 |
|
Title: The Protector's War: A Novel of the Change (Change Series)
ISBN: 0451460774
Author:
S.M. Stirling
Publicate Date: 2006-09-05
Publish: 2006-09-05
List Price: $7.99
Average Customer Rating: 3.0
Format: Mass Market Paperback
 |
|
|
|
|
Amazon Lowest New Price: $3.80
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $2.00
Amazon Merchant Price: $7.99
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Customer Review: |
|
1: Is it over yet?
Horrid! The dumbest, most boring story I've ever tried to slog through. To make matters worse, some crazed loon made mental notes in the margins, lengthening the time it took me to get through this pointless book. My first and last Stirling novel.
|
2: Good Book, But it Could Have Been Better.......
This book, the second in the Change series, follows the lives of the principal characters - Michael Havel, Juniper MacKenzie, and Norman Arminger, "the Lord Protector" - eight years after the Change rendered all modern technology inoperable worldwide. However, the opening chapter introduces three new characters who will become increasingly important as the series continues: Nigel Loring, British soldier and noble; his son Alleyne; and "Little John" Hordle, all survivors of the results of the Change in England.
In the same way he did in the "Islanders" series, Stirling attempts to show an entire world - through the novel's opening in England, following the flight of the Lorings from captivity around the Changed world, Stirling tries to show the ways in which the Change has created new societies. When Stirling sets his action in Oregon, the setting for the original novel, he does well; his picture of the societies arising from the ashes of the United states are detailed, exciting, and convincing.
For me, however, the scenes of the Lorings' world voyage aren't as real or convincing as the remainder of the novel. Perhaps it's simply that we don't see enough of them, though Stirling did very well under similar circumstances in the "Islanders" trilogy. Whatever the reason, these passages - told largely in flashback throughout the novel - don't ring as clear or true as the rest, and they detract from what is otherwise a well-written and entertaining novel.
Despite these weaknesses, however, "The Protector's War" is interesting, enjoyable, and exciting, and leads well into the last third of the trilogy.
|
3: A Prologue of What's to Come
Stirling continues his detailed vision of an apocalyptic world. He shows us a little of what's going on in the rest of the world, though not much. Focused on Havel and Juniper's clans, his writing has also improved from the first. Though like the first there doesn't see any to be a major point to the story other than being a window into a small part of the world after the Change. In spite of the title, there's really not much of war going on, no more than the first book, nor do we see much of the Protector though we learn more about him. The book does seem to be a set up for the next volume, almost a prologue. The characters are interesting enough to make you want to continue the series, but hopefully a more solid storyline emerges.
|
4: The Change Series
This story has been done so many times already. The only thing new that S.M. brings is that fuels do not combust like they used to. Now I have not read the other reviews of these books but I assume someone else has given synopsis so this will only be my oppinion about the story. I am most of the way through the second book and though I am entertained I am not very impressed. Sterling writes well and I feel he is doing a good job with the premis(sp?)but I cant help but think all of this has been done before.
|
5: A Set-Up for the Third Book in the Trilogy - and Some Frustration
This book was somewhat enjoyable in parts, but was disappointing in several ways. Stirling used most of the first chapters in this book to introduce additional supporting characters. Unfortunately, the introduction of these characters, beginning at about the same point in time as half-way through the prequel, "Dies the Fire", created difficulties with the narrative time-line in "The Protector's War".
Stirling cut between these new characters and the main characters established in "Dies the Fire" with a rather confusing gait. Each set of characters was engaging in trials and tribulations that were separated by years in addition to distance. Later in the book, after the new supporting cast has been integrated into the previously established narrative line, Stirling fills in some unmentioned time in a flashback narrative.
The combination of repeated forward and back time-line jumps, the flash-back explanations, and a great deal of seemingly pointless argument and domestic disputes, greatly interfered with my personal enjoyment of this book. This is unfortunate as his imagined re-applications of technology under the unnatural laws included in his premise were fascinating and even humorous.
There is little challenge in this book, and I cannot recommend it unless the reader is willing to read the entire "Change" trilogy (Dies the Fire, The Protector's War, and A Meeting at Corvallis").
|
|
|
|
|
