Caine's Law (The Acts of Caine)

To say I'm a big fan of Matthew Stover's Acts of Caine series may be to understate the case. When I read [[ASIN:0345421450 Heroes Die]] and [[ASIN:0345421434 Blade of Tyshalle]] (the first two books in the series and the Acts of Violence and War, respectively) a dozen years or so ago, they had a profound influence both on my life and on the course my reading would take over the following decade or so. And so it was that I was extremely excited when [[ASIN:0345455878 Caine Black Knife]], the first half of the Act of Atonement, was finally released in 2008. And, like a number of fans, I was entertained by that volume but also a bit disappointed. While action-packed, it often lacked the intensity, the scale, and the escalation of stakes that had helped make the first two books so gripping. Further, it featured few of the recurring characters that fans have come to love, and more, being only the first part of an Act, its cliffhanger conclusion was a bit unsatisfying -- all the more so considering the insanely epic finales of both previous books. So when Caine's Law, the conclusion to the Act of Atonement and possibly the final novel in the series, was released, I was both excited and a bit anxious.

I should have trusted Stover. This novel is more than a return to form after Caine Black Knife: it's a magnificent novel, on par with the first two books in the series. Picking up where Caine Black Knife left off, it not only continues that story but, with its nonlinear narrative (and some divine intervention), utterly encompasses it, consumes it, subsumes it, and makes it more than it had been. Which is to say: not only is Caine's Law a better novel than Caine Black Knife but, having read them both, Caine Black Knife is a better novel than it had been on its own. All those characters whose absence was noted in Caine Black Knife return here, in greater or less capacities, and several wonderful new characters are introduced. A number of Stover's recurring tropes and motifs -- the nature of identity, the struggle of people against gods, the intimate versus the abstract, and more -- and favorite lines return, but he continues to grow as a writer and their incorporation into the story is always fresh and exciting. While the action (and by action I mean violence) is not as nonstop as in Caine Black Knife, it is more compelling -- things got pretty nasty in that book -- and the pacing here is actually better than in the previous book, sustained by plenty of Stover's clever dialogue and thoughtful twists, all building toward a fabulously satisfying conclusion. In the end, while the third book in this series is not as good as the first two novels, the third Act, taken as a whole, happily takes its place alongside them.

While I heartily recommend this novel, I must point out that it does not stand alone; it is not, as they say, a good jumping on point for new readers. To get the most out of this novel -- and, possibly, simply to avoid being totally lost -- you definitely need to have read at least Caine Black Knife and preferably all three of the earlier novels before this one. So do yourself a favor and get to reading.

Seriously, I don't understand why Matthew Stover isn't famous. This is the guy who has taken sword & sorcery to the next level, combining the atmosphere and action of RE Howard, the plotting of ER Burroughs, and the subtlety and modern sensibility of Moorcock. Why is he putting food on the table writing Star Wars novelizations instead of working on the screenplay for the latest big-screen Caine epic starring somebody like Jason Statham, Vin Diesel, or Daniel Craig?

Be that as it may, Stover is still doing original work, and "Caine's Law" is yet another triumph for Stover. The "Acts of Caine" series started out strong with "Heroes Die" and has just built with every installment (although to be fair, while the first two books in the series stood very well alone, "Caine Black Knife" and "Caine's Law" feel like two halves to a single novel). Caine Black Knife dispensed with linear time, cutting back and forth between "mature" Caine and Caine at the beginning of his career. Stover is like a juggler, who keeps adding one more spinning plate, right up until the moment when he seems to lose it and they are all coming crashing to the floor--only to somehow pull of a conclusion conclusion that seems both elegant and inevitable. I think, with this novel, that he has managed to bring the story of Caine to such a conclusion--although it wouldn't surprise me if he some day comes up with a way to up the ante yet again.

Readers new to Stover's work should begin with "Heroes Die" to get the full impact of the series. Fortunately, second and long out-of-print book in the series, "Blade of Tyshalle," is now available for Kindle, (although a physical copy will cost you a pretty penny even used, unless you are lucky enough to find it new on the shelf of a bookstore as I did a few years back).

If you haven't read the series at all, "Acts of Caine" is a fantasy pretending to be science fiction pretending to be fantasy. Set in a corporate-dominated dystopian near future with a rigid caste system, a "gate" is discovered to an alternate world with medieval technology where magic actually works. So, naturally, we turn it into a reality show, sending "Actors" with surgically implanted recording devices over to the alternate world to foment trouble and have violent adventures for the entertainment of the masses on our world. Becoming an"Actor" is one of the few ways for the lower castes to make it big, and "Caine" (real name in our world, Hari Michaelson) begins as one such aspiring Actor.

Those of...er..."delicate" sensibilities should be warned that this is very much postmodern sword & sorcery. It is often graphically violent (Stover has clearly done enough martial arts to write some very believable fight scenes). Stover's protagonist Caine is more anti- than hero, and his language is realistically larded with profanity, as befits a character who grew up in a violent slum.

Anybody with a serious appreciation of the genre absolutely must give Stover a try.

I love Stover's writing style. I love the character of Caine that he has created. And the world he has created in Home is very well realized. Reading this book, one can tell that MWS ha devoted a lot of thought to the nature of this world and these characters.

However, I can't help but feel that Stover is letting himself get a little carried away with these books. With each book, the character of Caine becomes more important, more dangerous, more clever & intelligent, and can more easily screw over, piss off, and/or outwit his opponents than in the previous book. Caine has far out grown what he was in the original Heroes Die, and not in the sense that his personality or goals have changed. He's the exact same person, just MORE of him. More in your face and with ever-increasing stakes. The "big reveal" towards the end of the book felt less like shocking news and more like a justification of how this character can get away with everything that he does. And allows Caine to continue to spout out (a)moral platitudes to justify his actions and the reason he such a dick to everyone.

The book was structured in such a way that the narrative jumped around to various points of Caine's life based on (I can on assume) is meant to be some sort of thematic arc. However, the threads tying the chapters together did not always seem fully realized. Reading the book, I felt like it was done more to intentionally disorient the reader and keep us guessing as to what was really going on than to bother with a fully cohesive story that had something to say on its own merits. It felt like a smokescreen to make the message of the book come off as more important/significant than it really is.

All that being said, I honestly did enjoy the book. I read it in less than a week while on vacation. By the end of it, I could barely put the book down. Stover is really adept at crafting a gripping story with (mostly) realistic characters. I just think he reached a little too far with this book and showed the limits of these characters and this world in comparison to the message Stover is trying to convey.

I was a huge fan of the orignal two books of this series. Incredible action, pacing, characters. Unfortunately Blade, Black Knife and finally Law have progressively gotten worse (in that order). The last book was so unreadable as to be almost a joke. It was a jumbled hodepoge of half- baked ideas about alternate reality and quantum theology and had no true story line, character development or action. Cain was as flat as a piece of paper and there was never any doubt as to his ultimate success (whatever it exactly was). It brought no sene of closure, only frustration that I had wasted time an money on this book. Do yourself a favor and re-read the first book. You will be much happier. Believe me there is nothing new or remotely interesting in this book!

NOTE FOR KINDLE READERS: Go to the END of the Kindle version of the book and read the "Prologue" first. It will clarify a few things. This was a stupid oversight of the e-book version (putting the Prologue at the end where you only see it after you've read the last page.)

**WARNING - POSSIBLE SPOILERS**
I've read every other book in the Caine series probably 3 times, so when Caine's Law came out...before Caine's Law came out, I had it on preorder for my Kindle to download. Having now read through the book, I'm left with one of two conclusions:

- either Stover is a much deeper thinker than I, which explains why I still don't get most of what happened
OR
- the book was overly complex so as to permit a neat and clean conclusion that could only be achieved by layering so many improbable possibilities together

I get that the series needed to end. Honestly, after the last book, I didn't know how there COULD be another one, but there obviously is. And I do appreciate the direction some of the characters went and even Caine himself, I believe, finally found a balance.

But seriously, it all just came together too well. Omniscience is an easy way to later justify one's actions, but it just feels like it was a copout in this case.

I will go back and re-read Caine's Law and maybe knowing how it ends, the juxtaposition of so many time travel events will make sense the second time around.

Caine's Law, follow up to Caine Black Knife, was a much different book than I anticipated. Whereas Caine Black Knife was an action-packed thriller, Law is something deeper, more methodical. Stover continues to use sci-fi and fantasy tropes brilliantly, and with his normal savage prose; however, Law presents the reader with a scenario that reminded me more of Dune mixed with Altered Carbon. Due to the non-liner nature of Law, the book can be difficult to follow. In addition, the action sequences in Law seem fewer and further spaced out than Black Knife. That said, Law has an exceptionally satisfying after-taste. I find myself rolling the various chapters around, digesting each scene in relation to those around it and in other books in the Caine series with an almost reverent glee.

The masterpiece of Stover's narrative in Law is not to be taken lightly, but is much more rewarding than the common fare we get these days.

Stover essentially has one real Caine (the one stuck in the Buke), one outside-of-time Caine (the one dealing with Duncan) and several alterna-Caines going. As the book goes on, it's easier to figure out which is which

When Caine is splintered off from reality he seeks to make the world right, without doing too much harm. But can he change the world when gods, social police, and even the fabric of the universe may be against him?

This is nothing like the style of Strover's magnificent Heroes Die. Caine's Law and Caine Black Knife are more abstract and less about story and action. Caine still uses profanity every other word but the shock value of it has worn off by the fourth novel.

Caine's Law is very dependent on knowledge of the previous novel. I would recommend starting with Heroes Die, continue the adventure with Blade of Tyshalle and then stop. The story is neat and can be considered complete without ever getting into the Atonement of Caine, which is a very different experience anyways and probably not what you are looking for if you want more of the same.

Caine's law is hard to read casually. It's so dense every word counts and it's easy to lose what's going on. It's non linear, the story jumps all over the place. It's full of scenes that might or might not have happened. Stover pays no attention or respect to reality. This is really just a collection of short stories stitched together, most have no relation to any sort of plot. At times you may think, Isn't that character dead? Not if you unhappen reading this book.

I would avoid Caine's Law and any more books that are released in this series. This is a real disappointment because Heroes Die was so exceptional and fun!

http://bookreviewsofmatt.blogspot.com/2014/11/caines-law.html

I loved this series...until I started this book.

I was eagerly awaiting another sequel. I even read Black Knife again, and liked it more than I did the 1st time I read it. Maybe it was because I re-read all the others before it and all the plots and characters were fresher in my mind, not almost totally forgotten from years without reading them.

So, having the previous book fresh in my mind, I went into this new one.

And it was a struggle to read. I actually gave up after halfway through. I could not believe how awkward and weird this book's direction went. Even some of the reviewers here wrote they didn't understand it, but gave it a 5-star rating. WHAT???

I really don't get it. How can you people who supposedly loved the previous books, (and the first two books are top-notch, and some of the all-time best sci-fi/fantasy ever penned), give this borefest a 5-star rating? No way, jose!

So, what you trying to convey is, the last half I haven't read is a total turnaround? That is starts to makes sense, and the explosive action one expects, along with a direction that makes sense, happens?

Maybe someday I'll finish the last half of the book....

As always, Stover delivers something unexpected.

This wasn't the book I had anticipated after finishing Caine Black Knife. The groundwork laid during that book had led me to expect something similar to Blade of Tyshalle for the follow up. While CL matches BOT in breadth, depth and complexity, it is an entirely different sort of book altogether and I can only admire Stover for the vision to conceive of such a move and the talent to make it work.

The themes of this book and DBK was not the battle against insurmountable odds (which BOT already covered) but finding resolution and some kind of peace. Stover could well have tried writing a bigger, badder BOT, but I respect the route he chose.

It was a deep book, but it lacked the intensity of HD and BOT. From the beginning, I hadn't the slightest doubt that Caine would pull through and come out on top. Gone were the last minute alterations in plan that featured in HD and BOT when Caine had to improvise to counter his foes.

Still I can't count those as faults. The book was exactly what Stover wanted it to be and for that, it's worthy of five stars. While BOT remains my favorite of the Acts of Caine, CL is an extraordinary book and worthy of several re-reads.

"Caine's Law" gets off to a particulary wonderful start, but as the story moves forward, the weaker it became. In fact, the climatic pages were just a letdown. There was so much build-up to the finale, but there was no payoff.

One of Stover's undeniable strengths throughout the Acts of Caine is his ability to set each novel apart from the other. "Heroes Die" was a good, old-fashioned rescue story, where Caine goes through hell to save his ex-wife, Pallas Ril. "Blade of Tyshalle", by far the most depressing novel I have ever read in my life, was a tragedy in almost every definition of the word. "Caine Black Knife" shuffled between the present and past Caines, showing how he has changed throughout the years. And in the finale, "Caine's Law" makes things severely complicated as it is a novel that deals with time travel.

It's never too clear how Caine finds a way to travel back in time, but that's not really the point. The point is, as Caine says often, "What if you could take back the worst thing you've ever done?". I was really excited at the hook and was immersed right from the start. One scene in particular in the beginning pages was heartbreaking to read. Many of the sections dealing with a new character, the horse witch, were very tender and emotional as Caine learned how to love again. And once again, Caine doesn't get into quite so many fights, the actions scenes that occur are the best Stover has ever written. Everything led to this great buildup of a finale, and that's when things fell apart.

I won't try and pretend that I understood perfectly everything that happened. The novel is very complicated and, while I have a vague idea of how all the timelines work in relation to each other, most everything else is above my head. That wasn't my issue. Nor was my issue with the lack of some epic battle scene to finish the series. The problem with "Caine's Law" was the lack of emotional resolution for all the characters. Duncan Michaelson has a big part to play in this novel, but the relationship between him and Caine didn't amount to too much. Pallas also makes an appearance, as well as Tan'elKoth, but they don't really do too much. There just wasn't enough pages devoted to these character interactions at the end. In "Heroes Die", the big scene was when Caine allowed himself to be stabbed through the stomach in order to save Pallas. In "Blade of Tyshalle", Stover's big scene was when Pallas finally said goodbye to Caine. "Caine Black Knife" didn't really have one, but it was always the first part of the overall story. "Caine's Law" is still missing this scene.

This is still a novel worth reading, espeically if you enjoyed the other Caine novels. I would recommend re-reading the entire series before starting on this one, because characters show up from past novels, and is closely intertwined with "Caine Black Knife". It's a solid novel, better than "Caine Black Knife" but not at the level of the first two Caine novels. In the end, I just wasn't impressed with the ending. There wasn't any emotional reaction to reading the final story of Caine.

3.5/5