The High King of Montival: A Novel of the Change Audiobook

" Another good book as we follow the trials and tribulations of Rudi/Artos as he returns to Oregon after making it Nantucket! It was a fun read. "

" This has been a terrific series, although the last two books were not as impressive as the rest of the group. I hope this isn't the end! "

" 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. "

" This is the fifth book in the Change series that I started to read a few years ago. While a fine book in the middle of a series, it took me months to finish because nothing really happened in it. The characters basically needed to get across the country to set up the final book in the series and they did that with a few semi-interesting detours. I'll finish the series but I won't really mind when it ends. "

" slower than previous books. "

" I really like the world he's created...but I get really tired of his writing style. It's so, show offy geek. Lots of con-language without a purpose. But I'll keep reading it because his world creating is some of the best I've ever seen. "

" The series strength is still in its characters, battles scenes and otherworldly spirituality/magic! "

" Good read! I liked the progression of the characters. Hope the next one is at least as good. "

" Compared to the story roll out in the earlier books, this one just felt rushed to me. It was good; it was just like watching a movie that tried to tie up a lot of threads in one movie. "

" A quick transition novel. Still, I like the characters and the story. "

" Can be a little long winded at times and slow at others but the return trip was a pleasure to read and sets up the next book nicely. Can't wait for it. "

" This series is kind of wearing thin. "

" This book was the usual great story telling by the author. Love the approach to mixing fantasy and science fiction, love the alternate history/world themes. Loved the characters "

" It's a reasonably good story, but these are not good books. They're like television in book form, like romance novels or trash--they consume time, fill you with an entertaining narrative, but don't require any thought at all. Summer readins. . . "

" Good Read if you are following the series, keep them coming. I really enjoy the detail to PNW locations. "

" I'm hooked into the entire series, say what you will, I feel very comfortable with all the characters. "

" Most series that include large scale wars have one of these ... the moving the armies around book. Not among the best of the series for me, but the story still holds my interest and there were moments in it that were very good. "

" v. good AS USUAL. "

" As with the complete story so far - this is an excellent series. Very hard to put down the books, because they grab you to see what is next. The plausability of a world without electric or gas based power is scarry, but to take this into the realm of phantasy is brilliant. "

" Likely closer to three and a half stars. Fairly enjoyable continuation of the story. "

" These keep getting better and better- and there's promise of more to come, which is great. "

" As this series goes on he seems to spend more time writing descriptions of food and clothing than action. "

" A pretty good reading follow up, but no conclusions to the saga. "

" Good addition to the series. Not the end, but maybe the beginning of the end. "

" This has been a terrific series, although the last two books were not as impressive as the rest of the group. I hope this isn't the end! "

" While my favorites in this series are the first three volumes, I liked this one the best of the "Quest" books. Artos-Rudi is larger than life, but in a good way. A satisfying read for fans of Emberverse. "

" I've read them all, so this is typical Stirling, although it seemed to me that he could have cut 100 pages out of this book easily. "

" Likely closer to three and a half stars. Fairly enjoyable continuation of the story. "

" For the most part good, I really enjoyed the battle scenes but I felt some parts of the story spent too much time on describing details that I didn't feel was necessary. "

" The post-apocalyptic setting interested me, but it was more swords and sorcery than I cared for. "