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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Let's break this down into the good and the bad.
The Good: Steve Stirling's world-building continues to be first rate, at a level very few writers can compete with. You can really feel immersed in the Changed world and see how the society and even landscape is changing over time. His craft in writing appears to have improved as well. He retains his cast of interesting and easily distinguishable characters.
The Bad: That said, this is a flawed book. It's primarily there to show the opening preparations and skirmishes for the upcoming war, with very little action occurring in the book itself. One of the primary plots takes place as a series of flashbacks scattered through the book - which means we know how it ends from the start. There are also a couple of occasions where important scenes happen "off camera" and we only see people talking about them afterwards. Steve Stirling also needs to rein in his love of describing food. People are eating in a lot of the scenes, and we know exactly what they're eating in each one. And while he introduces a significant number of side characters, primarily from the Protectorate, they tend to be rather generically honourable and capable. The Protectorate's darker aspects are mentioned in passing, but we don't see them.
That said, and I'm aware I spent more time describing the flaws than the virtues, this is a good book, but not Steve's best work. It's also not meant to be read on its own, but as part of the whole series and as background to the action occurring in the next book.
And the next book hasn't been finished yet.
The Good: Steve Stirling's world-building continues to be first rate, at a level very few writers can compete with. You can really feel immersed in the Changed world and see how the society and even landscape is changing over time. His craft in writing appears to have improved as well. He retains his cast of interesting and easily distinguishable characters.
The Bad: That said, this is a flawed book. It's primarily there to show the opening preparations and skirmishes for the upcoming war, with very little action occurring in the book itself. One of the primary plots takes place as a series of flashbacks scattered through the book - which means we know how it ends from the start. There are also a couple of occasions where important scenes happen "off camera" and we only see people talking about them afterwards. Steve Stirling also needs to rein in his love of describing food. People are eating in a lot of the scenes, and we know exactly what they're eating in each one. And while he introduces a significant number of side characters, primarily from the Protectorate, they tend to be rather generically honourable and capable. The Protectorate's darker aspects are mentioned in passing, but we don't see them.
That said, and I'm aware I spent more time describing the flaws than the virtues, this is a good book, but not Steve's best work. It's also not meant to be read on its own, but as part of the whole series and as background to the action occurring in the next book.
And the next book hasn't been finished yet.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
110 reviews
78 of 83 people found the following review helpful
The Series Needs Tighter Focus
8 Sep 2011
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Tears of the Sun feels like a series of short stories fit together to make a novel. Rudi and Matti play very small roles in this book. Instead it focuses on the stories of several secondary and tertiary characters. There are visits to the past explaining the treason by House Lui and its consequences. There is a visit to the Buddhist monastery in Wyoming. There are a couple great battles including a covert op into Boise. Individually they are each good but collectively they just don't have the feel of the rest of the series.
I've been waiting impatiently to see how this story ends since the first book came out 7 years ago. The first three books are a neat trilogy of the death of the old world and the rise of a new one. Books 4-6 fit as a second trilogy of the journey to Nantucket. Book 7 was the journey back to Oregon and this one, book 8 is a lot of back story explaining events that took place in Oregon during books 4-6. This one just doesn't feel as much of a tight fit into the story arc as the first 6 books.
Perhaps he would have been better served to structure the series as a trilogy of trilogies. This one just feels a little indulgent and is my least favorite of the bunch. I'll still buy books 9 and 10 because I'm sure the finale will be worth it - I just feel this one to be slower paced than the others and that it is more sub-plot than plot advancement ....
I've been waiting impatiently to see how this story ends since the first book came out 7 years ago. The first three books are a neat trilogy of the death of the old world and the rise of a new one. Books 4-6 fit as a second trilogy of the journey to Nantucket. Book 7 was the journey back to Oregon and this one, book 8 is a lot of back story explaining events that took place in Oregon during books 4-6. This one just doesn't feel as much of a tight fit into the story arc as the first 6 books.
Perhaps he would have been better served to structure the series as a trilogy of trilogies. This one just feels a little indulgent and is my least favorite of the bunch. I'll still buy books 9 and 10 because I'm sure the finale will be worth it - I just feel this one to be slower paced than the others and that it is more sub-plot than plot advancement ....
99 of 116 people found the following review helpful
How to tell if you will like Tears of the Sun
19 Sep 2011
Format:Kindle Edition
You will probably not enjoy this book if:
- You were wondering what actually happens to Rudy and his companions after their return to Montival;
- You were hoping to read about any signifcant events relating to the conflict between Montival and CUT; or
- You enjoy books with a lot of action, plot, or character development
You probably will thoroughly enjoy this book if:
- You (a) even remember that it was Odard's mother that sold out to the CUT in the first place; and (b) could not sleep at night without knowing all the details of why and how that sell out occurred, what happened to Mary Liu (and every other member of the Liu clan) as a result, and how she passed the time in prison afterwards [SPOILER ALERT- she was knitting]
- You can't get enough of the charming accents and kooky religous practices that have somehow permeated the Pacific Northwest in the 20 odd years since the change; and
- The whole reason you read the first six books in the series was to learn the entire lexicon of medieval heraldry (Sable Hedgehog with a Battune Sinister on a field of Gules- what fun!!) and its application to literally every single person ever mentioned in this series; or
- You didn't get enough culinary details in Dances with Dragons.
- You were wondering what actually happens to Rudy and his companions after their return to Montival;
- You were hoping to read about any signifcant events relating to the conflict between Montival and CUT; or
- You enjoy books with a lot of action, plot, or character development
You probably will thoroughly enjoy this book if:
- You (a) even remember that it was Odard's mother that sold out to the CUT in the first place; and (b) could not sleep at night without knowing all the details of why and how that sell out occurred, what happened to Mary Liu (and every other member of the Liu clan) as a result, and how she passed the time in prison afterwards [SPOILER ALERT- she was knitting]
- You can't get enough of the charming accents and kooky religous practices that have somehow permeated the Pacific Northwest in the 20 odd years since the change; and
- The whole reason you read the first six books in the series was to learn the entire lexicon of medieval heraldry (Sable Hedgehog with a Battune Sinister on a field of Gules- what fun!!) and its application to literally every single person ever mentioned in this series; or
- You didn't get enough culinary details in Dances with Dragons.
47 of 56 people found the following review helpful
Slow, slow, slow
11 Sep 2011
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have totally enjoyed this series for many years. I have been waiting all year for this entry to come out. Wow.....am I disappointed. Where did all the action go? If I have to read one more flashback chapter to fill in details when Rudy and Company were off to the East, I think I may puke. I guess it is necessary to get those details across.....but I could have lived without knowing everything that happened. I thought this book would be about the war with the CUT........nope.
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