Ever read a book where you are simultaneously unable to put it down and aggravated by it? That’s exactly the situation I found with S.M. Stirling’s Dies the Fire, which I can best described as an extended wank. The central plot device is a machina ex deus: all high-energy-density technologies just quit. No gunpowder; no explosives; no internal combustion; no batteries, or anything else electrical. We see “the Change” through two primary characters: a strapping outdoorsman/ex-Marine and (get ready) a guitar-playing Wiccan bar musician. By novel’s end, these two folks have assembled large fighting forces, battled all manner of evil, and joined forces for what I assume will be a long series of novels exploring this world; at the end of the book, there’s a major bad guy still running Portland, and he has dreams of expanding eastward…
It’s well enough written for the most part, but there are several things that really bugged me. First, describing the characters as cardboard is doing a disservice to all the folks who toil at the corrugating machines. In particular, it’s very, very hard to swallow the sudden transformation of a peace-loving, tofu-eating witch with apparently no useful skills into the self-actualized leader of a community of 200. Second, the plot is obvious. There are no twists; the fate of every character Stirling introduces is pretty much clear from the outset. Third, there are so many fortunate coincidences that suspending your disbelief gets pretty hard– the good guys just accidentally happen to end up with bowmakers, doctors, and horse trainers; given how scarce those occupations are in real life it’s hard to imagine that the odds against finding all of them are that high. Fourth, it’s a religion thing. The few Christians in the book are all portrayed as hateful, intolerant, and bigoted, while the Wiccans are just precious. Their rituals (which may or not be authentic; beats me) are portrayed in some detail, and that becomes boring and repetitive fairly quickly.
The biggest problem I had, though, is the smarmy tone as we’re told, again and again, that the only survivors are people who spent time before the Change learning how to fight with swords and make their own chain mail, e.g. SCA members and other such. Imagine being locked in an elevator with the avid SCA members you knew in college, and you’ll get the idea.
The shame of it is, I’ll probably read the next book in the series to see how it turns out, but I’ll probably fume all the way through it. Not especially recommended.
Paul's Down-Home Page 
I’m a bit baffled by the comment alleging all the Christian characters are hateful or bigoted.
To start with, the Mormon couple who own the farm below Juniper’s place are shown as tolerant and friendly; also hard-working, generous and loving. Admittedly they die, but they’re in their 70’s and diabetic.
Then there’s John Carson, the Presbyterian farmer who becomes the Mackenzies’ livestock manager; and Will Hutton, the Bearkillers’ second-in-command, who’s a devout Catholic, as are his family.
As to the characters’ luck… well, in this scenario, anyone isn’t the recipient of many fortunate coincidences will be dead, and dead people make rather boring characters.
Also, Juniper isn’t a vegetarian — she eats a pastrami on rye in the fourth scene. And she has all manner of useful skills; woodcraft, the ability to handle a horse team, and so forth.
I’m also baffled by this review. Except for that I recognise the plot, I wonder if this gentleman actually read the same book as I did.
Well done, Mr. Stirling. _Dies the Fire_ is the stuff of dreams, and nightmares.
I was surprised by that review at the top. When I read Dies the Fire I couldn’t put it down. I think it was a great book with just a few things that were a little hard to believe.
First, I agree that it does seem a little farfetched that all these talented people just fall into the main character’s laps. Also the main characters always seem to know just what to do for every situation.
However, I think that it isn’t so hard to believe that these people turn into medieval lords or whatever so quick. When something like losing all your technology happens, you’ve gotta become tough as nails or die.
Anyway, I’m really looking forward to the next book. Keep up the good work Mr. Stirling.
Justin, you’re probably right that most people would do whatever they had to to survive, and that in some cases they’d tend to end up as feudalists.
With the passage of some time, all I can say is that I’m looking forward to a sequel to this book– minor irritations aside, Stirling hooked me.
I was just wondering if there is a sequel to this book yet? I want to get it for someone as a birthday present.
First, I think it’s important to remember that this is fiction and scifi to boot.
“The few Christians in the book are all portrayed as hateful, intolerant, and bigoted, while the Wiccans are just precious. Their rituals are portrayed in some detail, and that becomes boring and repetitive fairly quickly.”
With the exception of Reverend Dixon (who was something of a stereotype), I didn’t see a sweeping generalization of the other faiths as bigoted, etc. There did seem to be a feeling that everything was “happy happy” in the Wiccan settlement, where they did everything “right” and everyone got along swimmingly, while those other communities didn’t. This seemed a bit too pat for me. But, since the story is told from the Wiccan viewpoint, that’s somewhat understandable. Also, for me as well, the Wiccan ways/sayings did get old and bogged the story down.
I also had a bit of a problem with the skill set of the main characters – so many skills coincidentally localized? I found Astrid to be the most farfetched, even for fiction (see the bus in Speed jumping over a bridge gap). A 12-14 year old that speaks fluent Tolkienian Elven, is an accomplished rider, expert with a bow, and can manufacture her own equipment?!?!?
Okay, besides of the addressed gripes…
1. I had trouble sensing the passage of time. It seemed like everything just flowed together. With the exception of a few internal musings to the effect, “It was only a year ago…” I couldn’t tell whether a month or a year had passed.
2. The pace. I put the book down for months at a time until it finally grabbed me (one-quarter of the way into it) only to drag down again, mired in arcane Wiccanism. For this reason, the Bearclan was the only thing that kept me going.
3. I like a book with a diverse vocabulary but this one is the most dictionary-intensive read I’ve had. I’ve read a lot of fantasy but never run into words like targe (i.e. buckler/shield), vambrace (i.e. brace on forearm), farrier (i.e. horseshoe’er), and so on. Add to that the obscure and confusing deity references, spells, and charms – hooboy.
But I did like how the author portrayed the different group’s struggles. I thought the PPAs, bandits, and Eaters were stereotypically bad, but I loved seeing them beat down. I’d recommend this book to a select few of my friends (“Here’s something unlike anything you’ve ever read before”) but with a very large caveat.
With due respect to the bloger I would point out that this is a novel not a documentry.
That said however,yes there are a lot of happy coincidences in the story.Perhaps you would prefer the (very short) story of the guy whose plane was landing when the event took place.
It is not beyond belief that the survivors would include those with special skills,an ex-marine,I’m sorry,a non-current marine would have many skills likely to contribute to survival in extremis.
The skills? Well having read Heinlein from 13yrs on I at the age of 54 can black and bladesmith at basic levels,make and use long,recurve and crossbows,grow food,use a sword(badly) and several other survival skills.I am also a pagan by christian definition but not a wiccan.I think you will find many,many people with this skillset and outlook around the world.
Most important though remember that for me as a reader this bokk and its fellows are wish-fulfillment.We don’t want to see TEOTWAWKI
but we pretend we’d be happier there.
I just stumbled onto this book, and have become engrossed, so much so that I googled it, to look for reviews. I am new to the alternative history, post-apocalyptic genre, but I am a huge fan of the Mad Max, and Terminator series. That being said, I think that the Mr. Stirling?s prediction of the ensuing chaos that would result from a sudden loss of all modern technology is spot on.
I have the good fortune of finding Dies the Fire right at the time that the third book in the trilogy is being released. I have already purchased the Protector?s War, and am looking forward to moving on to the Nantucket trilogy.
Thanks for reminding me– I’d forgotten about A Meeting at Corvallis. It’s now in my reading queue.