Customer Reviews

Kingdom River (The Snowfall Trilogy, Book 2)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

The best way to describe this novel is to call it a medieval war fantasy novel fought on the banks of the Mississippi River against Ghengis Kahn's horse riders during a cold snap.

This book is really long (at least it feels that way because nothing much happens for about 200 pages), boring (yes, yes, we understand the battle plans as the author feels the need to remind us what's going to happen around every 50 pages), and is the classic definition of path of least resistance writing. The protagonist of the novel says he's going to do this and that in such a way, he does it just as he said he would, and then the novel ends.

The only thing that is post-apocalyptic in this novel is the fact that everyone refers back to Warm-Time Phrases and the geographical locations in the novel, otherwise it's pretty much a swords and smidge of sorcery battle novel. And let's be honest, the sorcery aspect is a bit stomach churning in some ways, and completely uninteresting and never explored much further than in describing it.

Having now read both the first and second novel in the trilogy there's not a doubt in my mind the 3rd will be a return the same and I have no interest in finishing the trilogy out.

Mitchell Smith is exceptionally skilled at several aspects of writing. His action scenes are grim, exciting, original and very real; he has a splendid eye for character quirks and observations; he has a strong ability to evoke sensual pleasures, whether it's sex, food, injuring some deserving individual, or going to the bathroom.

This trilogy is not my favorite of his works, but it nevertheless contains a large amount of good writing. Readers would be well advised to read Stone City, Karma, Due North and Daydreams. He has also written 12 short western novels under the name of Roy LeBeau; the Buckskin series (just the first 12 titles).

The Buckskin novels all contain in their brief pages more splendidly evoked sex, violence and western atmosphere than you might guess. They are the acme of Western excitement. The writing is first rate, the kills and sex highly impacting the reader. Mr. Smith is to be congratulated for his scorching descriptions of every possible heterosexual sex act; sort of a progression through the series to ever greater hard core intensity. Nice work! Buy a couple; you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Centuries after a sudden ice age crushed our civilization, North America is divided into several kingdoms. New England, with strange mental powers and genetic engineering keeping alive amidst the great glacier, the Southern empire in Mexico, the Khanate in the Southwest, and a powerful but stagnant Middle Kingdom surrounding the enormous River that was once Mississippi. The small, fractious country in the North Mexico has little chance between the warring giants, except for their tradition of independence, and their leader, the reluctant general Sam Monroe.

The story of Sam, and his attempts to block the all-conquering, mongol-like Khanate from running over the continent, is entertaining, full of battles and human interest stories. The language seems a bit burdened at times, with constant references to Warm-times, and the topic familiar. However, the major characters are interesting, Sam himself sympathetic, and the battles, and the politics exciting and tense.

--inotherworlds.com

In the distant future a curtain of ice stretches from sea to once shining sea. To survive one must head south of the great wall of ice that has devastated what were once much of the United States and all of Canada. To endure, clans and kingdoms formed as people battles for control of the livable land left on the North America.

Years have passed since Monroe and Olsen led the Colorado Trappers south where they join forces with the Garden tree-dwellers (see SNOWFALL). Jack and Catania's son Sam now leads the army of North-Map Mexico, but knows that his people are on the easement and that the Khanate nomads led by Toghrul Khan will ravage the land on their way to war with Kingdom River ruled by Queen Joan. Sam knows his relatively small country has no chance though the never defeated army would risk their lives to prove otherwise. He needs an alliance with Joan, but worries that her much larger nation will gobble up his small country. To have some say in the confederacy, Sam marries the Kingdom's Princess Rachel. War remains inevitable as Khan and his barbarians sweep over all in their path.

The second tale in Mitchell Smith's apocalyptic future world, KINGDOM RIVER, is a very exciting look at people struggling to survive a harsh time, but in this novel (as opposed to the ice of SNOWFALL) it is from enemy forces. The story line escorts the reader to a changed realm where civilization almost totally collapsed. The audience will picture this frozen wasteland as a distinct possibility because Mr. Smith goes to extreme lengths through his strong characters and vivid universe to make everything believable.

Harriet Klausner

I think this series is probably one of the most boring I have ever encountered. I'm not sure why I am still trying to slog my way through Kingdom's River. There isn't a single character that I care about and the writing is tedious. Especially the constant references to "warm-time". Who cares.