In the Courts of the Crimson Kings

In some senses, it is hard to do a Mars book these days, now that we know it to be cold and dead to anything bigger than a microbe. But Stirling neatly retcons Mars, peopling it with alien humans (not an oxymoron) and wild creatures. A la Burroughs, there are sword fights aplenty and love interests rescued. Most fun for me is the Martians' language. If you ever enjoyed tales of Barsoom, do yourself a favor: kick back and read this book. Savor it. And pray for a sequel.

I'm not really attracted to the swashbuckling tales of heroic fighters, even really good female assassins. But I like S. M. Stirling's writing. Even though I was not fond of the previous book in this series, The Sky People, set on a prehistoric, dinosaur and Neanderthal Venus, I did decide to buy the paperback version of the next book. And I did like this book much better than the previous book. Maybe I just like decadent Martian civilizations better than dinosaur riding cavemen. Maybe I appreciate a butt kicking female who is secretly the heir to the Crimson Throne and her human archeologist Consort. Whatever the reason, this book has the requisite nonstop action, strange biotechnological science, and political intrigue. As long as you show more don't expect too much in the way of nuanced story telling, you should enjoy this book. show less

After being disappointed with the previous reading book, I ate up my next book, In the Courts of the Crimson Kings, the second half of Stirling's Lords of Creation duology.

To recap for those who haven't read The Sky People (and why haven't you?), the Lords of Creation series are set in an alternate world much like our own...at least Earth is. In the LOC universe, it seems that Venus and Mars have been terraformed by unknown aliens 200 million years ago, and for lack of a better world, have been managed since. Humans, or protohumans have been deposited on these worlds along with flora and fauna and allowed to develop. So, on Earth, both the East and the West went for Space exploration and travel in a big way. Who cares about fighting show more over Vietnam when there are two whole planets out there to explore...

The Sky People was set on Venus, with dinosaurs, bronze age hominids, and "cavemen". In the Courts of the Crimson Kings, we get a Mars straight out of Burroughs, with caste-mad Martians with organic technology and a civilization that was flourishing long before the Trojan War on Earth...

The opening chapter has a bunch science fiction writers watching the landing of a probe on Mars. Stirling makes this chapter a game by giving incomplete names or descriptions or allusions to novels they have wrote (or won't write), to let the reader for fun tease out the people gathered. It was an amusing way to get into the book, separate from the main story.

That story revolves around Jeremy, an archaeologist who is going to excavate a city in the encroaching desert, and Teyud, a mercenary guard who, in the best tradition of John C. Wright, is actually, secretly, a "Space Princess". And when rivals to her dying father decide to eliminate her from the game board, it soon becomes clear that the best way for Teyud and Jeremy to survive these attacks is to boldly return to the Court of the Crimson King...

I loved this book. Like the previous book, Stirling comes up with a rational reason and logic for why and how a Burroughs-like solar system (Venus and Mars with life) could come about. Every chapter has an imaginary excerpt from Encyclopedia Brittanica on this new Mars (just like he did in the previous volume with Venus). This Mars is clearly an homage to Barsoom, with a strange Martian chess game, castes, weird technology, unusual political and social forms, and a grand vision.

And the ending of the book, without giving it away too much, is much like Stirling's novel Conquistador in that it has a fulmination of even more possibilities unfold...

I loved my trip to Stirling's Mars. So will you. Go read the Sky People first, and then go read this. You won't regret it. show less

This book is the second in a series about an alternate reality in which an alien instrumentality has Tera-formed Mars and Venus in prehistoric times. This is discovered by the US and USSR in the early 1960s. This book was listened to as an unabridged audiobook from Audible.com, and was read by a superb voice actor. The book can be characterized as an account of Mard and Terran interaction written as though by a more optimistic and much better educated Ray Bradberry. There is adventure, love, cultural contract, and conflict. Like all the books I have so far had the pleasure of reading as audiobooks, this one is superb. S. M. Stirling seems to be creating a multiverse similar to those in complexity as those created by Philip Jose Farmer show more or Stephen King. The body of his work is astonishing. I wish all of his works will eventually be reissued as audiobooks. I have also purchased a few of his works as bound volumes because they have not been recorded, but I dare say that I would repurchase them as audiobooks if they are ever so issued. Highly recommended! show less

In this novel, Mars isn't the dead world that is our second nearest neighbour but the home of an ancient civilisation that is fighting a rearguard action against the decay of the planet. Jeremy Wainman is a terran archaeologist who has made it hs life's work to uncover the secrets of this ancient world and Teyud is the mercenary hired by the American delegation to kep him safe out in the Deap Beyond but the secrets of Teyud's blood would shake the Court of the Crimson King. This is a planetary romance straight out of the annals of the pulps of the 40s, particularly the stories of Leigh Brackett, with enough additional twists by Stirling to make it his own millieu.

A great read.

If you once loved Thuvia, Maid of Mars, and you long for rollicking adventures with pirates, canals and martian princesses, this is for you! It's one of SM Stirling's alternate worlds, where Venus and Mars are inhabited rather as imagined by the pre-spaceflight SF. Well written, well paced, lots of fun. Don't take it too seriously, it's a romp.

Sometime you mine gems from the bargain bins and sometimes all you get is dirty. In this case, it's a lot of red dirt.

For me, the most interesting part was the opening scene. This involved a whole roomful of Sci-Fi giants watching the landing of a probe on Mars. Things went downhill pretty fast from that point.

Nonetheless, I did finish reading the book and overall, it is enjoyable, just not great.