The Tears of the Sun (Emberverse Series #8)

by S. M. Stirling, Todd McLaren (Narrated by)

Overview

It's Change Year 25, a generation after high-energy technology died in a catastrophe most of the human race didn't survive. The children born after the Change are now starting to take center stage-and Whoever or Whatever was behind the Change itself may be taking a hand in their rivalries. An expedition has travelled to Nantucked across a strange and hostile continent to find some answers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781400164516
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	09/06/2011
Series:	Emberverse Series , #8
Edition description:	MP3 - Unabridged CD
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

S. M. Stirling is the author of numerous science fiction and fantasy novels, including the popular Nantucket series that began with Island in the Sea of Time.

Todd McLaren was involved in radio for more than twenty years in cities on both coasts. He left broadcasting for a full-time career in voice-overs, where he has been heard on more than 5,000 TV and radio commercials, as well as TV promos, narrations for documentaries on such networks as A&E and the History Channel, and films.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“The emerging kingdom of Montival is a damn cool place to hang out. In this postapocalyptic North America, Stirling has cherry-picked everything a fan might wish for in a high fantasy/apocalypse/alternate history mashup. You’ve got heroes, horses, swordplay, kings, siege engines, and mystics. And all with (somewhat) less patriarchy, because the postmodern world that spawned Montival—our world—has left a big stamp of twentieth-century social progress on the society rising from its ashes.”—Tor.com
“[The] Tears of the Sun engages fans of the saga, who will anxiously await the next Change.”—Genre Go Round Reviews

Editorial Reviews

"Longtime series reader Todd McLaren is comfortable with the setting and characters. . . . He handles the many action scenes with gusto, shouting, and emphasis in all the right places." —AudioFile

From the Publisher

The eighth book in Stirling's post-apocalyptic Novels of the Change series is a mostly tedious wheel-spinning installment, with repetitive plotting and labored prose.

Stirling (The High King of Montival, 2010, etc.) began the Change series with 2004'sDies the Fire, in which all technology on Earth suddenly stops working, and people have to adapt. Now the world has been reconstituted under a feudalistic system, complete with lords, castles, knights, squires and the like, and magic and prophecies play increasingly important roles in the story. After questing for several novels, nominal protagonist Rudi Mackenzie has finally retrieved the mythical Sword of the Lady and is working to unite disparate factions as part of his new kingdom of Montival. Rudi, also known as Artos now that he has ascended to the role of High King, needs as many allies as he can get in order to face down the forces of the Church Universal and Triumphant, an evil organization that uses mind control to keep its subjects in line and is bent on conquering all of what was once North America. The novel follows dozens of characters as they maneuver things into place for the big showdown, but it's almost all set-up for a climax that never arrives. Stirling spends paragraphs describing the clothing and weaponry of his characters in agonizing detail, while moving the plot along at a glacial pace. Although there are some fun nods to fantasy fandom (among them a faction of warriors who base their entire worldview on the Lord of the Rings novels), the writing is mostly deadly serious and dull. Stirling whips up a couple of lively set pieces, including the aforementioned Tolkien acolytes liberating the captive family of one of the opposition leaders, but the plodding boredom far outweighs the intermittent excitement.

Dedicated followers of the series will likely want to see it through, but this installment doesn't bode well for the books still to come.

Kirkus Reviews