Okay, just a reminder as I took a tiny break. My goal with these reviews is not just to tell you if I liked the book– Chances are, if it’s here I liked it– but to tell you what I learned from the book, if anything.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m no wizard, maybe even not that observant or knowledgeable when it comes to technique but I know when something works, or doesn’t… At least for me. I hope that’s enough of a caveat for you.
The Sunrise Lands by SM Stirling.
It took me over two months to read this book. It never takes me that long to read a book. To be fair, I read at least a half a dozen other books during that period and therein lays the problem. As soon as a new book came in, I put The Sunrise Lands down.
So the question I asked myself was why?
The writing is excellent. The premise… what can I saw about the premise? The only thing better is the world-building. Yes, folks, this is some of the best world building I have ever seen.
Imagine for a moment that one day all machines just stopped working. What would you do?
My first thought is I’d be okay. I have a large garden, I used to live on a farm, I’d be alright and then it struck me. Water pump. Desert. Yeah, I’d be screwed.
So the world goes a little crazy. People in cities have no where and no knowledge of how to grow enough food to survive. People die on a massive scale. Some turn to cannibalism. So who survives? Well, without going in to great detail, people who have survival skills and a world view that will hold a community together. There is a band of people who have fashioned their society on Tolkien’s books. Yes, folks, the Dunedain again walk the earth but there are no elves. They made their journey two ages ago. They speak Sindarin, which bugged me a little. It’s a cool concept and Sindarin works well for a written language but it’s not quite complete enough for spoken. (Yes, I’ve studied it.) Another group develops along the lines of ancient Celtic society including their religion. We have a society of people who happened to be drawn to King Arthur. The Catholic Church is still a power and there is a band of Mormons who survived as well as some ranchers… You get the idea.
But folks this is so well done, you don’t doubt it for a moment. Again, the best world building I’ve read in a long time.
So why did it take me two months to finish 450 pages? The plot. What is the plot you might ask and quite frankly, I wouldn’t be able to tell you.
To be fair to the author, I later learned this was book four in the Emberverse series, but even then, you’d think it should stand on its own, it didn’t. This book was a section cut from a larger story and it read like that.
First we have the set up were we are introduced to the characters and the world. Then the author lets you see that there is a mysterious something in the east that could have caused all of the machines to stop working.
Through dreams and a prophesy, it becomes apparent that Rudi, the heir to the MacKenzies (Celtic group) who lives in Oregon, must go to this mysterious something.
The something is actually pretty cool. In a flashback, we learn that once in contact with this thing, you can see all the possible futures your life might have taken had you made different choices. It’s enough to drive a person a mad.
So Rudi and 8 of his friends (nine is a good number for a quest) begin a trek from Oregon to the east coast.
Throw into the mix a really evil, insane, bad guy who is bent on world domination and you have the plot.
Spoiler: Rudi doesn’t’ make it there in this book. He’s alive, but they’re stuck in Boise, which has become the provisional capital of the Unites States of America.
So what did I learn? Balance. 
I can create the most believable, deep, detailed world but it’s only one leg of the chair. Write it well and I have two… but it still won’t hold my weight. I know some would read this book just for the beautiful description and the details but, for me, it dragged. As interesting as the background, I wanted to know about the characters, I wanted something to happen and as awesome as the writing. I have no desire to buy the next book, or even see if it’s in my library.
It was like visiting a foreign country with a tour group. After a while you get tired of the guide’s drone, even articulated interesting drone, and you just want to go down that alley, discover what’s in that shop.
Well that’s it. Thank you for reading. : )
If you’ve read this book, or one like it, I’d love for you to leave a comment.
Read Full Post »