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    The Tears of the Sun: A Novel of the Change
    The Tears of the Sun: A Novel of the Change
    The Tears of the Sun: A Novel of the Change
    Audiobook22 hours

    The Tears of the Sun: A Novel of the Change

    Written by S. M. Stirling

    Narrated by Todd McLaren

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    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.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateSep 6, 2011
    ISBN9781400184514
    The Tears of the Sun: A Novel of the Change
    Author

    S. M. Stirling

    A well-regarded author of alternate history science-fiction novels, S.M. Stirling has written more than twenty-five books, including acclaimed collaborations with Anne McCaffrey, Jerry Pournelle, and David Drake. His most recent novels are T2: Infiltrator, The Peshawar Lancers, and the Island in the Sea of Time trilogy.

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    Reviews for The Tears of the Sun

    4/5

    17 ratings12 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Where was Stirling's editor? Ay-yi-yi. Eight books into the series, you needn't tell me about all the players in detail. Especially the dead ones, for pages and pages. Yep, Norman was a bad guy, got it, now let's move on already.

      The Liu backstory was entirely too detailed, and the way it threaded through the entire book was fairly annoying. As others have said, there are about 200 pages of actual new book here, and nearly 400 of filler, backstory, rehash & description of the freaking gloaming and the succulent roast pork with a slight crackly sweet glaze.

      I'm getting impatient with the religion in these books, as the series grinds on- I'm not sure I'm buying the wholesale adoption of oh, say the ancient rites of Odin, with all the assorted panoply, or the way, in 25 years, all the children are named from the ancient lays and nobody is named Jill or Jason any more. I get that Stirling is bringing the Powers back in a big way as the series goes on, but I'm not sure I can suspend my disbelief appropriately. Every book that comes out has each religion more of a caricature of itself than the last- in this one, the Catholics can't move without kissing their rosaries or praying to St. Somebody and the Wiccans are begging pardon of the trees as they climb them, while even Lady D'Ath is having a little moment with (who else) Athena.

      Worth reading if you have read the first 7 and plan to read the next (2? 4? 39?). But don't rush off to the bookstore thinking you are going to be any closer to the big war, because you won't be.
    • 2/5
      Not impressed. Little plot advancement, it seemed like setup for he next book.
    • 5/5
      A lot of the same action--with picturesque flamboyance. This book requires more attention to the date/location information at the head of each section, since the action takes place at more than one location and at different times. In fact, a lot of this story takes place in the re-telling of what happened to get someone where he/she is now. Tiph loses her athiestic virginity and is forced to accept that there are higher forces and she has to choose the most compatible of them to be her protector. And the CUT is still sneak attacking in several new attempts to decapitate the various good-guy armies. But the big battle is not in this book.And I have to admit that I'm probably giving these stories 5-star ratings because, after ~4,000 pages, I've become pretty sympathetic to the individual characters and find myself emotionally attatched to them.
    • 1/5
      The Tears of the Sun has to be the worst book in the Emberverse series if not the worst book S.M. Stirling has written to date. Dies the Fire and the next 2 books were fantastic, but starting with book 4 (The Sunrise Lands) this dystopian story has gone down hill. The Emberverse series has turned into a fantasy book series that spends a great deal of time describing the smell and color of things in the environment instead of producing any story. This over-description of everything along with the flashbacks in The Tears of the Sun I found this book a complete waste of my time. I would not recommend this book to anyone unless you simply feel you need to read the entire series.
    • 2/5
      ** spoiler alert ** Nothing a good editor couldn't fix!I've enjoyed all of Stirlings' novels, albeit they are difficult to follow sometimes because he weaves multiple, complex storylines and multiple character points of view through all his stories and (if you've ever tried to do so) it's no easy task. It's helpful to appreciate the highly detailed historical/sociological facts he weaves throughout all his storytelling (he is, after all, a historian). Mr. Stirling seeks to educate us about a subject he loves, not merely provide banal entertainment. Or, to put it in plain English, his writing isn't geared for the young adult crowd many other such series are written for.That being said, I found this book unusually difficult to get through. I got the impression he was trying to backfill what had been going on back home during Rudi and Mattie's quest to Nantucket because he needs it to explain what happens when the Prophet Sethaz comes for them. Perhaps these were even scenes written at the same time as the Sword of the Lady and High King of Montival and edited out because it bogged down the story too much? Its' hard as a writer when you start a whole new cycle based on newer characters in your existing 'universe' to cross paths with characters you love, but not bog down the story too much with the -old- story. I'm betting the young Liu characters are going to feature heavily in the next two books and I just love Tiphaine D'Ath and Ritva. However, I twould have liked this story better if it had either been tightly edited as far as accurate historical detail and the thought-processes of other minor characters in the story, or had been published as two separate, smaller books highlighting each sub-story (the Mary Liu/children/D'Ath plotline and the raid on Boise), taking the time to relish the 'universe' each sub-story was set in. The entire present-tense, past-tense thing just totally killed the flow.Also, Mr. Stirling killed off a long-running, major character at the end of a chapter in a way that, when the book finally returned to that sub-story pages and pages later, I had to go back and re-read the earlier chapter to even figure out that character had died. Worse ... they skipped ahead to the funeral and the characters death was written as a past-tense scene. I felt ... cheated. The character died a heroic death and it was barely a footnote ... an inconvenient former-major character killed off for no apparant reason with no emotion or real chance to mourn. And then the selfish woman the character had died for ... ridden with guilt ... and the buddhist monk's advice to that woman and the group? Lost opportunities! You could have had your readers in tears!And then there were all the overly-detailed descriptions of how people dressed and what they ate for every single scene. And all the interruptions of dialogue where the character veered off on self-indulgent trains-of-thought. It broke the flow of dialogue and, honestly, if I never read the word 'cote-hardie' or 'parti-colored' ever ever ever again it will be too soon.Last but not least ... all of a sudden in the final chapter we're cut back to Rudi and Mattie and the battle we've been gearing up for the entire book and it's like, what? Six-pages long and totally skipped all the bloody, gory, historically accurate fight scenes and military tactics we love to read and is OVER? It felt as though some publisher said ... 'we need this story now' so it was just churned out to end the book quick and hand it in.On the other hand, the descriptions of why one particular minor landholding was chosen for its future defendability was fascinating. I could picture the people taking to the hills and harassing the CUT like the ancient Highland Scots harassing the British. Now THAT was a little side-trip that was interesting enough to include and I suspect the entire reason for a minor characters prominance. The reason educated readers ENJOY fiction such as Mr. Stirlings. But how we got there to learn that piece of information was choppy. Either fully develop Ingolf and Mary and their relationship in its own right. Or send a major character to that kingdom.As my caption says ... there's nothing wrong with this story a good editor couldn't have fixed. But the editor -didn't- fix it. Shame on Roc publishing for focusing on the dollar signs and pushing out what I would consider to be a fairly rough draft and not taking the time to hammer the rough steel into a fine sword! I hope the next book is more polished.
    • 5/5
      Tears of the SunThis novel continues the saga of Rudi the fated King as he finally marries his beloved Princess and comes into his Kingdom. However in classic Stirling fashion, there are multiple story lines to follow with his usual top of the line powerful female characters – Lady Death, Sandra the Spider Queen and the twin Havel Rangers are as ever worth even more pages than the author spends on them. You have everything from commando raids to great battles to palace politics all at once and all interacting as the various polities and societies of this infinitely complex baroque construct of a world have to interact to hold off the ravening hordes of the demonic CUT and the traitors running Boise. As ever we have elaborate world building, sumptuous meals described in loving detail and exquisitely detailed travelogue descriptions of changed yet familiar landscapes. Having heroes avoid a probable tiger’s lair off a still functional highway is a joy to read for its mix of the familiar and strange. In a series this long it is hard to avoid middle volume syndrome but Stirling’s talent for description and detail make even retellings so fresh and wonderful that the reader does not mind. In the end the only complaint is that the book is too short. However much he writes of this wonderful world, it always leaves me wanting more.
    • 3/5
      While I really like this series, this one seemed like it was just marking time. It is mostly back story with little real action that would lead to the resolution. I see that two more books are planned in the series, and, based on this one, I will wait for them at the library.
    • 3/5
      Weird mix of present and what happened locally during the quest in the past 2 years, nothing too interesting with way too much descriptions of clothing and food.
    • 5/5
      It is a great time to be a fan of Alternate History with S M Stirling (Emberverse), David Weber(Safehold), Taylor Anderson(Destroyerman), and Eric Flint(Assiti Shards/1632) and his team writing rapidly but very well to support your reading preference. If I find one more, it might almost be enough. To finish a recent release and to have several already in the publisher's future pipeline is almost Nirvana. Stirling's recent book does an excellent job of filling gaps in character histories. Tiphane d'Ath, a wonderful villain, in early books is now one of the good guys although in the guise of a serious lesbian ninja learning to be a commander and general. Even so, she suffers the joys and pangs of motherhood as a result of an interesting menage a trois like relationship with her lady life mate and a gay baron. The Sioux and the Nordic Easterners add interesting dimensions to Rudi's army as do the pike men and crossbow contingents. Pages become squires and knights are created from the successful squires as the needs of a larger command structure are met. Some bad guys question their roles in the current world as the opposition to evil Church Universal grows. All in all a great collection of meats and vegetables for the continuing stew that Stirling is creating for us.
    • 4/5
      S. M. Stirling continues to build his Changed world, where the laws of physics have changed and most technology no longer works. This second series is set about 25 years after the Change. The young leaders of the new kingdom of Montival (formerly the Pacific Northwest) barely remember the world as it was before, They've been tested by warfare with the sword and bow, but another war with a demonic adversary is on their doorstep. There are at least two more books projected in this series, and while there's some action, the purpose of this one seems to be mainly to further develop characters who had little part in the previous books. Nonetheless, this series is a favorite of mine and I eagerly wait for each one.
    • 4/5
      Finally, some progress! This book advances the plot a bit, though like the last one Stirling spends an unusual amount of time going over the past. However, when he's not reviewing the past (which is still interesting) the action proceeds at a good pace. This series is starting to feel like it is stretching out infinitely, but the books are still enjoyable reading. Its missing a little bit of the individual action of some of the previous books, while the heroes are all involved here, they aren't doing as much freelancing. I still admire the setting and characters.
    • 3/5
      It's good but not as engaging ss the earlier books in the series. It's starting to run toward an end you want to know, yet it's not getting there fast enough.