Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “The Will to Battle (Terra Ignota, #3)” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

The Will to Battle (Terra Ignota #3)

Ada Palmer (Goodreads Author)

4.25 · Rating details · 1,160 Ratings · 162 Reviews

The Will to Battle —the third book of 2017 John W. Campbell Award winner Ada Palmer's Terra Ignota series—a political SF epic of extraordinary audacity

“A cornucopia of dazzling, sharp ideas set in rich, wry prose that rewards rumination with layers of delight. Provocative, erudite, inventive, resplendent.” —Ken Liu, author of The Grace of Kings

The long years of near-utopi ...more

Get A Copy

Or buy for

Hardcover, 368 pages

Published December 19th 2017 by Tor Books

More Details... edit details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about The Will to Battle, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Upcoming Books of Note: Science Fiction

37 books — 348 voters

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire

Hugo 2018 Eligible Works

169 books — 249 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30)

Rating details

Sort: Default

Filter

Dec 05, 2017 Bradley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2017-shelf, fanboy-goes-squee, sci-fi, worldbuilding-sf

Update, later the same day:
I think I'm gonna nominate this one for Hugo. It keeps getting better on reflection. :)

Original Review:

I took my time and savored this one. It deserves it. And more.

Ada Palmer has made a world worth luxuriating in, and far from resting on the Greek laurels she and her work deserve, she's delved deep into new philosophical questions while all the time fascinating us with complicated and rich characters. Never even mind the glorious world-building. The amount of thought ...more

flag 64 likes · Like · see review

Dec 21, 2016 Jo Walton rated it it was amazing

It made me hyperventilate on a train. This series just gets better and better.

flag 42 likes · Like · see review

Dec 20, 2017 Sherwood Smith added it

Shelves: fantasy, sf

I’ve been thinking about how to review this book for a couple of days, and have come to the conclusion that I can’t review its events without massive spoilers, and even then, those won’t convey the impact to someone who hasn’t read the two previous books.

So I’m going to talk about it by talking around it.

In the last few days, it so happens that I’ve been either watching or reading stories that focus on the problems of power and human nature. The fuzziest of these stories was my viewing of The La ...more

flag 37 likes · Like · see review

Jul 26, 2017 Sarah rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sci-fi

Ockham Prospero Saneer pleads Terra Ignota, I did the deed, but I do not myself know whether it was a crime. This sets the tone for the entire book.

I know there are at least a few of you interested in this book and whether or not the end feels like we've only been given half a book. I'm happy to report that this does not feel like half a book. The wait for Perhaps the Stars will still be long and torturous, but I intend to fill that time with back to back re-reads prior to release.

These books ar Ockham Prospero Saneer pleads Terra Ignota, I did the deed, but I do not myself know whether it was a crime. This sets the tone for the entire book.

I know there are at least a few of you interested in this book and whether or not the end feels like we've only been given half a book. I'm happy to report that this does not feel like half a book. The wait for Perhaps the Stars will still be long and torturous, but I intend to fill that time with back to back re-reads prior to release.

These books are, in their own special way, an art form. These pages are filled with quirky stylistic choices, narrative breaks taken to address the reader (you) who carries an ongoing dialogue both with the narrator, and ghosts of the narrators past and upbringing (primarily, philosopher Thomas Hobbes). Dual columns of text side by side are meant to tell you that multiple conversations are happening at the same time within the text. While MASON speaks, people around him object and these texts are given to you in tandem. Different sets of parenthetical are meant to indicate different languages. I'm sure this has been obvious to some of my fellow readers, but yes, I can be dense, and yes, it has taken me three books to crack the code.

We continue our philosophical search for meaning through the eyes of the Alien, God of Another Universe, filtered through the eyes of a serial killer and a genius, Mycroft Canner. This was an interesting examination of Mycroft. We see a glimpse of Mycroft before this chronicle started. We spy him for a brief moment in that time between his capture and his judgement. His own story, a mirror image of the larger story at hand.

We move away now from examinations of gender and utopia, to the meaning and purpose of war. Perhaps to the purpose of god and religion and its purpose within society. How does a peaceful society take those first few steps to war? Is war necessary to progress? How does society balance the rights of an individual against the greater good? What right does a government have to defend itself or its people against other governments and people? Is this a right we as citizens consent to? Or do we happily ignore it and pretend that peace and the right to live are god granted things that no government can take away regardless of that governments cause?

This may be the last book I have time to read and review this year and with everything happening within my own government I suppose it couldn't have been more timely. It is highly relevant and highly recommended, and one of the few books I am already looking forward to re-reading because I know just how many things I must have missed. ...more

flag 24 likes · Like · see review

Jan 25, 2018 Pearl rated it really liked it

Author: Welcome back, dear reader! Did you return for the consistent brilliance that my cast has been putting out in their every performance?
Me: Not necessarily…I’ve got a nagging question that won’t let me quit this play.
Author (asks with keenness and curiosity): What is it?
Me: How is Mycroft Canner not severely dehydrated by now? I mean…the guy has been sobbing non-stop for the previous acts and I doubt he’s getting enough water on his Servicer’s diet. It’s…it’s been bothering me for months!
Au

Author: Welcome back, dear reader! Did you return for the consistent brilliance that my cast has been putting out in their every performance?
Me: Not necessarily…I’ve got a nagging question that won’t let me quit this play.
Author (asks with keenness and curiosity): What is it?
Me: How is Mycroft Canner not severely dehydrated by now? I mean…the guy has been sobbing non-stop for the previous acts and I doubt he’s getting enough water on his Servicer’s diet. It’s…it’s been bothering me for months!
Author: Umm..ok…I reckoned you’d have more pressing questions about the philosophy and theology of this world but…yeah…I don’t know what to tell you right now
Mycroft Canner: *WEEPING AND SOBBING INTENSIFIES IN THE BACKGROUND*

If you’ve made it this far into the 3rd act of this production, then I welcome you with open arms, my comrade.

You’ll like what you find here:

• The oddness and over-the-top emotions of all the characters? Still here! Yay! You’ll love it, I know I did.

• There’s plenty of weeping and sobbing in here (even several classic Mycroft weeping and sobbing senselessly WHILE on the ground instances. Dominic kind of tried to steal the limelight in this regard though, watch out Mycroft, my dear). It’s all quite lovely indeed. That’s what proper theatre should be like. That good ol’ feeling of slight unease and ridiculousness that you get while watching it. Good stuff!

• Let me not forget the pulpit-like speechifying from characters on various topics like philosophy, theology and all sorts of ideology. It was mostly centered around the question of whether to go to war or not. We got to see the reasoning from different perspectives, interesting none-the-less.

• We get more exposure to a more derailed Mycroft, our beloved unreliable narrator. I think, atleast to me, he felt more manic and it was gripping. I couldn’t look away sometimes

This time around, it all feels more comfortable to me, the world in which the characters live in, it all makes better sense; the actions and decisions some characters make, their beliefs (some questionable and irksome) but I don’t feel so on the outside watching in with the overly dramatic tone (a character of its own) with these characters.

It’s quite natural to me that Saladin will be licking away at Mycroft’s wounds and tears while some important shit is going down. It isn’t as shocking to me when Emperor Cornel Mason decides to savagely kick Mycroft in the ribs instead of the actual person who has made him enraged. This is all totally natural, I’ve had two whole acts to get used to these characters’ sociopathic tendencies and contradictions. They’re all still weird but everything about them is all so riveting.

I got some of my desires sated from this act and will be here waiting for the 4th and final act!
...more

flag 11 likes · Like · see review

Feb 27, 2018 Scott rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

Ada Palmer has the skills to pay the bills, and with her new book she's packing a full clip, has a 455 under the hood and a full tank of high-octane racing fuel.

This is the third book in the Terra Ignota trilogy, and damn, it’s good! Palmer keeps the tension running at eye-watering pace, the politics, bad blood and crimes of the previous two novels coming together in a story that has the intricacy of a Swiss watch.

Mycroft Canner, Servicer, one-time sadistic multiple murderer and now servant to t ...more

flag 13 likes · Like · see review

Nov 28, 2017 Odo rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc, ebook, own

4.5/5.0

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

Aug 21, 2017 Ruth rated it it was amazing

The first book in the Terra Ignota series, Too Like the Lightning, was magnificent. It left me deliciously bewildered at every turn, with revelation after revelation illuminating new aspects of the world to me, turning my assumptions on their heads with no warning. This being the third installment in the series, the world is now mostly laid out before the reader, but there are still shattering revelations to be had. Before beginning, I was concerned that my expectations for The Will to Battle we ...more

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Jan 14, 2018 Akahayla rated it liked it

Shelves: diversity, dystopia, fantasy, science-fiction

Another good read, but compared to the previous two this one FELT longer. Maybe because of the endless court proceedings and descriptions of god knows how many philosophers.

Usually I enjoy books that speak about the law and politics in detail but this book was FILLED with it and it pretty much stretched me out.

Still really looking forward to the next book (which is the last one, I think) because of that ending.

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Jan 11, 2018 Kane rated it liked it

After the constitutive excellent of the first two of the series, I felt this novel falls a little flat. While in the previous iterations, the plot has felt honed and in a momentous direction, here the story seems to meander around, with only occasional larger events stitching it all together. While Lightning had the Ockham-Saneer bash, and Surrenders had Madame's, the global scope of this book overwhelms when it is thrust upon the reader every chapter, instead of breaking up otherwise familiar l ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Jul 06, 2017 Nils rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, weltenfluestern

Zwischendurch hatte mich Ada Palmer ab und an verloren, immer wieder blitzen jedoch sehr geniale Ideen und Gedanken durch und entschädigen zusammen mit dem hervorragenden Ende für den doch sehr holperigen Einstieg in den dritten Band der Reihe.

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Feb 06, 2018 Alex rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

I haven't been able to shut up about these books to literally everyone who knows me.

And now they're over.... for now.

HMB while I go start Too Like the Lightning again.

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Mar 10, 2017 Maya Chhabra rated it it was amazing

Reviewed at my blog here: https://mayareadsbooks.wordpress.com/...

Ada Palmer’s fiction gets a lot of attention for its voice and ideas, but I think her greatest strength is actually characterization. The Will to Battle features a large ensemble cast and somehow manages to give all the characters devastating and/or moving moments. Structure-wise it’s a bit off (suddenly a lot of things happen in the last quarter that are not resolved) and the engagement with Hobbes simply doesn’t work, but what d Reviewed at my blog here: https://mayareadsbooks.wordpress.com/...

Ada Palmer’s fiction gets a lot of attention for its voice and ideas, but I think her greatest strength is actually characterization. The Will to Battle features a large ensemble cast and somehow manages to give all the characters devastating and/or moving moments. Structure-wise it’s a bit off (suddenly a lot of things happen in the last quarter that are not resolved) and the engagement with Hobbes simply doesn’t work, but what do I care when I can wallow in characterization?

Furthermore (and this extends the comparison with Hugo I made in my review of Seven Surrenders), her characters, while all in conflict with one another, are mostly of an elevated, well, character. The few base ones stick out, and undoubtedly have a role to play as the true villains of the story (view spoiler). This is made explicit when Mycroft, the narrator (more passive than usual in this book) confronts Thisbe, the woman with whom he raised Bridger. There’s no love lost between them, however, and Mycroft says of her family members, “…Sniper’s a noble creature, and Propero’s a noble creature. They’re all noble creatures, Thisbe, except you, you’re a….You’re a tick…..A tick, and you feed, and you bloat, and you crawl, and you think it makes you something poetic and exciting, like a vampire, and you’re so wrong.”

They’re all murderers, Mycroft, Prospero, Sniper, and Thisbe, so the difference isn’t in their deeds but in their–there’s the word again–character, their position on the scale of nobility to baseness. Their motives, and their acceptance of consequences. It reminds me, as I said, of Victor Hugo’s novels, where one must never confuse a Javert with a Thenardier, however much they’re both antagonists.

Aside from all that, there’s also some great humor in this book. Achilles, or a version of him, features in this book, and one of the characters has an obvious crush on him. Thus the following bon mot: “‘I know my sister broke your heart, and a rebound is natural, but Achilles? Really? There is such a thing as asking for it!’ Death in the guise of MASON blushed.”

I don’t know that this review will convince anyone to read the book–at this point in the series, either you’re thoroughly enjoying yourself or you’re off the hype train. There’s only one book left to go, and I hope it resolves some of the mysteries of this one. Moreover, I can’t wait to read it and immerse myself once more in the world of these fascinating people. ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Feb 04, 2018 Bjørnar Tuftin rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

This is a magnificent series! It has glorious prose, spectacular world-building, amazing intrigue and ... It's so good that I feel bad for not liking it. But fact is just don't. Yes, it's glorious and intricate and imaginative, to me this book was still a slog.
I'm not even sure what kept me going. Pure stubbornness and five-nines record of finishing books? (Not actually true, it's two nines and a smidgen.) A hope that it would eventually be worth it?
It definitely wasn't a desire to know what wo ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Jan 15, 2018 Aisha Mayken rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2018-reads

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Jan 21, 2018 Sarah rated it it was amazing

The scope, imagination, complexity, and beauty of Ada Palmer's writing continues to blow my mind. There are no other books like these books. I have no coherent review to articulate here, other than to say everyone should read the Terra Ignota series and that I am desperately excited for the release of the final volume.

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Jan 15, 2018 Chris Starr rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Something keeps me reading this series despite the absolutely annoying writing style. the world that is created in this series is intriguing, and I am interested in it. However, the way it is presented through an egotistical narrator, or "chronicler", is annoying as hell and makes it very painful at times to read.

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Feb 08, 2018 Tzu-Mainn Chen rated it really liked it

"Terra Ignota" is a series best enjoyed once you accept the fact that there's no way in hell you can anticipate what's going to happen. Palmer slaps you in the face with grandeurs and philosophies and absurdities, until the sheer thickness and spread of ideas turns her novels into something abstract and surreal.

This isn't a criticism. Once I stopped trying to unravel labyrinthine plot threads, I enjoyed her books far more. It was with this mindset that I read "Will to Battle", and I enjoyed this ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Dec 25, 2017 ambyr rated it it was amazing

Shelves: acquiredㅡbought-new, authorㅡfemale, characterㅡlgbt, genreㅡscience-fiction

Me: I finished
Me: I can't really keysmash on a phone, so you'll just have to imagine it
Boyfriend: Heheh
Boyfriend: Cliffhanger for book 4?
Me: I don't think cliffhanger is the right word
Me: More, I am now lying in a smashed and broken heap at the base of the cliff

Or, wait, I'm at a real keyboard now: uygehkflishgruieosyht78awy3 WHAT DID I JUST READ?

I have so many questions right now (including, notably, about population demographics: cross-referencing some numbers mentioned here with numbers from ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Aug 26, 2017 Swuun rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ebook-only, sf, quiltbag

Mind. Blown.

Again.

These books are not like anything else out there, and reading them is a ride and a half - the ultimate unreliable narrator, world-shaking events, twists and turns and meta-narrative (the book itself is an important plot point in the book and also the unreliable narrator is currently authoring the preceding volumes and. Yeah. It's a LOT.

It's the kind of rare book where reading it becomes more real than reality - seeping into my dreams, making my sleep restless with premonitions ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 15, 2018 Jessica rated it it was amazing

Shelves: genre-dys-utopia, themes-queer, genre-scifi, author-woman

This series remains exceptional both in inciting serious contemplation and in terms of pure enjoyment. It is at heart a book of Big Ideas -- all character choices, plot twists, and world-building are in service to that, rather than (at times) a straight narrative -- and ambitious in its concerted attempts to provoke intellectual responses. It requires, even *demands*, attention and active engagement from the reader. Yet despite meandering tangents into philosophy and theodicy, in which it ravish This series remains exceptional both in inciting serious contemplation and in terms of pure enjoyment. It is at heart a book of Big Ideas -- all character choices, plot twists, and world-building are in service to that, rather than (at times) a straight narrative -- and ambitious in its concerted attempts to provoke intellectual responses. It requires, even *demands*, attention and active engagement from the reader. Yet despite meandering tangents into philosophy and theodicy, in which it ravishes on recognizable Big Thinkers from our history, (and in some part because of those tangents) I find these books to be just plain fun. They are utterly ridiculous on a grand scale and yet self-aware of this fact. Each page is an absolute delight to read: because of the wry asides, the nerdy in-jokes, the gimmicks of language and narration, the strange juxtaposition of disparate (and warped) historical contexts, the beautiful prose, the constant twists and surprises, the way it attempts to disarm at every turn.

However, as the third book in the series, I'm only now comfortable enough with the world and its cornucopia of strange elements, to feel like I have a good idea of where exactly the story is going and what it's trying to accomplish (although I won't claim to definitively know either). Thus, more than previous books, I felt greater annoyance and unease at parts, even while happily immersing myself in the world. Some ranting to follow (that I may edit later upon further consideration), but I do want to reiterate how important it is that this ranting is in the context of how much I do truly enjoy these books, and that they raise such Big Questions to begin with. (I like a book I can chew on a bit... Much worse is a book that gives me nothing greater to think about or react to!)

In particular, the commitment to dealing in absolutes -- in either/or, all or nothing scenarios -- is quite vexing. Characters are always claiming perfect infallible knowledge in some area or another, and while often I'm willing to suspend disbelief as required by future scifi as a genre (how OS calculates its targets for example), the sheer ubiquity of this tendency is too much for me. I refuse to believe many of these claims are as set in stone, or as devoid of impossible to calculate variables, as the narrative itself is trying to get me to believe. No one likes a trolley problem, not really, because there's no good "right" answer of course, but also because there's a finite set of absolute choices. The world isn't like that, or at least not at the scale with the amount of moving pieces that events in this book happen. Human nature is complicated, social problems are complicated, and no amount of opaque Brillist or Utopian superiority of knowledge will convince me otherwise. "Would you destroy the world to create a better one" just doesn't ring as valid question; there's always a third path. Why is it so damning that one entomologist wants to stay home with their family (while still committing their life to furthering research on ants!), when there's still a second entomologist willing and able to give up their life otherwise (essentially) to venture to Mars? The glory of humanity is that the second exists at all! This isn't even touching on the peculiar problem of JEDD Mason, that all the world's power would ever ever be safe in one person's hands, even if (or *especially* because) they claim to be a God.

Anyway, as you can tell, this past week I pretty much drowned myself in this book -- even when I wasn't reading it I was thinking about it most waking hours in some portion of my mind -- which is the absolute highlight of what I want in a novel, despite concerns.

I'm very eager to discover what awaits in the alluringly named "Perhaps the Stars"! ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jan 22, 2018 Standback rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2017, epic, favorites, hugo2017-reading, omg, science-fiction, social-sf, administration-fantasy

Loved loved loved The Will To Battle. Some broad impressions:

Book 2, Seven Surrenders, felt like something of a dip to me -- I feel like Too Like The Lightning set a bunch of dominoes up, and Seven Surrenders was rather straightforwardly watching them all fall -- but this is back to what I absolutely love.

It creates a cast of Leviathans, so it can show us how those Leviathans -- like our Leviathans -- interact. Most stories tend to ignore the immense social dynamics that Leviathans represent, or ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jan 02, 2018 Mike rated it liked it

First book of 2018!

I loved the first two books of this tetralogy; though there were many flaws, the great, wonderful, and magnificent outweighed the flaws. But this time, I think the flaws won the day. The "Dear reader" became too annoying. Thomas Hobbes was an important presence in book 2; in this book, Hobbes is so important that he becomes a character. Not quite a character, an equivalent to the "dear reader," or possibly just a hallucination of Mycroft Canner, the narrator. That was just a s First book of 2018!

I loved the first two books of this tetralogy; though there were many flaws, the great, wonderful, and magnificent outweighed the flaws. But this time, I think the flaws won the day. The "Dear reader" became too annoying. Thomas Hobbes was an important presence in book 2; in this book, Hobbes is so important that he becomes a character. Not quite a character, an equivalent to the "dear reader," or possibly just a hallucination of Mycroft Canner, the narrator. That was just a step too far. And there's another character who, unless I'm grossly misreading it, is also a hallucination. I may recant in a week, after The Will To Battle has had time to sink in. But for now, The Will To Battle is a disappointment.

Like a Jenga tower that slowly collapses as the players pull out the supporting blocks, some choosing well, some ill, but each one hoping that the tower will remain standing, so the world gradually collapses into the war of all against all. But enough with the epic similes, already. One consequence of a quirky style is that it gets tiring. There are authors, like Pynchon, who can write whole books in the style of another era. But after Pynchon wrote Mason & Dixon, he left the 18th century behind. He didn't try to maintain it through a tetralogy. That's wisdom.

There are plenty of decisions to delay the war or mitigate its consequences, but the war happens. And in the worst possible way. As wars will. That's the substance of the book: it's an exploration of the lead-up to a world war. It's about the failures of trust, the inevitable spiral of hatred, and the lust for the blood of enemies--especially if those enemies are ill-defined. And it's about how a war is fought in a society that, after several hundred years of peace, is completely unprepared for it. The working thesis for this book is that, like a fire in a forest that hasn't burned ... (there I go again) .. well, anyway, going without war for several hundred years is going to make the inevitable next war inconceivably worse. We'll have to wait for the fourth volume to find out.

I'm not as angry or cranky as I sound. It's fairly normal for the middle books of a series to be a let-down; and Palmer definitely beat the odds in the second book, Seven Surrenders. She doesn't here. And disappointment was probably inevitable: after all, we knew at the end of Surrenders that the world was lurching towards war. Writing 350 or so pages about events that are inevitable is a tough project. There is room for surprise, but it's limited; certain things have to happen, the overall trajectory is a given, and the only room for surprise is in the details. Surrenders and Lightning are full of wonders; Will to Battle isn't. There's no room for a child who can bring toys to life, or a God from another universe. That Deity is very present, conversing with his Peer, but in the end, he's just another puzzled ruler who doesn't know what he's going to do. There's barely room for a Madame who sows chaos because she can, for Thisbe Saneer, for Cato Weeksbooth, or even for Ockham (all of whom will almost certainly reappear in the final volume).

I will certainly, absolutely read the fourth when it comes out. So should you. And you need to read The Will To Battle to get there. Life's tough.

One more thing. The Will To Battle compelled me to dig up a copy of a Hobbes' Leviathan. Which I may or may not have read when I took a political science course in college. And I may or may not read it before the final book comes out. But you should. ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jul 12, 2018 Alex Sarll rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Too Like The Lightning showed us one of science fiction's most alluring futures; Seven Surrenders played Jenga with it. And The Will To Battle covers months, but they all equate to that moment of indrawn breath as you can see the whole thing is about to come crashing down, but don't yet know quite how badly, or where the pieces will land. None of the world's leaders want war, initially at least; everyone is doing their best to ensure that when it comes, it will be minimally damaging to civilisat ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

May 23, 2018 Cassandra rated it it was amazing

This book series is super ambitious, but it keeps paying off. Ada Palmer commits 100% to her characters and the world that she's built, so that even when things are super weird, they feel like they fit. Nothing is shoehorned in — the story is constructed around the important elements. She's not afraid to make big changes or pivot the story in dramatic ways when it is the thing that fits. I was surprised that there will be a fourth book, but I like that we paused here in the pre-war intrigue for ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jul 03, 2017 Julie rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

The story of this Earth 500 years into the future continues, and is told just as skilfully than in the first two books - same darkness and all, too. Perhaps some apprehension is creeping in as well now, watching the world and characters I grew attached to (sometimes despite myself) fraying at the edges so. Great worldbuilding.

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Feb 24, 2018 Nick Imrie rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, sf-utopia, sf-dystopia, science-fiction

Terra Ignota is such a glorious sprawl of a story that I have a tough time knowing what on earth I can say about it. It's bewildering - made more so by narrator Mycroft Canner's descend into madness. If he wasn't unreliable enough as a narrator, now we can't even be sure who he's speaking to! Bring on 9A!

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jul 10, 2018 Dan Becker rated it it was amazing

An astounding work of fiction - and philosophy. Beautiful, intensely rich language.

Be warned: this isn’t a beach read - you’ll be so absorbed you’ll forget to sunscreen and get burned. No, this is a keep you up reading way too late book.

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Apr 01, 2018 Moonglum rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

There are many things to love in this third novel in the Terra Ignota series, not the least being getting to dwell in the world of the Palmer's 25th centry for while. Also, one scene near the end contains a giant list of Utopian names. I keep thinking up Utopian names to use on my badge at this year's Armadillo con. Ansible Hawking? Stardust Ashpool? Ziggy LeGuin?

The only problem is that the first novel was so filled with fantastic, new ideas, and the second with the resolution of so many of th ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Dec 24, 2017 Pau Fita rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ciencia-ficcio

Es difícil intentar definir estos libros así que no voy a intentarlo. Simplemente decir que me siguen encantando y que si bien esta tercera entrega quizás empiece un poco mas floja, rápidamente remonta y te deja pegado leyéndo. Hay que tener arte para que cuando a la narración se "le va la olla" en temas filosóficos y morales siga enganchando tanto.

flag 1 like · Like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend It | Stats | Recent Status Updates

Genres

Science Fiction

73 users

Fiction

24 users

Fantasy

12 users

See top shelves…

About Ada Palmer

Ada Palmer

625 followers

More about Ada Palmer

Other books in the series

Terra Ignota (4 books)

Books by Ada Palmer

Too Like the Lightning (Terra Ignota, #1)

More…

Fantasy & Science Fiction Deals

$2.99 $1.49
$4.99 $2.49
$5.99 $2.49
$7.99 $1.99
$8.99 $1.99
$6.99 $2.99
$4.99 $1.99
$3.99 $1.49
$9.99 $1.99
$12.99 $1.99
$2.99 $1.49
$12.99 $2.99
$7.99 $1.99
$3.99 $1.99
$6.99 $2.99
$17.99 $1.99
$5.99 $0.00
$8.51 $2.99
$4.99 $1.99
$3.99 $1.99
$4.49 $0.99
$6.49 $1.99
$11.99 $1.99
$9.99 $2.99
$7.99 $1.99
$9.99 $2.99
$4.99 $1.99
$3.99 $1.99

See All Goodreads Deals…

Trivia About The Will to Battl...

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

Quotes from The Will to Battle

“As Machiavelli observed, Rome showed, tyrant after tyrant, how those reared in palatine luxury, expecting to be master of the world, basely abused the godlike authority that fell to them unearned, while those promoted through merit—Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius—made judicious use of the Imperium of which they considered themselves, not owners, but custodians. It is not power that corrupts, but the belief that it is yours.” — 1 likes

“In darker ages Justice stood alone before courthouses, but in Carlyle’s vision her sister Temperance stands to one side holding back her sword, while from the other side Reason lifts away her blindfold, so Justice can finally see the contents of her scales.” — 1 likes

More quotes…

See a Problem?

Preview — The Will to Battle by Ada Palmer

The Will to Battle (Terra Ignota #3)

Get A Copy

Friend Reviews

Reader Q&A

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

Genres

About Ada Palmer

Other books in the series

Books by Ada Palmer

Fantasy & Science Fiction Deals

Trivia About The Will to Battl...

Quotes from The Will to Battle

See a Problem?

Preview — The Will to Battle by Ada Palmer

The Will to Battle (Terra Ignota #3)

Get A Copy

Friend Reviews

Reader Q&A

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topicDiscuss This Book

Genres

About Ada Palmer

Other books in the series

Books by Ada Palmer

Fantasy & Science Fiction Deals

Trivia About The Will to Battl...

Quotes from The Will to Battle

new topic
Discuss This Book