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skycrane's review against another edition
5.0
A great sequel. Not quite as cynical a conclusion as I expected from the first book, but certainly grim. I'm really confused by the genre tags this book currently has on Goodreads: Dystopia seems wrong to me, and Mystery is completely ridiculous. This book is not a mystery. It's not organized around a central question. There are lots of unknowns about the setting, but they're all basically irrelevant to the story. A central theme of the story is that the actual facts of the past are unimportant compared to the narratives we construct over them. What exactly are Those Above, and how did they take power? What was humanity's ancient crime that justifies their current subjugation? Those answers don't matter.
As for Dystopia... this setting has slavery, endemic warfare, and elites living off the toil of the starving masses. So basically, not too different from most of human history. The world's material culture seems to be based off the Mediterranean of the Helenistic Era, and that was certainly a time and place with brutal wars, accompanied by ubiquitous rape, pillage, massacre, and enslavement. Also a period of large empires where tiny elites of one culture ruled over large populations of many other cultures, subjects who could never aspire to citizenship. That kind of society was pretty common throughout human history. So if this is a dystopia, then so were most real-world societies, as well as most medieval fantasy.
I think these similarities are one of the most interesting things about this series. In this world, the noble elites actually are better than everyone else. Those Above are physically superior, larger, stronger, faster, and also culturally superior, more knowledgeable, more refined, more honorable, more inventive, more courageous. Every human who sees them, even those who hate them, agree that they are marvelous and wonderful. They're basically what every aristocracy through history has aspired, or pretended, to be. And yet the society they built is terrible. Out of many things this series says, one of them is that this kind of social stratification is always awful no matter the supposed virtues of the rulers.
As for the ending,
As for Dystopia... this setting has slavery, endemic warfare, and elites living off the toil of the starving masses. So basically, not too different from most of human history. The world's material culture seems to be based off the Mediterranean of the Helenistic Era, and that was certainly a time and place with brutal wars, accompanied by ubiquitous rape, pillage, massacre, and enslavement. Also a period of large empires where tiny elites of one culture ruled over large populations of many other cultures, subjects who could never aspire to citizenship. That kind of society was pretty common throughout human history. So if this is a dystopia, then so were most real-world societies, as well as most medieval fantasy.
I think these similarities are one of the most interesting things about this series. In this world, the noble elites actually are better than everyone else. Those Above are physically superior, larger, stronger, faster, and also culturally superior, more knowledgeable, more refined, more honorable, more inventive, more courageous. Every human who sees them, even those who hate them, agree that they are marvelous and wonderful. They're basically what every aristocracy through history has aspired, or pretended, to be. And yet the society they built is terrible. Out of many things this series says, one of them is that this kind of social stratification is always awful no matter the supposed virtues of the rulers.
As for the ending,
Spoiler
the reason I say it's less cynical than I expected is that ultimately Eudokia is punished for her selfish grasping pragmatism. Her plan succeeds completely, all her hard work pays off, she gets everything she wished for, and she's completely miserable living in the ruins she's built. Certainly the result is grim and unpleasant, but I think there's something hopeful in that. She led a successful revolution only to create something just as horrible as what came before, but not because it's impossible to make the world better. She made the world worse because that's exactly what she intended to do. What if she had turned her brilliance and effort to something good instead?juliettechihyu's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars
It was ok. Not bad but didn't really hold my interest.
It was ok. Not bad but didn't really hold my interest.
joeri81's review against another edition
3.0
The second book continues in the same way as the first ended: slow, with not much action and the biggest focus on politicking. This is definitely a dissapointment for me. After all the set up in the first book I expected more from this one. Polansky didn't deliver. As it's still on par with the first I finaly gave it 3 stars.
It's not that there's nothing happening; there are some skirmishes and some one-on-one action, but the general feel I have about Polansky's writing is that he wants to avoid the big fights at all cost. So don't expect any big army fights from him. This definitely isn't military fantasy. Maybe the right choice if he isn't comfortabel in writing it, but with several opportunities, it's a shame we don't get any.
This makes that the biggest asset of the two book series remains the worldbuilding and the writing. The characters are decent but nothing more than that either. The potential that was there was again not fully achieved.
Conclusion:
Decent, but not much more than that.
Rating: 7/10
It's not that there's nothing happening; there are some skirmishes and some one-on-one action, but the general feel I have about Polansky's writing is that he wants to avoid the big fights at all cost. So don't expect any big army fights from him. This definitely isn't military fantasy. Maybe the right choice if he isn't comfortabel in writing it, but with several opportunities, it's a shame we don't get any.
This makes that the biggest asset of the two book series remains the worldbuilding and the writing. The characters are decent but nothing more than that either. The potential that was there was again not fully achieved.
Conclusion:
Decent, but not much more than that.
Rating: 7/10
t_jenkins's review
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
stiofanob's review
5.0
Críoch iontach leis an scéal a tosaíodh in 'Those Above'. Ní minic gur féidir deireadh sásúil taitneamhach cumhachtach a chur le scéal fantasaíochta, go háirithe i bhfad dhá leabhar. Cé nach leabhar foirfe é ó thaobh plota agus stíl scríbhneoireachta de, bhraith mé ceangal leis na príomhcharachtair agus chuaigh críoch a scéalta féin i bhfeidhm orm. Ardaíonn Polansky ceisteanna tábhachtacha faoi ár na cogaíochta agus ídéil na réabhlóide, agus ní ghéilleann sé do chathú na físe útóipí ná na críche laochúla. Seo sraith leabhar a fhanfaidh liom.
bigchipper's review
4.0
I enjoyed this one much more than the first. The paced picked up a bit and you could see where the inevitable conclusion was coming. Polansky's a very good writer. I hope to read more of his stuff.
nghia's review
3.0
“‘What did you suppose? That the new age would be a golden one, bereft of misfortune, of inequality, of pain or of suffering? That you could murder your way into paradise?’”
Those Below picks up almost two-years after its predecessor ends. It feels a bit jarring, which is in keeping with Polansky’s approach to the entire series. The whole thing feels like it is written to try to keep us off-balance. It isn’t “subverting expectation”, really. I’m not sure what it is trying to do, to be honest. But it doesn’t read or feel like a typical epic fantasy.
Those Below has a bit more going on than its predecessor but that’s a pretty low hurdle. The four characters are largely driven by their interactions with others, so much so that you could be forgiven for calling this a character-driven, rather than plot-driven book.
Bas’s story is a perfect example. He’s the most successful general in the history of the most successful human empire in history. And in this book…he gets demoted to figurehead of the army, has no input in the strategy, and spends the entire book in a kind of doomed fascination about the Eternal ambassador attached to the army. They have a picnic together and that's actually kind of the climax of his arc.
“‘The external threat must be dealt with first.’ Having been wrong in every past prediction did not prevent the Lord of the House of Kind Lament from further augury.”
Again, I’ll credit Polansky’s skill as a writer for making this as readable as it was. To be honest, I’m still not really sure why he chose to tell this particular story in this particular way.
Given everything that happens in the end, it is hard not to ascribe a kind of nihilist philosophy to the whole endeavour. Is that a commentary on the typical epic fantasy plot of “we’ll overthrow the dark lord and I’m sure everything will just be peachy after that?”
“‘The new world will be the same as the old. The weak and the foolish and the ill-fortuned will suffer, the strong and the cruel will flourish.”
In a clash of civilizations it feels like everyone comes out a loser. Was that the point? I dunno.
nlord's review
adventurous
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
apparitor's review
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
wyvernfriend's review
3.0
I really wanted to like this, and I can see where it's dark fantasy elements would appeal to many but I prefer my fiction to leave me with some hope at the end.
Man and Immortal fight, politics is complex
Man and Immortal fight, politics is complex
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