Kingdom River (The Snowfall Trilogy, Book 2) [Hardcover]

Mitchell Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 28, 2003 | Series: Snowfall Trilogy

Sam Monroe is the reluctant commander of a tough-minded warrior people living in what was once northern Mexico. His tiny country is flanked on the northeast by the Kingdom River, a vast, trade-driven nation that replaced the southern United States, and on the northwest by the Khanate, an empire of nomads who swept down the west coast after crossing the ice from what was once Russia. Sam's people cling to a precarious, hard-won freedom.

Toghrul Khan, leader of the Khanate, wants Kingdom's lucrative trade and lush farmlands. To get them, Sam Monroe knows, the Khan's forces will march right over his people's small towns and precious homesteads. His country's only hope is an alliance with Kingdom-but the far larger Kingdom may simply swallow them up. Unless . . .

Sam's proven ability in the field attracts the attention of Queen Joan, who rules Kingdom with a heart as cold as the Colorado ice where she was raised. But if she gives Sam Monroe command of Kingdom's forces, her loyal generals and admirals may feel a lot less loyal. Unless . . .

Young, bookish princess Rachel is the key. A marriage between Sam and the princess unites both their nations and their fighting forces and gives the commanders a way to save face.

Has the alliance been made in time? The Khan's armies are sweeping east in a rush, threatening both sides of the vast Mississippi River. Kingdom's large army and navy move excruciatingly slowly. Sam's people are fleet but greatly outnumbered. And there are other dangers Sam Monroe is just beginning to comprehend. The technologically advanced people of New England, who breed monsters in women's wombs and have learned to levitate, are watching the growing conflict between the Khan and Kingdom and more important, watching Sam as he learns not just to command but to rule.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

*Starred Review* When Jupiter's orbit suddenly changed, global winter decimated Earth's population and reduced survivors to near savagery. Ice covered Canada and much of the northern U.S., while a few societies clung to carefully copied books and the lore of the Warm Time. Now civilizations of a sort are rising, and scrapping between clans threatens to become all-out war. Using slaves as brood mares, New England bands develop disturbing man-beast hybrids, while in the west, a military genius leads a coalition of Mongol tribes. In between are uneasy allies Sam Monroe, captain-general of the people of North Mexico, and Queen Joan of the Kingdom, centered on an artificial island in the Mississippi. To resist the Mongols, Sam and Joan have to coordinate their armies and, should they survive impending battles, forge a lasting alliance. The aging Joan, who loved the late king to distraction, disdains young Sam as a marriage partner, but perhaps her bookish daughter can be induced to take a leading role. Smith has the gift of making you love characters almost immediately and keenly feel the later loss of them. He also makes every character vital, including a brilliant, slightly mad teen ambassadress and a one-eyed colonel who carries tiny dogs in his pockets. Mixing politics and ferocious military action, this remarkable follow-up to Snowfall [BKL F 15 02] should grab historical fiction fans as well as postapocalyptic-adventure buffs. Roberta Johnson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"The plot is cinematically fast. Highly recommended." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; First Edition edition (June 28, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765300087
• ISBN-13: 978-0765300089
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,008,963 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Adventure Novel, August 8, 2003

By 

R. Albin (Ann Arbor, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Kingdom River (The Snowfall Trilogy, Book 2) (Hardcover)

This is a good adventure novel set in a future where the Earth is in the grip of an Ice Age. Civilization has crumbled and been succeeded by a variety of pre-industrial societies. This is the second book in a trilogy about North America. This book is the story of an alliance between 2 of these societies against a third pre-industrial culture, a Mongol-like horde that has crossed Beringia to conquer western North America. The story is a relatively conventional military campaign concluding with a reconstruction of the battle of Cannae. The plot has the usual romantic elements. Smith does a good job of presenting believable characters and his future Earth is interesting and described well. This book is not, however, as good as its predecessor, Snowfall. The quality of writing and plotting is better in Snowfall, which has a less conventional story line and gives a better sense of life in a barbarous age.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A letdown after the top notch first book, December 21, 2009

By 

Benjamin Z. Cahan "The Flying Ben" (Playa del Rey,CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Kingdom River (The Snowfall Trilogy, Book 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

Having given Snowfall, the first in this series, 5 stars, it is a bit disappointing that I can only give Kingdom River a grudging 3 stars. I love fantasy books, and the idea of this series, of a civilization in the future that can only glimpse our knowledge via hand copied books that are carefully guarded treasures, it a quite riveting concept...or at least it could have been. I still highly recommend Snowfall, but this second book just lost the magic, devolving into a book about a war, which to me misses the boat entirely.

What hooked me in Snowfall was that it was different, painting a new ice age where civilization has devolved into mainly tribal cultures, with vastly altered social norms, universal suspicion of outsiders and a way of life that sucks a reader into a new reality. That was the promise the author dangles in front of me, and I really hoped that the unique peculiarities of this new world, still geographically the US but yet unrecognizable in its peoples and customs, would be further explored in the second book of the series. Alas, not to be.

Where the author went astray in this very readable but ultimately disappointing novel is that the exploration of new customs and cultures is only a mere backdrop. It's about fighting, warfare, military strategies and political alliances. Sure, it is still set in the same future, but whereas the geography and lifestyle in this new world order was a central and fascinating part of the first book, in Kingdom River it is just the setting for battles and bloodshed. Interesting, but I can get that in loads of books, and what I really wanted was to explore this new world and get more juicy details about how life is different in this new and sudden ice age.

My criticisms notwithstanding, this series does portray an interesting possible future, even if it is an improbable future. While I think that the likelihood of civilization devolving to the spears and bows and arrows just a couple hundred years after a quick ice age descends on the planet is slim or even laughable, that doesn't take away from the fun of it all. Just wish this book had more meat on its bones.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Overly long, but entertaining, June 11, 2004

By 

Alan B. Humphrey (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Kingdom River (The Snowfall Trilogy, Book 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

This is an entertaining read, but it's not as good as the first book in the series, Snowfall. Once again Mitchell does a good job of bringing us into the lives and world of a post apocalyptic future. However, where Snowfall was a portrait of a small band of people fleeing to survive, Kingdom River tries to work on a grand, clash of armies, scale. The result is that the characters are less vivid and there is a lot of repetition.

On the repetition front, the strategy to be used in Monroe's fight against the Khan is explained, in detail, no less than three times. Does the reader really need to be reminded that many times? There are several references to curses that "a few decades earlier would have meant death". OK, we get it, times change, even in this world. But do we need to be told the same thing again and again?

Mitchell also leaves many things unexplained. He doesn't try to explain the range of deities (Weather, Mountain Jesus, Floating Jesus etc.), content to let them be just part of the world. That's fine.

On the other hand, he doesn't explain why Monroe lets the Boston ambassadress into his camp. There is no strategic or tactical advantage in allowing her in and Monroe repeatedly shows that he is always considering the implications of his actions. The ambassadress is a minor character that does nothing to advance the plot. She feels like an after thought thrown in to let the story be more "science fiction". Maybe there will be a pay off in the third book.

One more minor annoyance - the narrative is constantly making references to "fine warm-time phrases". Maybe Mitchell is simply pointing out words and phrases that he really likes, but it's really hard to believe that these people would be constantly reflecting on their usage of the language.

This is a fun read, but it could have used another round of edits to tighten it up.