Dies the Fire

Emberverse #1

by S.M. Stirling

The Change occurred when an electrical storm centered over the island of Nantucket produced a blinding white flash that rendered all electronic devices and fuels inoperable. What follows is the most terrible global catastrophe in the history of the human race-and a Dark Age more universal and complete than could possibly be imagined.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Post Apocalyptic, Fiction, Alternate History, Dystopia, Apocalyptic

573 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 3, 2004

About the author

Stephen Michael Stirling is a French-born Canadian-American science fiction and fantasy author. Stirling is probably best known for his Draka series of alternate history novels and the more recent time travel/alternate history Nantucket series and Emberverse series.

MINI AUTO-BIOGRAPHY:
(personal website: source)

I’m a writer by trade, born in France but Canadian by origin and American by naturalization, living in New Mexico at present. My hobbies are mostly related to the craft. I love history, anthropology and archaeology, and am interested in the sciences. The martial arts are my main physical hobby.

Reviews

[Troy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The moment I realized that 50% of Stirling's characters were frustrated Renaissance Festival "swordswomen" who were finally going to be taken seriously in the post-apocalypse and that he WASN'T doing it for comedy's sake, I had to give up. Two stars for competent writing, but I wish they would have been forthright about the SCA's affiliation on the book jacket. I would have spent my money on an over-sized novelty turkey leg and some mead.

[carol. · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s been a while since my last apocalypse (not counting The Walking Dead on AMC, naturally), so it was with anticipation that I opened Dies the Fire. While it scratched some of those survivalist itches, unfortunately, when I finished, I felt nothing but relief. And not the good kind.

Actually, I feel kind of ranty about the book. It is such an archtypical tale, an Aesop’s fable with details–lots and lots of details–but no originality, no finesse in characterization or plotting that it is really quite predictable. Start with the characters: it centers around two people, Michael Havel, archangel, ultimate Male, former Marine, bush pilot, hunter, survivalist, and Juniper Mackenzie, Mother Earth, ultimate female, Wiccan, musician, Renaissance Faire player and general people-person. Their backstories are somewhat fuzzy, except when providing an explanation for their skills and resources. While they have some dimension to their personalities, in the sense of having hopes, fears, anger and determination, they are essentially ideal role models, both in terms of community leadership and in coping with disaster.

The plot doesn’t inspire or stretch, offering little to the apocalypse canon except an exploration of a variety of communities and leadership styles in one book. Stirling decided on two rules for his apocalypse setting: the absence of explosive combustion (i.e. gunpowder) and absence of mechanical electrical function (as opposed to nerve impuse conduction). From there, his premise is that society would rapidly break down. People would be unable to manufacture enough food to sustain more than a village, production would go back to being extremely labor intensive, and cities would be deathtraps of disease and violence. Granted, I wasn’t reading closely towards the end (there’s a lot of detail here and the Wiccan stuff got on my nerves), but I don’t believe there is ever a satisfactory explanation. Early on, Stirling hints there might be more to the story: “Juney…Juney, if I didn’t know better, I’d say someone, or some One, just changed the laws of nature on us.” I can accept ordinary people not knowing the explanation for why the world has changed, but the combination of mysticism and pseudo-physics was annoying. As far as I can tell, the explosive angle was necessary so that Stirling could play with his concept of humanity and civilization in a world without guns.

Stirling postulates an extremely rapid societal breakdown due to immediate thirst, starvation and disease, and a subsequent rise of pre-industrial social structure. Plotting coincidences abound, so that Stirling can make some sort of point. In the first few chapters, we have Michael with a fire-starter kit in his pocket (while flying a plane), Juniper’s ownership of a distant cabin/land despite her hand-to-mouth musician existence, a local museum exhibit on pioneer days, and friends that own heavy draft horses (uncommon in the horse world). Then there’s Juniper’s barkeeper friend hanging on to some swords for his blacksmith/ RenFaire fan brother. One of Michael’s passengers is a Tolkien re-creationist and carries an old-fashioned bow and arrows. Michael rescues a horse trainer, conveniently shipping a small group of horses through the area. Juniper owns a gypsy wagon as part of her RenFair routine. Her neighbors have gotten in a load of seed potatoes (necessary for large-scale planting). Juniper rescues a Special Forces operative and bow-maker. The head bad guy happens to be a former head of the Society for Creative Anachronism. I don’t necessarily mind the coincidences now and then, but if Stirling went to such work to have gunpowder/explosive combustion stop working, why go to an equal amount of work to have his people set up with the equipment, skills, and thought patterns needed? It’s like pulling out Monopoly and deciding to make your own rules, but keeping the ideas of property, money, and rent. Why not just create your own game to explore your concepts?

Given my love of creativity and characterization, it’s a wonder I kept reading. I didn’t mind the details of how Juniper and her friend made their way north of the city, or Michael escaping the wilderness with his charges. I tend to enjoy that aspect of the apocalypse, although Stirling did give them a head start with their RenFaire experiences (numerous reviews mentions Stirling’s General Ode to RenFaires/SCA). What I minded is Juniper’s embodiment of Earth Mother and the over-the-top Wiccan characterization. For instance, in a moment of relief, Juniper almost crosses herself according to “die hard upbring,” then rethinks and “makes the Horns.” She swears by saying, “Goddess Mother-of-All,” “Mother-of-All,” and “Lady Mother-of-All” and traces pentagrams in the air for protection. She prays to the Goddess before any conflict or in thanks. She leads a coven and refers to her significant other as “boyfriend-cum-High-Priest” of said coven. Um. I’m pretty sure I’ve known a number of people of alternate spiritualities, but Juniper is the compilation of all the nuttiest stereotypes in one person. While I normally would have warmed more to her character, every “Goddess” epithet, invocation or exclamation had me cringing, largely because Stirling seemed to feel the need to use them in every Juniper-focused section.

General writing is serviceable. It mostly flowed well, focusing more on descriptive detail and describing action sequences than in lyrical world-building. There were a few mistakes: “Her stomach contracted like a ball of crumpled lead sheet” and “He gathered fir needles and leaves and twigs with hands that felt like flippers belonging to a seal a long way away.” I noticed them more frequently when I was re-reading bits for my review, which could mean they weren’t that noticeable, or I have a tendency to be very forgiving. Or skim. When Stirling stays in his comfort zone, it works.

By the time I finished, I understood where we were going. We have Juniper leading the healing and hearth-tending forces of a democratic clan. We have a group of monks protecting a town. We have Michael leading a military-like group. All of these agencies against the forces of feudalism. Sounds like a historical civilization thought experiment, no? Let’s see which strategy works or which type of leadership offers advantages. Never fear, this isn’t The Walking Dead–morality reaps just rewards. In all honesty, it isn’t a horrible read, but it isn’t a riveting one either. Borrow it from the library if you need to scratch an apocalypse itch. Just pass me the Benadryl instead.
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Cross posted (where it has links!) at http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2013/1...

[Chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book made me hate reading. It took me a month to get over the trauma that this self indulgent arrogant waste paper induced. Sterling’s lack of subtlety is developing his characters was only surpassed by his amazing ability to make me disaccoiate myself with his heroes within two pages. Amazingly convenient “coincidences” occur more often than in the Hitchhiker books, but at least Adams had the good grace to blame it on an improbability drive instead of just passing it off as the norm.

[Chloe · Rating 1 out of 5]

Masturbatory fantasy for older white men who feel smug in their own sense of superiority. In which real rugged man's men persevere at the fall of civilization to build a new world in the ashes of the old. Lots of "we need only one leader, not a committee" bullshit to justify strong arm tactics. Lots of colonialism, particularly in Stirling's digs at the Nez Perce tribes loss of traditional knowledge, portraying it as an aspect of how a people had degraded without any mention or even hint of the genocide and cultural whitewashing that went into ensuring that indigenous cultures were erased and assimilated. The casual racism that just oozes off the page is such a very recognizable NorthWest style of unthinking whiteness that I threw the book at the wall on more than one occasion. Even more sexism, because this book doesn't have a single female character who isn't condescended and patronized at one point or another by the alpha male, former marine, clan leader hero.

I picked this up because I read nearly all dystopian fiction and because it is set in Oregon and it's neat to match events to the real world geography I know so well. I kept reading it through the sea of toxic masculinity because there was a really neat coven of witches who was vastly more my style- overseen by the coven's matriarch but run on a consensus model that allowed all's concerns to be aired, rooted in the land and an appreciation of what it provides, valuing music and love. But this wasn't enough to keep me interested. There's more to this series but I strongly doubt I'll be picking any of them up.

[Brent · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this for two reasons. One, because it seemed like the true G David Drake thought well enough of SM Stirling to co-write The General series with him. Since then, I've come to the conclusion that that pairing must have been something the publisher pushed at Drake with a nice deal. Apparently, judging by the reviews here, Stirling's books have a fanatical following reminiscent of Twilight. Except, instead of terrible vampire books, he writes awful speculative historical scifi.

Which brings me to the second reason I read this book: I've always loved crappy scifi and fantasy. To give you some background, the first actual novel I read as a kid was a Piers Anthony turd. But I think this book is so bad that it has finally made me stop carrying the torch for trashy scifi. Which makes me kind of hate Dies the Fire.

Anyway, here's the book's premise, because that's all it's got going for it:
Imagine you're driving your car around town and suddenly, your engine stops running. Your watch stops. Planes are falling from the sky. Your local steam-driven locomotive can't get enough pressure. You try to shoot an attacking accountant (he's been instantly driven to screaming cannibalism, of course), but your gun won't even fire! But it's cool if all this stuff just happens, and society goes back to the medieval times for whatever unexplained reason. It's not only cool, but great, because you are a dedicated member of the Society for Combat Anachronism (SCA), meaning you swing padded sticks around like in the movie Role Models. You're also great looking and charismatic. And an athlete on the level of LeBron James. In short, you're Sterling's idea of the average SCA member. And you've been dreaming of the day you can take your rightful place!

So you get your trusty hand and a half sword, your targe (you know what these things are!) and full chain mail suit, and you're ready to take your rightful place. With your skills and kit, you can easily take on and kill 4 similarly armed cops simultaneously to impress local gangbangers. You can go on to conquer your local mundanes and remake them in the image of: 1500's France, a medieval Scottish clan of Wiccans, or a group from the Lord of the Rings. I'm not joking. These things are actual events in the book. Sterling actually expects the reader to swallow all this!

[Christine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Uk! I didn't like this book and didn't find it believable at all. Maybe it's because I live in Portland, but I gave up after the scene where the bad guy takes over the public library and makes it his palace complete with willing nubile slave girls... after just a few weeks! Sorry, the massive lesbian population here would have had that dude strung up on a lamp post in nano-seconds... and that before we even consider adding the adding all the feminists and hard core religious zelots into the mix.



Also, the author didn't give me enough psuedo science to make the effects of the flash believable. Just a flash and then no reason as to why it disables electricity and combustion. It just does.



Finally, I very quickly got sick of all the goody pagens romping around saying "Oh Godess this" and " Oh Godess that" and "Oh look, isn't if convienent there all the clever pagans just happen to have swords, battle axes, draft horses and wagons to go with them. We're such smart good pagans " It made the book read like some tedious Wiccian version of bad Christian fiction.

[Ryan Mishap · Rating 4 out of 5]

One day in March, the world turns white and every person experiences a searing pain. After this brief flash, modern technology no longer works. No electricity, no firearms, not even gun powder works as it used to. Our modern civilization is thrust back to medieval technology, precipitating a catastrophe where most of humanity dies.
The survivors, though, have to figure out how to live in this new world as civilization collapses. We don't get a primitivist's utopia, however, but a competently written account of various groups of people adapting to this new world.
This is genre fiction--fantasy mixed with SF and one might say historical fiction though it occurs in the present--, which is to say that character development isn't too deep and the writing isn't literary quality. But who cares about that stuff when faced with such an intriguing premise!
Juniper is a singer and a Wiccan who uses her Celtic background a a stage prop for her show. Along with her deaf daughter and pal who runs a pub in Corvallis, she realizes what the Change means and sets out for her cabin nestled at the base of the Cascade mountains. Here, with other survivors, including most of her Wiccan group, they attempt to organize to survive the Change and the coming winter by farming and manage to re-create a clan-based society.
Meanwhile, ex-Marine Mike Havel is flying a family of rich Portlanders to their Montana cabin when the Change happens, dropping their plane out of the sky. After they survive this, they make their way west, to the old Larsson homestead north of Corvallis.
And still meanwhile, Norman Arminger declares himself Lord Protector of Portland as he utilizes his knowledge of medieval Europe (he was a professor) to unite various gangs and his old SCA buddies to create a new feudal system in Portland.
I didn't want to stop reading as this is all fascinating stuff: what will happen when civilization collapses? What do we do for food (eat each other? happens), for transportation, to protect ourselves, to survive?
More importantly, with the fall of civilization, we lose our consumeristic belief systems and our civilizational myths. What will replace them? (hint: someone has read too many Tolkein books, and it is a character, not the author).
The second volume, The Protector's War, isn't as gripping as it details survival Change Year 8. Book three, A Meeting at Corvallis, is much better.
Like my friend Jesse said, this wouldn't be as good if it weren't set in Oregon, where we live, but I think it is worthwhile to read. Exciting adventure and fascinating speculation on what stories will guide us when our current reality fails.
My biggest complaint is that Eugene instantly descends into destruction and is given up as loss. This happened in that other post-apocalyptic novel The Postman. What gives with everyone giving up on Eugene so quickly? Like we don't have any fight in us?

[drowningmermaid · Rating 1 out of 5]

Look. It's not that I went into this "not knowing" that it was going to be bad. Of course it was going to be bad. It's 'classic' sci fi pulp. (Dude, the premise is that magically all technology stops working and so people have no choice but to return to a Dark Ages-esque social system. And the people who are best-suited for life in this new world order are . . . LARPers. Riiiight.)

So basically this is a really straight-faced version of this scenario:



If, for some reason, that image causes your chest to swell with patriotic fervor, rather than derisive laughter, this book is for you.

Still, there are particular joys to reading a bad book, not the least of which is that it's fast, and the few good ideas in it really stand out and sometimes are ultimately more memorable than the good ideas in a good book.
There's no way to be intimidated by the intellect at work in a bad book.
But this book is oh, oh, so much worse than that.

Others have talked about the main failings of the book being:

mis-portrayal of women,



absurdity of providential coincidence/ reliance on deus ex machina,



and cheesiness of Wiccan propaganda.




To this, I would like to also point out the dangerous idiocy of the TYPE of suspension of disbelief that this book demands.
The fantasy he's asking you to buy into is basically this:

Our hero is the manliest of manly men. His shots never miss! Girls beg him for attachment-free sex, which leaves them pregnant! He save darkies from death! He saves busty babes from rapists (of which, he clearly is not one despite the patronizing leer he sports while getting sprung at the sight of Miss Barely-Eighteen)! The faintest whiff of dissension is quickly resolved with blows from his manly fists! After being pounded flat by said manly fists, the good cronies prove their goodness by immediately returning to a state of worshipfulness! People who are vastly more talented and skilled than him throw themselves at his manly feet and beg him to be their god! Over and over! This is not boring or repetitive or unlikely! Fate has ordained it so that he need never suffer, need never learn from his mistakes, need never know doubt or comeuppance or the sting of a blush! His wounds heal promptly! He is not a dick!

The part of this fantasy that feels like an assault is the part where it is also assumed that *I* am supposed to be reading this without feeling vaguely embarrassed for Stirling. (I called Stirling's books "porn for the male ego" at book group. This is where your male ego goes to be shielded from reality in order to have the privacy necessary to jerk off.)

Basically, Stirling is for guys what Stephenie Meyer is for girls. And people will like or hate him for largely the same reasons.
Meyer's fap fantasy goes like this: I am free to be a dithering, saccharine, manipulative dimwit, ignoring every Warning Sign of a Bad Relationship! Of course, I am too sweet and demure to ever Make A Decision and so I string along an admiring throng of boys! The universe rewards my "goodness" with eternal love and wealth and beauty!

It isn't just that these kinds of fantasies are implausible-- it's that they're actually deeply offensive, deeply repulsive to some reader's way of being in the world (myself included.)
Now, I know full well that most people who read and enjoy Stirling and Meyer are great people. I both love and respect some Stirling and Meyer fans. But I can't help but be painfully aware of the fact that there ARE INDEED people who FAIL to realize that these books are nothing but lurid cartoonish ego trips, and who live their lives as if the fap fantasies are reality.
Those People Are Assholes.

I have no problem with unlikeable protagonists, even hatable protagonists. However, I do have a problem when an author seems to have literally NO CLUE that they have written a despicable jerk as their lead.
In the same way that it would not entirely surprise me if Meyer-- with her resolute glorification of shitty relationships-- turned out to be a battered wife, it would not entirely surprise me if Stirling did a little time in Leavenworth for something involving the phrase "she said she wanted it."
That's how bad the characterization of the bimbos is. ("Women" really is too strong a word for the scantily-clad objects wandering dazedly through the pages of this book in search of male protection.)

This is what I learned about Stirling at book group:

He co-authored a few books with Anne McCaffery, who considered him a friend.

The lone female protagonist who was only occasionally obnoxious (the Wiccan named Juniper) was based on a real folk singer.

I wanted to throw that out there in Stirling's defense, because while reading this I had the mental image of a guy living in a bunker whose only female contact had a fold-out section in the middle.
Also, the folk singer who formed the model for Stirling's Juniper turned out to be transgender, and is now male. While Stirling would have had no way to know this, everything I think I know about the transgender process is that it isn't exactly something that "sneaks up on you." So his one exception to the Female Idiot Trope turned out to be a man.

Things I liked about this book:
The local research seemed well done, especially for someone not from the area.
There's a nice Mormon couple (of course, neatly dead long prior to any need for confrontation) who leave their year's supply of food to whoever comes along next. Kudos for bringing up, however obliquely, the fact that in an actual post-apocalyptic situation, it might be a bad idea to be known everywhere as the People With a Year's Worth of Food. Who are also generally unarmed, swamped with small children, and indoctrinated from earliest youth to believe that God wants them to "nice" their way out of difficulty. And who mark their houses with flags in the front yard. Juss Sayin.
Also definite points for having the near-rape be just as traumatic as a completed rape. (I know, I know it's just because Our Hero could not possibly fail to be the manly deliverer who swoops in at the last possible second, but still, so many books shrug off near-rape as non-traumatic, which is total bull.)

Still, meaning no offense to the good people who love this book, none of those "pros" serve to balance the terrible writing, offensive characters, eye-rolling plot, and silly premise.
It is extremely unusual for me to put a book down because "I can't read this shit." But I have done it twice now with Stirling novels. There will be no third Stirling novel.
It has to do with the formula:

insults to my intelligence / unit time

Once the insults to my intelligence per unit time has exceeded "subconscious vomiting" levels, and has moved into the part where I am Experiencing this Book as Physical Pain and Death, there really is nothing that this book can say that would make reading the ending worthwhile.

[Sue · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've actually traded this book in without finishing it. I'll keep what review I had read up, though....

I've been reading this book, the first of a series, for a while and, well, we just haven't hit it off. Usually, I'm really interested in post-Apocalyptic, sociological books - The Stand and The Postman are both favorites. The books in the Dresden Files are ones that I can't put down, but Dies the Fire is one of those that it's hard to pick back up. (I've been taking it with me to doctor appointments and when I'm somewhere waiting for something.)

I don't know what it is about the book that just hasn't caught my interest. It doesn't suffer from having too many groups of characters to follow (The Stand certainly had this problem). The best guess I have right now is that there just isn't that much conflict. I'm half-way through right now and, while some inter-group conflicts have been happening, the characters seem to luck out and find people who know how to make bows from raw, natural materials, know how to swordfight, can make armor, etc.

The one main character, Juniper, is a Wiccan, which I don't have a problem with. However, she's constantly praising the Lord and Lady, making religious symbols in the air, etc., like a Wiccan version of a devout Catholic. It's a little annoying (and it would have been just as annoying if the character was Christian).

I won't be buying the other books in the series, unless something really outstanding happens in the remaining 280 pages....

[Paul Weiss · Rating 3 out of 5]

The universe (and the novel) both run out of gas!

At first, people thought it was the aftermath of a nuclear blast and the EMP that would temporarily shut down unshielded electrical machinery. But, when it became clear that something much more fundamental was happening (they called it "The Change"), people soon understood they would have to adapt to a very different world - no electricity; gunpowder had lost its explosive effect; internal combustion and steam engines failed to produce any meaningful horsepower; technology of all but the most rudimentary mechanical sort simply didn't work according to what we all formerly understood as the physical laws of the universe.

Choosing to leave both his characters and his readers ignorant of the cause of the phenomenon (one might puzzle over thoughts ranging from futuristic extra-terrestrial weaponry to the miraculous intervention of a wrathful God), Stirling has obviously used his befuddled post-apocalyptic universe as a springboard to examine just how thin the veneer we call "civilization" actually is.

Michael Havel, a pilot in the pre-Change world, and his "Bear-Killer" family; Juniper Mackenzie, a Celtic musician and a Wiccan high priestess; the leader of an outlaw biker gang; Norman Arminger, a history professor, who fancies himself a dictatorial feudal overlord; a horse wrangler; and a teenage fan of LORD OF THE RINGS, are only a few of the colourful characters in a hugely populated novel. But all share a common dilemma - they must adapt or die! Famine and plague are the rule. Stirling provides us with thought provoking philosophical discussions on the devolution of human culture in such a setting and the changes that may take place - marriage, sex, education, child-rearing, justice, government, military strategy and defense, weaponry, sharing, agriculture, religion and more.

An ambitious task for an author to be sure and one that cannot possibly be short in the telling! So, it comes as no surprise that the unfolding of this universe and the ultimate revelation as to the cause of the Change spans several novels. But, with all of this meat to chew on (and even though some of the discussions are heartfelt, moving and deeply provocative), the novel as a whole tends to be repetitious and fails to come off the page as truly compelling!

Two stars for the repetition and rather weak story-telling plus four stars for the plot-line and astonishing depth of the ideas leave this reviewer recommending DIES THE FIRE as an ambivalent three star read. Some will revel in it and others will think it utterly boring! Personally, I'll give it one more chance by moving on to the next novel in the series, THE PROTECTOR'S WAR.

Paul Weiss

[J.S. · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's been a really long time since I first picked up this book, enticed by the cover art and plot summary on the back. I don't remember exactly how far I got in relation to how much was left to read (although I do remember what caused me to put the book down for the final time, I'll get to that later) but I'll give my opinion on what I gathered from the way things were going:

The essence of this story is just a catchy premise, stretched painfully to cover an entire novel. I usually see this kind of thing in terrible comedies or half-baked thrillers, where the director/author has obviously come up with an interesting pitch, but little else. In this case, the premise is that some inexplicable phenomena has rendered two hundred years of technology useless - not an EMP, because even guns and combustion engines no longer work. As I read, I began to get a sinking feeling that this phenomena would never be rationalized or explained, as the only thing that could possibly do so would have to be Divine Intervention (and when you're writing a novel, that's cheating as far as I'm concerned).

So S.M. Stirling has his gimmick - modern people forced to survive with Dark Age technology. And that wouldn't be so bad, whether he reveals the nature of the Change or not. I can deal with an absurd premise if the rest of the story is well-crafted. In short, it's not. If that doesn't convince you, then read on.

The first of two main characters is a bland ex-military dude, indistinguishable from all the other ex-military main characters among countless works of fiction. He's flying a stereotypical yuppie family in a small private plane when the Change happens, and after they crash, the expected bonding occurs between the helpless rich people and their new protector. He teaches the impressionable son manly things like hunting and knife-fighting, and he has a love interest in the spoiled nubile daughter. Nothing to see here.

The second is slightly more interesting, but that's mostly because she's so ridiculous. A Wiccan Renaissance Faire devotee who happens to hang out exclusively with people who own real swords and battle axes, nobody would be better prepared for a return to the dark ages, right? Unfortunately, yes, which brings me to wonder how owning a claymore and sparring for tourists would actually give you the skills necessary to survive something like the Change. Of course, I don't know much about Wiccans, and maybe most of their practices really would help with farming techniques and whatnot, but I doubt real Wiccans feel the need to patronizingly shout corny, lengthy oaths whenever possible. I didn't get much farther on her segment of the story, because I then came upon the final straw in this hard-to-swallow yarn.

If this sounds plausible to you, then I've been wasting your time with my review: "a Portland-based neo-feudal dictatorship created by a sociopathic history professor." This is from Stirling's Wikipedia article, I'm not exaggerating. The main antagonist of the book is a history professor, whose justification for taking over the bloodthirsty criminals of Portland is that he knows more about swords and maces than, say, a burly Hell's Angel with a crowbar. I don't know many history professors personally, but academia doesn't attract the kind of people who can slaughter four attackers at once just by *reading* about it. And yes, this history professor slaughters four attackers at once with a sword. That was the point where I put the book down and never went back.

I could talk about how boring the writing was (I found myself skimming by accident, moving my eyes across the lines without taking any of it in) but this part of the art form is purely subjective, and what I found to be uninspired might interest you. But it's hard to accept the plot's execution, which I've heard described accurately as a Renaissance Faire nerd's fantasy. Without picking up the book again, that's all I can really say about it, and since the mere thought of doing so is unappealing, then that should tell you all you need to know.

[Cleverusername2 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always been fascinated with the post-apocalyptic fiction genre. After some woolgathering on why, I have decided it is because it makes me appreciate the postmodern world I live in. Every time I eat a banana, buy strawberries or raspberries imported from Equator in the middle of winter, or when I simply turn the hot water on in my sink; it reminds me of how lucky I am. Take tap water for instance! Most people won’t even drink it, but I’m glad I don’t have to drill my own well and stoke up a fire if I want to wash dishes.

Dies the Fire by S. M. Stirling brings a new and gripping premise to the post-apocalyptic drama. I read this novel after just having finished The Stand by Stephen King and in many ways it is the pedagogical opposite of King’s work. Much hay is made over how the Superflu in The Stand kills off all but 1% or less of the population on earth but leaves the destructive weapons of the modern age behind, which figures prominently into the plot. In Dies the Fire, something miraculous and terrible happens to the rules of physics causing electrical devices to fail, gunpowder to fizzle rather than explode, and not even steam engines work correctly. The human population of nearly seven billion souls is left intact, though not for long. Without the structure of transportation and the global marketplace the vast majority of humans face mass starvation on an epic scale (hinted at the hundreds of millions, possibly even several billion). Survivors must re-invent farming methods of our ancestors in order to live until the next harvest season. Millions abandon the cities, which have become literal plague grounds. It all makes for great drama. This “Emberverse” world is an unmerciful place, where thuggery and cannibalism and death are all too common.

Most of the action centers around three groups. They become nascent tribal entities really as the novel progresses. Ex-marine Mike Havel leads a family through the Rocky Mountains in Idaho and instills a militaristic discipline in his charges as they take on more and more refugees and form sort of a nomadic band on neo-Turkish mercenaries (numerous references are made to the Mongols, but I think Turkish horse archers of the Crusade period seems more of an apt analogue). In the central Willamette Valley of Oregon, musician and Wicca priestess Juniper McKenzie retreats with her coven to her family’s log cabin. They come to form a neo-Celtic commune and form alliances with farmers from a nearby small town. Further north in Portland a former medieval history and sociology college professor (and Society of Creative Anachronism member) Norman Arminger has far less altruistic plans; using contacts he made while researching street and biker gangs and drug cartels he assembles a mini fiefdom of thuggish “knights”, and generally tries to party like it’s 1066 with him as the supreme monarch. Conflict with the more democratic tribes to the south inevitably progresses.

I love exploring a universe like this and wondering how I would survive if put in their place. I must admit my profession of librarian wouldn’t get me too far, I would most fit in with the community that sprang up around Corvallis, the University Collective, which like Arminger tries to emulate anachronistic technology but does so in a more democratic and humane manner. The Collective was sparsely mentioned in this book, but I am hoping they are more thoroughly explored in the third book in the series: Meeting in Corvallis.

A note on religion: I have read many reviews of this book, many critical of what I like to call the Full-Frontal Paganism content. It has been derogatorily called the Wicca Left Behind series because of its positive and very lengthy treatment of that minority religion. It seems America retains much of its Puritanical knee-jerk fear of all things witchy. Let me say a few things in Stirling's defense. After doing some research I have found that he is in fact atheist, so I don’t think the character of Juniper McKenzie is meant to advocate or draw support for Wicca in any way. He just has a bit of a fetish for using minority character in major roles in his novels, perhaps to make things interesting. In the same vein his Nantucket trilogy has been sardonically called “the greatest black lesbian pirate ninja epic of all time!” because of a so-called alternative lifestyle main character. I used to live in the Pacific Northwest, even in the Willamette valley for a time and there are indeed more Wicca living there than in the general population. You run into them at conventions and Renaissance fairs all the time, some even sporting kilts as they do in the novel. It is not TOO far out there to think that given the skill set of the McKenzie coven and the tools, food, and seeds they brought with them to their hillside retreat they would flourish. It is not TOO far out there to think that the residents of the small town (based on tiny Brownsville, Oregon) would see the witches flourishing and wish to ally with them, no matter how reviled they were in the past. It is not TOO far out there to think that given the great social upheavals after The Change that many of those would convert to a nature worshiping religion like Wicca. Critical reviewers tend to think that Stirling was implying that most of Oregon would become Wicca, when in fact it was just one tiny (by pre-Change standards) community.

Where Stirling goes wrong is in Juniper’s unrelenting spouting of platitudes to her gods (“By the Lord and Lady!” “Goddess forbid it!” etc.) and liberal use of hackneyed Gaelic clichés. I kept putting Juniper up to this litmus test: if she were Catholic or Jewish rather than Wicca would I be as annoyed by her frequent use of Latin or Hebrew sayings? Would I feel my time was wasted by excessive descriptions of liturgical rituals and verbatum recitation of prayers? Yes, I think I would. Wicca is much less exotic to me than the average American so I would rather rituals was edited down a bit. Describe what happened and how the characters felt IF it is important to the story, verbatim descriptions of the ritual are unneeded and vulgar no matter what religion they pertain to.

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the premise of this novel, but had a lot of problems with the execution. Well, mostly one problem -- the middle of the book crawls.

The book starts off in contemporary West Coast America, following two characters (a pilot and a Ren Faire musician) on a normal day, when The Change happens. This shoots the story right into action, as the characters have to immediately adjust and survive in a world where electricity no longer works. The first third of the book is compelling reading, I finished that much in a single night. However, at this point, right about the point I started thinking this was going to be on par with The Stand, the story grinds to a halt.

The second third of the novel is spent explaining exactly how the characters trade goods in a world without money, how they harvest crops without machinery, and how they avoid plague and other disease. In theory, it is all very interesting, but in practice, it is very dull. I struggled to get through it at all.

Fortunately, the story does pick back up, and the final third is action-packed and exciting. All-in-all, it was not a terrible read, but the uneven pacing and overly detailed filler killed any chance I had at truly enjoying the potentially interesting story behind it.

[Jeff · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is terrible, it might be one of the worst pieces of fantasy writing I have ever come across. The basic plot device seems simple enough, humanity is abruptly forced to live without technology again as unknown forces cause anything more complicated than edged weapons to stop working.

That's all well and good, you can build something interesting around that. What we get from Stirling are one dimensional characters written to satisfy stereotypes. Every character has one defining aspect, for the male lead it's a Finnish knife he carries around, and he shouts out Finnish battle cries. Because even though he is American, he has some Finnish heritage. The female lead is Wiccan, so naturally her and all her followers proclaim "oh Goddess!" at every opportunity. When we meet an Australian, we get more Aussie slang in one page than all three Crocodile Dundee movies.

The pacing is the other major flaw in this story. Within hours of the lights going out, the major characters somehow figure out that the laws of the universe have fundamentally changed, and it's best to head for the hills. Roving packs of cannibals roam rural roads, eating unwary travellers. People start making chainmail, pikes, halberds and swords. This is all in the first week or so after the change. Because you know, you get hungry, what are you going to do?

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't finish this one. The story was fairly interesting at the start--a compelling scenario, a number of potentially interesting characters--but it fizzled fairly quickly. It comes off mostly as an adolescent male fantasy where D&D geeks rule with their sword mastery. I actually laughed at the main bad guy, who had assembled gang leaders from across the city, dazzled them by killing four men at once with his awesome sword skills, and had scantily-clad (and very frightened) women serving them. Seriously funny stuff.

Ultimately, though, _Dies_The_Fire_ commits the worst of all offenses: it's boring. After the initial few chapters of people adjusting to the new world, in which electricity and guns no longer work, it turns into a snoozefest. So after making it a little under half way through, I'm putting this one down. With so many other books to read, I can't see trudging through one that doesn't offer any real enjoyment.

[Jim C · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is part of an overall universe. I used this book as a starting point and I had no problem doing that. In this one, a mysterious electrical storm wipes out the world's electronics and the world is transported back to the medieval times. The action takes place in Oregon as we follow several different groups of people and how they handle the sudden change of the world.

I read a different book by a different author that had the same premise and I absolutely loved it. I went into this one hoping for the same and unfortunately that did not happen. The writing was fine and it was well detailed. I love the concept of concentrating on a small area and seeing how people react to a dire situation. The author does differentiate the groups and this was the highlight of the book. It was also a flaw too as the author really goes into depth of these groups. I would argue at times it went into too much depth. This depth was at the expense of the momentum and at times I was reading this book and not caring at all. I did enjoy when groups had to deal with other groups to either combine forces or fight because of their shared beliefs or their differences. Obviously this relates to today's world.

I thought this book had such an interesting premise that could have worked. I like the idea of the book and the direction the author decided to go with his idea. The problem for me was the book seemed to lag at times. The momentum came to a halt as we go into great detail about a certain belief. It felt like the author was trying to justify this certain belief and it never connected with me. I do think the author has carved out an interesting universe and I would try the second book to see if there is more forward momentum since the stage is set now.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Outstanding portrayal of the phases of life and civilization in a post-apocalyptic situation in which a mysterious event causes permanent failure of most technology, notably electrical and internal combustion machinery and gunpowder. Once I got past that unlikely premise, I was seriously hooked and every aspect that follows was a believable and compelling account of survival and social evolution in a world stripped of technology. Most of the action takes place in Idaho and Oregon, with working farms the key resource under contention. I loved the accretion and alliances of characters with complementary and valuable skill sets, the adaptation of pagan and archaic traditions for meaningful rituals and new mythologies, and the triumphs in the recovery of a semi-feudal clan structures, agriculture, and arts. The story renders the pleasures of multifaceted answers to the perennial question of "what would you do to survive" in such a world, while seriously exploring the challenges to the altruistic aspects of human nature in the face of inevitable competition for resources and violent subjugation of many by a few strong personalities driven by greed and power.

[Adam Czarnecki · Rating 1 out of 5]

Had to set this one down about half way through. I was on page 260ish out of something like 500, so I tried, but I just didn't want to waste any more time on this story that was giving me nothing but laughs. I don't want laughs out of my apocalyptic epics, especially when the author isn't trying to be funny.

Many other reviews have pointed out this book's flaws--the implausibility of everyone knowing how to build bows and arrows and chain mail armor, the uninspired and one dimensional characters, the cliched dialog, etc. I was actually able to tolerate those flaws just to see where the story went, but it was apparent after a while it was going nowhere, and then those flaws just got old.

There's only so much bland description I can read about a bow's craftsmanship. Seriously, there's like 2 pages every time someone whips out a bow and arrow about it's riser. Who cares, get on with the story.

I gave up after the children [SPOILER ALERT:] that they rescued from an abandoned school bus started calling the adults mom and dad after... what? 3 days?

S.M. Stirling has great ideas, but no idea how to incorporate realistic characters into those ideas.

Advice for Stirling (as I have read a few of his books, hoping each time they get better):

1) Don't blow your load so soon. Give us a chapter or two getting to know the characters before the event happens, don't let it happen on page 2. Also, give the characters time to react! It's highly doubtful people would have given up on the old life after less than a day, giving up any hope that things would return to normal. Let the characters go into shock & denial for a while.

2) Don't make every character sound the same. Shake up the dialogue, and not just by giving one of them an accent. For example, three or four characters in the book have an annoying habit of saying "call it" whenever they're estimating something, which makes it hard to tell who exactly I'm following.

3) Nobody cares how much you know about bows, risers, or martial arts. It's fine to incorporate some of it in a story, but if I wanted to read a 2 page description of those things I'd go get a book about those things. Same goes for Wicca. It's fine if you're a Wiccan, and fine to have a main character dependent on those beliefs, but does she have to remind everyone every two seconds that she's a Witch? And those things are so unusual to come across... not everybody is into these things, so having a group of 20 people meet up and say, "Hey, I'm a bowyer, too, and yes I studied the art of the putto!" is just cringe worthy.

Also, in an epic like this, I would have liked to see more of the world breaking down. Where was the President when the world changed? Those that work in skyscrapers, or big cities? Doctors in the middle of brain surgery? It would have been neat to see some of that.

[slightlyfoxed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting speculative history/dystopian novel as to what would happen if all electronic devices and firearms were suddenly inoperable. The answer: only the Ren Faire geeks/history reenactor buffs would survive.

I enjoyed this well enough, but I don't see me pursuing the entire series. Fun characters, though, and lots to talk about regarding social structures, canibalism, etc.

But by the Three-Aspect Goddess, I'm so glad that my Wiccan friends don't talk like Lady Juniper! Sheesh!

[Kathy Davie · Rating 5 out of 5]

First in the Emberverse dystopian series and revolving around two primary sets of good guys and one horror of a man. These events occur throughout the Northwest in 1998. Phew, dodged that bullet…

My Take
It begins with one group's story and then segues into other individual stories as that EMP pulse hits the world and takes out every electronic device and modern weapon known to man. Humanity is reduced to whatever can be worked by hand: bows and arrows, swords, knives, hammers, handsaws, and the like while transport is via bike, horse, or afoot.

Dies the Fire shows all the types of mankind from raging idiocy to rampaging power-seeking to caring for others. Slowly, slowly, the stories begin to merge as these disparate groups encounter one another, having passed through a great many wide-ranging "adventures".

It's the politics, the survival, the making-do, the living from the land that intrigues me. And it creates drama, tension, and an increased heart rate!

I gotta say, it makes me want to get a place out of the way with some nice farmland. Someplace hidden that can be fortified, near a stream to generate power and access to water, and lots of weapons with plenty of how-to books since, horrors, I'd be without the Internet!! Eeek! Bring in a nice range of animals from chickens on up to horses.

It's a lesson in survival for all parties with each going about it in a different way. Some learn maturity along the way. Some have useful skills to share right away. Luckily for Juniper, she's been a Ren Faire participant for years and is better than halfway prepared to cope with the loss of tech.

"Everything that's been invented in the last 800 years is useless now."

Chuck makes an excellent argument for getting out of town now. He reckons only rats will be left to eat in a month. Juniper lays it out at Finney's farm. The truth about the land under cultivation around Corvallis and how many people there are that need to be fed. There's a lot of reasoning going on in Dies the Fire, which only makes it more fascinating to read. The products, food, and services, the methods of production we all take for granted.

Will Hutton has an interesting idea about this Pulse that hit the world. He reckons if it had happened before we got so much technology, no one would'a much noticed, but could explain the lack of advancement in some areas.

The Larssons initially come off as dilettantes, but they toughen up quick and prove their intellectual worth. It's surprising what you can find when you look beneath the surface of people. I like too that Mike is a take-charge kind of guy without being power-mad. He'll acknowledge his weaknesses and work on 'em.

Ken reckons they've "fallen out of history…"

It's a time when words mean less than nothing, and protection is everything. The Mckenzies turn out to help neighbors. Any of their neighbors. It's why the surviving Smith, Carsons, Georges, Mercers, and Brogies abandoned the Sutterdown group and switched to Mckenzie.

You can't help but appreciate Juniper's pragmatism: "We're Witches, Chuck. We are weird." Then she notes the "bizarre irony of someone wanting to become a Witch so they can fit in", lol.

Astrid has created the The Chronicles of Lord Bear and His Folk: The Red Book of Larsdalen in imitation of her favorite Lord of the Rings trilogy. It's a good therapy for her, working out the attack at the cabin.

They're interesting groups of people — the good ones, anyway — that you can't help but rush on, wanting to see them do well.

And she will name him Artos in the Craft.

The Story
It's a routine day, and Michael is booked to fly a family to their home in Bitterroot Valley. In Corvallis, Juniper is playing for a happy crowd.

Then it all comes tumbling down. Planes fall out of the sky, cars simply stop, guns don't fire, dynamite doesn't explode, electricity is gone, water pumps have stopped, and fires and gangs are out of control.

And a provisional government is sending out gangs to requisition people's cattle and foodstocks. Problem is, that government keeps changing hands and isn't planning for the future.

The Characters
The Idaho contingent will become the Bearkiller outfit
Michael Havel is a pilot, a hunter, and an ex-Marine. He may be the hired help, but he quickly puts Eric in his place. He'll be christened Lord Bear. Louhi is the pup he intends to train.

Steelhead Air Taxi is…
…a family-run service in Boise, Idaho, owned by Dan and Gerta Fogarty. Mellie Jones, their niece, is the company secretary. Eileen is the girl who dumped Michael.

The Larsson family — Kenneth and Mary, the twins Signe and Eric, and fourteen-year-old Astrid with her archery skills and a fascination for the Lord of the Rings — wants to visit their family ranch in Montana. Biltis is Astrid's orange kitty. Mr. Zeppelt has been protecting the old Larsson place west of the Williamette.

A Run-in with the Zionist Occupation Government (ZOG),
…a neo-Nazi group. Jimmie is the leader; Bob and Dan are his disgusting partners. Anjelica and Will Hutton, with their daughter Luanne, were transporting horses from their ranch in Texas where they wrangle and train. Gustav becomes Lord Bear's horse.

Pam Arnstein is a veterinarian at the San Diego Zoo. An outdoorswoman, she does Renaissance fencing with HACA and will become their swordmistress and historian. Josh Sanders is a lumberjack who's done some construction, a hunter, a fisherman, a former Seabee (combat engineers) who wants to sign on with his wife, Annie, and daughter, Megan. Makes a darn good scout too. Annie will become their schoolteacher. Then there's Billy Waters with his love for drink and abusing his beaten-down wife, Jane, and their three children which includes Reuben and Nancy. He claims to have worked for Red Wolf Bows. Gloria Stevens and Fred Naysmith are members as well.

Howard Reines is the mayor and Eddie Running Horse is with the reservation council. Aaron Rothman is a general practitioner the Bearkillers rescue in their first paid-for op. Bob Twofeather has good things say about the Bearkillers.

The Iron Rod is…
…an example of one of the Protector's vassals. Duke Iron Rod, the former Dave Mondarian, leads the Devil Dogs, his old gang from Seattle before the Change. Martha is his old lady from before the Change; she keeps the new bitches in line. Moose and Hitter are loyal. Feitman is the numbers man and good with his knives.

Robert? Hank? Woburn is the new county sheriff. Burt, Louie, and Henry are part of the posse from town. Kate Clarke is missing. Mother Superior Gertrude took refuge with the sheriff. Jeb Smith has his own plans in mind. Pete Sacket and his son, Randy, run a garage-cum-machine shop on the edge of Craigswood.

The Corvallis contingent
Juniper Mckenzie is a guitar-playing singer and a witch, the High Priestess, in her coven. Soon to be Lady Juniper, High Chief of the Clan Mckenzie. Elir is her deaf daughter. Rudy Starn, her boyfriend-cum-high-priest, is a systems analyst flying out of Eugene that night. Cuchalain is her Alastian. Rudi is what she'll initially name her baby. Dennie Martin is the host at the Hopping Toad Tavern in Corvallis that night with an interest in woodworking and tooling leather; he's also one of her best friends. Manuel is a cook there. John Martin is Dennis' brother, a blacksmith.

Frank and Joan Fairfax have a hobby farm just down the way from Juniper's farm, one she inherited from an uncle. Both the Fairfaxes need insulin, and they love their kids: Joseph, John, Dave, June, Kathleen, and all the kids.

Sally Quinn made a bad choice as part of a small gang that confronts Juniper and her friends. Sure, her son, Terry, was hungry, but it was still wrong. Her husband, Peter, was at work at HP when the world fell apart.

Juniper's coven, the Coven of the Singing Moon is coming out of Eugene
Judy Barstow is Evenstar, the Maiden of the coven; Chuck is her husband, not a pacifist, and a knight in the SCA. He will become the Dragonstar, the High Priest of the Craft. His day job is as a gardener for the Eugene Parks and Rec department. Their daughters are Mary (one of the children from the bus) and Tamsin, their three-year-old daughter. Andy Trethar is a friend. He and his wife, Diana, own an organic restaurant/bakery/food store, MoonDance. Diana is also a registered nurse and midwife. Greg is their son. Dorothy Rose who'll be playin' the bagpipes. Dave, Susan, and Karl are more members.

Once they join up at Juniper's farm, they start adding more: Uncle Jason, Alex is Chuck's younger brother. Barbara, Vince Torelli, and Steve Matucheck saved him from Eaters. Samuel "Samkin" Aylward, late sergeant in the SAS, fell into a ravine when he chased after a deer with his bow. He's a bowyer too. Cagney and Lacey are a couple of the plow horses.

A busload of kids are stranded and include Sanjay, Mary, and Daniel. Juney and a small crew find the rest of their coven with a little help from a scouting party of Bearkillers — Carmen, Muriel, and Jack — when they come up against Eaters.

John Carson and his kids Cynthia and Ray are farming neighbors. He knows his livestock. The Smiths were neighbors, until bandits hit. Now young Mark Smith has joined the Mckenzie Clan. The Hunters, Dowlingtons, and Johnsons have already joined, and now Rodger and Maisie MacFarlane want to join. But they'll have to throw their land into the communal pool.

Reverend Dixon of Sutterdown is a not-too-welcome neighbor; he preaches against witches. Reverend Jennings is not the same. Sheriff Laughton and Dr. Gianelli are co-leaders with the reverend. Tamar is one of the children and the sheriff's niece.

Luther Finney farms a patch south of Corvallis; Sarah is his wife. He has an Alastian. Eddie and Susan are their son and daughter who live in Salem.

Lieutenant Peter Jones is with the Committee militia along with what used to be the Corvallis agriculture and engineering faculties.

CORA…
…stands for the Central Oregon Ranchers' Association. John Brown will be the CORA delegate to the Bearkillers. Ellie Strang is a local girl with an in at the Protector's new castle. Dinkerman and Sergeant Harvey are some of the men at the castle.

Portland, Oregon
Emiliano is jefe of the Lords; Dolores is his woman. Marquez is his numbers man. The mayor and the chief of police are known as Cat and the Moose on the street, and they've invited Emiliano to a meeting with the Crips, Bloods, the Russians with Alexi Stavarov, The Tongs, the Koreans, the Angels, the Italians, and more.

They've already set up a government: The Lady Sandra and The Lord Protector, a.k.a., Norman Arminger, in chain mail carrying a sword, a former academic; he's a history professor who's gone power mad. He's gung-ho for old-fashioned, full-blown feudalism with his boilerplate contracts.

Eddie Liu and Mack are aiming for Portland; they hear there's stability there.

Eaters are cannibals.

The Cover
The cover is grim in a warm way. I know, it sounds contradictory… The colors are warm: a creamy sky and golden browns form the sky above a ragged skyline of browns. The foreground is more golden browns of flat land with a gray road emerging from the distance. It's a horse drawn pickup truck approaching a tire and a bicycle abandoned on the road while Mike stands, with sword slung over one shoulder, assessing the threat level around him.

I suspect the title is a metaphor for that fateful night when the "storm" struck and so Dies the Fire of the world.

[Adi Greif · Rating 1 out of 5]

The main male protagonist is so bigoted in so many ways, and the consequences of the 'apocalypse' so hilarious, I couldn't keep reading. Big-picture: the author believes that by reverting technology backwards a thousand years, all of human society must be organized as farmers or bandits that prey on farmers. Yup, nobody a thousand years ago had cities or complex public works. But what was hilarious is that he depicts Renaissance Fair hobbyists who practice with swords as most likely to rule the U.S, which is stated as the most important country to focus on. Let me tell you, there are other parts of the world much more likely to easily handle a reversion in technology level and become a major power than the U.S. On to just a few examples of the bigotry: the male protagonist explains multiple times that city people stranded on the road would not be able to walk anywhere for help, because they are not used to walking. Check out the travel data, because at least for most income levels, this is wrong: http://nhts.ornl.gov/index.shtml. More horrifyingly: the main male protagonist gets so frustrated with a girl he likes that when the girl decides she doesn't want to go all the way with him (after a previous near-rape experience) and says "sorry" he just tells her to leave and gets out his frustration by whacking at a tree. I have never heard of someone so self-absorbed ... and so righteous about it. The author gives no indication that this reaction on his part is unreasonable.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a reread of a book I feared would not be near as good eight years later. I was pleasantly surprised. Very interesting premise with the author putting a lot of thought into how the big change would affect things I would have never even thought of.

I still think its a bit heavy on the LoTR and Renaissance fair stuff, and a bit of shock value from PURE EVIL characters was unnecessary when the change itself is brutal and completely unforgiving. But overall I enjoyed it alot this second time around. I am not sure there is any series that has spiked my own imagination more so I am glad of this.

[Emrys · Rating 1 out of 5]

It is so very rare that I put a book down mid-read, but I'm doing it with this one. I gave it a healthy shot, I really did...Got to page 229!

But I can't stand this book. It describes a world where everything just stops working...cars, computers, anything electrical...due to some strange electrical/light phenomenon. And that sounded cool! I thought, "Oh! EMP-story that knocks society to its knees! Yay to see it get back up again amidst chaos!"

I love me a good apocolypse!

The problem in this book started for me when it became apparent that gunpowder wasn't working either. That's when everyone started kitting themselves up with swords and spears and chainmail and bows and arrows. I realize there may be some phenomenal explanation planned by the author for why gunpowder would suddenly stop working, but that explanation didn't come within the first 229 pages...and for me the story turned into one about a bunch of people with swords and spears and chainmail and bows and arrows.

Why the hell would gunpowder suddenly stop working?! I guess I could have read the rest of the book to find out, but
1. I couldn't stand the story, and
2. I had the idea the explanation involved some magicky muck.


If I read 570+ pages and found out that the answer was magicky in anyway, I wouldn't have been able to bear it!

So, for me, the premise of society's end lost all credibility, and that just sucked.

But the worst part of this book (for me) were the characters! Oh they were so UNBELIEVABLE! No real panicking, no real depression, nothing of what I would consider true substance to any of them!

They were heroes and all, but they were shallow ones. No real human emotion involved. A guy's wife gets brutally killed, he's in shock for all of five minutes, and then a week later he's peachy-keen and fine. And I realize that in situations like this there wouldn't be much time to react to grief, but there's got to be some thought process written to show that these characters are grieving, do feel loss, are confused and befuddled.

There were two groups of characters developed when I last visited this discredited plot. The first was a group of chain-mailed DIY heroes. Blech!

The second was a coven of witches, and although that normally wouldn't turn me off (at least not totally...I mean, I did give this book a 229 page chance), I thought I was going to throw up if I had to read more phrases like 'merry meet' and 'blessed be'.

Ultimately, this book/series just seemed to be an excuse to put unbelievable but society-current characters into a situation where they'd have to act like medieval know-it-alls. Ooh! Look at me! I can make a sword!

So, well there, I hated the book. That makes me kind of sad, I guess, but it's the plain truth.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

On an afternoon in early March, the world gets hit with some kind of phenomenon that causes all energy sources to stop functioning. Basically all forms of combustion stop working the way they used, even steam power doesn't work. Bullets no longer fire, explosives have no effect. It's like the properties of physics are instantly "Changed". Suddenly modern society must survive as they did in the ages before modern science and technology.

This story is told from the perspective of two very different people. Mike Havel is former soldier and pilot who now makes his living as a bush pilot in the American West, shuttling wealthy families to their ski lodges and remote ranches during the holidays and summer. When the Change hits, he is high above the wilds of Idaho with the Larssen family, Ken and Mary, their 18 year old twins, Eric and Signe, and their youngest child, 14 year old Astrid. Mike manages to crash land the small plane on a river in the forest but they barely make it out alive and Mary Larssen is severely injured.

Meanwhile, back in the Oregon town of Corvallis, Juniper Mackenzie and her 13 year old daughter, Eilir, are at a local pub where Juniper is performing. Junie is a folk singer and a High Priestess for a local Wiccan coven. She and Eilir are performing at her friend Dennis's pub, then heading to Eugene where they were to meet others from their coven for a celebration. Juniper is in the middle of her set at Dennis's when the Change occurs. The lights go out across the city, cars just stop running, planes fall out of the sky, and fires erupt when they start hitting the city. Chaos ensues and mob mentality takes little time to emerge, especially once the mob realizes that the cops can't shoot them; guns don't fire anymore. Juniper is, what is called in the Craft, a healing witch so she and Dennis and Eilir head out to help in whatever way they can. They soon realize that the safest place to be will be far from the cities and make their way quickly to Juniper's old cabin on family land up in the hills.

Thus begins the struggle to survive in a new reality. The two groups do what they must to protect themselves and their families. They form two very different types of communities and the way they manage to survive and even thrive is very interesting. This is the first in a series and was a little slow going through the first of the book but the second part was fairly quick reading and action packed. I will be looking for the next one in the series.

[Anoolka · Rating 1 out of 5]

The idea presented in this book of a world suddenly without electricity and gunfire seemed interesting enough and I've already read the first book of the Island in the Sea of Time trilogy (and liked it a lot) that is somewhat linked with the universe shown in this book so I thought I'd give it a try. It started somewhat slow but I kept going. It didn't even bother me much when the coincidences of meeting just the right people started piling up, after all without them the book would probably be boring showing us how they all died without medicine or something ;) The thing that started bothering me the most was the character of Juniper. I liked her at first but the more she kept talking about Wicca traditions, religion and invoking all kinds of Wiccan gods/ patrons' names I started skimming over her parts in the book. I don't mind all that in small doses but it was just too much. She was also beggining to give off Mary Sue vibes (using a fanfic term), i.e. of a person that is in some ways too perfect etc.
So, character development - not so good. The plot - easy enough to guess unfortunately. I kept reading only to see more of the Bearkillers group but even that somewhat wasn't interesting enough to keep me reading this book. I'd have liked more interpersonal relations and development and a little less perfectionism of Juniper / Astrid type and the Wicca speak.

[Quinton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite book. It is the fourth or fifth time I have read it, although I can't be entirely sure.

I cannot recommend it strongly enough. I remember clearly that when I first read it, I almost put it down because I was not interested in the beginning. The first chapter was boring. The characters didn't interest me. BUT DON'T PUT IT DOWN! Because it suddenly gets a whole heck of a lot better!

Being now as familiar with the book (and greater trilogy) as I am, I reread only the good parts of the book. I skip over the portions where the Protector interacts with gangsters. I skip over Mike Havel and the Larssons until they reach Oregon. What I love about the story is the drama of the escape of the city , the anxiety about food and survival, the retaking of the land by nature. These things are brilliantly told by Stirling. Honestly, some of the funniest lines I have ever read in books are in this one. My favorite of all time is probably "Do you accept personal checks?" -- I have laughed aloud at least twenty times reading or thinking about that one line.

When I first read this book, I had absolutely no knowledge of Wicca or Neo-Paganism. The way that these religions are focused on in this initial trilogy was interesting, I thought, although at times I thought the amount of ritual dialog was excessive. I also hate, in any book, when songs or poetry are given. Especially in this trilogy where they are just the author's poorly disguised method of switching from one POV to another. But all-in-all I think all the magic-and-Gods-and-divinity-crap that becomes really obnoxious in the books after this trilogy was not by any means a problem in this book.

One other thing that annoys me about the series is the very good but not perfect attempts at capturing every culture under the sun. It gets tiring quick if you read beyond this trilogy, but in this book only the Irish/Celtic, Norman, and "Tolkien" cultures are discussed. When I first read the book, I was impressed and charmed. Now, I am disenchanted. I have since learned to speak fluent Irish, and see that the Irish quotes are flawed and almost universally misspelled. It is disappointing. But the fact that this book was a part of the inspiration for me to learn and become a daily speaker of Irish says there must be something going right!

In conclusion, I love the book. I love the trilogy. I love the author's sense of humor. I love the setting. I love the story. Really I love everything. If you are considering reading this book, do not get caught up in the cover description (it's not like the author ever writes those anyway), and do not get turned off by the first chapter or two. Believe me! It gets better and it is absolutely worth it :)
Oh, and don't feel the need to read the whole series either! The first three are great! But after that it is a VERY mixed bag.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dies the Fire goes through the usual paces in an end-of-the-world novel: civilization collapses, there is much confusion and rioting, a few lucky/prepared ones are situated such that they don't starve while all the city-dwellers run out of food, there's a massive die-off, and then the most organized, ambitious, and/or ruthless are setting up fiefdoms.

The gimmick here is that "the Change" that causes the end of civilization literally changes the laws of physics. Gunpowder, internal combustion, and electricity simply stops working. The world is literally knocked back into the middle ages technologically. This device is an excuse to write an SCAer's fantasy: those folks in the Society for Creative Anachronism who spent time dressing up in plate armor and whacking each other with rattan swords are suddenly among the only ones with actual useful combat skills, now that guns no longer work. Sterling takes that ball and runs with it: the chief villain, who takes over Portland, Oregon, "the Protector," is a former history professor and an SCA member who uses his combat skills and knowledge of medieval history to immediately begin recreating his favorite period of history with himself in charge.

Michael Havel, military veteran and former pilot, becomes a warlord of sorts, quickly leveling up as the mercenary commander of the "Bear-Killers," with assistance from a teenage girl Tolkien-nerd who conveniently enough also practiced archery as a hobby.

As a gimmick, it's interesting and fun to see the survivors literally rediscovering medieval tactics out of necessity. "The Change" is never explained, though the characters speculate that aliens did it. It does become a bit much when witches (the wiccan kind, not the actual magic-using kind) form the basis for a large survival community, apparently because they're better able to organize and survive in a pre-industrial world. Juniper, the leader of the coven, who becomes High Priestess and "Lady Juniper," is constantly spouting "Blessed Be" and "Lord and Lady!" and oh my god there is an actual Book of Shadows, yes I know some pagan branches really practice that shite but it was hard to take seriously; all the pagans I've ever known would die if you took their Internet forums and organic lattes away.

Dies the Fire is not much of an actual survivalist story; there is discussion of how the survivors have to reimplement medieval technology and spend a lot of time getting agriculture going again the hard way, but most of the action is the battles against various bandit gangs and warlords.

Not a bad read, and I may continue the series just to see if the author ever explains whether it was aliens that did it.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reminded me of watching some of my favorite B movies. It was fun in that respect. I had no expectations. In the beginning I realized that this was by no means great literature. There was a fair amount of repetition. It made some pretty large leaps over reality. It also dragged a lot in the middle. But it was fun the way B movies are fun. So I have to go with 4 stars because it provided a nice escape.

[Soo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mini-Review:

What an odd take for a dystopian story. It's what you would get if you took the gritty bits of a modern Renn Fair, added some period reenactment enthusiasts and dewy eyed pagans. I still have no idea why technology in the world came to an abrupt end. There's a lot that doesn't make sense in the story and not enough concrete information given to make it believable. I did enjoy the story for the most part until I realized that both leading characters thought & reacted to the world in a similar manner regardless of the differences in their personalities. That was weird.

For example: It's not easy to herd cattle from place to place without reliable access to open range food and water. There are no cars available to load up with months or weeks worth of feed & water for the animals. It takes time to water & range feed cattle. Yet, this group roves easily across states without much of note made about the little day to day details. It's not just moving the group from one county to another. They traveled hundreds of miles. So, yah. Weird.

I will give book two a go at some point.

[Onyx · Rating 1 out of 5]

My eyes rolled so much they hurt. I just couldn't take the "Sweet Goddess, Oh Goddess, Lady-Mother-Of-All" Pentagram tracing crap any longer. It is written in the dialog to the point where it is constantly in your face. It was absolutely nauseating. The author uses every possible opportunity to work into the text that he has knowledge of The SCA, The Wiccans, The Shamans, The Society of Jesus, The Aryian Brotherhood, and whatever other society may or may not exist out there. I have nothing against Wiccans, unless they are like the fanatic characters portrayed in this book. If so they can enjoy their apocalypse without me.

I am involved in the SCA. Reading this book is like camping at an SCA event in the middle of a cow pasture in the pouring rain, too hungover to drink more mead. Someone has just walked up to you eager to have finally found a sympathetic ear. They proceed to drone on and on while you nod politely wishing you had a medieval form of an i pod...

To be fair I only made it to page 115. It seemed the stories main focus was on the Wiccan group and I had to put the book down (not that the other groups were any better). I won't even get started about 'the history professor' The only good thing I can say about this book is that when something bad happened to a character I was okay with it because I didn't care a bit about any of them (except maybe the orange cat who didn't talk). I am not an uncaring person. I cried when Bambi's mother died. I like to think of myself as a tolerant person who enjoys an eclectic group of characters and beliefs. This book did not bring out those qualities in me.

I was also concerned that I would never find out the reason for 'The Change'. After some poking around I read that more detail is supposed to be given in book 2, The Protector's War. There is also a separate series of books, Island in the Sea of Time, that allegedly give some deeper background info on it . I realized I would rather eat 8 month old cottage cheese than read more books by this author, which confirmed that it was definitely time to end the self punishment and put the book down. This is the first book of a series of 7 (so far). That is a big time commitment of reading. Better to quit while I was ahead.

I usually don't get so passionate about hating a book. I just really wanted to like this book. I was so excited that I found an entire apocalyptic series. If there was an edited version of this book where all the irritating parts were stripped out... I might have been able to finish the entire book. The book would also have been much shorter. Didn't this author have friends, family, an editor ? Why didn't someone point out prior to publishing that he was laying it all on way too thick ?