The Golden Princess (Emberverse Book 11)

We have the entire series available to date in paperback. I'm waiting for the next book to see how Rudy's daughter develops. The plot of this book was interesting, but not particularly surprising, with the hints in the previous book.

I generally liked it. A lot of untested warriors go on a mission to both avenge Rudi who seemed to be everyone's favorite uncle. These warriors have been in lots of tourneys and tiger hunts, but long to have a quest. It's good that Orlaith brings about 100 warriors with her, all superbly trained, but unlike the Questers, seem to figure someone else will die. Despite a zillion well cared for maimed middle age people around, the horror of war seems to be ignored.
Perhaps that's the message.
3 phrases I hope he leaves out in the next novel
" His face was all planes and angles", Any dog described as having a " gruesome head", and Matilda described as having an "irregular face".
Listen to Richie Havens " Handsome Johnny" or any version of "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" for the soundtrack.
But check it out. It seems a good set up for the next few books, if the excerpt on Stirling's website grabs you.

Very disappointed in this book....absolutely nothing happens in the entire book except for a brief skirmish at the beginning. This book should have been a couple of chapters at the beginning of the next book.

This installment seemed a little slow to me, I think S.M. Stirling is setting up the story to follow... Hopefully, but no Rudy? Be careful about killing off your main characters or you might kill off the series...

The Author is repeating himself, the story is ok, describes way too much mundane life,scenery,smells etc. Sounds like the Quest 2 the second generation, he should have wrapped up the series with the last book.

The Change series goes on... The King is dead, long live the Queen. Orlaith, Rudy's daughter takes up the Sword of the Lady. It seems the evil that lay behind the Cutters is gone but not dead. It has risen in the east to threaten the civilization rising in Japan, and a new quest is born, to recover the Grass Cutting Sword, one of the treasures of Nihon.
Two generations after The Change, we meet new civilizations and old, old friends and their children. If you are a fan of the change series, you may be already reading the book, if not, I envy you. Enjoy

This novel finishes well, but the start is boring. All of the detail about apparel and customs of these folks could really turn off a lot of readers, however once the author got going it was interesting and obviously leads up to a sequel. Hardly worth the cost!

Ah! Órlaith! (Pronounced Orla), Rudi and Mathilda's Golden Princess... no, she's not a red head. Why the artist put her grandmother Juniper on the cover... OK, that's a joke! Reiko, the "Gracious Lady" of Japan, who is their Empress has landed, seeking the magical implement that will help her people fight the "cockroach" people.
Reiko has explained that a high ranking Korean survived the Change and has established an eater nation. Her small Island nation has grown painfully and slowly, always on the defensive, always ready to battle. In the previous book her father, on quest for the magic, died and now the two rulers, Órlaith and Reiko, must bring together a group of strong, trained, convinced youngsters and dare the unknown, following hints from dreams and portents to battle the creatures of stasis once more.
The early parts of the book show us a rich, prosperous land in the High Kingdom, through the eyes of a ruler who has fought and done without all her life. It's a wonderful compare and contrast before the action begins.

The Golden Princess starts a new adventure in S.M. Stirling's change universe. New characters, new challenges, new friends, and a new take on an old enemy. I've enjoyed the series since the very first book, and I thoroughly enjoy this tale. This book is mostly setup, but has moments of tremendous fun. The story has more in common with the first couple of books in the series than the last couple. It definitely builds on the previous books, but is definitely readable on its own. It's a 5/5 for this reader.

A solid beginning to a new generation of the change. Almost a tweener book between the last set and this set so there's a bit more historical exposition than New quest story progression, but it's nice to see the weekend fleshed out. Now we just need snippets for the sequel!

This is a continuation of the Change Series. New characters, with the token appearances by characters from prior novels. The plot is strikingly similar to that in prior novels - a group of nobles head off to find a sword. I like how SM Stirling has expanded the universe to include both Japan, Korea, China, and Australia. While I look forward to reading more of this series, I will always wonder what could have been, if Stirling would have kept the magic out of the series.

I really enjoy SM Stirling's various different "universes", but his Emberverse is still my favorite...and I love the fact that unlike some of today's current star authors, he seems to enjoy getting a shorter installment out basically yearly rather than spending years on their next Opus...( I may love their books, but the time between each book kills me!)

I am not going into details on what is truly part one in Stirling's next installment, but this book introduces the various descendants of our previous main characters and put back on the road again on a quest for this years magic sword...( A Japanese import no less!) but not a left over Suburu or Lexus, a tool of the powers that back humanity in its climb to self awareness, freedom and understanding.
Enjoy this book, it's just fun and excellent escapism, and still always an interesting take on spiritual paths and various version of "deities". Or at least the many ways "God" just might try to communicate with us, especially after a incredible change in natural law which eventually destroys almost anyone's doubts about the existence of Higher Powers.
Just dig in and enjoy!

I was really worried that after the death of Rudi in the last book, the author might struggle to create an interesting plot with essentially a new cast of characters. Fortunately, I was wrong. Unfortunately, I felt like the author should have gone much farther with the plot in this book and spent far less time describing every minute detail about the characters, the landscape, the color of the sky, etc. I'm looking forward to the next book already, but I certainly hope that he goes overboard on plot developments with the next one, rather than paragraphs of adjectives describing all number of things within the realm that have little relevance to the storyline.

Stirling is starting off a whole new arc with the third generation of characters in this "remade" world. He does make the effort to catch up the reader new to his world as to the why and where and how things have come to make this story, a story to be told. Yet, for someone that's read all of his books leading up to this, some parts are entirely skimmable. Stirling as always seems to have done quite amount of research into the details he uses to color his stories.

Now, having read GRRMartin's work and making a comparison I will write this. Both stories allow you to delve deeply into their world, but with Stirling you have a clear passage of time and the story moves at a pace. Stirling has done a better job of spotlighting main and ancillary characters whereas Martin would have been better off with the less-is-more philosophy... (ex. The ironborn.)

slow, dull, nothing happens, Like watching a Seinfeld episode, a book about nothing. If someone was being introduced to the "Change" series with this book, they would not bother to read any of the many earlier books which were all much better.

From the first book in the Change series the writing is great ad the story line better. You can read this book first and will not ruin the enjoyment of the tale. But I would advise reading from the start of the series

I enjoyed this continuation of the series. A new cast of characters (the younger generation) helped bring interest back to this series for me. I only removed one star because even though I know this is just an installment in a long series, I feel like the book should end with at least some sort of resolution, and I didn't think that really happened this time. Just the same, my time was not waster reading this one, and I will buy the next as well.

The Change continues into a new generation, with a whole new set of characters and conditions in the rest of the world seen for the first time. The story is tighter than in previous volumes, and more aspects of post-Change civilization are explored than in previous novels. Fans of the series will be gratified to know that Stirling is still on top of his game.

I have mixed feelings about this book. While it is almost devoid of familiar characters from previous books, the new characters introduced are very much in the same spirit as those previous characters. As a resident of Southern California I am excited for the next book to explore this area. The time jump from previous novels and new settings and new characters that are introduced provide the over-all continuing story with fresh air. However this book seems like a small piece of a huge story, and therefore I feel is hard to stand on its own without the other novels. There is no beginning, no middle, no end. The story just kind of...is. Hopefully future books will have a stronger antagonist and focused story.

In the end I am still a huge fan of the series and look forward to buying and reading the next one.

Continuing the wonderful story of the change! I find it fascinating up lifting and tender. You care about these characters generation after generation! Highly recommend you read all of them. Thank the Lady for S. M. Sterling!!!

This is the first installment in the next series of books set in the world after the Change. it is a very good setup for the series with good introductions for characters we barely knew or are just now meeting. More cultures and peoples are going to be involved and the whole thing is quite exciting. The survivors among the Questors and the other characters we know and love are moving into the background and the action is going to take place among the young people.
Stirling's ability to write sympathetically about people from different backgrounds continues to be strong. There are fewer action scenes than one might expect but there will be plenty over the course of the new series, I am sure. The action scenes there are are well-handled.
I can't give a book that just _begins_ a story a five but I am pretty sure the series will earn one.

The entire change series by SM Stirling is fantastic! I just read the Golden Princes; waiting anxiously for the next book. I love this series so much that I have reread it...and will probably need to go and do it again. The detail and incredible descriptions that Stirling uses makes a reread worth it. You pick up new things that were missed from a previous read. The series has much to offer for a wide audience. Swords; armor; witches; plagues; really bad, bad guys; supernatural; spiritual; apocalyptic; everything!

Excellent continuation of the Change Series. Steve Stirling fully develops characters who are maturing in a world very different from ours.

Their survival and successs imperitives are not ours and are alien to us, but their humanity and motivations are very clear.

Stirling's world is fully developed and consistant.

A great read.

With this volume Mr. Stirling introduces a new cast led by young ladies (attractive of course) including the princess of the title, the Empress of Japan, a Lakota courier and others. Problem is that that they don't do much. After the disappointment of the last book I waited for a library copy of this one. I am sad to say that it was a good idea to wait. In this book we see the complete triumph of narrative over story. What story there is concerns the third generation Mackenzies and their associated friends and followers joined by the Japanese empress from the previous book. After more than three hundred pages of fooling around off they go to start a new quest. The agonizingly slo-ow start of a new quest, this time for Japanese version of the Sword of the Lady.

But the proliferation of superfluous description completely overwhelms the story. We get detailed descriptions of everything, armor, weapons, foliage, foods, architecture, ceremonies, land forms ad infinitum. Every time a character puts on a hat we get a short history of hats. At one point (one of the few action scenes) the author stops abruptly and inserts a page of landscaping (pp. 126-127). Also there is so much backstory that it becomes a burden. Mr. Stirling is an excellent novelist and I have read most of his stuff with great enjoyment.
This series however seems to have run its course.

I have enjoyed this series from the beginning following it from the initial three books starting with Island in the Sea of Time and then introduced this universe in Dies the Fire. There are many people out there who have strong views on Stirling's writing as it tends to be conflict-driven and often describe military situations and militaristic cultures. He loves to explore societies with cultural values very different from modern western views, particularly cultural and moral views. That said the common theme here is a unknown evil not unlike the idea found in various writing ancient and modern, including Lord of the Rings which has arisen and threatens the society and drives the story. The Nantucket books were the best of all those written but the others are fun and worth the time.

Some people are not going to like the obvious inclusion of pre-Christian religious ideas [as they are viewed through their modern lens excluding the ideas of human sacrifice etc in the original versions of the Nordic and Celtic versions]. Having a good friend who was a monk at Mt Angel I was very amused at the idea of warrior monks coming from that monastery. He is amused as well. But the characters are well developed for the most part and the stories are fun to read. I am interested to see where Stirling goes with this trilogy, he has a choice and hopefully he will not simply repeat the previous storyline. Stirling is a creative writer so I am looking forward to see how things develop.

A well written and captivating novel in the change series. The story evolves with the succeeding generations in a way that captivates and holds your attention.

Great attention to detail and character development.

It's well constructed, well written, and a clear continuation of the previous stories in the series. But still... it feels half phoned in and half a Silver-Age-comic style reboot. The Japanese party is clearly serving as reader-insertion exposition targets so that the setting can be described, again, from top to toe, in case of... new readers who think jumping into a new series with the 12th-ish book is a good idea? Nothing really happens in this book; the entire thing is basically just introducing all the characters and getting them together, almost. Towards the end the Heroes are finally off on an Adventure! Time for Heroism and Great Feats of derring-do! ... in the next book.

I certainly plan to continue preordering Sterling in hardcover. But this particular volume was a bit of a disappointment. I feel like it could have been cut by about 30% and then glued onto the front of the next volume, thus improving both books as a result.

Very disappointing book, a lot of tedious details regarding customs, weapons, dresses, the battle-skirmish descriptions as good as ever, the storyline not very interesting, nothing much happens. after the killing of the high king Rudi, I expected some interesting turn of events, but alas, a very big disapointment.

Stirling's Change series is an excellent read. Brings to mind Jordan's epic series that was completed after his death. Stirling's latest is a fine continuation of his series. The characters are believable and the story just flows.
Highly recumbent - If you're new to Stirling's Change series, start at the beginning! You can find the volumes. the store has them available.