbehaviour)!" scenes begin to add up, and it starts to be story-haltingly Anvilicious. It's not very empowering to have
your female warriors need to hide behind social rules to win the day or to play at the level they do (the otherwise-awesome
Tiphaine suffers from this at the end of the previous arc). Nor is a scene where the female characters sit around and objectify their male friends/relatives any more fun to read than one in which the male characters reduce their female
counterparts to Objects.
A few eye-rolling blips, like people doing handstands on railings next to a hundred-foot drop...you know, because why not? In the otherwise painstaking realism (which is not the same thing as realistic) of the Emberverse (where people do get hurt), stuff like that stands out. Stirling tends to overstate what physically optimal people are capable of, and what they would actually do. Tiphaine has a few Batman moments in the previous two arcs, as does Astrid (cutting dragonflies precisely in
half, on the wing, from the draw, etc) and Rudi was always overtly superhuman (even before the Sword). Unwelcome blemishes on
an otherwise spotless rug of realism.
Hard to believe the Haida haven't been wiped out. I mean really hard to believe, given the context.
Stirling, immensely talented writer though he is....will never, ever, sell me on the idea that the Iowans call themselves a
"Bossmandom". No. No.
Bottom Line:
I highly recommend this book. It's worth reading. The series looks to have found its way back from the Rudi Pit, and feels a
lot more like the first Trilogy than the Rudi books.
Anyone else read it yet?
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