The tears of the sun

I've changed my tags for the Change series, because at this point they are effectively no longer post-apocalyptic, nor really even alternate history, as they've moved strictly into fantasy (seemingly ever more into high fantasy).returnLike the previous book, Tears of the Sun is vastly over-sized. There's an argument that its a 'transitional book', but effectively very little happens. We're treated to some flashbacks, short scenes, and information that actually took place during the previous book and likely would have been better included there instead of some of the filler. Maybe a hundred pages of that sort of material all told. The rest of the almost 700 pages is a combination of a sort of 'previously on' review of a lot of information readers this deep in the series are already undoubtedly familiar with and just a lot of filler. Realistically, this and the previous book could have had a significant amount of material CUT and been combined into one book shorter in length than either of the originals. They feel more Stirling was maybe trying to stretch the material to fulfill a contractual number of books, or as if he was a periodical author being paid by the word.returnI wonder if this is something that at the time publishers and fans also noticed, as the subsequent 3 books are dramatically shorter in length, by hundreds of pages. Regardless, that's where I'll stop as the next three are all I have left in my inherited books box, unless the writing and story take a dramatic turn for the better...a return to the initial three books, but I have my doubts that will be the case.

The Tears of the Sun has to be the worst book in the Emberverse series if not the worst book S.M. Stirling has written to date. Dies the Fire and the next 2 books were fantastic, but starting with book 4 (The Sunrise Lands) this dystopian story has gone down hill. The Emberverse series has turned into a fantasy book series that spends a great deal of time describing the smell and color of things in the environment instead of producing any story. This over-description of everything along with the flashbacks in The Tears of the Sun I found this book a complete waste of my time. I would not recommend this book to anyone unless you simply feel you need to read the entire series.