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    The High King of Montival: A Novel of the Change
    The High King of Montival: A Novel of the Change
    The High King of Montival: A Novel of the Change
    Audiobook16 hours

    The High King of Montival: A Novel of the Change

    Written by S. M. Stirling

    Narrated by Todd McLaren

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    In The Sword of the Lady, Rudi Mackenzie's destiny was determined. Now he returns to Montival in the Pacific Northwest, where he will face the legions of the Prophet. To achieve victory, Rudi must assemble a coalition of those who had been his enemies a few months before and forge them into an army that will rescue his homeland.

    Only then will Rudi be able to come to terms with how the Sword has changed him, as well as the world, and assume his place as Artos, High King of Montival.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateSep 7, 2010
    ISBN9781400176847
    The High King of Montival: A Novel of the Change
    Author

    S. M. Stirling

    A well-regarded author of alternate history science-fiction novels, S.M. Stirling has written more than twenty-five books, including acclaimed collaborations with Anne McCaffrey, Jerry Pournelle, and David Drake. His most recent novels are T2: Infiltrator, The Peshawar Lancers, and the Island in the Sea of Time trilogy.

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    Reviews for The High King of Montival

    3.5/5

    18 ratings11 reviews

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    • 2/5
      The story is good but there were lots of errors near the end where it repeated over and over sometime for 5 minutes or so.
    • 4/5
      The book was great - the recording had some messed up parts during chapters 20 and 21.
    • 4/5
      I'm giving this 4 stars because while the pacing in it was better than in several of the previous books, the events themselves are less interesting, mostly because we know starting it pretty much exactly how it's going to end. No surprises here! Still, I don't necesarily mind that- it's a feature in most romance novels... though it does seem more out of place in books which are supposed to be high adventure.The complaints in some of the less favorable reviews are valid. The Sword is so much of a deus ex machina, pretty much literally! And the other nations seem way too quick to join up with all the Good Guys, who pretty much never quarrel amongst themselves. And if there is a misunderstanding- well the Miraculous Sword sorts it all out to achie4ve mutual understanding! Um, sure.Anyway, not book to pick up if you're not already reading the series, but not a bad episode in it.
    • 4/5
      A good continuation of the story. I guess it gets better once you reconcile yourself that this is a fantasy series.
    • 4/5
      The seventh book in the Emberverse Series, or 10th, if you count the "Island in the Sea of Time" series. Total indulgence pulp read for me. To be frank, this is not great writing, but its good enough to keep me interested. The series started out in the Willamette Valley in Oregon where I lived for a while, and if anything, Stirling is good on trivial setting details. The coupling of post apocalyptic and familiar territory makes this story funny and irrestiable. In this volume, Rudi and his "fellowship" have gotten the magic sword and are on their way back from Nantucket to the Kingdom of Montival, or basically the pacific northwest. A lot of the jokes are corny but Stirling knows it and has a good time poking fun with the nerdy SCA crowd that he knows will be reading the series. Stirling has reached the "Robert Jordan" effect in his story telling, meaning that, now, a good tenth to a quarter of the book is simple reteliing of the first 6 books to refamiliarize the reader to the insane amount of plot twists and character drama that has already transpired. This volume seems less annoying than the past few, which tells me that he's getting better at making the regurgitation less obvious and annoying.As always, Stirling weaves in the various linguistic references, religious trivia, and archaic weapon and armor vocabulary. Having read a lot of books this year regarding ancient Celts I have finally started recognizing the place names and myth references he casts about willy nilly. Admittedly, I have also learned a lot from having wikipedia close at hand while reading these stories, being able to quickly look up what a "shield boss" or "coite-harde" is. Improvement wise, I think this story could do without the "Liono" impersonations. Stirling has obviously watched Thundercats way too much. If the next book still has Rudi magically staring at the future through the pommel of his sword, I think I'm going to throw up. Lastly, if you have read the series up to this point, I encourage you to google search the "Church Universal Triumphant". It was very truly fascinating and kind of scary too.
    • 2/5
      Loved "Dies the Fire" but Stirling has really lost the plot. Literally. Don't waste your time reading this repetitive drivel, it's all boring (and I do mean boring) war scenes interspersed with trite religious overtones. The one piece of good news: they finally make it back across America! Thank god, because I was going to have to kill myself if the journey got any more drawn out.
    • 3/5
      The Change series continues with the new king returning to Montival. This book is mostly about that journey, with plenty of action throughout.
    • 3/5
      The latest installment of the Change series novels. I still enjoyed reading this, but at this point in the series they are starting to feel repetitive and drawn out. There are only so many different ways they can spend time while travelling across the country again, and only so many different ways they can have fights with the Cutters. The forces opposed to the Cutters are gradually gathering for the big fight that's coming, hopefully in the next book. No surprises in this one, no new characters to speak of, and not much in the way of advancing the plot. You could potentially skip this one and go right to the next one and not miss much.
    • 4/5
      01/2012-Holds up well as a re-read. It's an interesting transition from the first trilogy, which deals primarily with how modern-day humans cope with the Change to the second set of books (currently at four volumes, heading toward six) which deals more with how the generation after the Change copes with the new reality of magic.

      01/2011 Very satisfying seventh volume in the Emberverse saga. After seven books, though, it's difficult to find the proper objectivity for a review, I think, because I've grown to know and like the characters so well.

      There's a little less preachifying in this than some of the earlier ones, a bit less violent, gory death, and a lot of character development. Watching Rudi's transition from young tanist to High King has been interesting. I'm deeply sympathetic to his Wiccan upbringing, and for the duration of my reading, am able to suspend all my disbelief in Gods and Goddesses and be carried away by the narrative. The Sword is a thing of myth and legend and might, and although it sometimes acts like the magic plot smoothing device, one forgives this in the service of Story.



    • 2/5
      Doesn't add much to the series...

      OK, ok... I get that they have to get back to Montival, but did it have to take 476 pages?? Do we have to read a recap of everything that has gone on before? Do we have to continue to tell the same, tired jokes and "clever" tales as in the previous six novels? I struggle to see where this add anything to the overall saga at all which is starting to really drag on... (becoming nearly as tedious as Robert Jordan) and apparently there are two more installments before it's over!

      Oh... and the cover sucks. Doesn't tie into the story at all.
    • 5/5
      The big battle against the CUT is still not yet. Meanwhile, Artos has to return west and try to talk all of the conflicting regional interests along the way into at least tolerating the concept of Montival and the High King. And, of course, the CUT lays a trap for them and we see the one really scary aspect of the Sword. At different times we also get to see some of the deeply spiritual aspects of the weapon. Meanwhile, on the home front, the CUT is mounting a truly massive assault against the an important outlying fort and is counting on Rudi to make the 3,000 mile return ASAP to save them.