Dies the Fire

A Novel of the Change

By: S. M. Stirling

Narrated by: Todd McLaren

Length: 22 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

Michael Havel was flying over Idaho en route to the holiday home of his passengers when the plane's engines inexplicably died, forcing a less than perfect landing in the wilderness. And, as Michael leads his charges to safety, he begins to realize that the engine failure was not an isolated incident.

Juniper Mackenzie was singing and playing guitar in a pub when her small Oregon town was thrust into darkness. Cars refused to start. Phones were silent. And when an airliner crashed, no sirens sounded and no fire trucks arrived. Now, taking refuge in her family's cabin with her daughter and a growing circle of friends, Juniper is determined to create a farming community to benefit the survivors of this crisis.

But even as people band together to help one another, others are building armies for conquest.

©2004 Stirling (P)2008 Tantor

Critic reviews

"The novel's dual themes - myth and technology -should appeal to both fantasy and hard SF readers as well as to techno-thriller fans." ( Publishers Weekly)

A Good Start

Would you listen to Dies the Fire again? Why?

I might, to refresh my memory.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Juniper; she is intriguing.

What does Todd McLaren bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Narrator relieves wordiness somewhat.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

It could happen.

Any additional comments?

The premise is old, treatment well done.

A poorly hidden push for Wiccan

I couldn't finish it. 5 hours in and all I could pull from it was Wiccans are the only real intelligent and helpful people in the world. Everyone else is ignorant and violent. Every other sentence was blessed mother and such. It is shame that the author tried so hard to try and hide their push of the Wiccan religion in an interest concept of a storyline. Sorry, but if it hadn't been so very blatant at preaching Wiccan belief, it might have kept me interested. CANNOT recommend.

great book

I loved this book and greatly enjoyed the voices cast for the reading. kept me interested and emotionally attached to the main characters.

It’s not for me.

So I will start this by saying their is a lot of good in the story it is a very interesting twist on a often stail genre. I would recommend that if you’ve hit a roadblock and having nothing else to try read it, but don’t waist a credit if you having something better lined up.
My biggest peeve with the book is the advise. The main characters put out advice that is anywhere for a little to completely wrong like it’s gospel which can be annoying. Admit idly this is not a survival handbook so for a lot of people this is no trouble, but for those of you who know anything about fighting or woodcraft be warned their are some times where the author takes creative liberties. (Or I’m completely wrong and just don’t know what I’m talking about who knows.)
Anyhow those are just my problems with the story if you think these things will annoy you thing about not buying, if you don’t think it matters either way go right ahead.

Interesting concept one major flaw

The concept of the story is interesting, the characters are unique and varied. Can tell the author did research into the minutiae of the book. Decently executed and well written except for the dialogue. No humans talk like this, every joke is cringe worthy. Every interaction is almost embarrassing to read. Especially the pagan settlements chapters I found myself fast forwarding through until they stop talking. Not enough for me to stop reading until the third book. Also there’s a scene in the second book that’s basically the taming of Bucephalus and I kept waiting for one of the characters to mention it. It read so much like fire from heaven by Mary Renault it felt like a different writer wrote that part of the book.

Enjoyable and thought provoking

Fun, thought provoking book. The narrator is very good. His pronunciation is a little off on the Oregon cities, but otherwise does a great job.

New style apocalypse

I love this concept! End of the world as we
Know it but not guns or mad max. Back to low tech Sword and board, scrambling for food and resources while protecting you and yours. With a light touch or magic or higher powers. I am excited to see how they build their communities from the ashes of the old world.

Why? Why does Juniper have an Irish accent?

What did you love best about Dies the Fire?

I've been a long time fan of these books, so I was looking forward to listening to them. Unfortunately, every scene with Juniper in makes me cringe to hear :-(

Who was your favorite character and why?

Too many to name - I love competence and there's a vast amount of it in this set.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Todd McLaren?

I'd have loved to hear what James Marsters did with the book.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Yes - every time the narrator voiced Juniper, I wanted to cringe. It's a plot point that she's an American who occasionally puts on an Irish accent for the effect it has - voicing her thoughts with one just shows the narrator hasn't read the book before recording.

Any additional comments?

It's amazing how something so small can totally ruin what should be an awesome listening experience

Great Story and fantastic Narrator

For me the story being told is critical, but with audiobooks, the narration is just as important. With S.M. Stirling enthralling series about what happens when the world is thrown into 'The Change,' complimented by the topnotch narration of Todd McLaren, you get the best of both worlds. I've listened to the first 2 books of this series and I can't wait to download the third next month!

Middle of the Road

‘Dies the Fires’ is a post-apocalyptic book, with a bit of magic and medieval history combined. Not only do electronics not work, but many of the things people would use post apocalypse to survive (Guns) do not work, which pushes everyone into a middle ages lifestyle. The story is slow in the middle but had a good beginning and end. The characters were likable, but overall people in general seemed to change drastically a bit too quick after the change occurred. Also there was just way to much wiccan talk for me, which I normally wouldn’t mind but since it really didn’t add to the story I could have done without it.

Performance was pretty good but sometimes everyone sounded like they were either from Scottland or Ireland.