The Sunrise Lands (Hardcover)

by S. M. Stirling (Author) "Ingolf Vogeler slapped his horse affectionately on the neck,· he felt a little better now that the rain had stopped, even though it was the..." (more)
Key Phrases: sunrise lands, war cloak, Father Ignatius, Dun Juniper, Mount Angel (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Set 12 years after A Meeting at Corvallis (2006), Stirling's latest novel of a chaotic near-future U.S., crippled when the mysterious Change rendered most technology nonfunctional, combines vigorous military adventure with cleverly packaged political idealism. When assassins pursue a traveler into Oregon's Willamette Valley, the resulting skirmish propels the heirs of three influential local leaders on a risky continent-crossing mission to Nantucket. Stirling's narrative deftly balances sharply contrasting ideologies—the Mackenzies' proto-Celtic clan system in Oregon against Gen. Lawrence Thurston's strict and principled military democracy in Idaho, the zealotry of the Church Universal and Triumphant versus the pagan Powers venerated by the Mackenzies—though the most difficult cosmological questions are never addressed. Meanwhile, there are hints of otherworldly intervention and time travel on Nantucket, echoing the parallel continuity established in Island in the Sea of Time and its sequels. Despite these fuzzy underpinnings, the thought-provoking and engaging storytelling should please Stirling's many fans. (Sept.)
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From Booklist
What is now called the Change Saga resumes a generation after the action of Dies the Fire (2004). Rudi Mackenzie, Juniper's son, has a mission to cross post–Change North America and find out what is going on around the mysterious island of Nantucket. This entails crossing the Rockies, a literally howling wilderness, and New Deseret, semicivilized thanks to its Mormon roots. Some rump states also survive on the Great Plains, sans twentieth-century technology, but then bows and swords can keep enemies at bay, and buffalo are splendid meat animals. Avoiding the formerly urbanized Death Zones, now reduced largely to ruins, skeletons, and savage remnants of de-civilized humanity, Rudi and his companions find the sadly misnamed Valley of Paradise and its bloodthirsty leader, self-dubbed the Scourge of God. This leads to rather a cliff-hanger ending, but readers who have survived Stirling's usual high body count will recognize brilliant action fiction and alternate history when they see it and happily hang fire for more. Green, Roland

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Roc Hardcover; First Edition edition (September 4, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451461703
• ISBN-13: 978-0451461704
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #149,802 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic opening to a new chapter in the saga, September 25, 2007

By	Patrick Curtin "Bookaholic" (Cape Cod MA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have awaited the publishing of this book for months now, and I have to say, I am not disappointed. Stirling, as always, delivers tight, action packed prose that makes you eat up the pages like Halloween candy. For those of you not familiar with the series, I would direct you to Dies the Fire (Roc Science Fiction) first and its' two sequels. I would also point you to the tangentaly linked Island in the Sea of Time series (which starts with Island in the Sea of Time), although these three books aren't strictly neccessary to understand the current book. Be that as it may, I applaud Stirling for writing the type of fast-paced fun novels that used to be a staple of the SF genre. I am eagerly awaiting the next installment.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Will Be An Enjoyable Series!!, September 13, 2007

By	A. Stagg (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

I was sorry to see Stirling's Nantucket Series come to an end and have missed new books in the series. I also have been enjoying the current series of books, so am exceedingly pleased that Stirling is starting to draw the two storylines together in "The Sunrise Lands". It's also quite entertaining to see how Stirling has conceptualized the evolution of society decades after most technology has been rendered inert. Stirling introduces many new characters in this series, but keeps key figures who keep the storyline grounded and provide continuity. Best of all, Stirling has created a true QUEST saga in the current series which is quite appropriate for the storyline.

What makes the books fun is the exploration of what a society centered around paganism would look like. How about a society built around LOTR or Society for Creative Anachronism? I particularly like that the MacKenzies have adopted an accent based on a fake Scottish brogue and contrived literary speech patterns. Very funny to see how popular culture ideas morph into myths and legends.

Of course, you have to suspend disbelief to enter this universe, but its well worth the effort. Read the book and find out how it all fits together! It's great fun and well-written. I'm already looking forward to the next book in the series!!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A stunning continuation for a splendid saga, September 25, 2007

By	Diana L. Paxson (Berkeley, CA) - See all my reviews

Those who have enjoyed S.M.Stirling's novels about a Nantucket Island transported back to 2,000 B.C.E. know how well he handles the interface between modern and ancient technology. In *Dies the Fire*, he began a new series, in which technological man must survive without most of his technology. It's sociological science fiction, and the hardest of hard fantasy.

These are great books for people who loved *Swiss Family Robinson* as children, and enjoyed the more hopeful post-apocalyptic books, such as *Alas Babylon* of recent years, a better account of a Cataclysm than I would have dared to write as a back story to my books about Westria.

Stirling is one of the best action-writers around, with a wealth of sensory detail that puts you in the middle of it, smelling the ripe scent of growing crops or the stench of the battlefield, feeling the stretch and strain of pulling a bow. And fortunately, all this action features some of the most interesting and involving characters in recent fiction.

And now those who were hooked by the first trilogy can rejoice in the beginning of a new sequence with *The Sunrise Lands*, which picks up twelve years after *Meeting*, as the children born since the Change reach adulthood, and their cultures also begin to mature. Now we get to find out what happened to the rest of the world, and how that precocious and engaging child, Rudi Mackenzie, is growing into his potential. It's a good thing, too, as Stirllng ups the ante and reveals a powerful new threat to humanity's survival.

If you haven't discovered this series, start now. These books pass my test for collectables--they're as much fun to read for the fifth time as the first time through.