The Sunrise Lands (Emberverse Series #4)

by S. M. Stirling

Overview

Young Rudi Mackenzie has grown up knowing that he will one day assume leadership over the Western Oregon survivors of the technological disaster called the Change. But a prophecy made at his birth spoke of an even greater destiny—a destiny that is about to be fulfilled.
           
A mysterious traveler has arrived in the Willamette Valley. He brings news from the East, from Nantucket Island, long rumored to be the source of the Change. He has been sent on a mission to bring back with him the Sword of the Lady from the sunset oceans.
           
As son of the High Priestess, Rudi is the Sword of the Lady. Now, guided by the traveler, he sets out on a quest across the Changed land that was once America. But between Rudi and his destiny lies the Valley of Paradise…and the cult of a madman determined to stop him.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780451462251
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	09/02/2008
Series:	A Novel of the Change , #4
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	528
Sales rank:	451,434
Product dimensions:	4.20(w) x 6.80(h) x 1.50(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

S. M. Stirling is the New York Times bestselling author of many science fiction and fantasy novels, including the Novels of the Change (including Prince of Outcasts, The Desert and the Blade, The Golden Princess, The Given Sacrifice, Lord of Mountains) and the Shadowspawn series (A Taint in the Blood, The Council of Shadows, Shadows of Falling Night).

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Thought-provoking and engaging" —-Publishers Weekly

Editorial Reviews

Brilliant action.” – Booklist

“Fast-paced.” – Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine

“The thought-provoking and engaging storytelling should please Stirling’s many fans.” – Publishers Weekly

“An epic of survival and rebirth.” – Library Journal

From the Publisher

After establishing a wild-eyed premise (aliens change the laws of physics to suppress electricity, gunpowder and other high-energy phenomena), Stirling proceeded with scrupulous and ingenious realism to show how the survivors of the Change could reconstruct a tolerable level of civilization. In this book, his focus has shifted from the elder generation to those born into the new world and raised to adulthood knowing no other. A stranger riding into peaceful Oregon from the East attracts the attention of a militaristic cult known as the Church Universal and Triumphant. The man seems to play a part in their prophecies, and dangerously questing into the very heart of their empire seems to be the only way for him to deal with the matter. Sword-arm strength and a pure heart are no guarantee of victory in Stirling's suspenseful story.
—The Washington Post

Paul Di Filippo

Set 12 years after A Meeting at Corvallis(2006), Stirling's latest novel of a chaotic near-future U.S., crippled when the mysterious Change rendered most technology nonfunctional, combines vigorous military adventure with cleverly packaged political idealism. When assassins pursue a traveler into Oregon's Willamette Valley, the resulting skirmish propels the heirs of three influential local leaders on a risky continent-crossing mission to Nantucket. Stirling's narrative deftly balances sharply contrasting ideologies-the Mackenzies' proto-Celtic clan system in Oregon against Gen. Lawrence Thurston's strict and principled military democracy in Idaho, the zealotry of the Church Universal and Triumphant versus the pagan Powers venerated by the Mackenzies-though the most difficult cosmological questions are never addressed. Meanwhile, there are hints of otherworldly intervention and time travel on Nantucket, echoing the parallel continuity established in Island in the Sea of Timeand its sequels. Despite these fuzzy underpinnings, the thought-provoking and engaging storytelling should please Stirling's many fans. (Sept.)

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Publishers Weekly

Brilliant action.

Booklist

Todd McLaren comes to this narration with the cadre of characters he developed in narrating earlier books of the series. He’s comfortable with the Scots accent of the Mackenzies and the regional accents of various other characters. For the feudal lords, he even adds a layer of condescension relating to their self-appointment to their positions of power. The first generation of children born after the Change—the day advanced technology became nonfunctioning—sets out on a trek across the mainland to Nantucket, led by Rudi Mackenzie. McLaren presents the narrative at a steady, even pace. He picks up the pace slightly in the many debates and philosophical discussions, and goes full force when the adventures and battles are at the fore. J.E.M. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

NOVEMBER 2009 - AudioFile