The Sunrise Lands - S. M. Stirling

The Sunrise Lands
S. M. Stirling
Roc Books
Copyright: 2008
978-0451462251

The amazon.com blurb:

Rudi MacKenzie has grown up knowing that he will one day assume leadership over the survivors of the technological disaster known as the Change. But a prophecy made at his birth spoke of an even greater destiny—a destiny that is about to be fulfilled. A mysterious traveler from Nantucket, long rumored to be the source of the Change, arrives on a mission to bring Rudi back with him. And between him and his destiny lies the the cult of a madman determined to stop him…

The Sunrise Lands is the sequel to Meeting At Corvallis, but set several years later. Where the previous three books in the Change series were focused on Mike Havel, Juniper Mackenzie and the others of that generation, the story now picks up with their children.

There were two main things I found different about this book as compared to any other books by S. M. Stirling that I've read. First is that this one simply flew past. Where the previous books have taken about a week, if not more to finish, this one took only two days and just didn't feel as "dense". Second is that the book ended on one heck of a cliff-hanger that sent me out to get the next book, The Scourge of God, right away.

It's also almost certain at this point that somehow, the events of Dies The Fire, and the Nantucket trilogy are connected now. Nantucket has become the focus of both series, and it looks like the Nantucket of the past in Island In The Sea Of Time has ended up in the place of the island in the current books. The ramifications of that are just boggling my mind, such as the great old "grandfather paradox".

While Dies The Fire is still my favorite of the books by S. M. Stirling, The Sunrise Lands is running a close second, and I can't wait to find out how things resolve (if they do) in The Scourge of God. But that might end  up in the same situation. After all, it's followed by The Sword of the Lady.