The Protector's War

A Novel of the Change

By: S. M. Stirling

Narrated by: Todd McLaren

Length: 21 hrs and 56 mins

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)

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.

Great listen, I strongly recommend this one...

Protectors war is the second in the series by S. M. Stirling and it continues the great story that Dies the Fire began. 5 stars to Performance, and 4 to story, simply because it is a little different then what I usually read and I found a few parts to be a little strange. But 5 overall stars because it is a great book that I would highly recommend.

truly enjoying

Although the series started out a bit slow for me. I have found it very much to my liking. The characters are put together extremely well. In some points I found the back story to some of the character as entertaining as the main story line....thanks

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.

A book that needs an abridged version

Whew, I have finally got to the point of fast forwarding to survive this author. The premise of this story is good, but the theme is buried under brutally long boring sections of trivia. If ever an author needs to have his works abridged for audio, it's this guy.

Comes off somewhat contrived, but I'll listen on

The writing style is a little hokie at times and battles are fairly predictable. There are elements that make the suspension of disbelief a little difficult, but, overall, a fun bit of candy and I'll likely listen to the next book in the series.

well written with strong characters

a. tale that envelopes you in an after-world that draws you in with its strong characters as they struggle to survive and prosper in a world where Death abides.

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.

Another great book in the series.

The war between the Protectorate and the rest of the other factions finally comes to a head and Mike Havel and Norman Arminger finally settle their scores.

My Favorite

I love this series I listen over and over and over and over and over again to it!