The High King of Montival / S.M. Stirling

The High King of Montival

category: fantasy, author:

S.M. Stirling

book 10 of The Change
original copyright 2010

unread in February 2014

Agamedes' opinion: unrated

"Unread" ?! "Unrated" ?!

I picked up this book with the thought, Okay, it seems to be a follow-up to "The Sword of the Lady". A good test of a second book is, Can it be read without reading the first ? I started reading...

Chapter one has 50 or so people that I am expected to know. So what do they do ? Mostly, a few simple -- and take-it-on-faith, it works, it's magic -- actions. Which seem to be (a) allowing former enemies to travel together. And (b) demonstrating the heroic niceness of the main character. Plus some cutesy snuggling, warm-hearted chuckling and bloodthirsty posing amongst the various minor characters.

Boring.

On to chapter two... and a totally different set of characters. Characters who are heroic and human and humorous and loving and loyal and... Good grief ! where's the brown paper bag ?!

That's where I stopped.

And that's when I realised that this is not a second book -- it's a tenth. Which explains why the background to this alternate universe makes very little sense.

If you've read books one to nine then -- well, you must enjoy the series. So you'll probably enjoy this book just as much. If this is your first book by Stirling: Put the book down... walk carefully away... and if you like heroic sword-play, heroic heroes, heroic heroines and a mish-mash of other characters and cultures -- look for book one.

I didn't enjoy what little I read. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if I had read earlier books. Or perhaps not... Anyway, to be fair, I won't give a rating.

But I will ask, Who is that guy on the front cover ? He's holding a sword --  and the hero has just (in the previous book) retrieved a magic sword. But -- unless my memory has totally failed -- the hero with the sword has bright red hair which reaches his shoulders. So who is the man on the cover, with the short black hair and the significant sword ? Was there an earlier book called, perhaps, "The Other Sword of the Other Lady" ? Or is the cover art drawn by -- and checked by -- someone who did not bother to read the book ?!

Weak.

..o0o..

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