The Scourge of God is a novel of The Change series.
Rudi Mackenzie — son and heir of the High Priestess Juniper Mackenzie and the Bear Lord Mike Havel — continues his trek across the land that once was the United States of America. His destination: Nantucket, where he hopes to learn the truth behind the Change which rendered technology around the globe inoperable.
Dreams, visions, and the accounts of those who dared to set foot on the island hint at forces beyond comprehension...and with the competing agendas for the future of the human race.
During his travels, Rudi forges ties with new allies in the continuing war against the Prophet. Presiding over his flock, the Church Universal and Triumphant, the Prophet teaches his followers as he has been taught: God has punished humanity by destroying technological civilization. Now, the Prophet's Cutters perform the "holy task" of destroying any technological remnants they come across, and those who dare use them.
But one fanatical officer of the Sword of the Prophet has an ever greater mission: to stop Rudi from reaching Nantucket — by any means necessary.
To forge new allies in the continuing battle against The Prophet, who seeks the destruction of the remnants of all technology, Rudi MacKenzie makes his way across the country to Nantucket, hoping to uncover the truth behind The Change, unaware that a fanatical officer in the Sword of The Prophet has been sent to stop him, by any means necessary. Reprint.
Rudi MacKenzie continues his journey toward Nantucket, where he hopes to learn the truth behind The Change that rendered technology across the globe inoperable. But one fanatical officer in the Sword of The Prophet has been dispatched on a mission to stop Rudi from reaching Nantucket by any means necessary.
*“Vivid…Stirling eloquently describes a devastated, mystical world that will appeal to fans of traditional fantasy as well as postapocalyptic SF.” – Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) * Rudi Mackenzie—son and heir of the High Priestess Juniper Mackenzie and the Bear Lord Michael Havel—continues his trek across the land that was once the United States of America. His destination: Nantucket, where he hopes to learn the truth behind the Change, which rendered technology across the globe inoperable.
During his travels, Rudi forges ties with new allies in the continuing war against the Prophet. Presiding over his flock, the Prophet teaches his followers that God has punished humanity by destroying technological civilization, and that they must continue to destroy any technology they come across—along with those who dare use it.
But one fanatical officer in the Sword of the Prophet has an even greater mission: to stop Rudi from reaching Nantucket by any means necessary.
Starred Review The Change saga (Dies the Fire, 2004; The Protector’s War, 2005; A Meeting at Corvallis, 2006) and its current protagonist, Rudi Mackenzie, march on, with Stirling showing his usual high skill at sucking the reader in. Rudi is continuing his exploration of post-Change America and finding more and more evidence that somebody is manifesting as supernatural beings out of various mythologies. Is/are it/they god/gods from outer space, or somewhere closer to home? Rudi faces more mundane problems, too, such as whether he is in the process of becoming a father. The pacing of the opening is breakneck, and no concessions whatsoever are made to readers unfamiliar with the series’ backstory and characters (so perhaps this isn’t the book to start reading the saga with; then, again . . .). After awhile, things slow down somewhat, but never too much. Stirling is a perfect master of keep-them-up-all-night pacing, possibly the best in American sf, quite capable of sweeping readers all the way to the end, with a galley going under a bridge in Dubuque in the Provisional Republic of Iowa, and leaving them crying for more. Fortunately, Stirling’s plans include at least four more Change novels. --Roland Green
SUMMARY:
A stunning continuation(Diana L. Paxson, author of Ravens of Avalon) of the New York Times bestselling authors splendid saga chronicling an alternate world without technology.Rudi MacKenzie continues his trek across the land that was once the United States of America. His destination: Nantucket, where he hopes to learn the truth behind The Change that rendered technology across the globe inoperable. During his travels, Rudi forges ties with new allies in the continuing war against The Prophet, who teaches his followers that God has punished humanity by destroying technological civilization. And one fanatical officer in the Sword of The Prophet has been dispatched on a missionto stop Rudi from reaching his destination by any means necessary.
Description:
The Scourge of God is a novel of The Change series.
Rudi Mackenzie — son and heir of the High Priestess Juniper Mackenzie and the Bear Lord Mike Havel — continues his trek across the land that once was the United States of America. His destination: Nantucket, where he hopes to learn the truth behind the Change which rendered technology around the globe inoperable.
Dreams, visions, and the accounts of those who dared to set foot on the island hint at forces beyond comprehension...and with the competing agendas for the future of the human race.
During his travels, Rudi forges ties with new allies in the continuing war against the Prophet. Presiding over his flock, the Church Universal and Triumphant, the Prophet teaches his followers as he has been taught: God has punished humanity by destroying technological civilization. Now, the Prophet's Cutters perform the "holy task" of destroying any technological remnants they come across, and those who dare use them.
But one fanatical officer of the Sword of the Prophet has an ever greater mission: to stop Rudi from reaching Nantucket — by any means necessary.
To forge new allies in the continuing battle against The Prophet, who seeks the destruction of the remnants of all technology, Rudi MacKenzie makes his way across the country to Nantucket, hoping to uncover the truth behind The Change, unaware that a fanatical officer in the Sword of The Prophet has been sent to stop him, by any means necessary. Reprint.
Rudi MacKenzie continues his journey toward Nantucket, where he hopes to learn the truth behind The Change that rendered technology across the globe inoperable. But one fanatical officer in the Sword of The Prophet has been dispatched on a mission to stop Rudi from reaching Nantucket by any means necessary.
*“Vivid…Stirling eloquently describes a devastated, mystical world that will appeal to fans of traditional fantasy as well as postapocalyptic SF.” – Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
*
Rudi Mackenzie—son and heir of the High Priestess Juniper Mackenzie and the Bear Lord Michael Havel—continues his trek across the land that was once the United States of America. His destination: Nantucket, where he hopes to learn the truth behind the Change, which rendered technology across the globe inoperable.
During his travels, Rudi forges ties with new allies in the continuing war against the Prophet. Presiding over his flock, the Prophet teaches his followers that God has punished humanity by destroying technological civilization, and that they must continue to destroy any technology they come across—along with those who dare use it.
But one fanatical officer in the Sword of the Prophet has an even greater mission: to stop Rudi from reaching Nantucket by any means necessary.
**
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. This vivid sequel to 2007's The Sunrise Lands opens in 2021, a generation after the Change that brought magic back into the world and made electric and explosive power inoperative. New post-industrial societies have risen, some seeking to restore technology and some celebrating its demise. One of the latter is the Church Universal and Triumphant, a group of genocidal Luddites with a prophetic theology that is more Dark Ages than New Age. Clan leader Rudi MacKenzie frequently butts heads with the Cutters and their Prophet as he struggles to cross the devastated Eastern Death Zones and reach Nantucket Island, birthplace of the Change, where he hopes to understand and perhaps reverse the replacement of technology with myth and magic. Stirling (The Sunrise Lands) eloquently describes a devastated, mystical world that will appeal to fans of traditional fantasy as well as post-apocalyptic SF. (Sept.)
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From Booklist
Starred Review The Change saga (Dies the Fire, 2004; The Protector’s War, 2005; A Meeting at Corvallis, 2006) and its current protagonist, Rudi Mackenzie, march on, with Stirling showing his usual high skill at sucking the reader in. Rudi is continuing his exploration of post-Change America and finding more and more evidence that somebody is manifesting as supernatural beings out of various mythologies. Is/are it/they god/gods from outer space, or somewhere closer to home? Rudi faces more mundane problems, too, such as whether he is in the process of becoming a father. The pacing of the opening is breakneck, and no concessions whatsoever are made to readers unfamiliar with the series’ backstory and characters (so perhaps this isn’t the book to start reading the saga with; then, again . . .). After awhile, things slow down somewhat, but never too much. Stirling is a perfect master of keep-them-up-all-night pacing, possibly the best in American sf, quite capable of sweeping readers all the way to the end, with a galley going under a bridge in Dubuque in the Provisional Republic of Iowa, and leaving them crying for more. Fortunately, Stirling’s plans include at least four more Change novels. --Roland Green