91 of 106 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Dammit, Steve, Get an Editor!!!, September 11, 2005
I have been impatiently waiting for this book ever since Dies the Fire came out. I have to say I am disappointed. There are parts of the book that are WONDERFUL and there are what appear to be huge chunks missing from the plot and from the story, as if the editor (or Stirling himself) took an axe to the manuscript.
Lakaeditn is an old Hawaiian illness peculiar to extremely successful authors, similar to lakanookie, a disease peculiar to geeky kids.
What I think is that this book should have been edited much better.
For example, the book abruptly switches from Stirling's normal, and very well done, linear exposition mode, to retrograde exposition where the point of view starts to shift and then returns to the omniscient editor. Each time this happens, the book seems to start over. It is as if Stirling wrote four or five versions of the same book, and then shuffled the pages of the ms. together and sent it to the editor.
The thing that bothers me the most is that the book could have been and should have been one of the best books Steve Stirling has ever written. His writing style has improved, and his infatuation with kinky sex for the sake of kinky sex has been reduced to normal levels.
In addition, the bad guys become less like scary sociopaths and cardboard villains, and become real people. To be able to make us care about the Lord Protector and his wife, and about King Charles III is terrific writing.
Now I can go back to waiting to find out what really happens in the Protector's War, which still hadn't started by the epilogue.
Walt Boyes
The Bananaslug. at Baen's Bar
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Slightly; okay, not slightly, QUITE disappointed., April 26, 2006
First of all; for a book about a Protector's War, there's very little war. There are just a few skirmishes and a kidnapping. The rest of the book was a babbling tangle of political infighting and conversations--as well as a predictable arrival of love interests from England. I do enjoy descriptive writing, especially when it involves the Northwest; however, much like Conquistador, there's simply too much of it sometimes, and it tends to take away from the plot. I do enjoy knowing that zoo animals now comprise the wildlife of this new world, but hearing it ten zillion times does get slightly old.
This book was a labour to finish. I kept expecting something to happen; and something actually did, on the final few pages, and then I was left hanging. That's a cruel device I thought this author might be above inflicting on his readers. It cannot hurt you to read this if you're want for something to keep your brain occupied (but active and engaged... I am doubtful those will be inspired by this book); however in truth, you probably won't miss much between Dies the Fire and Meeting at Corvallis (chapters of which have already been posted online)if you decide to skip this book. I'm sure other postings and reviews will summarize the new characters and drudging, and tiny forward movement of the continuing plot.
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17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Liked, but did not love it, September 25, 2005
SM Stirling is one of my top 5 sci fi authors. I honestly liked this book very quite a bit.
The Good:
The introduction of the British characters and the story of their travel from England to America. SM Stirling's clear writing style. Mr. Stirling's always great battle scenes.
The not as good:
The key to some of the complaints here stem from the pagan folks becoming one of the dominant forces in society. I found myself skipping through most of the sections invovlving the Wiccans and the invoking of their various entities, it really stretched my disbelief to the breaking point. The consolation is that this is fiction and in fiction anything is possible.
Overall:
This book has a lot to reccomend it by. It continues the saga of all our pals from Dies the Fire. I would have preferred the focus to be less on the Wiccan folk though. They're kind of annoying.
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