Empire of the East, by Fred Saberhagen, contains the first three books in the four-book series - which explains why the book is so long. It really did feel like reading three books. In fact, I read two other books, or at least one and a half books, before I finally finished this one. A post-apocalyptic feudal society is the setting where the West struggles against the demon forces of the East. In Book One, The Broken Lands, Rolf loses his family and, while looking for his sister, finds a tank, among other things. Other players include Chup who sets up Rolf to slay another rebel in the arena--who happens to be the boyfriend of the rebel girl he wants to be sweet on; and Charmian, who is a a beauty with a frightening ability to manipulate men. She's Chup's wife, and the daughter of the local headman for the East. Rolf and his allies, with the help of the tank, liberate the fortress. The battle costs Chup the use of his legs and Charmian flees. Against the sorcerers and demons of the East, the forces of the West also have wizards who control demons. More importantly, they have Ardneh.
I can't quite remember where Books Two and Three, The Black Mountains and Ardneh's World, begin and end. These tell the further adventures of Rolf, Chup, and Charmian. Chup recovers from his injuries through demoniacal magic and is re-recruited to the East, where he finds Charmian and is about to feed her to a demon, but further complications arise, and Chup escapes to the West, while Charmian escapes to manipulate another Eastern leader to serve her own purposes. The story pours out more information about the demons and many are destroyed along the way. There's a massive healing pool in the mountains and a monstrously huge figure, Draffut who was once a dog. Draffut runs the healing pool and fixes up the warriors of the East to continue in battle against the West until Rolf converts him to the cause of the West and he helps defeat the big bad demon du jour for the East. That must be the end of The Black Mountains.
In Ardneh's World, the story continues on as East and West strive for supremacy. Catherine enters the story in this book. She was one of Charmian's attendants, and the vile beauty has placed a curse on her. She and Rolf race against the armies and flying lizards of the East to get to Ardneh's stronghold. Chup manages to get captured by the East again and his torture and death is the mechanism by which the most powerful of Eastern sorcerers means to release Orcus, the most baddest, dire, and vengeful of all the demons to work the final defeat of the West. All does not go according to plan. The demon escapes; Chup and Charmian survive; the sorcerer does not. Ultimately, the army of the East surrounds Ardneh's stronghold. Rolf and Catherine are commanded to flee with the remains of the army of the West, and Ardneh succumbs to the forces of the East, taking them out with him.
I can't judge the entire series, because I haven't yet read the final book, Ardneh's Sword. Others have praised Saberhagen's seamless meshing of science-fiction and fantasy in this series. I guess I'm not a fan of that particular blend. I think I would've preferred one or the other. I enjoyed the first book more than the other two. It seems that although Ardneh's demise changed the world, magic will remain and technology will also become available. I don't know. I'm speculating, or maybe I read that in a blurb or it was at the end of the third book. Charmian, Rolf, and Chup were the only characters that were at all memorable. The flying reptiles and the intelligent birds provided good allies for the opposing sides. Frankly, I was put off by the entire demon thing; not an itch I ever need scratched. The showdown at the end of book three might be seen as the ultimate confrontation of magic and technology in which they both lose - but also both win? I don't know. We'll see what happens in the final book.
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Here's a review of Accidental Pirates - the first I've seen.
Writing on the sequel to Accidental Pirates continues. I've started chapter 22 and mapped out in my head the events of the remaining chapters. Naturally, there are some details that won't become clear until the ink meets the page - but that's usually where the awesome tends to happen.
