Dies the Fire

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Westgate Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Science Fiction / General / Stirling, S. M.	4-week checkout	Due 05-21-2024

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Interesting submitted by ashflowtuff on June 29, 2012, 8:28am I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more in the series to find out how people survive without electricity.

Smart and exciting. submitted by eknapp on November 5, 2016, 8:01pm Some unknown phenomenon (referred to as 'alien space bats') suddenly and irreversibly shuts off the world's technology. Electricity, gone. Gasoline doesn't burn. Even gunpowder doesn't fire. Billions starve and die in the struggle for resources. A few exceptional individuals in Oregon's temperate Willamette Valley manage to get some of the survivors organized, frantically trying to re-master agriculture and medieval weaponry before they succumb to winter, cannibals, and rival groups.

Dies the Fire is a well-executed, well-researched but otherwise fairly standard post-apoc story in the vein of Lucifer's Hammer. There's a cataclysmic event, and then we follow a lucky smart few who figure out early what's valuable in the new world and plan accordingly. They face cannibals, banditry, rape, starvation, and plague while trying to reach a point where they can both defend and feed themselves.

Stirling imagines the formation of several different kinds of governments. One is largely military in nature. Another grows into a Scottish clan. An ambitious sociopath installs classic feudalism in the remains of Portland using street gangs as lords and knights. The author devotes a lot of energy to exploring styles of leadership and how they influence developing societies.

To my great satisfaction, Stirling is wise enough not to just throw everyone back to the 16th century, instead updating old technology with modern knowledge. And I found it particularly interesting, the extent to which feminism survives (in some places) in his dog-eat-dog, physical-strength-suddenly-matters-more world.

Great Series! submitted by slugwhisperer on June 23, 2018, 8:10pm I've been enjoying this series thoroughly! Was thinking that book 9 would be the end. But no! There's more to come! Yay!