The Peshawar Lancers has a conventional happy ending with three marriages and the heroes returning home:
"The lord of Rexin laughed softly, shook his head, and looked up through the fresh green leaves of the chinar trees and the exploding white and pink flowers of the orchards, up toward the manor and its gardens." (p. 458)
The text concludes with a characteristically evocative quotation from James Elroy Flecker, in this case from his "Ishak's Song." (This is a double link to Neil Gaiman because Gaiman also quotes Flecker and because Ishak is the Court Poet of Haroun al Raschid, who is the central character of Gaiman's Ramadan.)
I do not begrudge Stirling's characters their happy ending and do not wish any more adventures on them but I do want to know more about their history: the international situation and the threat of a second Fall.
5 comments:
Hi, Paul!
Naturally, I'm very glad that my suggestion about you experimenting with one of Stirling's books turned out so well! I'm very glad reading THE PESHAWAR LANCERS pleased you so much and gave you such food for thought.
I think it's right that some novels have happy endings, if only because that is simply what the plot calls for! Not that S.M. Stirling couldn't write dark, even dystopian science fiction, most notoriously in his four Draka books, where more often than not we see the bad guys winning. And I mean REALLY bad guys, wickedness on the level of Count Ignatieff, no less!
And, yes, I think Stirling could, if he chose, write two or three more books set in the Angrezi Raj timeline. If I remember rightly, one of the tasks secretly assigned to Count Ignatieff by the House of the Fallen, unbeknownst to the Czar himself, was to kill the ancestor of a future scientist whose work would lead to fending off a second, far worse Fall. In their hatred of life, any life, the Satanist priests of the House of the Fallen WANTED life to be destroyed on Earth.
Stirling did write a short story set in the Angrezi Raj timeline, called "Shikari in Galveston."
I know you have read only one Stirling book so far, but how would you compare THE PESHAWAR LANCERS to Poul Anderson's work? What would you consider to be Stirling's strengths and weaknesses?
I am not sure whether to recommend that you try reading either another stand alone Stirling book such as CONQUISTADOR or one of his series. Ultimately, of course, you have to decide which alternative to choose.
Sean
Sean,
Where is "Shikari in Galveston" to be found?
Strengths and weaknesses: I have not noticed any of the latter yet. Good descriptions, characterization, imagination etc. Very much someone to read after Anderson just as Anderson follows Heinlein etc.
Cassandra King is the astronomer whose work might lead to fending off a second Fall.
Paul.
Hi, Paul!
"Shikari in Galveston" can be found in a collection of short stories by different authors called WORLDS THAT WEREN'T. But I don't have that book!
I agree, Stirling is very good at character development, back ground description, imagination, etc. And my view is that Poul Anderson surpassed Robert Heinlein. So, if Stirling is being FAVORABLY compared to Anderson, that speaks very well of the former!
Drat! I had forgotten Count Ignatieff was tasked with killing Cassandra King. I really should soon reread THE PESHAWAR LANCERS! (Smiles)
Sean
Sean,
We have ordered WORLDS THAT WEREN'T on Amazon.
Paul.
Hi, Paul!
Dang! I guess I should have gotten WORLDS THAT WEREN'T myself! I was hoping to find "Shikari in Galveston" as part of an all Stirling book.
Sean
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