Search - Dies the Fire (Change Trilogy, Bk. 1)

Great action, suspense, characterization, and colorful writing. These books are as fine as any others written by Stirling. They could be even better if he would leave off with the ridiculous witches subplot or, in the case of some of his other works (The Draka Series), the exaggerated homosexual subplots. I am all for the diversity of characters which makes them more human but Stirling spends so much time describing Western America's conversion to Wicca that he loses a lot, makes it harder to follow, and should have stuck to the story. I mean, c'mon, gimme a break! Several thousand people are not gonna convert to some polytheistic pagan theology that cannot possibly make up even 1% of the current population based largely on the choices of a group of 20 people or less . . . not in any crisis. Thanx for letting me rant! Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

Suddenly, due to an Unexplained Event, a bunch of technology stops working, and society (and several key individuals) has to adapt to the new reality.

Which is ok as far as it goes ... but it stopped passing the giggle test for me when it became utterly clear that the various things that quit working had nothing, chemically or physically, in common, except "The author wants them not to work." I'm willing to suspend disbelief on the thinnest of pretexts, but there has to BE one, and the book has to play fair to its own internal continuity, and IMHO, this one doesn't.

It's a shame; I liked the characters. Maybe you'll have better luck with it than I did.

very enjoyable read. I enjoyed the SCA slant to it.