2019-11-17 - Review: The Red Stained Wings
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O.K., going to try reviewing books  I read again. Hoping this might
be a more bearable place to put them.

    Title:  The Red Stained Wings
    Author: Elizabeth Bear
    Genre:  High Fantasy

This is the  second book in Bear's "Lotus  Kingdoms" series, itself
the second series set in  her "Eternal Sky" universe. Disclaimer: I
utterly adore the Eternal Sky series.

I can't say that I feel the  same way about the Lotus Kingdoms. The
first book - The Stone in the  Skull - was fabulous, an epic return
to a world she  had brought to life so vividly.  Set in a different
location, it  took me  a while  to realise that  this was  the same
world.

This second book is not fabulous. I know that there's a widely-held
belief that middle  books of a trilogy are always  poor, as they're
just marking time. I don't  usually subscribe to this position, but
there's a definite sense that Bear is literally phoning this one in
for much of the novel's considerable heft.

Arcane political maneouverings are hard  at the best of times. This
book is full of them, and none of it every works properly, it's all
a bit of a  (to use the Irish phrase) "Dúirt  bean liom go ndúirt
bean léi go ndúirt bean eile…" --  A woman told me that a woman
told her that another woman…

There are hints  and flashes of Bear's usual brilliance  here - the
Gage's adventures in the walking city, the destruction wrought by a
volcano and  a sorceror -  but nothing  which is sustained  for any
time  to make  it  noteworthy. There  are even  hints  of a  deeper
tapestry, like  something from Sanderson's "Cosmere" Universe - the
talking pen -  but, again, this isn't an area  which is explored in
any depth or with any purpose.

This is  the second Bear novel  I've read this year;  the other one
was "Ancestral Night"  an epic space opera that  I found thoroughly
enjoyable and engaging.  Maybe Bear spent all the shits  she had to
give in that novel, because this one just isn't at the races.

All  of this  changes in  the  last third  of the  novel, when  the
various limp threads  suddenly weave together in  a satisfying and,
yes, exciting,  manner. I  just wish  that the  same care  had been
lavished on the rest of the book.

    Base Score: 5/10

    Adjustment: +1 for glimpses of a better novel

    Rating: 3/5 stars.