The Sunrise Lands

A Novel of the Change

By: S. M. Stirling

Narrated by: Todd McLaren

Length: 18 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

A generation has passed since the Change that rendered technology inoperable around the world, and western Oregon has finally achieved a degree of peace. But a new threat has risen in Paradise Valley, Wyoming. A man known as the Prophet presides over the Church Universal and Triumphant, teaching his followers to continue God's work by destroying the remnants of technological civilization they encounter - and those who dare to use them.

Rudi Mackenzie, son and heir of the mystic Juniper, must journey with seven friends across a continent in chaos to the Sunrise Lands to solve the riddle of what destroyed a civilization. And as the friends journey farther into the interior, enemies may be within their own band as well as outside it.

©2007 S. M. Stirling (P)2008 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Thought-provoking and engaging." ( Publishers Weekly)

Fun to listen to.

I have listened to all the books previous to this one and this one did not dissapoint either.
This book deals with the second generation after the change, and is just as fun and interesting to listen to as the others.

Things are going down

I fell in love with this series on its first 3 books, but age is not doing this story a service. As we move further along it's starting to feel more "Milktoast" fantasy instead of the strange imaginative post apocalypse of the previous books. This is not helped by the Protagonist being "The perfect human, son of prophecy."
it was good to see other civilizations outside of the Willamette, though The CUT is about as bland as they come for evil civilizations.
I'm debating getting the next book at all

pretty good

It progresses the story and finally fills in some details (vague as they are) about the origins that we have been waiting 7 books to hear about, and the characters are quite good. But there seems to be a pretty long dry spell in the middle where the author seems to be dragging things out unnecessarily. The beginning and the end were pretty good though. It was good enough to keep reading, the next one seems like it could be quite good now that the new characters have been established and the plot has been set back up.

Narrator can't pronounce Oregon place names

What did you love best about The Sunrise Lands?

This is an addictive series that keeps my interest.

What did you like best about this story?

Love the story.... really challenges my imagination,

Would you be willing to try another one of Todd McLaren’s performances?

Todd McLaren should do his homework. He does not pronounce Oregon names correctly and this really grates on me because I lived in the state for 30 years and know that the Willamette Valley is pronounced Will - lam - met and Corvallis is prounced Core - val -iss. Every time I hear these errors, I just cringe. On a positive note, McLaren does a nice job with the accents.

awesome

this book is great. Takes place in a world I would be more than happy with. post apocalyptic low tech world. great characters and believable scenarios.

Fantastic story

Great performance to a great story. I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in the setting.

Loved it! Thoroughly enjoyed it!

I am not very good at reviewing books. I don't let others sway my opinion. I enjoyed and that is pretty much it!

I'm attached to the characters

These stories are pretty good. I care for the characters, so I will see them through. I do wish more time was spent on character development and complexity and less on battle descriptions down to the color of every piece of armor and how it's being held. You can only make the description of blood on a sword interesting so many times.

Riveting and Realistic

One of my favorites. The possibilities of a rise of Wicca as a tribal practice, where a society is formed is wicked

Change is not always good, but this book is.

The story: the story is good, very good. I like post apocalyptic style novels. This one is one with a twist. One I haven't seen before, but that adds a lovely flavor to the novel.
The writing: The writing is good and gives each character and alliance great depth and a substantial feel
The narrator: The narator does a good job of representing the characters. At times I wonder if he is mispronouning a word due to the characters or just in general. It doesnt subtract from the story and happens only about three times in the book. I have a feeling its because of the nationality of the narrator possibly.
Overall: I read alot, and when I can't read I listen. I listen to audiobooks, especially, when I run. This book held my interest well enough that an hour on the treadmill went by without my looking at the timer.
Members of the society of creative anachronism and readers of Tolkien will feel justified reading this book.