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A review by mburnamfink
Seven Surrenders by Ada Palmer
5.0
Seven Surrenders does something rare as a sequel to a very promising book: exceed and build on that which came before. Tons of spoilers to follow.
Set as the second half of the week that shook the world, Palmer continues to dive into the mystery of the Hives and 'bashes, but this time the gloves are off. Every major character reveals a second, deeper layer. Mycroft Canner reveals the true reason for his murders. They were not just a senseless act to show the world that humans could choose evil: rather his targets were a cadre of Utopian military historians working to trigger a cataclysmic war sooner rather than later. The Mardi 'bash believed that in an echo of the First World War, the long and technologically fruitful peace would lead to a utter slaughter. They planned a small, vaccinating war, to stave off an absolute future catastrophe of the Utopian Hive against everyone else. Mycroft disagreed. Whether or not he was right is for the next book.
Carlyle Foster is no simple sensayer, rather she's the right hand of Julia Doria-Pamphili, helping to recruit elites into the web of blackmail and gendered sex centered around Madame's brothel. She's also looking for her own opportunity to strike out. Sniper lives up to his name, and the true calling of the Saneer-Weeksbooth 'bash in peace through assassination.
The plot centers on the escalating tensions of war between the hives, the efforts of European leader Casimir Perry to carry out a scheme of terrible revenge, and the coming revelation of J.E.D.D Mason and Bridger. Two possibly divine beings, appearing on Earth at one time, what could it possibly mean?
Palmer teases disaster as Sniper assassinates J.E.D.D Mason, only to have Mason resurrected by Bridger. Madame is revealed to be behind the past half-century of politics, decades of sexual and psychological manipulation to prove her power, which somehow intersects with the strange being of her son, J.ED.D. Mason. And the world shifts out into sides, on the fundamental philosophical question of "is it right to kill one to save many?" and "would you destroy this world to save a better one?"
I'm not sure where the series is going, and I have two more books, but for all the density introduced in Too Like the Lightning, Palmer knows what to push for the sequel.
Set as the second half of the week that shook the world, Palmer continues to dive into the mystery of the Hives and 'bashes, but this time the gloves are off. Every major character reveals a second, deeper layer. Mycroft Canner reveals the true reason for his murders. They were not just a senseless act to show the world that humans could choose evil: rather his targets were a cadre of Utopian military historians working to trigger a cataclysmic war sooner rather than later. The Mardi 'bash believed that in an echo of the First World War, the long and technologically fruitful peace would lead to a utter slaughter. They planned a small, vaccinating war, to stave off an absolute future catastrophe of the Utopian Hive against everyone else. Mycroft disagreed. Whether or not he was right is for the next book.
Carlyle Foster is no simple sensayer, rather she's the right hand of Julia Doria-Pamphili, helping to recruit elites into the web of blackmail and gendered sex centered around Madame's brothel. She's also looking for her own opportunity to strike out. Sniper lives up to his name, and the true calling of the Saneer-Weeksbooth 'bash in peace through assassination.
The plot centers on the escalating tensions of war between the hives, the efforts of European leader Casimir Perry to carry out a scheme of terrible revenge, and the coming revelation of J.E.D.D Mason and Bridger. Two possibly divine beings, appearing on Earth at one time, what could it possibly mean?
Palmer teases disaster as Sniper assassinates J.E.D.D Mason, only to have Mason resurrected by Bridger. Madame is revealed to be behind the past half-century of politics, decades of sexual and psychological manipulation to prove her power, which somehow intersects with the strange being of her son, J.ED.D. Mason. And the world shifts out into sides, on the fundamental philosophical question of "is it right to kill one to save many?" and "would you destroy this world to save a better one?"
I'm not sure where the series is going, and I have two more books, but for all the density introduced in Too Like the Lightning, Palmer knows what to push for the sequel.