Dies the Fire

S. M. Stirling

Aug 2004 · A Novel of the Change Book 1 · Sold by Penguin

About this eBook

S. M. Stirling presents his first Novel of the Change, the start of the New York Times bestselling postapocalyptic saga set in a world where all technology has been rendered useless.

The Change occurred when an electrical storm centered over the island of Nantucket produced a blinding white flash that rendered all electronic devices and fuels inoperable—and plunged the world into a dark age humanity was unprepared to face... 
 
Michael Pound 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 McKenzie was singing and playing guitar in a pub when her small Oregon town was thrust into darkness. 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...

Ratings and reviews

Enjoyable origin story for a "swords and horses" fantasy. This series pushes suspension of disbelief by including more and more functioning wicca "magic" into what is otherwise realistic "alternate future." However, that is a minimal factor in this book, which also includes the least filler of the series. "And then they were hungry. And then they sat down. And then they ate dandelions. And then they were still hungry. And then they sang this song. And now let's listen to them talk about how they are hungry and like to sing. And now let's talk about how wonderful wicca are, again." This book is about a third filler, meaning you still get a good 400 pages of story. After the first three books though, the series changes to 90% filler, so don't get too hooked. Unless you really like wicca and reading about preindustrial food.

I couldn't finish this book, and that's rare. It feels like the author needs to impress us with his knowledge of bowcraft, Wicca and camping. Imagine a story where each character's shoes are described in painstaking detail ... what color, what materials, how worn they were, how they were laced, how high they went, what their footprint looked like.... and you'll have an inkling of what reading this book is like.

The first time I picked up these books I fell in love with them. The author did a good job in his research while writing these, and it shows. He did an especially good job with the Clan Mackenzie Old religion. well though out post-apocalyptic scenario. I highly recommend this series.

About the author

S. M. Stirling is the author of many science fiction and fantasy novels, including the Novels of the Change and the Shadowspawn series. A former lawyer and an amateur historian, he lives in the Southwest with his wife, Jan.