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jkh107's review against another edition
3.0
This is the series that never ends
It goes on and on my friends
Fortunately it's still moderately entertaining...but nothing like the first 6 or so books. The denouement keeps on going and going and going.
It goes on and on my friends
Fortunately it's still moderately entertaining...but nothing like the first 6 or so books. The denouement keeps on going and going and going.
leons1701's review against another edition
3.0
You know how a football game lasts 3 hours and then all the post game coverage is even longer sometimes? That's a bit how this book feels, the first half is a "murthering great battle". Just one battle, mind you. The second half is post-battle reactions. I don't want to say nothing happens in the second half of the book, because some of the revelations are quite significant in setting up further books in the series, but it almost feels that way at times. Fortunately, Stirling is constitutionally incapable of producing 800 page doorstops that fail to either advance the plot or reveal anything new about the characters, this book is blessedly short and does move things along. Still, the book ends up rather oddly paced, something of an inversion of how such books are normally constructed and that keeps it out of four star territory.
satyridae's review against another edition
1.0
Arrrrggh. That's my review in a nutshell.
This is book number 9 in this series, book 6 in the Rudi-centered series. It is entirely masturbatory on Stirling's part, gah. A minimum of four times he told me that Eric and Signe are fraternal twins in their mid-forties. Yes, yes. I know. Because I read the first 8 books in which Signe and Eric are main characters- and oddly enough, they were twins in all those books too.
Mostly what happens in this book is that each character from the earlier books walks on, recounts his or her entire backstory, and walks off. There is a battle, but most of the battle scenes involve two characters meeting, recounting their backstories, and waving a sword around.
There is no reason for this book. For all it advances the series, it could easily be a chapter or two in the previous book.
But I will continue to read these, I think. I'm too invested in the characters to stop. I just wish Stirling would wrap it up already.
This is book number 9 in this series, book 6 in the Rudi-centered series. It is entirely masturbatory on Stirling's part, gah. A minimum of four times he told me that Eric and Signe are fraternal twins in their mid-forties. Yes, yes. I know. Because I read the first 8 books in which Signe and Eric are main characters- and oddly enough, they were twins in all those books too.
Mostly what happens in this book is that each character from the earlier books walks on, recounts his or her entire backstory, and walks off. There is a battle, but most of the battle scenes involve two characters meeting, recounting their backstories, and waving a sword around.
There is no reason for this book. For all it advances the series, it could easily be a chapter or two in the previous book.
But I will continue to read these, I think. I'm too invested in the characters to stop. I just wish Stirling would wrap it up already.
antij's review against another edition
3.0
Still an interesting read, though it has lost some of the excitement of discovery of the earlier books. The first three books dealt with the repercussions of the Change and the struggle to survive. Then book four jumped ahead to the next generation and we could see how things have evolved. Then the next couple of books showed us what had happened across the northern part of the country, but this book introduced nothing really new. The only real new wrinkle it showed was at the end and if Stirling pursues it, it could be interesting. I also found the last few chapters a little too happy seeing as how the main threat is still out there. There was no sense of danger or urgency compelling me to find out what happens next. I don't have any problem sticking with these characters, for the most part I enjoy them, or having a slow pace, but it would be nice if there was a greater sense of plot progression. The last two or three books have felt like we're just hanging out at the same point.
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