From /tmp/sf.1110 Fri Jul 23 13:53:18 1993 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written Path: lysator.liu.se!isy!liuida!sunic!pipex!uunet!wupost!csus.edu!netcom.com!dani From: dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig) Subject: The Sword of Heaven (spoilers) Message-ID: Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest) Date: Mon, 5 Jul 1993 00:06:32 GMT Lines: 52 This is as good an example as any of a book that's better than its predecessor, but also less enjoyable. Kate Elliott's "Jaran" gave us an all-too-common sf/f milieu of idealized horse-nomads. In "An Earthly Crown" and "His Conquering Sword", they're doing what horse nomads have frequently done through history, which is to swoop into settled lands, leaving a wide trail of corpses behind them. (For a culture that wouldn't dream of harming women, they're proving exceedingly flexible.) In parallel with this story is the barely-started story of Charles's plan to disrupt the Chapalii empire, doing however much harm that entails to however many billions or trillions of its inhabitants. The most poorly-motivated plot element so far is the notion that the Tai-En Mushai's information could enable such disruption. For one thing, the notion that there's enough commerce for its disruption to cause serious harm seems incompatible with the notion that when a large portion of the Empire was lost, the remainder didn't have to revise its schedules. For another, it assumes that the Chapalii will be exceedingly inflexible in reacting. (Maybe they will be, but that reduces them to another science-fictional opponent which can be defeated by exploiting a single weakness. The "he put all his power into the ring, so if you toss it into the poorly designed heart of the Death Star it'll start a fire, and these people have never heard of fire and won't know how to combat it" school of writing.) There's some hope that things won't be so simple-minded: Either Naroshi is very stupid, or he's a potential ally. (Another possibility is that he's the Emperor's agent: While the chance of the League's getting its independence is less than 10%, the chance of Charles or one of Tess's heirs becoming Emperor is probably closer to 50% by storybook logic.) The other major poorly-motivated plot device the notion that it matters to Charles whether Rhui is united or not. Still and all, the main characters are still interesting and likable (well, some of the are likable), and the less idealized picture being drawn here earns the author more respect. But it is a lot less fun than the first book to just wallow in. ----- Dani Zweig dani@netcom.com 'T is with our judgements as our watches, none Go alike, yet each believes his own --Alexander Pope