In the Courts of the Crimson Kings (Lords of Creation, Bk 2)

As others have noted, this novel is a takeoff (with a twist) of "The Princess of Mars", by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The updated Dejah Thoris doesn't stand and watch John Carter defend her, no she certainly doesn't. This Dejah Thoris is not only beautiful, she is bright, quick on her feet and doesn't need any help to defend herself! Why did I give this book five stars? Simple it is a good read, some fascinating ideas, some cliff hangers and the development of the civilizations are very interesting. It starts off a Science Fiction writers convention in many which many of the real luminaries of SciFi are present, watching the landing of an exploratory ship to Mars. A rousing good start and it lets Mr Stirling pay homage to the greats. This is tied to his earlier work, the Sky People which means we may see yet another book or two to complement them, The stage is set for some good fun

This is the second book in a series updating the old tradition of adventure stories set on inhabitable Mars and Venus. Stirling sidesteps the fact that we know those worlds don't exist by putting the series in an alternate universe where Mars and Venus were terraformed long ago and seeded with earth-based life. I wasn't too impressed with Sky People, the first book in the series--wonderful playground with a story too small for it. In the Courts of the Crimson Kings is much better. Stirling brings his version of Mars to life vividly. The details of Martian ecology and society have a solid feel to them. And this time the story is big enough for the playground--lots of intrigue and characters I cared about. The only negative thing I have to say about this one is that I think it should have ended a little sooner than it did. The last little bit felt like it belonged to the next book in the series. Other than that, great job. I highly recommend it.

I've seriously haven't had as much fun with a book for a long while. Thank you S.M. Stirling for providing a great experience, with both books. Actually, In the Courts of the Crimson Kings was much better, for a sequel, though Sky People is a fun tale as well. There is quite a bit of potential for a sequel, which I hope Stirling will pursue

Second volumes in series are often a disappointment. This is actually MUCH better than the five star first one. Then again it is less a second volume than another story set in the same universe and somewhat later in time [think Cherryh's Company Wars where the books are clearly stand alone]. Stirling's world builidng was always one of his major assets and it just gets better with time and practice. This is a Mars that never was but you wish could be. The world is beautifully thought out and conveyed without annoying data dumps. The characters are great, the action non-stop [think the best dungeon crawl you ever saw but without the boring on the road parts]. This is what adventure fiction should be and very seldom is. In an era of door stopping books on often mind numbing lengths this book actually leaves you wishing the author had taken 200 more pages to reach the end. Once can only hope the series continues.

If you like Ray Bradbury, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Arthur C. Clarke, Larry Niven and or Jerry Pournelle then you want to own, In the Courts of the Crimson Kings. If I read more of the science fiction greats besides Burroughs I would list there names too. This is the squeal to, The Sky People, but you do not need to have read that book first. As they take place on different worlds and years apart, there are some references to the earlier book but it's not critical. The Lords of Creation series like most books has a central "what if" so to speak. What if magic was real, what if humanity had faster than light travel, etc. The what if of this series is what if an alien race had been manipulating our solar system and human destiny for 100's of millions of years? Venus is a hot steaming jungle world filled with fantastic creatures from Dinosaurs, Neanderthals, creatures of the Megafauna period, modern humans and many other terrain native creatures all seeded from earth by the aliens. Mars while a dry, harsh and unforgiving world supports life, but strange and alien life. Between the pressures of trying to survive a slowly drying and freezing world and massive genetic manipulation by the human derived Martians Mars is populated by strange and alien creatures. The technology of Mars is almost totally based on organics. The Martian Humans have guns, vehicles and binoculars but they are all living organisms. This is the result of culture that is 10's of thousands of years old. And while the Martians ability to manipulate the building blocks of life is almost without limitless they have nothing like our electronics or metallurgy. So you have a strange combination of bows, swords and deadly beyond belief creatures. While old and in many ways powerful Mars is a dyeing world. Once Mars had a world wide empire, the Crimson Dynasty, but that has long ago fallen into feuding city states. If anything is a high art form of Mars it is intrigue. Into this strange mixes are added explores from earth in search of the secrets of Mars. Read the book and find out what the hidden secretes of the red planet are. [...]