Customer Reviews

The Sunrise Lands

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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.

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!!

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.

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.

Picking up a generation after the events of the first 'Dies the Fire' trilogy, this book(the first in a new trilogy) upholds and even improves upon the overall series! It is classic S.M. Stirling, maybe his best yet. Full of intense, well researched, action and adventure and including elements that verge almost into fantasy. I'm a huge fan of Stirling's, and this series in general, and this book doesn't disappoint. I cannot recommend it strongly enough.

S.M. Stirling's "Sunrise Lands" is a fantastic follow-up to his first series set after "the change". Although I think it would certianly help to have read the previous series, it is not essential to enjoying the many wonderful aspects of his latest work. While I really enjoyed the first three novels, I did often find the constant talk of the world before the change somewhat repetitious. By shifting the focus to characters that have only known the world as it now, it makes for a much better story. Unlike the first series which focused on the main character's attempts to build a new world out of the chaos that followed the change, "The Sunrise Lands" is mainly concerned with a quest that Rudi Mackenzie, son of Juniper Mackenzie, and his friends undertake to Nantucket, the proported site of the anomaly that so totally changed the world that Rudi's parent's generation had known previously. It is the shift in perspective that is the main cause of success. Unlike the characters from the first series who were never completely comfortable in their new and strange roles(Mike Havel being the best example) character's like Rudi Mackenzie and Mathilda Arminger have only known the new world and that new perspective is fascinating. Stirling does a fantastic job of subtly suggesting the kind of disconnect that exist's between the generations because of the vastly different world's that each grew up in. The Sunrise Lands is also the most action packed of the change novels and builds to a superb cliff-hanger that sets up perfectly for the next two in the series.

The beginning of a sequel trilogy set in the same post-apocalyptic world as the Dies The Fire series. In traditional Edgar Rice Burroughs/EE Smith fashion, the protagonists are the children of the protagonists of the first trilogy. Stirling continues to do a good job of turning out an alternative world. If anything, I would have like to have read more exploration of the new societies introduced by Stirling. The basic plot is in the format of a quest and Stirling is edging in some apparent supernatural elements. Plotting and characterization are decent plus some typical Stirling sly references to older literature. A solid and enjoyable performance.

SM Stirling has a new jacket photo, so now he looks more like Harry Trutledove and less like a Klingon at a Star Trek convention. This follows his continuing growth as a writer.

First off, you should know that this book is not the conclusion of the six prior "Nantucket" and "Corvallis" series. It's the first of probably three more that will--please, God!--wrap up the whole furshluginer (but enjoyable) mess.

So, it's more of the same that Stirling fans expect: swashbuckling, weird religion, blood, gore and cooking tips. But in this book, the characters are younger, less sure of themselves, and more complex. This makes for some interesting reading that will keep my interest for however many of these freakin' things SM cranks out.

So if you're a fan, you won't be disappointed. If you haven't read one of these books, start with "Island in the Sea of Time" and be sure to call in sick. Tell them you have a tumor and you'll be out for a few weeks. His books are engrossing, fast-paced, and I have a hard time putting them down.

This is the first book in a new series set after the Dies the Fire series. Unfortunately it has a lot of highs and lows that make it good but not great. The story continues about 10 years after the last book with a Lord of the rings type of plot (which is repeatedly and painfully referenced throughout the book). Basically the children of the main characters from the last series have to journey to Nantucket (hence more of a connection to Stirling's Nantucket series) in order to get a sword or something.

A huge disappointment in this book is once more Stirling spends almost the entire first half of the book going through every excruciating detail of the Wiccan Braveheart-wannabe Mackenzie Clan and elf-wannabe "Dunedain" Rangers. It would have been interesting to see more about the various other groups like the Bearkillers and Corvallis especially since we barely got a glimpse of them in the last couple of books. Things pick up when they finally start their journey and can't go on and on about Wiccan harvest festivals and rituals every chapter.

Unfortunately Stirling does another thing he does all too often, mess up the ending. He pulls everything together at the end way too fast as well as throwing in a plot twist and cliff hanger leaving the story a bit lacking right at the end.

In general this is a fairly good book, excellent in parts and lacking in others, probably best purchased as a paperback, or with a gift card.

The new book shows considerable background and thought about the folks and the way devolution and rebuilding considerably East of fertile Western Oregon could logically unfold in the 22 years after the loss of so many key technologies. I live in the region and it's obvious Stirling's been here many times over many years rather than just read a few travel guides. His character development just gets better and the interplay between the characters feels quite real and engaging, it's been a hallmark of his work since at least the start of the Island series...even without the action, adventure, cultural studies, sci-fi, etc. his books would be quite enjoyable. Anyone who enjoys this will relish the 6 prequels both for the story but as standalone sets and characters. Of course we're looking forward to the next 1-2 books in this series and who knows, if he continues with this intriguing premise, perhaps another 3 novels will result from looking at the second generation of Nantucketers in higher technology 1230 BCE. If you relished this book, his rousing "Peshawar Lancers" should join your next Amazon order.