Dies the Fire

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)

An SCAer's dream

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!"

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.

Will be interesting to see if the author actually makes aliens responsible in the next book.

20 of 24 people found this review helpful

Good but not Great

I downloaded this title in spite of the numerous reviews claiming that it is like Dungeons & Dragons and Renaissance Fairs. Some of the characters are involved with "ren-fairs" (which is a phrase from the author/characters). As far as "D&D lingo" or any other similarity to the game I'm lost. Unless you consider calling weapons by their actual names rather than a dumbed down description to be like D&D. I would say to ignore those reviews citing either of those as a description of this story.

Others have complained about decisions being made too quickly or society breaking down too rapidly as being unrealistic. It is FICTION!! Although the author could have dragged out things and then it would have been called "too slow and not enough happening."

It is a good story and serves the purpose of being entetaining. Although I do get annoyed at the author's repeated use of some words or phrases it doesn't hurt the story. The reader is good but not exceptional.

25 of 31 people found this review helpful

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.

31 of 40 people found this review helpful

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

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

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.

20 of 26 people found this review helpful

Misleading description....

I bought this book because I thought, from the description, that it would be an interesting exploration of a fascinating concept. By the 3rd chapter, it was clear that the premise of the story was nothing more than a vehicle for the author to pen a "Ren Fare" fantasy of how the earth would devolve into a huge live action D&D game after the event. From the celtic mythology, the mother earth stuff and the Lord of the Rings references; the author is clearly in love with the world of knights, dark lords, swordcraft, witches and wizardry. I don't mind that stuff--and the book seems passable in that regard--but to describe it as less than a forum contrived for the purpose of telling such a tale is less than honest. I became so disappointed at being "tricked" into buying it by a much broader description of its subject that I'm now too annoyed to finish it. Even the D&D world jargon is too much. I wich the author had woven a few of these elemnts into a broader and more interesting story rather than making this fanatsy element the focus of the book. At the very least, the publisher and Audible should have said more about what it was really about. Do the reviewers even read these things beyond chapter 2...?

121 of 164 people found this review helpful

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!

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

cheezie

I couldn't get past the cliches in the first couple of hours. The stupid fake Irish accent of the woman, the idiotic idea of the girls being clad in period costume with bows and arrows... ohhhh my brain. It's like Gilligan's Island meets Dungeons and Dragons. It's awful.

39 of 56 people found this review helpful

I had high hopes but should have left it at book 1

It starts in the real world and slowly loses the plot. It is just another twist on the galloping 'Thrones' machine and it really doesn't get there.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

So so

Would you try another book from S. M. Stirling and/or Todd McLaren?

This book has some good parts. But way too many long descriptions

Would you recommend Dies the Fire to your friends? Why or why not?

No

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

Narrator did a decent job. Only mispronounced a few words and was sometimes a blessed distraction from boring descriptions.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Dreadful

Self-indulgent fantasy for middle-aged male Renaissance Faire enthusiasts who enjoy dabbling in racism and misogyny. None of the characters were believable--not one. There is too much luck bestowed upon the protagonists for it to be even marginally believable. Need to make some bows? Oh, how convenient. Here's a random person who knows how to do so, and he wants to join up with you!

Sometimes, a bad book can be made less painful for me with a good narrator. This one was horrible. Not only did he butcher every accent he attempted, he didn't even pronounce several place names in Oregon correctly. "Corvallis" was repeated again and again, and every time he said it wrong. Not content with butchering place names on one continent, he also made me cringe with his attempt at saying "Edinburgh."

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Good but jumpy

I enjoyed the story and the narrator is very good however there are quiet a few times that it suddenly jumps forward or to another part of the story line with no particular pause or change of chapter. I'm not sure if it is the way it is written or the way it has been edited but for a few moments you are left wondering what has happened. Apart for that it was very good and if it hadn't been for that I would have given it 5 stars.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Excellent story, terrible narration

Would you listen to Dies the Fire again? Why?

The concept of the story is a good one. It merges together the concepts of fantasy and sci-fi in an interesting way

What other book might you compare Dies the Fire to, and why?

Not sure

Would you be willing to try another one of Todd McLaren’s performances?

The narration is what lets this book down. The narrator is awful. Every 20 or so words is mispronounced. I expect someone who reads for a living to have a decent vocabulary. Words mispronounced that I can remember off the top of my head include : celtic, seconded, viscount, precise, endinburgh, surmise etc. This by no means an exhaustive list as there are too many to remember.

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

This book could be very emotional. But the bad reading distracts from otherwise would be an excellent and emotional story.

Pleasant entertainment!

Very well written and well read good, exiting story. It also made you think. Definitely worth to listen to also for the reader's voice.

How to spoil a story

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

No. The narrator obviously doesn't know when to pause for paragraphs etc. Book was spoilt by having to second guess which part of the story he was reading.

What other book might you compare Dies the Fire to, and why?

Similar theme to many post-apocalyptic novels

What didn’t you like about Todd McLaren’s performance?

There was no pause for paragraphs, changes of scene etc which spoilt the novel for me. His voice was fine but it became annoying to second guess where in the story we were at. I am not talking even slight pauses, but straight from one sentence into another which bore no resemblance to the thread of that particular part of the story. In a novel that is following 2 or 3 different threads that is not good enough.

Could you see Dies the Fire being made into a movie or a TV series? Who would the stars be?

No

Any additional comments?

Novel spoilt by lack of basic punctuation rules.

Luke warm

I don't know whether it was the book, the narrator or me, but I just didn't engage with it. I found myself going through the motions of putting the earphones in and turning it on without really listening or taking anything in . After a while I just decided to get another book. The characters didn't stick with me and the book seems to jump around quite a lot. Nothing particularly wrong with the narrator - just not the gripping stuff I want to listen to! love the genre and I tell myself I will come back to the book in a few weeks/months, but I know I wont.

Can you suspend disbelief?

A great series of books if you can get over the initial premis. The world suddenly changes and engines, guns and electricity no longer works. How will people adapt? What price civilisation and law?

Cleverly written with a closely observed and diverse population, the first three books in this series are well worth a read (or rather listen). Personally later volumes got a bit too "new age" for my taste - but the initial trilogy were a great adventure.