In the Courts of the Crimson Kings
Posted on August 19th, 2008 in Amazon Products | No Comments »
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Manufacturer: Tor Books
Venus is a primitive world. But on Mars, early hominids evolved civilization earlier than their earthly cousins, driven by the needs of a harsh world growing still harsher as the initial terraforming runs down. Without coal, oil, or uranium, their technology was forced into different paths, and the genetic wizardry of the Crimson Dynasty united a world for more than twenty thousand years.
Now, in a new stand-alone adventure set in this world’s 2000 AD, Jeremy Wainman is an archaeologist who has achieved a lifelong dream; to travel to Mars and explore the dead cities of the Deep Beyond, searching for the secrets of the Kings Beneath the Mountain and the fallen empire they ruled.
Teyud Zha-Zhalt is the Martian mercenary the Terrans hire as guide and captain of the landship Intrepid Traveller. A secret links her to the deadly intrigues of Dvor il-Adazar, the City That Is A Mountain, where the last aging descendant of the Tollamune Emperors clings to the remnants of his power…and secrets that may trace their origin to the enigmatic Ancients, the Lords of Creation who reshaped the Solar System in the time of the dinosaurs.
When these three meet, the foundations of reality will be shaken—from the lost city of Rema-Dza to the courts of the Crimson Kings.
Lowest Used Price: USD .32
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ISBN: 0765314894
Number Of Pages: 304
Release Date: 2008-03-18
Original Language: English
Unknown: English
Published: English

Hommage to the great SF authors of the past
One of the most enjoyable aspects of In the Courts of the Crimson Kings is the nearly constant stream of references to past great authors of Martian SF. The first chapter that takes place at a SF convention introduces at least a dozen authors who have written about Mars or sword/adventure SF, and looking for nods to their work is a lot of the fun in this book. Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, L. Sprague DeCamp, Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, Ray Bradbury, H. Beam Piper, Robert Silverberg,and many others pop up -- along with the near-constant ties back to Burroughs, John Carter, and the sands of Barsoom. If you are the SF equivalent of a "foodie," you will have a wonderful time trying to piece together the references. Aside from that esoteric activity, it's a good book with intriguing characters (particularly now that we can read about interspecies sex - I always wondered about Carter and Deja Thoris ...), a strong if predictable plot, and the somewhat ambiguous and thus interesting villains that are Sterling's hallmark. Highly recommended.

Exciting read
A very exciting read and a great followup to the sky people. I found the underlying technology plausible with a great plot. Of special enjoyment, was identifying the number of SciFi writers put into the book in small chapters by their first name. Nice job all around.

Good, but different from Previous Book
Not as consistently good as the previous novel, 'The Sky People', but an overall more satisfying read. A more interesting alternative society than in the previous novel makes up for some slow areas of the book. As before, many characters are stereotypical, but also as before, this is intentional. Will be appreciated more by individuals who have read a wide range of other sci-fi, especially older stories.

entertaining
Entertaining, good characterization. A bit slow in spots and uses the same plot device as in Conquistador (is this to make it PC?). Not his best but interesting.











