The Tears of the Sun: A Novel of the Change (Emberverse Series, Book 8)

Didja ever wonder what was going on in Montival while Rudy and the gang were on the sword quest? Me neither. (12 hours of that) . Dies the Fire was a really fun thought experiment. Hard Sci-fi and swashbucker and whatwouldUdo post-apocalypse thought experiment. I even enjoy trying to use my undergraduate physics (quantum mechanics and Boyles Law) to explain the "change" Macguffin to my friends. The 2-followups set the hook ...or maybe I actually just skimmed the food porn in the first four books (advantage to print). Anyway, I'm still enjoying the ride. But the ride IS getting slower. Makes me wonder why he's spends time recapping the origin stories (like sequels usually do) because anyone still here at book EIGHT was surely here from the beginning. Worth a credit for emberverse fans. If you're new, head for book one then decide.

This book is not terribly chock a block with action (though there some battle scenes) but the overall sense of it I got was that the author was really trying to describe more details and smaller parts of the world he has created. The overall story is advanced is advanced...somewhat. I found the description of the ins and outs of the new society to be interesting and will definitely read more but this book may not be the best thing for those who care more about "what happens next" and plotty aspects.

Personally, these books now to me are more about exploring the new created environment than the whole tried and true good v. evil storyline. Although I would like to know more about the world of those folks in Nantucket stuck in 1200 BC and how it will all tie together.

I LOVE these characters and after seven books I was hoping to get more than just a review of everything from the first seven books!

No

Marriage of Rudy and Maddie though it was WAY too short and lacking in specific detail. (wink wink)

Look for quality novels that do not stretch out a series over so many stretchy "installments" without truly satisifying endings?

I am so sad because I LOVE this author and the previous novels were very good. Islands in the Sea of Time series is terrific too. Not sure if I can stay in for Given Sacrifice if this is going to be the structure...:(

Beloved Stirling...your fans would rather have ONE GREAT NOVEL than twelve mediocre ones...just sayin" !!!!!

The author should be finishing this series. We all know pretty much how it will end anyway. Instead, new characters are introduced that I for one don't give a damn about. Also, as the 'explanation' of the new post-event world physics are re-hashed and expounded on, they seem less believable and just plain silly. I hate this book and have stopped listening 2 hrs into it.

I don't need deep, meaningful plot narratives. I do, however require that time I spend listening to/reading be rewarded by a progressing story. This series has utterly forsaken this.

Mr. McLaren is a good narrator whom I generally enjoy listening to. However no one could spark this useless drivel into anything worth calling a good story.

Abject disappointment.

Mr. Stirling needs to finish this series now. Preferably by not writing another word and moving on to something else. He is a very imaginitive writer and is capable of far better.

First off, I love S. M. Stirling and have greatly enjoyed many of his other books. This one, though, I did not enjoy. The story was too stiffing, and the manner in which he had the story jump from one time line to another was very confusing...perhaps straight forward for a book reader but as an audio reader I found the oscillations bewildering. I can understand why he wrote this book, to tie the story together, but it felt like a boring old patchwork blanket, like the one that grandma always had on the back of her couch that smelled of mold and mildew.

This book did not engage me as many of S.M. Stirling's books have. In fact, it was so dull that my mind frequently wandered. Just as I was about to blow it off and listen to something else, something more interesting (like Barney or the Muppets) I decided to try and stick it out in hopes that it would get better. Just as I thought that I would be rewarded, just as the characters were girding up for the final climatic battle, the book ended.

Bummer does not begin to describe it.

I listened to Stephen King's 11/22/63 after Tears of the Sun, and it was great.

Todd McLaren's performance in this novel was excellent.

No, not unless you mean instilling a desire in me to never listen to another book in this series. This desire is similarly tempered by my desire to find out how this will all end.

This series has well and truly passed it's use by date; the author should have terminated the cycle with A meeting at Corvallis. There really is nothing good to say about this latest installment. The story drags with an almost pointless set of flashbacks taking up way too much space, and then the build up to the denouement culminates in the same rushed ending as in the previous book and an attempted cliffhanger.
The characters have become even shallower and the action sequences exceed their previous anime silliness.
A sad and dismal end to what could have been a great series. I will not be getting anything else by this author.

I think this will be the last SM Stirling book I read. How you can go from awesome to completely terrible I don't know. This installment of the series is boring.

worth the listen, this is a good continuation of the series. I wish there wasn't so much repeating of details though.

the reader is droll; the story is NOT a stand-alone ... can't understand what is going on or what has gone before ... and even reading about it on different websites I'm STILL in the dark and bored to tears ... bored enough to see if I can get my $ back!

The reader really brings the story to life. Good series with an excellent reader.