I will start with a series summary.
This is the seventh title in a fantasy series, all published by Baen
Books, set in the near-future of an Earth with a slightly different
past. The main sequence of books is _Tinker_, _Wolf Who Rules_,
_Elfhome_, and _Harbinger_/_Storm Furies_ (the last 2 are really one
book that was split). They cover a very active summer and early autumn
for the series eighteen years old main character, Tinker (thatıs a
nickname, she uses the name on her birth certificate only when
necessary), in 2031CE (there are two dates that imply this in the only
book with dates in it). Another title is _Woodsprites_ - this starts
several months before _Tinker_. It is set mostly in New York City and
features the Mayer twins, Louise and Jillian (Tinker was conceived via
in vitro fertilization, Dr. Mayer, who worked at the NYC clinic that had
the excess fertilized eggs in storage, implanted two of them in his wife
years later, thus, they are Tinkerıs sisters, while only 9 years old,
there are TWO of them). After their very eventful spring and summer,
they make it to Elfhome (via a pathway in a cave) and reach a safe haven
on the last day of _Elfhome . Another title is _Project Elfhome_ which
is a collection of shorter stories, several of which are linked:
1) Jane Kryskill appears in ³Pittsburgh Backyard and Garden² and ³Chased
by Monsters² (a third story, ³Monsters in Our Midst² appears in the Baen
Free Library) - all take place in parallel with the last 4 chapters of _Tinker_.
2) Law Munroe appears in ³Bare Snow Falling on Firewood² (which mostly
takes place immediately before the first chapter of _Tinker_) and
³Threads that Bind and Break² (which takes place during the last 10
chapters of _Elfhome_).
3) Olivia (last name unstated - the one she wants isnıt legally hers and
she doesnıt accept the one forced on her) appears in ³Peace Offering²
and ³Price of Peace² which takes place during the last half of _Elfhome_.
³When They were Young² is a Patreon only story that contains several
episodes that expand on incidents in Tinkerıs childhood that were
mentioned in the main sequence of novels.
The basic set up at the start of the series is as follows:
1) China built a big star gate in Earth orbit in the early years of the
21st Century and used it to send colonial missions to Alpha Centauri.
2) An unexpected side affect of operating that gate caused Pittsburgh to
be shifted into an alternate Earth, called Elfhome (because it has elves
- tall, good looking, immortal, elves who used magic).
3) Because of various international agreements, Pittsburgh alternates
between Earth and Elfhome on a 30 day cycle (1 day on Earth - to restock supplies and transfer people - and 29 days on Elfhome).
4) Because of this, Pittsburghıs population is much reduced.
The above is incomplete and, because deceptions were involved, could
even be considered a lie. The first 3 books of the main sequence peel
back layers of the deceptions (_Woodsprites_ and _Project Elfhome_
contribute some detail as well). First of all, there is a chain of
alternate Earths and elves who traded with Earth (through pathways in
caves) found a pathway (during the 18th century CE) from Earth to a
different alternate Earth (Onihida) which sparked a war when the Oni
invaded Earth down that pathway and started looking for pathways to
Elfhome. The elves beat that back, closed the pathway to Onihida and
closed all pathways they knew about between Earth and Elfhome (they
hadnıt yet settled the Western Hemisphere, and knew nothing about the
pathways there). They didnıt mentioned this to diplomats on Earth after recontact. BTW, Tinker, the Mayer twins, and Oilcan are descended from
an Elf Lord who was stranded on Earth when the Elfhome-Earth pathways
were closed (and was killed during the French Revolution) and they
inherited the potential to access vast amounts of magic.
Second, the elves are tall, good looking with pointed ears, and immortal because thousands of years ago on Elfhome, one clan (Skin Clan)
discovered how to bioengineer plants and animals with magic and used
that to conquer the world (well at least Eurasia and Africa). Having
enslaved the known world, they experimented on their slaves (if the
experiment was successful, Skin Clan implemented it on themselves). BTW,
they ³gave² their slaves pointed ears to distinguish them from Skin
Clan members. After thousands of years of this (plus even more hubristic experiments), there was a big rebellion that after several thousand
years, destroyed Skin Clan. After that, the various Elfin clans fought
for dominance for 2 thousand years, until peace was established (now the
clans use words to fight, not swords). Very little of this was mentioned
to Earth diplomats as well.
Third, the Oni stranded on Earth were responsible for manipulating China
into building that star gate which, as far as the Oni were concerned,
exists only to swap 2 pieces of land (an island in the South China Sea
that is switched to Onihida is the other). This, as well as their
infiltration of the UN agency that controlled access between Earth and
Elfhome, allowed them to smuggle much war material and troops into
Elfhome. As for those spaceships that went through the gate, they
neither know what happened to them nor care. BTW, Tinker destroyed the
star gate during _Tinker_, stranding Pittsburgh in Elfhome; the
spaceships then popped into Elfhome space (with no lapsed time on their
clocks, as if they had been going nowhere at the speed of light); and
their fate is disclosed in _Wolf Who Rules_.
And fourth, Skin Clan was not wiped out. A significant number had fled
to Onihida (before all but one of those pathways were closed - by
dragons from still another alternate Earth - they had reasons, but they
missed one pathway) and they are responsible for all of the deceptions described above; they have gathered all the resources needed to
reconquer Elfhome; and it is now time to strike.
The reason that _Harbinger_ and _Storm Furies_ are two halves of one
book is that it grew too big. This happens when a book has NINE
viewpoint characters: three were inherited from _Elfhome_ - Tinker, her
cousin Oilcan (a nickname, he is really an Oliver, a name he doesnıt
like), and Tommy Chang who had discovered, to his dismay, that he did
have a working conscience (for years he would had been killed if he had displayed one); Wolf Who Rules the Wind (aka Windwolf, the local Elf
Lord, also the founder of the elf settlements in North America a century
ago), who had appeared in all of the main sequence novels and was a
viewpoint character in _Tinker_ and _Wolf Who Rules_; Louise Mayer from _Woodsprites; Jane Kryskill, Law Munroe, and Olivia from _Project
Elfhome_; and Tristian Desmaris who appeared briefly in _Woodsprites_
(but wasnıt a view point character) - he is associated with Skin Clan,
though his upbringing was badly flawed since he has developed a
conscience.
_Harbinger_ starts in the middle of night, about 10-12 hours after the
end of _Elfhome_; it ends about 12-14 hours after that when Skin Clan
triggered their special spell which blocked the Elf Lords in range
(about 1000 miles) from accessing vast amounts of magic and which should
thus ensure their victory in North America with the storm (both
literally and figuratively) about to hit. _Storm Furies_ continues the
story past night fall, has most of the combat action, and illustrates
how their plans have gone wrong (actually, their war plan had been going
off rails as far back as _Tinker_, but they had shrugged off what they
thought were unimportant setbacks). _Storm Furies also includes the
clean up which starts the next day and continues for a few days more.
One of the ways Skin Clanıs plan goes wrong is that Tinker, Oilcan, and
the Mayer twins were shielded from that special spell (a shield that the
Mayer twins developed in _Harbinger_). Another way is that Windwolf was
only temporarily affected (circumstance particular to him). Also, Tinker brought the Xylophones of Doom to the battlefield (basically magical
artillery she had developed when she was 10 years old and then put into storage).
Will there be more?
The last paragraph of _Storm Furies_ looks like a coda to me. However,
while Skin Clan took a big hit, there are still plenty of Oni scattered
around the equivalent of Pennsylvania (but that should be a repetitive
hunt). Scenes building up to Jane Kryskillıs wedding were deleted from
_Storm Furies_, so perhaps there is a novella in the future for that
(plus the Mayer twins have plans). There was also speculation in _Storm
Furies_ that perhaps a 5th level of deception is involved, in that what
was going on was a battle for the future of Elfhome social structure
between Vision and her daughter Pure Radiance. They are the two
strongest members of a hubristic Skin Clan experiment: creating a a
group of women who could see the future (and change it by manipulating
the present). If that is the case, Skin Clan would had been only a tool.
Notes on book titles:
One of Skin Clanıs hubristic experiments was creating a batch of elves
that were really smart (they were also rather short, females about 5² or
150 cm tall, males a bit taller than that). After escaping in explosive fashion, they adapted the name Woodsprites during the Rebellion. Their descendants (which include Tinker, Oilcan, and the Mayer twins) are very similar to them in height, coloring, and intelligence.
Five battle leaders in the Rebellion were known as Harbingers (of
Death). Two of them (with considerable number of warriors) arrived in Pittsburgh during _Elfhome_.
Storm furies are the entourage of the goddess of war in the myths of
Elfhome (it has been remarked on several occasions, much to her dismay,
that Tinker can cause an amazing amount of damage for someone her size).
--
"We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_. -----------------------------------------------------
Robert Woodward
robertaw@drizzle.com
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)