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)

love this book

it is amazing story I've read over and over again.
If you like history and sci fi this is a book for you.

great story, good narrator, bad mispronunciations

i am at a loss at how to rate this one.
i love this series. the writing is great (save for one or two books near the end which were only ok).
i like this narrator but his mispronunciation gets worse and worse. In the first three books its mostly a mispronunciation of the Celtic Gaelic terms, (he doesn't seem to understand the hard c pronunciation at all) but as they go on there is also the mispronunciation of various pieces of armor (many of which have a French silent t) and it get worse from there.
normally i really enjoy his reading pace and his voices are fine but with the addition of Japanese mispronunciations in the latest book in this series i'm not sure i would recommend it to anyone who knows languages, mythology, armor, historic place/ names, the SCA or linguistics.
you will find yourself cringing by book 11.
i like the narrators voice so i would be willing to listen to him in some other story, preferably one with no celtic, japanese, or french words in it.
this series is one of my favorite post-whatever-you-choose series but i think its better left to the written word, rather than the misspoken one.

Unique Post-apocalyptic story

Performance was excellent. The characters are well developed and believable. Well written. highly recommended

Sillier than I remember

I remember reading this years ago and loving the post apocalyptic world Sterling created. I'm not sure what's different now, though. Maybe it's listening to the book this time, maybe I'm older, or maybe it's just because I already know the story, but this book is utterly ridiculous most of the time.

To start, Juniper talking in Gaelic all the time is annoying beyond belief. Secondly, the fact that all the Larson kids are basically weapons experts from the start. Most of all, though... All the ludicrous cultures and ceremonies that people start weeks after the world ends. It's just all too much. It's the post apocalyptic world that a lonely teenager addicted to anime would create. Yeah, there are some decent parts to the book. Overall, it's a good concept ruined by an author being too nerdy for his own good.

Interesting Premise, Irritating Execution

I purchased this book because I found the premise to be quite intriguing: survival in a post-technological age. However, I soon became so irritated with Stirling’s chosen vehicle for telling the story I wanted to through my iPod out the car window!

How is it possible to have a native Oregonian (from Portland no less) be fluent in Gaelic and have a fully developed Scots-Irish twang? Doubtful, but OK, the whole story’s a stretch. But to make things worse, she and her followers soon have a fully developed (within three to five months) pagan culture complete with “Merry meet and merry part and merry meet again!” and “Goddess of the harvest, field, wood and/or toad” sprinkled through every conversation. Agh! If I ever have to hear that “Merry meet” phrase again I think I’ll through up.

There is a male protagonist whose story is more interesting. But he too makes suspending disbelief impossible when he organizes a successful assault on a fort by landing hang gliders on a tower at night with people who’ve never flown gliders before. That lost it for me. Use your credits on something else.

Technically Facinating!

I heard a few chapters on XM Books and had to hear the whole story. SM Sterling creates a world suddenly without technology and tells a story of how humanity might survive it. Planes drop from skies. You are driving your minivan on the interstate and suddenly all engines stop, what would you do? People get cold and build careless fires; cities burn without fire trucks and working hydrants, starvation and death, cannibalism, plague, disease and lack of medicine. Those who survive move to the country where crops, planted with tractors before the world changed, now have to figure out how to harvest it and make plans to plant again year after year, by hand! I was fascinated by how groups of people figured out how to live by the only means their 20th century minds found to survive! Good people and bad people rise to power. Great imagery, with deep and varied characters.

Addictive and beautifully written!

What made the experience of listening to Dies the Fire the most enjoyable?

A perfectly paced novel with the ideal blend of vividly descriptive prose, intriguing themes, noble and unique characters as well as the essential interesting evil antagonists..just a delight to experience. I loved his Nantucket series of the change and this is an amazing parallel novel...delicious and finely performed! I'm about to invest in book 2 and 3 of the series right now..

Absolutely riveting.

S.M. Sterling weaves an intelligent and gritty fantasy in a modern setting. His characters and dialogue are as near to flesh and bone as possible which left me gasping in fear and delight as the protagonists struggle to survive in a post-change world. It is clearly evident that a mountain of research and/or personal experience went into the making of this book. If you enjoy history and fantasy this is a must read.

Todd McLaren does a fantastic job of bring the characters to life, one of my favorite narrators to date.

Like the story Like the performer....hated the editing.

The biggest put off of this story is that it seems to abruptly change-several times I had to rewind the story to make sure that I did not miss something.

Gamble Paid Off!

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

I didn't know what to expect when I downloaded this novel. I bought it during a special from Amazon. I have listened to a few post-Apocalypse, and I really liked this vision. No Vampires, No Zombies, just people trying to get by.

What did you like best about this story?

The way people solve the problems of Civilization breaking down.

Have you listened to any of Todd McLaren’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No. However Todd McLaren is a very talented voice actor. I look forward to listening to one of his other efforts.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

There were many moments in this novel that were powerful. I especially think Stirling handles action well, especially in some of the bigger fight scenes.