anti_formalist12's review against another edition
2.0
Loses some of the momentum of the past books, although that might have been because I took such a long break after reading the last book.
dja777's review against another edition
4.0
Stirling continues to be my favorite alternative history writer, though I think I like the first Change trilogy a little better than this later quadrology. I'm still eagerly awaiting the sequel -- if only the author could write as fast as I read!
flyingryndeer's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
jacalata's review against another edition
3.0
Not as good a book as the earlier ones, but it's pretty hard to maintain the quality as they become "part 3 of an epic" rather than standalone-ish books. Pretty happy with the series overall still.
jdhacker's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
netgyrl's review
5.0
Love, love, love these books. This is a very good one in series. Made me jump right into the next one.
shai3d's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this last book in the trilogy however there were some issues that annoyed me. First of all, just how many times do I have to hear the same blessing. My other issue was with the narrator. There were a couple times when someone without a celtic accent would suddenly acquire one for a couple sentences for no reason.
I will however be continuing in this world once the next trilogy is complete.
I will however be continuing in this world once the next trilogy is complete.
bibliophilelinda's review against another edition
5.0
This is the sixth installment of the Emberverse series and a continuation of Rudi and his gang's trek across the country to find "The Sword of the Lady". It opens with Rudi and Edain finishing a task to help free their captive friends, continues through to Ingolf's homecoming, and ends with Rudi reaching the The Sword. The action is non-stop, the journey each character endures is poignant and touching, the fight against the Church Universal and Triumphant is thrilling and the climax when Rudi touches the sword will have you breathless for more. I thoroughly enjoy each Emberverse tale, but I must say that I hope "The High King of Montival" is the conclusion to this series. The characters have already endured so much, it would be tragic to needlessly continue such a great series with too much more drama and war. Fans of smart science ficition will love this series.
duffypratt's review against another edition
3.0
The third in a six book series about the quest of Rudi McKenzie and company to retrieve the Sword of the Lady from Nantucket Island, and then somehow use it to defeat the Cutters (Church Universal and Triumphant). I liked it better than the first two installments, but not anywhere near as much as i liked the original Change trilogy, or the Nantucket series.
Things are moving along fairly nicely. We get some very cool glimpses of struggling new societies in a wrecked United States. But I find myself not caring that much about Rudi or any of his compatriots. As a hero, for me, he is simply too heroic and wonderful to be very likable. I found myself actually more interested in the military leader of the Cutters, and we only get a few glimpses of him. But he felt more real to me than anyone in the hero's party.
From here on out, there are going to be spoilers. So beware.
I had some problems with the way Stirling dealt with his narrative here. He tended to have major events come offscreen. Two main characters die in battle, but the fight that kills them is off-screen. I was very disappointed that Jake died. He was a promising new character, with some true flaws, and he had already shown signs of growth and had the potential to develop into an interesting character. I was more disappointed that we simply learn of his death after the action of the battle occurred.
Stirling does a similar thing with Odard, who has been a running character, and is the first hint that the main party actually is in danger. We don't see Odard get wounded. He dashes off in the battle, and then in the aftermath he is mortally wounded, but gets to have a lingering death scene. I could understand these cut-aways if we had to stick to a single point of view. Or if it was for the sake of realism. But it doesn't feel like the elisions serve much purpose at all.
Rudi's retrieval of the sword seemed similar to me. He goes into a room that is the heart of magic on Nantucket and sees the shape of the sword. Then there's a long vision where he gets to talk to God, in the form of his mother and two characters from the Nantucket books, and hears some nonsense about what caused the change and what his purpose is. (More on the nonsense later.) Then his followers see him emerging from the room, bloodied, holding the sheathed sword in his hand. So, the crucial moment that we have built up to for three books actually occurs offscreen. It's not that big a gap, and it might not even be important, but it still bothered me.
Now, for the nonsense. In the Nantucket series, Nantucket Island gets popped into prehistoric times in some alternate world timeline. It's a very cool series, and there's never much of an explanation of what happened to the island or why. But the characters do very cool things by introducing modern technology into a world where, for instance, Odysseus is a real person. In the Change series, electricity and explosions no longer work, basically killing off all technology, and almost all humanity as a result. The rumors are that the change occurred at Nantucket, and it occurred at the same time as the event occurred in the Nantucket series. So it looks like the two series are related.
Here, Rudy gets to Nantucket and has a vision where he sees something that is like the Universal mind. It appears to him as his own mom, and two characters from the Nantucket series. The vision explains to Rudy that it has appeared to him in a form that he can understand. So why the Nantucket characters? Its not like they add anything to Rudy's understanding. That's just a bone for readers and fans of the Nantucket series, but it doesn't seem to have any genuine purpose here.
Moreover, the god/mind/women tell Rudy that the Cutters are basically also a product of the gods, and result from god arguing with itself. That's fine, but then why am I rooting for Rudy? I'm uncomfortable with the idea that people have to put up with all of this shit simply because God is having a bad day and can't make up his mind. It sounds like a bad explanation with me, and it leaves me with many more questions than I had before.
And the God figure also explains that the Change occurred because man was in too much danger of destroying himself with technology, and so the god/mind decided to give man a do-over. I guess 95-99% destruction of humanity is better than total destruction. But there's a suggestion that the second chance is in the hope that man will do it better the second time around. But that makes me wonder how they will do it better, since the means of doing much of anything at all have been taken away. I did not see this, in any way, as a promise that electric and explosive power would be restored. So the suggestion that men would learn better the second time around rings hollow to me.
There were a few moving scenes toward the end. I actually liked Odard's death scene. Even more, I liked the scene in Maine where they had a big oath giving ritual. As much as I'm cold to Rudy, I found the oaths his followers gave to be touching. I also loved the introduction of another new, and promising character, in Asgerd. She's a woman who lost her betrothed and gave solemn oath that she would give ten-fold vengeance for the death. Her character is still just a sketch, but she is wounded, deeply flawed, and likable.
I really liked the first three books in the Emberverse, and to a certain extent, the strength of them keeps me going in this series. I like Stirling's vision of a ruined United States, and I think he's done a very good job showing a multitude of different societies growing out of the ashes. I don't much like the quest/fantasy basis of this second series. It's fun to encounter each new society, but it would be more fun if Rudy were less perfect. I'm sure that I will continue to at least the end of this series, and maybe even into the new trilogy to come. But I'm doing that more because I'm interested in Clan McKenzie, the Bearkillers, and the Portland Protection Association, and less because I have any real attachment to any of the heroes in this series.
Things are moving along fairly nicely. We get some very cool glimpses of struggling new societies in a wrecked United States. But I find myself not caring that much about Rudi or any of his compatriots. As a hero, for me, he is simply too heroic and wonderful to be very likable. I found myself actually more interested in the military leader of the Cutters, and we only get a few glimpses of him. But he felt more real to me than anyone in the hero's party.
From here on out, there are going to be spoilers. So beware.
I had some problems with the way Stirling dealt with his narrative here. He tended to have major events come offscreen. Two main characters die in battle, but the fight that kills them is off-screen. I was very disappointed that Jake died. He was a promising new character, with some true flaws, and he had already shown signs of growth and had the potential to develop into an interesting character. I was more disappointed that we simply learn of his death after the action of the battle occurred.
Stirling does a similar thing with Odard, who has been a running character, and is the first hint that the main party actually is in danger. We don't see Odard get wounded. He dashes off in the battle, and then in the aftermath he is mortally wounded, but gets to have a lingering death scene. I could understand these cut-aways if we had to stick to a single point of view. Or if it was for the sake of realism. But it doesn't feel like the elisions serve much purpose at all.
Rudi's retrieval of the sword seemed similar to me. He goes into a room that is the heart of magic on Nantucket and sees the shape of the sword. Then there's a long vision where he gets to talk to God, in the form of his mother and two characters from the Nantucket books, and hears some nonsense about what caused the change and what his purpose is. (More on the nonsense later.) Then his followers see him emerging from the room, bloodied, holding the sheathed sword in his hand. So, the crucial moment that we have built up to for three books actually occurs offscreen. It's not that big a gap, and it might not even be important, but it still bothered me.
Now, for the nonsense. In the Nantucket series, Nantucket Island gets popped into prehistoric times in some alternate world timeline. It's a very cool series, and there's never much of an explanation of what happened to the island or why. But the characters do very cool things by introducing modern technology into a world where, for instance, Odysseus is a real person. In the Change series, electricity and explosions no longer work, basically killing off all technology, and almost all humanity as a result. The rumors are that the change occurred at Nantucket, and it occurred at the same time as the event occurred in the Nantucket series. So it looks like the two series are related.
Here, Rudy gets to Nantucket and has a vision where he sees something that is like the Universal mind. It appears to him as his own mom, and two characters from the Nantucket series. The vision explains to Rudy that it has appeared to him in a form that he can understand. So why the Nantucket characters? Its not like they add anything to Rudy's understanding. That's just a bone for readers and fans of the Nantucket series, but it doesn't seem to have any genuine purpose here.
Moreover, the god/mind/women tell Rudy that the Cutters are basically also a product of the gods, and result from god arguing with itself. That's fine, but then why am I rooting for Rudy? I'm uncomfortable with the idea that people have to put up with all of this shit simply because God is having a bad day and can't make up his mind. It sounds like a bad explanation with me, and it leaves me with many more questions than I had before.
And the God figure also explains that the Change occurred because man was in too much danger of destroying himself with technology, and so the god/mind decided to give man a do-over. I guess 95-99% destruction of humanity is better than total destruction. But there's a suggestion that the second chance is in the hope that man will do it better the second time around. But that makes me wonder how they will do it better, since the means of doing much of anything at all have been taken away. I did not see this, in any way, as a promise that electric and explosive power would be restored. So the suggestion that men would learn better the second time around rings hollow to me.
There were a few moving scenes toward the end. I actually liked Odard's death scene. Even more, I liked the scene in Maine where they had a big oath giving ritual. As much as I'm cold to Rudy, I found the oaths his followers gave to be touching. I also loved the introduction of another new, and promising character, in Asgerd. She's a woman who lost her betrothed and gave solemn oath that she would give ten-fold vengeance for the death. Her character is still just a sketch, but she is wounded, deeply flawed, and likable.
I really liked the first three books in the Emberverse, and to a certain extent, the strength of them keeps me going in this series. I like Stirling's vision of a ruined United States, and I think he's done a very good job showing a multitude of different societies growing out of the ashes. I don't much like the quest/fantasy basis of this second series. It's fun to encounter each new society, but it would be more fun if Rudy were less perfect. I'm sure that I will continue to at least the end of this series, and maybe even into the new trilogy to come. But I'm doing that more because I'm interested in Clan McKenzie, the Bearkillers, and the Portland Protection Association, and less because I have any real attachment to any of the heroes in this series.
baronessekat's review against another edition
4.0
I liked this book more than the second one. But it ended with me going "and?!?!?! Now what?!?"