The High King of Montival
Amazon
Synopsis
The High King of Montival is the latest book in the emberverse series by S. M. Stirling. This book recounts Rudi and friend's journey back from the island of Nantucket to his territory in the newly minted land of Montival. This book is short on action, with only one major battle that I can think of off the top of my head and that action only occurs at the beginning and the end of the novel. In general though, this novel was more about character development and setting the stage of Rudi as the new high king. Rudi is developing and displaying the skills of kingcraft that will be so crucial to him in the coming novels. Rudi cements alliances on his way back from Nantucket, and in general builds an army that will help him defeat Corwin and the CUT. This book also brought into the storyline the lore of the Sword of the Lady, showing off its powers and abilities to do everything from turning Rudi into an indestructible war machine, to allowing rivals to see into each others minds so that they might come to a mutual understanding of each other.
Analysis
This entry into the emberverse series did not disappoint. The character development (especially of the sword) sets the stage for further developments in the series. It was also necessary to get the group back to their homeland after such a long (2 years in the story) departure. I can't help but feel a little bit cheated though. With so much opposition on Rudi's trek to the sword, it almost seemed like he breezed back through the ruins of old Canada on his way back to Montival. Then again, I suppose Rudi did deliver devastating blows to his opponents numbers, who must regroup in their efforts to destroy Montival and establish the Church Universal and Triumphant as the rulers of the ruins of America.
Personally, I also feel as though this is the first book that introduced true magic into the series. Others have said that events in the series could be construed as magical. I took those events to be more as a result of the charisma of a strong leader and the desire to believe of the people (which can create magical events all on their own). This is the first time in the series where REAL magic that cannot be explained away with science or charisma occurs. That makes me really happy for some reason. I want to believe that the Event occurred as the result of some direct intervention as opposed to just a cosmic happenstance that destroyed technology and blasted the world back to the stone age.
I also took a bit of exception with some of the terms that Stirling used throughout this novel. In general, Stirling tends to use location appropriate words. What I mean by this is that the gaelic speaking peoples use gaelic terms for objects and events, while the Norse derived peoples use a Norse sort of language for their naming conventions. This sort of thing has been peppered into the series from the beginning, and I enjoy it as a bit of immersion. This particular book though, especially in the beginning, used this technique almost constantly. There were many words I was forced to look up due to the lack of context clues. With this great abundance of foreign words and terminology, immersion was destroyed rather than aided. Being forced to look outside of the book for a definition will tend to ground one back in today's earth as opposed to the world of the change. I give Montival a 3.5/5.0. Not all fans will find the lack of action and character development to their liking...but many others will. The usage of foreign terms at the beginning was a strong detriment for me in this book. I don't want to look up words and do outside work for my leisurely reading. If instead I was forced to use my mind to discover who a killer is in a mystery, that is something entirely different. I am still using my mind within the confines of the story. This forcing me outside of the novels world was unacceptable. This was quite possibly the weakest novel of an otherwise stellar series.
Mass Effect 2
I know, I know, I said that L.A. Noire would be my next game. Mass Effect 2 however, sucked me in and I finished the game rather quickly. Noire WILL be the next game I play however. Mass Effect 2 introduced a 'new' species of bad guys called the collectors. The collectors are trying to do the same thing as Saren from the previous game...that is, they are trying to bring back the Reapers who will destroy all life in the universe.
It is tough to talk about the plot of Mass Effect 2 without giving away any spoilers, so instead I will concentrate on my thoughts of the game. ME2 used a similar paradigm as ME1, however in every area of the game, improvements were made in terms of immersion, gameplay and fun. The environments you play in are much more fleshed out and look much more diverse and interesting than in ME1. The same can be said of the storyline, even though from an outward glance the storyline seems simpler (simply recruit your friends, obtain their loyalty, and then 3 or 4 main storyline quests and you are done). This seeming simplicity hides a greater wealth of storyline options though than the original game did. The expansion of your crew from only a handful of soldiers to a diverse gang of criminals, warlords, and assassins also aids in the volume of the storyline. Mass Effect 2 took me a good 10 to 15 more hours to finish than ME1. That includes the no nonsense way I took on ME2 as opposed to the meandering, slow path through ME1. The storyline that is being built in the Mass Effect Universe is also turning out to be one of my favorite storylines of all time. If you consider yourself a fan of Sci-Fi, you are doing yourself a disservice by not playing this game. I will be sad when Shepard's story is finally finished being told. Lastly, another positive aspect of this game is its greater leaning towards a FPS, without sacrificing (and indeed adding to) its roleplaying aspects. Bioware is truly the trendsetter in FPS/RPG mashups, and more of these types of games need to be made...the success speaks for itself.
The only complaint I have for this game is (again) the inventory and quest system. While both of these systems saw significant improvement from ME1, they are still not nearly what they should be. The quest system should be more easily sortable and your goals more easy to come across. The inventory system discards the 'version 2, version 3' bullshit that I absolutely hated about the first game, and instead adopts a new name and new graphic for each of the weapons. The weapons also had different aspects to them that made a change in artillery more than just a change in power or speed of the weapon. For instance, one sniper rifle was extremely power, but had a ridiculously low number of bullets. Another rifle had a larger supply of ammunition, but shot three of them at a time...each shot doing a small amount of damage, but if all three landed significant damage was incurred. Now...to get something like this for the armor...which stayed roughly stagnant throughout the entire game. Especially if you had DLC armor. One last thing which was greatly improved (so improved that I didn't even realize it was a complaint on ME1 until I saw how it was handled in ME2) is the squad powers selection. In ME2 the powers are greatly streamlined, yet more fleshed out and actualized. The powers are also well balanced and incredibly fun to use. The inclusion of ammunition in this game (which was not in ME1) was originally thought by me to be a hindrance to the enjoyment of ME2. In reality it was merely a mechanic to force me to use powers which were rarely used and awkward to use in ME1. I no longer think of ammunition as a detriment.
What's Next?
Well, in terms of games, L.A. Noire is next. I am so close to finishing it, that I can smell it. Mass Effect just drew me into its universe and caused me to forget all about my investigator. I will finish L.A. Noire soon. After that? It will probably be a DS game. I am scheduled to have surgery in the coming weeks, and will be unable to get out of bed for at least one week, and needing to take things easy for at least 2 - 3 weeks. A DS game more than lends itself to that kind of convalescence. Perhaps one of the Dragon Quests that have been released? Or maybe finally beating Pokemon HeartGold? Who knows. I'm thinking about Noire right now and don't want to get ahead of myself.
Speaking of not having much to do while recuperating...I will be reading books during this time. The next book for me will be Fever Dream by Preston and Child. I know, it seems like all I read are Preston&Child/Stirling...but trust me, there is more to my repertoire than just those authors. They just happen to be the ones that get me really excited when a new book comes out. After Fever Dream...I'm not sure what I'll read. Between the last time I wrote in this blog (meaning the long absence) and now, I acquired an IPad and have moved to digital books. I have a large backlog on the device already (hehe, what can I say? I like to collect). As anyone who reads this blog knows (does anyone?)...my plans are never set in stone and something else could easily grab my attention (but damnit, I know I will finish Noire, I MUST!)
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