Seven Surrenders

, #2

Hardcover, 365 pages

English language

Published Nov. 27, 2017 by Tor Books.

ISBN:
978-0-7653-7802-6
Copied ISBN!
OCLC Number:
957647686

View on OpenLibrary

(55 reviews)

From 2017 John W. Campbell Award winner, Ada Palmer, the second book of Terra Ignota, a political science fiction epic of extraordinary audacity

In a future of near-instantaneous global travel, of abundant provision for the needs of all, a future in which no one living can remember an actual war…a long era of stability threatens to come to an abrupt end.

For known only to a few, the leaders of the great Hives, nations without fixed locations, have long conspired to keep the world stable, at the cost of just a little blood. A few secret murders, mathematically planned. So that no faction can ever dominate, and the balance holds. And yet the balance is beginning to give way.

Mycroft Canner, convict, sentenced to wander the globe in service to all, knows more about this conspiracy than he can ever admit. Carlyle Foster, counselor, sensayer, has secrets as well, and …

11 editions

reviewed Seven Surrenders by Ada Palmer (Terra Ignota, #2)

Focuses down on the absolute most BORING parts from TLTL

TLTL was interesting in that it sort of explores the concept that "God" (or at the very least something capable of creating miracles) suddenly walks amongst us in a future, theoretically tamed world, where people are all part of various houses and affiliations that work together to keep the world operating on an even keel. THIS book, however, takes the most boring and irrelevant bits of that (IMHO) and runs for an entire freaking novel with them. It was supremely frustrating to come off of reading TLTL and have all the fascinating ideas and such that I had floating around in my head dumped into the ice water of a 350+ page exploration of how the entire system could be turned on its head by one woman playing sexual politics. Very disappointing!

reviewed Seven Surrenders by Ada Palmer (Terra Ignota, #2)

Review of 'Seven surrenders' on 'Goodreads'

Would you destroy the world to create a better one? This book was great, with all of it's twists and turns, even though the wonderful world-building of the Utopia in the first book gets undone, and by the end of it, my sincere hope is that the third book will actually build something better.

Review of 'Seven Surrenders' on 'Goodreads'

I gulped this book down after finishing Too Like The Lightning. It honestly stood up to binge reading. I thought I had Palmer's number this time through -- and in some ways I did in that twists were less shocking than they'd been in the first book -- but this still managed to be a genuinely thrilling book with a lot to think about.

Here's my final warning: I was the first person in my group to finish Seven Surrenders. Friends don't let friends read Ada Palmer alone. This is the sort of book that you need a buddy to digest with.

reviewed Seven Surrenders by Ada Palmer (Terra Ignota, #2)

Review of 'Seven surrenders' on Goodreads

Ambitious pair of novels, only a few loose elements, wild mystery chase through a glorious dense sea of 18C enlightenment ideals and underbelly and the classics, roman and sci-fi, in a consistently future-oriented questioning of belief and human/social capacity. This one will probably grow on me for a while.

reviewed Seven Surrenders by Ada Palmer (Terra Ignota, #2)

Review of 'Seven Surrenders' on 'Goodreads'

I'm conflicted about Seven Surrenders.

On one hand, I like a challenging mystery, yet I got a bit lost in Too Like the Lighting.
On the other hand I don't like being spoon fed, and Seven Surrenders is a long series of people explaining what happened in Too Like the Lighting, again and again and again.

I'm used to books in a series taking a bit of time to remind you what happened in the previous book.
However in Seven Surrenders I think I got to chapter 19 out of 24 before something new happened.

I guess this is what Seven Surrenders is about, it's about the implications of what was discovered in Too Like the Lighting.

reviewed Seven Surrenders by Ada Palmer (Terra Ignota, #2)

Review of 'Seven Surrenders' on 'Goodreads'

This is very elaborate, very philosophical world building and an intricate and complicated plot. At another time I might have loved it, but there are a few things I dislike in it, and taken together they make it a four star book rather than five for me.

Review of 'Seven Surrenders' on 'Goodreads'

[book:Too Like the Lightning|26114545] was brilliant, and Seven Surrenders continues on the same track. Still the two defining features for me are 1) there is a hundred times more plot here than in other books and 2) with all that plot there is still room for a narrator whose presence is continuously felt.

The plot is massive and involves a myriad characters, set in a strange world where factions and people stand for various philosophies and theologies. It is very stimulating reading, enjoyable as a giant puzzle and as a source of ideas to ponder long after closing the book.

Compared to the first book, we start off knowing more (of course) and the stakes are higher. We get more answers than questions this time, but digesting it all is still a challenge. As a character is praised in the book for never using the same trick twice, Ada Palmer …

reviewed Seven Surrenders by Ada Palmer (Terra Ignota, #2)

Review of 'Seven surrenders' on 'Goodreads'

If Too Like The Lightning frustrated you, steel yourself and read this anyway. The payoff on your investment will be huge. TLTL was often a slog, but this is not that - complex, yes, but also moves at an amazing pace, with the most satisfying ending of a second book in a trilogy(?) that I can remember. Well worth the read.

(I do recommend rereading TLTL before reading this - there are a lot of details in the first book that get tied in to the second book, so having it fresh in your head will enrich the reading experience.)

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Subjects

  • Utopias
  • Fiction

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