• The Protector's War

  • A Novel of the Change
  • By: S. M. Stirling
  • Narrated by: Todd McLaren
  • Length: 21 hrs and 56 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (1,822 ratings)

Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.
The Protector's War  By  cover art

The Protector's War

By: S. M. Stirling
Narrated by: Todd McLaren
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $22.35

Buy for $22.35

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Rising from the ashes of the computer and industrial ages is a brave new world. Survivors have banded together in tribal communities, committed to rebuilding society.

In Oregon's Willamette Valley, former pilot Michael Havel's Bearkillers are warriors of renown. Their closest ally, the mystical Clan MacKenzie, is led by Wiccan folksinger Juniper MacKenzie. Their leadership has saved countless lives.

But not every leader has altruistic aspirations. Norman Arminger, medieval scholar, rules the Protectorate. He has enslaved civilians, built an army, and spread his forces from Portland through most of western Washington State. Now he wants the Willamette Valley farmland, and he's willing to wage war to conquer it.

Unknown to both factions, however, is the imminent arrival of a ship from Tasmania bearing British soldiers.

©2005 S. M. Sterling (P)2008 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Stirling's blending of fiction and history produces a strange, hybrid civilization, in which the confrontation between warlord and mystic is viscerally satisfying." ( Booklist)
"Readers who relish a battle between the forces of light and darkness...are in for a rousing good time." ( Science Fiction Weekly)

What listeners say about The Protector's War

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,102
  • 4 Stars
    470
  • 3 Stars
    186
  • 2 Stars
    45
  • 1 Stars
    19
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    965
  • 4 Stars
    329
  • 3 Stars
    113
  • 2 Stars
    26
  • 1 Stars
    11
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    924
  • 4 Stars
    329
  • 3 Stars
    136
  • 2 Stars
    37
  • 1 Stars
    15

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Not bad, but not great

If you liked the first book in the series then you will most likely enjoy this second book. If you felt it was so-so then perhaps you might want to skip this series and move to something else; I found it took some determination to get through parts of this book.

One of my pet peeves in any story is repetion of descriptive words, especially when there is a large supply of other words or phrases that could be used. In the first book it seemed every arrow fired and swipe of a sword resulted in "cloven air" or "this cum that" (bookstore cum coffee shop etc.) to explain dual purpose places or things. Thankfully he used a few different ways to describe things here and there.

A great deal of story time has passed between the first book and this one and I wondered if I had picked the third book and not the second, but this is indeed the second. The gap made me wonder what had happened in the story years between. It is as if this book is just a highlight worth noting in the lives of the characters. It isn't a bad thing because listening to day to day and uneventful routines would be quite dull.

At a few points in the story it was hard to determine where or when events were taking place; there was a lengthy flashback (yes flashbacks can be tricky I know) that left me wondering what I had missed is just one example.

The narrator is apparently quite accomplished and that fact leaves me wondering why he tends to repeatedly mispronounce words or if the author has spelled the words this way in the text (teeth bared in great effort pronounced as barred). Either way it the same as fingernails on a chalkbaord. Nobody is perfect of course, that aside, he does a good job with character accents and sound effects (woosh, screech, and so on).

The story is interesting enough to keep me listening, at least through the next book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Not As Good As The First, But A Good Read

If you've read my review for Stirling's first novel in the series, "Dies The Fire," you know I enjoyed it immensely, and rated it highly. Actually, I've read much of the series, and am continuing to enjoy the experience.

That being said...

This is the biggest challenge to get to those great reads - Get through this second book in the series. It's slower, a bit less action, and a LOT of explaining and establishing "future history," as well as religious changes and beliefs. Whew, a bit challenging, to say the very least. Still, a good (and necessary) read, if you want to get to the better work in the series.

Now, you may read the other reviews regarding this audiobook, and they're not exactly loaded with high praise for its slower speed and detailed lore. That being said, realize that the author is setting up quite a universe for what's coming. Look at the Dune series of books, and the extreme amount of establishment that occurred. MUCH more than this work, but it paid off.

It will do so here, as well.

So, if you like a good audiobook series as much as I do, and know that there will be a book or two that sacrifice "edge of your seat" listening/reading so that subsequent works in the series can soar, dive in and get lost in the lore of what's coming.

You'll need it for the excellent listening that's on the way!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

The Emberverse trilogy gets progressivley worse.

Dies the Fire was interesting and the clichés were newish then but by the time I've heard them this many times and there've been this many coincidences, this much incredible luck, and so many implausibilies beyond the fundamental Alien Space Bat implausibility of the disappearance of explosives/guns, internal combustion and electricity, I'm just plum tired of it. BTW, I'm surprised there isn't more use of hydraulic technology.
I like Todd McLaren's voice and his acting is good but some accents are off -don't try if you can't do them- and every ~20 pages or so there is a jarring mispronunciation. The persistent corzman/corzmen for corpsman for example is particularly grating. Okay, Obama said it this way once but multiple times in multiple books?
I think if I had known how marginal this was, I would not have gone beyond Dies the Fire but now I'm committed and my Virgo nature prohibits simply Googling the plot to find out what happens.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Jo
  • 05-06-15

Poor; but I still listened

Very mixed feelings about this very mixed series of books.

I think they (particularly from this book onwards) are more likely to appeal to fantasy fans or medievalists than sci-fi or post-apocalypse fans.

Pros:

-Characters you care about (even though some are over stereotyped and others are inconsistent)
-I kinda like the evolution from our world into a fantasy type world, but it won't be everyone's cup of tea
-Strong female characters
-mystery of what caused The Change

Cons
- Repetitive in many parts
- long winded, over written and not very well written
- Gratuitous, badly written violence
- Signe turned from a good guy into a bad guy for sake of plot without showing development, harder to buy than even some of the fantasy stuff
- Filler novel, not much plot development in this one
- NARRATOR! He might be fine for reading a normal book or male middle American accents, but why on earth was he chosen for this series?!! He can't do female voices and cannot read different accents, especially those from the British isles to save his life ( trust me I'm British), he mispronounces every British and French place name and his Irish Gaelic sounds massacred.

In conclusion; I wouldn't really recommend someone pick up this series. But having started it I want to find out what happens ( like a bad but mildly addictive TV show) so I will probably get the next book, although a paper copy this time.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Ugh..

One of the very few books I could not finish. The very unrealistic characters ( yes I know this is fiction) and very annoying characters ruined this book. The Narrator does a very nice job and makes you want to keep going on this unpleasant ride. The overall story is entertaining and had me thinking about the book even when not active listening to it. What ruined this book was the Characters like The lady Juniper. So very irritating and nauseating was this character that I took my headphone off and started a new Book. A Wiccan folk singer who speaks in a fake Irish accent is bad enough, but just her constant merry met and goddess this ugh. Any other character with that much religious enthusiasm would be looked at as a Zealot wacko and not some Heroine goddess. I would have liked to see how it all ended up but I doubt anybody who needed to die would die. It seems S.M. Stirling uses the Star Trek Red shirt method of killing characters. This is not Lovecraft but be warned read at the risk of your own Sanity.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

I just couldn't do it

I tried. I really did to listen to this one but it just drug on and on with the god of this and the god of that being prayed to. Basically the character Juniper McKenzie ruined this one for me. I really wish SM Stirling had not put so much emphasis on this character and her role in this new world. If I could just edit her out I would give this one four stars. So no, I couldn't finish this one. As much as I tried and wanted to I just couldn't do it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

great books

I decided to re read the die the fire series and I am so glad that I did. its been about 15 years since my last read. I have not been able to put it down and I enjoy the narrative performance. a lot of people complain about Juniper voice and accent but the book mentions her accent and evwn goes so far to habe her explain it to other characters...... so to me, it seems right. I have even pleased all around woth the story and the narration. Thank you S M Stirling.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Location name pronunciations need work

I loved the story, and have been addicted to listening to it at every given opportunity. my only MAJOR complaint is Todd McLaren's lack of knowledge on pronunciations of locations. The PNW is full of Native American inspired names, and therefore, most often don't follow Spanish pronunciation patterns.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Keep growing stronger

This series is slow for me. I prefer more action and suspense to keep me interested in the story. However, there is something that tugs at me to keep listening. To see what the group will encounter next in their life trials and how it will make them grow stronger as a clan. I look forward to the next book in the series.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Not bad ...

This was a good book. If you read and enjoyed the first book, you will probably like this one. Several years have passed from the first book to this one but the story continues on nicely. Unfortunately, the author does repeat quite a bit from the first book, reminding the reader who everyone is and the like. The performance is just as good as the first book. I am looking forward to the third book in the series. This book was worth the credit.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful