Shrine of Stars

Confluence #3

by Paul J. McAuley

Who would lay time to rest, or raise it up from its tomb? Yama, the Child of the River, has stumbled into the middle of a civil war. While the dispossessed peoples of Confluence hope that Yama may renew their world, he must discover the strength to fight not only his enemies without, but the enemy within. Alone among all the living things that populate Confluence, Yama holds the power to end this war. Whichever side controls him controls the myriad machines of the world, Held captive and helpless, infected by the cruel consciousness of a great feral machine allied with the heretic cause, Yama is being forged into a weapon of terrible power and consequence. Yet the unique fire that burns within him will not be extinguished, and, as Yama struggles to reclaim his soul, he realizes that the path he'd thought he was traveling freely may have been mapped since before his birth. And at the end of all things, should he accept his destiny or exert his free will?

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Dying Earth, Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy, Space Opera

384 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

name Paul McAuley previously wrote under

Reviews

[Ellison · Rating 2 out of 5]

Less than a third of the way through this last of a trilogy (#1 I enjoyed and #2 was surprisingly better) McAuley got lost and never found his way back. I found it a slog through a slough.

[Jonas Salonen · Rating 3 out of 5]

And the last book of this trilogy. And again this book follows the same structure as the two earlier parts. The start is slow and then it gets interesting in the end.

I was a bit bored at all the places the main characters visited during most of the book. It seemed like the characters just go to these places without any real meaning. But then again at the end the story gets more interesting and all in all the trilogy left a good feeling. I just hope that the whole story could have been as interesting as the latter parts of the three books.

[Peter Tillman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poor ending to a pretty good series. Not a keeper

[Jason Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little confusing but it was far-reaching and imaginative and really sticks the landing at the end. Pandaras is still my favorite.

[Todd Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great conclusion to the Confluence series.

[Jeffrey Greek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pandaras is best boi.

[Brent Hayward · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ending of this book took a bit of a nosedive. It seemed apparent that McAuley had decided to wrap things up in the simplest fashion. The protagonist suffers a death or two, is resurrected, and the story completes one loop of a potentially endless series of loops. It's a shame really, because so much of the trilogy was really nicely written and incredibly vivid. At one point, a character even says (paraphrasing), 'What about all the loose ends and parts that went nowhere?' To which another character replies, 'That's the way it goes. That's life.' I would have given an overall three star rating but some Jimi Hendrix lyrics were spliced into the text with no explanation or warning so he gets a star back for that.

[Simon · Rating 2 out of 5]

My rating was a 2.5.

Overall, I was disappointed in the trilogy of books, of which this is the third. It started well in the first book, but went downhill with the second and third volumes.
Yama's ongoing mission to find his origin, was in my view, tedious. I really had to force myself to finish the book, and when the culmination was reached it was pedestrian and somewhat predictable.

I'll try some of the authors other books which I hear are better.

[Emmanuel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Expanded the premise to space and time. The threads got a bit confusing and not as tight.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read review of "Child of the River."

[Owen Butler · Rating 4 out of 5]

an excellent conclusion to the trilogy

another extraordinary story teller : )

[Lindsay Endell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Underwhelming. Having read the first two Confluence books it seemed only right to read the third. Wouldn't read them again.

[Max Dercum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great end to the series. Not SUPER but a fun read.