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Title: In the Courts of the Crimson Kings |
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Review of In the Courts of the Crimson Kings
- In the parallel world first introduced in S. M. Stirlingâs The Sky People, aliens terraformed Mars (and Venus) two hundred million years ago, seeding them with life-forms from Earth. Humans didnât suspect this until the twentieth century, but when the first probes landed on our sister worlds, and found lifeâintelligent life, at thatâthings changed with a vengeance. By the year 2000, America, Russia, and the other great powers of Earth are all contending for influence and power amid the newly-discovered inhabitants of our sister planets.
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Venus is a primitive world. But on Mars, early hominids evolved civilization earlier than their earthly cousins, driven by the needs of a harsh world growing still harsher as the initial terraforming runs down. Without coal, oil, or uranium, their technology was forced into different paths, and the genetic wizardry of the Crimson Dynasty united a world for more than twenty thousand years.
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Now, in a new stand-alone adventure set in this worldâs 2000 AD, Jeremy Wainman is an archaeologist who has achieved a lifelong dream; to travel to Mars and explore the dead cities of the Deep Beyond, searching for the secrets of the Kings Beneath the Mountain and the fallen empire they ruled.
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Teyud Zha-Zhalt is the Martian mercenary the Terrans hire as guide and captain of the landship Intrepid Traveller. A secret links her to the deadly intrigues of Dvor il-Adazar, the City That Is A Mountain, where the last aging descendant of the Tollamune Emperors clings to the remnants of his powerâ¦and secrets that may trace their origin to the enigmatic Ancients, the Lords of Creation who reshaped the Solar System in the time of the dinosaurs.
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When these three meet, the foundations of reality will be shakenâfrom the lost city of Rema-Dza to the courts of the Crimson Kings.
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Comments for In the Courts of the Crimson Kings
- Posted on 2008-07-12
A great read
Stirling has scored again. It evokes the SF that I used to read as a kid. His take on Mars is extremely interesting and very well thought out. His Martians are fascinating. I think that his "feral engines" is a brilliant SF concept, one of the best that I ever read. I highly recommend this book. I also recommend the other in the series "The Lords of Creation": The Sky People. I am looking forward to more books in this series.
Score: 5
- Posted on 2008-06-18
Terrific Tale Set on the Red Planet
This book brings to mind the stories I read in my youth written by Edgar Rice Burroughs. But, this book is better. It is one of those books that you like it so much you never want it to end. Bio engineered devices, ships that sail the sands, swordplay, and high adventure. All centered around an earthman looking for lost treasures and the heir to the Crimson Throne. I am a big fan of SM Stirling and am eagerly waiting the next edition from the "Dies the Fire" series, but I must say "In the Courts of the Crimson Kings" is one of the finest books I have read in years. I have been reading Stirling's books since I ran across "Island In the Sea of Time". After that one I went looking for his books. He has written many great books but this is one of his best!
Score: 5 - Posted on 2008-06-15
I Remember Mars
I grew up with stories like "A Princess of Mars" and "The Secret of Sinhallat"! Burroughs, Bradbury, and Brackett portrayed a dying Mars with ancient races, alien technologies, and doughty Earthmen buckling their swashes on the crimson sward.
And those traitors to great fantastic fiction; Astronomy, Physics, and real rockets to Mars... Well, we sighed in sadness and called it Science Fantasy, Alternate History, and another case where Fact killed Fiction.
Steve Stirling was not content to let that remain, however. His LORDS OF CREATION series posits a solar system where ancient astronauts terraformed Mars and Venus, with the latter being that steaming prehistoric dinosaurian world, with of course the obligatory beautiful cave princess, and Mars -- a world of a dying race with a history going back tens of thousands of years.
I haven't read "The Sky People", as the book jacket made it sound like warmed over Otis Adelbert Kline. "The Courts of The Crimson Kings" is the real deal, however, the pure quill. If you are of the "Boomer" generation, with a memory of "The Good Old Stuff", you will devour, and enjoy this adventure on a Mars I thought never to see again.
And unlike something like "The Space Vulture", espousing the worst faults of SF of the 30s and 40s, this novel is written with love and a 21st century sensibility.
Score: 5 - Posted on 2008-05-19
Good
I liked the Sky people a little better than this one but you cant go wrong with Stirling. The dialogue was somewhat hard to follow when the 'Martians' would converse (imagine Vulcans talking to one another) but all in all not bad.
Score: 4
- Posted on 2008-05-12
Crimson Enjoyment
For any fan of Sword and Planet fiction this is a welcome new entry into that too long dormant form. I thought this was much better than Stirling's "The Sky People," largely because the characterization was so good and the details of the world etched with far more care. The Martian civilization is extremely well done, down to the consistent use throughout of Martian forms of expression. It's been a long time since I enjoyed a book more thoroughly and I really appreciated the innovations that Stirling brought to the genre.
Score: 5