Reviews

Caine's Law by Matthew Woodring Stover

ganglari's review against another edition

4.0

Wow. This was a hard one. At times it was a five, other times a two. It's Caine-goes-metaphysics, as if Stanton read too much Heinlein just before starting this book, and the experiment isn't always successful. Still, it did all come together, somehow, in the end.

ajokli's review against another edition

4.0

This book was a difficult read. Time, tense, reality, what is going on is something that is elusive for the majority of the book. I think this would be more easily absorbed the second time around. This said, it's a Caine book, and Caine is most awesome.

kejadlen's review against another edition

3.0

3.5/5 - I think I need to re-read this to give it a proper rating. Thoroughly confusing, but very Stover.

beau_kemp's review against another edition

4.0

Debated between 3 and 4 stars for this one, but Caine is such a badass I had to go with 4. The time jumps and metaphysical nature in this one made it hard to piece together what was going on at times. Stover's brain obviously works differently than most any other person - and he's amazing. I will greatly miss Caine. I think it would be awesome to have some more stories based on Caine - ones with tales of his badassery on Overworld as an actor but with less mind-bending metaphysical backstory.

vulco1's review against another edition

5.0

SO good! Caine and Stover did it again! Super entertaining. Slightly less action than usual, but so good.

pygreg's review against another edition

3.0

I think I liked this book? But it was very confusing and slow moving at parts. I recognize that was intentional.

librarianjoy's review against another edition

4.0

So confusing. But still good.

clamu's review

adventurous dark slow-paced

2.0

hawkeyegonzalez's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

I didn't really like this book at all.  It's so far off the rails from where it started that it feels like a completely different series.  Almost everything that I loved about the first novel is gone.  Instead, we have a story that tries to be far more philosophical instead of one that deals with two different worlds and the repercussions of them interacting with one another.

Time travel plays a big part here, and many of the characters spend most of their time arguing or explaining the difference between what has happened and what will happen.  It gets extremely confusing and frustrating.

In the end, I would still recommend the first novel in the series, as it's a complete story and is one of the best sci-fi books I've ever read.  After that, I would recommend disregarding what follows.

chalicotherex's review against another edition

4.0

Re-read this recently and liked it more than the first go round. It makes more sense when you can see the twist coming (I've never been a big fan of time travel, especially when it's introduced late into a series). It's also a lot cornier than the previous Caine novels, but it's a fantasy book, so there's no right to complain on that account. Caine becomes less interesting as he becomes less violent in old age, but the supporting characters become more interesting. Would like to see more Stover novels set in Overworld, maybe even sans Caine. Or just more Stover writing in general.

Stover's novels, ranked:

1. Blade of Tyshalle and Caine Black Knife (tie)
3. Heroes Die
4. Shatterpoint
5. Caine's Law
6. Traitor
7. RotS
8. Jericho Moon
9. Iron Dawn
10. Shadows of Mindor

I haven't read any of his other media tie-in novels.