Kalimpura [Kindle Edition]

Jay Lake (Author)

Book Description

This sequel to Green and Endurance takes Green back to the city of Kalimpura and the service of the Lily Goddess. 

Green is hounded by the gods of Copper Downs and the gods of Kalimpura, who have laid claim to her and her children. She never wanted to be a conduit for the supernatural, but when she killed the Immortal Duke and created the Ox god with the power she released, she came to their notice.

Now she has sworn to retrieve the two girls taken hostage by the Bittern Court, one of Kalimpura’s rival guilds. But the Temple of the Lily Goddess is playing politics with her life.

At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Assassin and ex-courtesan Green has saved a city and birthed a god. Now she wants to move on—but she’s hunted by enemies from her past, the city council is mired in a power struggle and can’t provide much aid, and something is stalking goddesses, including the one Green serves. Lake deftly weaves complicated, stubborn characters into a plot that reaches the grandest and most personal scales without ever straining credulity…. This complex, lonesome, haunting novel will appeal to fans of Valente, Monette, and Miéville.”  —Publishers Weekly, starred review on Endurance

About the Author

JAY LAKE lives and works in Portland, Oregon, within sight of an 11,000-foot volcano. He is the author of over two hundred short stories, four collections, and a chapbook, along with ten novels. In 2004, Lake won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. He has also been a Hugo nominee for his short fiction and a three-time World Fantasy Award nominee for his editing.
www.jlake.com

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 572 KB
• Print Length: 304 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0765326779
• Publisher: Tor Books (January 29, 2013)
• Sold by: Macmillan
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00AEC9J06
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Not Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #127,864 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars disappointing close to disappointing series May 21, 2013

By B. Capossere TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Kalimpura is the third and supposedly concluding book in Jay Lake's series about Green, the young girl who becomes enmeshed in both worldly and godly politics, much to her dismay. I had lots of issues with the first book, Green, fewer but still some issues with the follow-up, Endurance, and I have to say that Kalimpura, while better than Green, didn't wrap up the series in any way that would have me recommend readers pick up the trilogy.

Kalimpura picks up soon after Green has given birth to twins--a son and daughter. Still unresolved from Endurance is the fate of the two girls stolen away and taken to Green's homeland city of Kalimpura. After several attacks in Copper Domes, and attempts by Green to resolve her standing issues with the gods of that city, including Divine and Blackblood, Green takes ship with a small group of allies and heads across the ocean toward home. After facing down an unnatural storm, she finds things have gone from bad to worse in Kalimpura, as her old enemy--the Bittern Court--has corrupted The Temple of the Lily Goddess and set its sight on ruling the city entire, even if that means killing off the goddess herself.

As with the prior two books, the plotting of Kalimpura, often felt arbitrary to me. Long stretches of time go by with no action and then there are bouts of feverish action, then more non-action--all of it feeling strangely disconnected, with little sense of rhyme or reason to it. We're told all the way through this series of plots and conspiracies, but I never felt I fully understood the plotters--what they sought to gain, why they chose these methods to gain them, why they did or (often more frustrating) didn't do certain things. It's all quite episodic with little sense of unity; I often felt I was reading a sketch or outline for a novel that the author kept coming back to over a long period of time, jotting down ideas or events, but then never filling in the connective tissue or fleshing out the necessary backstory details. New characters come and go with little sense of three-dimensionality and almost randomly affect (or not) events. To give one example, Green learns of assassins called "Quiet Men" from Kalimpura and tells us "I had never heard of this order." But it's nearly impossible to believe that the Blades/Temple of the Lily Goddess, who patrolled the city and handed out the Death Right, had never heard of these people. It becomes more than impossible to believe though when we're told in that same sentence that it is the beggars of Kalimpura who call them "Quiet Men" and we find out the Temple has been using the beggars as their eyes and ears for years.

Once again, Green feels oddly disengaged from events and the people around her, despite her statements to the contrary. And once again, the sexuality feels awkwardly shoehorned in, as for instance when the mother of one of the kidnapped girls breaks down weeping in fear and despair and horror at what might be happening to her daughter, and Green, holding her as she sobs, tells us "In a different time and place, we might have found more ways to banish her pain, but this would have to do for now." Really? Only a few months a new mother herself, and after frequently reminding us of her fierce and single-minded protectiveness over her children, while comforting this grieving, lost mother Green's thoughts go to "I still wish we could have sex like I've wanted to since we first met"?

Once again, the Green suffers from a bit too much of the superwoman abilities, or from the convenient incompetence of her enemies, who all too often attack with too few people (despite prior experience and despite knowing Green is a danger even to gods), or attack without full force/commitment, or wait and wait and wait.

There are some points to praise. Like Endurance, the pace is much improved over Green. And like both earlier books, there are intriguing questions raised about religion, responsibility, gender. But mostly I found Kalimpura, and the trilogy as a whole, to be a frustrating and disappointing read. Not recommended.

4.0 out of 5 stars A nice continuation of a favorite character May 20, 2013

By WordWrangler

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

The previous novels in this arc have shown a character that has changed from a hard, dangerous female assassin to an older, less certain mother and friend.

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing May 17, 2013

By justyn grider

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This has been a captivating series and a character I truly connected with. I cried for and with Green, in good times and bad. My heart aches that her story is not for me to follow any longer. I will cherish her always as a dear friend.

More About the Author

Jay Lake lives in Portland, Oregon, where he works on numerous writing and editing projects. His 2010 books are _Pinion_ from Tor Books, _The Baby Killers_ from PS Publishing, and _The Sky That Wraps_ from Subterranean Press. His short fiction appears regularly in literary and genre markets worldwide. Jay is a winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and a multiple nominee for the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards. Jay can be reached through his Web site at jlake.com.