The Sunrise Lands: A Novel of the Change (Change Series) [Paperback]

S. M. Stirling (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2012 | Series: Change Series (Book 1)

Rudi MacKenzie has grown up knowing that he will one day assume leadership over the survivors of the technological disaster known as the Change. But a prophecy made at his birth spoke of an even greater destiny?a destiny that is about to be fulfilled. A mysterious traveler from Nantucket, long rumored to be the source of the Change, arrives on a mission to bring Rudi back with him. And between him and his destiny lies the the cult of a madman determined to stop him?

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.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Roc; Reprint edition (May 1, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451462254
• ISBN-13: 978-0451462251
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (70 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #491,913 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #57 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Alternate History

More About the Author

I'm a writer by trade, born in France but Canadian by origin and American by naturalization, living in New Mexico at present. My hobbies are mostly related to the craft -- I love history, anthropology and archaeology, and am interested in the sciences. The martial arts are my main physical hobby.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 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
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This review is from: The Sunrise Lands (Hardcover)

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.

28 of 31 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

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This review is from: The Sunrise Lands (Hardcover)

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 glimpses of a multi-universe, September 4, 2007

By 

W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Sunrise Lands (Hardcover)

I do wish Stirling would write more stories in the Nantucket series, instead of continuing in this original world. The former was a far more uplifting series in terms of humans rebuilding a technological civilisation. But given a new book in the latter series, how goes it?

Still a downcast ambience. With humans constrained by some extraordinary alien technology, from using electronics or explosive chemistry. But within this straitjacket, the protagonists struggle valiently and successfully to rebuild as much as they can. Perhaps theirs is a more heroic struggle than the Nantuckers, who can start with a clean slate of knowledge and a virgin world within which to redo the entire panoply of our civilisation. For when the Gods hold you down, and the aliens are surely akin to gods, how can you prevail?

Readers of Stirling's previous works will see much to admire in The Sunrise Lands. His descriptions of small unit combat are possibly unexcelled amongst currently active writers of military science fiction. To some fans, this is his greatest ability.

The book also fleshes out in much finer detail the region of the United States, and of the pocket empires that have arisen in its demise. Echoes here of the planet Bellevue in his General series, with barbarian pre-technological regimes endlessly at strife. Stirling has introduced enough new players, in sufficient complexity, to draw out many more sequels, depending on the popularity of this current 4 book series. Especially intriguing is President Thornton of the United States of Boise. He is portrayed sympathetically as someone who wants to reunify the USA. Like Raj Whitehall (aka. Belisarius) of the General series.

We also get tantalising glimpses of Nantucket. How there seems to be some clue left by aliens, to connect the Nantucket series and this one. There is somehow a meta universe, that spans both narratives. And also includes other timelines. Visions furnished to one character are essentially meaningless to him. But to the reader, these evoke timelines where civilisation continued untrammelled (ours?), and one where all life became extinct (runaway global warming or a final war?). The most challenging aspect of the current book, to be continued in others, is for him to satisfactorily tie together both series.