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The final installment in the Change series included some unexpected turns. With most of the character development already complete, it was also faster in pace. I enjoyed it, but would recommend reading the first two before this. ( )

Ahh, the ending to the trilogy, but don't worry new Stirling fans, a new series is already out, featuring Rudi MacKenzie and his quest for Nantucket. Anyway, this third book brings the conflict to a head. Corvallis, Bearkillers, and Clan MacKenzie vs the Portland Protection Association. More great battles, more nerd sourced references, and the children of the change are getting older. Not the best writing ever, but the setting and tantalizing what if scenarios are enough to get me hooked. If you can put up with the bizarre wiccan rituals there is lots of strange knowledge to glean from this story. The reader also gets a few more details regarding Nantucket and what caused all of this to happen, foreshadowing the next three books in the series. ( )

A Meeting at Corvallis is a wonderful end to a story that started in Dies the Fire. The war that is alluded to in the previous book, The Protector's War, finally materializes and the battles are fast moving and well written. Overall this book is everything I hoped it would be. The story arcs that developed over the previous two books are completed with great skill and satisfaction. That is not to say that the book is not without its faults. There were a few instances where I felt that the story had lost its momentum, and I didn't feel compelled to keep reading. But these instances passed as quickly as they arrived, and I was drawn once again into the rich and detailed world that Stirling created. ( )

The best compliment I can pay to this third installment in Stirling’s Emberverse series, and sixth in the Nantucket event series, is that it brings most plot points to an end. Finally, we have the war between the Portland Protectorate Association and the alliance of Bearkillers, the monks of Mount Angel, and Clan McKenzie promised in the previous book, The Protector’s War. Two campaigns detailing the end game of the war are laid out, in fact. Unfortunately, while Stirling delivers on the gripping action scenes and florid descriptions of post-America that endeared me to this series in the first place, “Meeting in Corvallis” suffers from disjointed pacing and wandering focus.

I was expecting a linear buildup of action leading to the ubiquitous final battle that are typical of this genre of disaster fiction. It seems instead that “Corvallis” is more of a seris of novellas, typical of Analog Magazine mashups (such as Brin’s “The Postman”).

It starts off as a kind of spy story, where the heroes of the previous two novels hold a conference with the leaders of the University of Corvallis as indicated by the title and are hampered by a murder mystery. There is a buildup to large battle and just when you think the protagonists are going to triumph over evil the battle ends and a year-long détente ensues. It’s almost like another story starts up. I am tempted to blame the insertion of a new character into the plot. Some authors have a certain tick, a signature character that crops up in their writing over and over; telepathic intelligent dogs for Dean Koontz or mentally retarded yet central to the plot young men for Stephen King, for instance. I can only guess that Stirling realized he had gone nearly two books into this series without writing in a lesbian ninja. "We can't have that!" he may have thought. After putting one in as a villain at the end of "The Protector’s War" but he killed her off, so with this book we have her lover out for revenge as an even more capable, dealy, and ruthless lesbian ninja. In the center of the book there is a seemingly separate plot arc detailing her life. It’s an interesting story and all, but I kept waiting for things to wrap up.

Finally with the end of another harvest season a second battle gets underway and we have get the conclusion we were expecting, but it comes suddenly and is rather jarring. I won’t second guess the author and accuse him of being in a hurry, but for a guy who usually can stretch a duel into several pages, agonizing over descriptions of the weaponry and tactics involved, in this last skirmish of the series he merely describes the internal sensations of the lead character and leaves much up to the imagination. It’s over before you realize. It is an intriguing change of storytelling style but might lead readers wanting something a bit more. However, if you’re made it thus far in the series it remains a satisfying read and you are likely to be entertained. ( )