Seven Surrenders: Book 2 of Terra Ignota (Terra Ignota, 2) Hardcover – March 7, 2017

This was a group read with a few of my SFF book club buddies as a follow up to Too Like the Lightning. I think I was able to glean a lot more from it as a group read and it was interesting to see everyone's different perspectives and take aways on it. If you're considering this book, and have the opportunity to buddy read it- I highly recommend reading it that way!I know the first book was very polarizing in that readers either enjoyed it or DNF'd or just didn't like it at all. I think if you made it through the end of the first book, you owe it to yourself to finish with Seven Surrenders. I really think they should have been sold as one huge Sci-Fi epic. I get why the publishers did it, but I think a lot of readers will miss out on at least the plot related answers we were asking after in book one. Too Like the Lightning does not feel complete without Seven Surrenders. This is part of a four book series overall, but I can tell you that Seven Surrenders does not end on the huge cliff hanger type ending we were given in Book 1.I don't have any words to say that could do this book justice. There are too many topics covered. Religion. Individuality. Gender equality. Gender's purpose in society: whether it is completely learned or innate. Utopia. How society achieves Utopia: what it looks like for humanity as a whole. Morality. Whether a people's desire for justice and truth, a right to know, to not hide behind closed doors and propaganda, should be first before the safety of the rest of humanity. The greater good and the nature of goodness. Stagnancy vs. Progress. The nature of man. The nature of (G)od.I don't mean to say that the author is offering answers to all of these questions, more like, she is imposing these questions to the reader. There are so many complex shades of gray in this story. They are important questions to be asked, and I have to wonder, if as Mycroft would say, Providence hasn't meant for these books to be released at this time. "Why now?" When Trump rules the USA, firing everyone who doesn't agree with him. Using his twitter accounts as his own personal form of propaganda. Calling any news channel who dares question him #FakeNews.This is not an easy novel to digest and I think it will require multiple readings. It will be one of those books that you pick up something different from every time you read it. It is complex and intricate and we often aren't given the whole picture. People's motives are unclear and sometimes don't always make much sense in the context we receive them.Aside from all the serious things happening, the world building was excellent. There are so many complexities to this society and I still have questions about it. I'm not sure what the difference is between blacklaws and graylaws etc. I don't understand the nature or purpose of all the Hives. Or precisely how bashes are formed. I'm not sure why The Anonymous is so important and what precisely their contributions are to society.But most of what I love about these books is the characters. I'm still strangely attached to Mycroft. I'm attached to Sniper. I'm attached to Mother Kosala and Papadelias and Ganymede and am fascinated by all their strange interpersonal relationships. The plot is twisting and turning and once again, whenever you think you have something pegged, another bomb is dropped, another layer peeled away and everything shifts. It's like trying to solve a rubiks cube. For every shift of one square into place, another face of the cube has changed.Overall- a fascinating and thought provoking read.

I really loved Too Like the Lightning last year so I was very excited to read the second book. It answers so many questions you might have from book 1, while raising a bunch more in the process. I was hooked. Once again, the complex political shenanigans get everyone in trouble, characters live up to their names in more ways than one, and there's a bunch of religious stuff in it which I find very interesting anytime. The ending was extremely powerful; I was in tears in a public place and completely overwhelmed with emotions. Please don't make the mistake and think this book will be an easy read, especially at the end!The one thing I have to say bothered me in this book was Mycroft's continued belief in Gender Essentialism. The problem with it is that at this point, I can't tell if the author also believes in the things Mycroft believes. Sniper bears the weight of Mycroft's antiquated beliefs in this book so much that I start to wonder if the author stands by these statements as something SHE would say to an intersex person. Sniper is basically called an "it" and a "hermaphrodite" the whole book, and the intersex community would be livid to hear that being said. It makes sense that Mycroft, mister Enlightenment, would say and believe those things... but does the author hold the same views? I hope she's a bit more educated on intersex terminology and literature, but I'm too scared to ask her and possibly offend her! Egad.Gender Essentialism aside, great read, especially if you enjoyed the first book.

Too Like the Lightning and the Seven Surrenders were gigantically ambitious books that took the plot line of a pot boiler thriller (political assassination, competition & corruption) and added a future with nations without states (hives), sexual/gender repression, unreliable POV narrators, divine miracles and the god of another universe. The track record of sci-fI authors writing about "the Alpha and the Omega" is not good. Dan Simmons pulled it off in Hyperion and Jay Lake in Mainspring, both mostly by keeping the Divine just offstage.Ada Palmer set "God" up to be front and center. While she doesn't fail, I found the ending of the book to be disappointing. Despite many wonderful ideas the book settles for a comparatively pedestrian ending with the storm clouds of a looming war. I wish her best writing had been saved for last, not spent in the middle of the two books.

This is the second book in the series after Too Like the Lightning. I read the first one on recommends from family members and I could not put it down. As soon as I finished I ordered this from Kindle. Then when I finished this I wanted to order the 3rd but I was sad to discover I have to wait til Christmas of 2017.I really enjoyed Dr. Palmer's writing and I have since recommended these books to several people who read sic-fi. I especially like how she weaves in her immense knowledge of the classics, philosophy, Voltaire, the Marquis, and so many other historical figures. And how she imagines such different constructs in terms of family. Akin to the way that Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" envisions alternative family structures taking hold on the moon where there were very few women, Dr. Palmer goes much farther and envisions a world that has evolved responses to the religions which caused the Church Wars and nearly wiped humanity out. This is a brilliant piece of work, not just as sic-fi but in the way that it explores our own assumptions about ourselves, unexamined questions for many of us, and brings the philosophy of the Enlightenment to bear on our present and future. A ton of fun.

The second instalment of Palmer's Terra Ignota series continues the tale told by Mycroft Canner, the reformed criminal at the nexus of the power elites of this 25th century world. The theological - and downright magical - aspects that had appeared in Too Like The Lightning become markedly stronger, an I'm not sure that I should any more class this as science fiction, although I find the distinction unimportant, as this is very much a philosophical novel, and still utterly wonderful.The author delves further into some of the philosophical ideas of the previous volume, while introducing some more and deeper, and all handled wonderfully within the storylines, never feeling forced or crowbarred in. I think it is the fact that these novels are so unashamedly philosophical, along with the density of ideas and the fact that there is so much dialogue, that has lead to some reviews considering them somewhat pretentious. I don't see this at all; the lofty aims are both laudable and superbly executed.I had thought this story was simply a duology, but see there is a third book, and a fourth on the way. I am certain Ada Palmer will continue to deliver to the high standard she has set

The whole Terra Ignota series is a quite remarkable feat of imagination which blends theology, philosophy, ethical considerations with historical, and science fiction. I recommend them incredibly highly. Palmer asks all manner of profound and probing questions about humanity and out abundance of belief systems.

The second part of the story begun in Too Like the Lightning..I would advise you get them at the same time.A truly amazing work there were some comments about the first half that nothing 'exciting' happens...but in truth the book peels away the layers of this dystopian future so by the end of the first book the scene is setfor the plot to make sense.. ...

Awesome book. Amazing second book in the series. In the top 5 of all time. I love the character development in this. So hard to get good plots and character development in modern Sci-Fi. While I love the cheaper novella's that are current fasion, it is very refreshing to get a well structured epic like this.

Madly ambitious philosophy sci fi opera. I've never read anything like it. Feels like "Too Like the Lightning" and this make one complete book together.