The Acts of Caine: Difference between revisions

''The Acts of Caine'' is a series of fantasy-science fiction (trending toward fantasy) books by [[Matt Stover|Matthew Woodring Stover]], who is probably more well known as the author of some pretty damn good ''[[Star Wars]]'' novels: ''Traitor'', ''Shatterpoint'', and the novelization of ''[[Revenge of the Sith]]''. Think about that for just one second--''with'' the restrictions of writing in the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]], he produced those three books. And this is what he does when the gloves come off.

 

 

The series' setting is an interesting combination of a [[Dystopia|futuristic earth run by corporate governments with a strict caste system and loads of repression]], and a [[Dark Fantasy|parallel high fantasy world called Overworld]] that earth humans have learned to travel to and exploit. This exploitation initially takes the form of The Studio, a company that produces a sort of reality entertainment by sending "actors" to Overworld. These actors are trained in either magic or combat, implanted with a kind of video recorder and sent to Overworld to "risk their lives in an interesting way". On the [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]] the series tends towards cynicism, although it is not without [[Earn Your Happy Ending|bouts of idealism]]. Oh, all of the books contain loads of very well written violence.

 

 

''Blade of Tyshalle'' takes place seven years later, reintroducing Hari and Shanna in their later married, unhappy and semi-retired lives (along with the no longer divine Tan'elKoth). This tedium is of course shattered by plots set into action by the corporate leaders of Earth which Hari's friend, Kris Hansen/Deliann Mithondionne tries to avert. This novel turns the moral philosophizing up to 11 or 12, adds questions of identity, resource usage, destiny (or lack thereof) and humanity's drive to exploit and use up everything. It also features the end of the world. Well, kinda. ''Blade of Tyshalle'' is definitely a "deeper" book than its predecessor or sequel.

''Caine Black Knife'' follows Caine in both the present (roughly a year after the end of ''Blade of Tyshalle'') and twenty-five years ago as he interacts with/slaughters the Black Knife clan of Ogrillos, a [[Proud Warrior Race]]. The present arc of the story includes a broader exploration of Orbek Black Knife, a side character introduced in ''Blade of Tyshalle''. The philosophizing is turned back down to about 8, but questions concerning the legitimacy of guerilla warfare and online [[FPS|FPSs]] are still asked. Also has some rather overt references to either the Iraq War or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, complete with a suicide bombing.

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* [[Absurdly Sharp Blade]] - Kosall combines this with [[Vibroweapon]].

** [[Badass Beard]]: Caine and Ma'elKoth.

** [[Badass Boast]]: more than a few.

** [[Badass Normal]]: Caine at first.

* [[Book Ends]]: in ''Blade of Tyshalle''.

* [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]]: Marc Vilo

* [[Cutting the Knot]]: Caine's usual way of solving problems.

* [[Depraved Bisexual]]: Berne.

* [[Doorstopper]]

* [[State Sec]]: The Social Police.

* [[Stop Worshipping Me!]]: Caine really hates the Cainists.

* [[Survival Mantra]]: "Keep your head down and inch towards daylight"

* [[Sword of Plot Advancement]]: Kosall, though a [[Justified Trope]] here in that Kosall just happens to do a lot of important shit included but not limited to {{spoiler|''crippling the main character''.}} Except it turns out it might also be the sword of a god that was also in possession of an order of knights for the past five hundred years ([[Timey-Wimey Ball|the timeline gets complicated when gods are involved]]).

* [[Trying to Catch Me Fighting Dirty]]

* [[Unwinnable Training Simulation]]: The Lakefront simulation in chapter 0 of ''Blade of Tyshalle''.

** Not necessarily. Using one-shot enchanted items for casting isn't so much necessary as much, much easier; but the series abounds with powerful mages throwing around high-end magic without any kind of focus or limit. Of course, to be fair, some of them are/become gods.

* [[Vasquez Always Dies]]: ''Heroes Die''. {{spoiler|Talaan and Shanna are both [[Action Girl|Action Girls]] to an extent, but Talaan is much more [[Badass]]. Naturally, she's the one to draw the short straw}}.

[[Category:Fantasy Literature]]

[[Category:Science Fiction Literature]]

[[Category:Literature]]