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)

Astrid is my favorite

the reader trying to sound like a girl lol it was pretty funny I think they should hire another reader to do Astrid and signys voices

Narration and story

One of my top favorite series ever. I’ve been an avid reader since I was a child and I’ve never found a series that captures my imagination and emotion as much as this series. 10/10

Interesting story

Several reviewers have complained about the pagan aspects of this novel, I'm not a pagan myself and found it a little boring at times, but in my opinion it fits the storyline well. The kind of people who are likely to prosper in a world where guns, electricity, and combustion engines suddenly stop working are the people who spent a lot of time doing things like horse riding, gardening, and mock fighting with medieval weapons. The pagan community is full of those kinds of people, so having a major story arc in the novel following a pagan group of people makes sense.

What the people complaining about the pagans fail to mention is the other major story arc following a group of people who are lead by an ex-military type who spends a lot of time doing things like hunting & hiking in the wilderness.

So, if your afraid that your Higher Being of choice is going to punish you for reading a book with such words as pagan, wiccan, goddess and witch in it, then you should stay away from this book. Otherwise, you just have to remember that you spend as much time listening to the thoughts of the jarhead which are as full of militaristic thoughts as the witches' mind is full of pagan thoughts. The author is not trying to convince you to become a pagan any more than he is trying to convince you to join the army. He's just doing a pretty good job of getting inside the head of a pagan and an ex-jarhead.

Maybe!

This story falls between the cracks for me, I did enjoy it, but I'm not sure it's believable. Some of the main characters came to the correct decisions very, very fast, I'm sure there would have been much more confusion surrounding the circumstances that the story builds on. Second the breakdown of civil behavior was much too rapid to be believed, even if we use Katrina, and New Orleans as our example it was not so total and complete barbaric dark ages murder, rape, and pillage on day one! I think many will like the story, but others certainly will not. This is one you might just have to take a chance on. Good Luck and If you buy it I hope you enjoy it, I did.

Kevin

The book is not that bad. The other reviews write how predictable it is. What book isn't. I got it for all the references to small towns in Oregon. While I am partial to this type of story, it was predictable. But still that did not make it a bad story. If you like a story that has hand to hand fighting in it, then you will likely like this book. But to call it boring and predictable is a bit harsh. I enjoyed it. Was it my favorite book ? No, but I would recommend it to people who like this type of story. Would I have read the book? No, but listening to it while running was fun. Not all books can be like Enders Game, Dune or Red Mars. Enjoy it for entertainment and not great fiction.

Great story, poor narration

Any additional comments?

The narration was especially bad. He mispronounces many words, often in a jarring fashion. It is a surprise that anyone in American would not know how to say the word "Corpsman" in this day and age.

A Well-Written Novel - Scifi or Fantasy?

"What if?" This is the core of the best audiobooks written, and this fantastic series is no exception. What if electricity, part of the very laws of physics, was suddenly switched off, along with all major explosive chemical reactions? Stirling, one of my favorite authors explores this wonderful concept in an original fashion. At once a harsh, nightmarish event, it builds quickly into a medieval society, steeped in knights, almost forgotten skill crafts, castles, field warfare, subterfuge, pagan religions, and secret societies. Without giving away plots and story lines, you will be, in a word, entranced, by this initial foray into Stirling's creation, and you'll find it a good solid read that can easily be discussed and argued about over coffee or a meal. You'll discover tremendous character development, continuity, growth, and a believable milieu, and in the midst of all this, an undiscovered and perhaps intentional cause of this worldwide event. It lies out there in the distance, and awaits not only the characters in the story, but the reader, as well.

This is, simply put, GOOD LISTENING. So, buy this audiobook, and dive in.

Dies the Fire

This book is well written with three stories being told at the same time. The only complaint I had was that the language was pretty bad at times and would be offensive to Christians. Definately is interesting and thought provoking.

Awesome!!!!

I love this book and the entire series, I have read and listened to the books multiple times. Stirling is a fantastic writer I enjoy all of the character development and vivid story lines. My only issues are waiting for the latest installment to be finished and it seems the books are getting shorter. Thanks for the hours of entertainment.

fun concept

Where does Dies the Fire rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

One of the better books i have listened to lately.

What did you like best about this story?

I liked the way the author developed the story around the characters journeys

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

The voice acting was solid

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

No

Any additional comments?

I an from the area of the country that the story revolves around so it was fun for me to follow the journey.