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.