Book Log 2012 #3: The Tears of the Sun by S. M. Stirling


For some reason I thought this was the last book of this series, but I pretty much figured out I was wrong when this book spent its time setting up action in future books rather than making any significant progress in its own right. There is some action - a daring rescue attempt and an early skirmish in the looming war with the Church Universal and Triumphant and its allies - but not as much as one might hope. There's a plot line told in flashback  which helps flesh out an earlier development, but isn't particularly exciting in its own right.

I could also do without the loving descriptions of medievel weapons and armor, and the continual references to heraldic signs using formal terms that would require keeping a glossary handy if I cared enough to decode just what's being talked about. On the plus side, fewer songs and the like.

Most series I've read have a book like this in it, where things get organized with the promise of future payoff. I'm hoping we get this over the last two books of the series, rather than another book of set-up and a final book to tie it all together.