I really wanted to like this book because I adore post-apocalyptic fiction and I was so glad I'd found a new title to read, but, OH!, the main characters were so annoying. The author made the main characters too perfect to be believable. Strangers fall at their feet to work for them, they are eager to serve them and call them "boss" and "lady", and everything seems to be working out well for them as the rest of the country dies and suffers mainly because they aren't as clever and good as our characters. Then, we have the Wicca stuff... I found the description of Wiccan ritual to be interesting until it began to feel as if I was reading bits and pieces of a "Wicca for Dummies" book. Do you enjoy reading the same cutesy sayings over and over? I hope so because you'll be seeing the phrase "Blessed Be!" 68,548 times throughout the book.

This author took an interesting premise and then completely ruined it with unrealistic characters that most normal people will end up hating within the first 150 pages. Seriously, I was hoping that the cannibals would eat them.

I Love this book! I have read it almost 20 times now, and I still enjoy re-reading certain parts all over again. It really emphasizes how much we take for granted in our lives - and I don't necessarily mean simple things like enough food and clean water, but many other things that we usually don't consider. Suddenly, I find myself wondering exactly how that bottle of soda-pop was made, and whether or not it could have been made without electricity! And I find myself mentally cataloging the food and resources in my house, wondering how I might survive in the Dies the Fire 'Verse. Part of my enjoyment comes from the careful thought that S.M. Stirling clearly put into the details - such as learning to ride or use a sword. While I'm certainly not an expert in blacksmithing, farming, or any of the other trades that Stirling mentions in this book, the details that he offers feel accurate and correct. There is no I picked up a Sword for the first time in my life yesterday & today I'm a Master Swordsman nonsense. His portrayal of what life might be like in such a situation is extremely plausible.
As a fan fiction writer and reader, I can see the wonderful potential in this 'Verse - there is plenty of room for developing existing characters and situations, for writing in your own characters, or for adding characters from modern books & TV Shows. Plenty of ways to ask, What if? I can hardly wait until the newest book is available. By the way, if you're not sure whether or not you would like this book, S.M. Stirling offers sample chapters (the first 4 -6 chapters of each book) on his official website.

This book was impressive in it's terribleness. Like a train wreck- you don't want to keep looking, but for some reason, you have to. Some part of me must have liked it, as it's 573 pgs and I finished it.

Not a good book. The premise was decent, but all he wanted to talk about was Wicca and fighting. Throw in a crazy *love* story of young girl/older man and that's the book. I mean, that whole line of the story was incredibly unbelievable. Also, how many times can you have a Wiccan festival described in minute detail before tuning out? My mom calls this a "skip book"- you read a page, skip 10 and still get exactly what's going on.
I really didn't like this book. Ugh.

I like Stirling's writing. In this book I found that he wrote in a way that really flowed and made for easy reading. The main thing that I found myself thinking was - "What if the laws of physics changed so electronics and combustion no longer worked well?"
Can you imagine all the planes in the air plummeting to earth at the same time? And that's just the start of the book - literally. One thing of interest is that for the first time a large segment of the character population in a book were Wiccans portrayed as a way of life as well as a religion. And it was shown in a light that was reasonable and "normal" as opposed to being an abhorred concept. Very interesting because of the advice the author had from Wiccan advisors and research. I learned a lot and loved the "romance" of that belief although I am not of that belief.

As stated by others - a lot does happen. But that's good in this book since the probably horror of existence in the circumstances created by the author would be more than most could comfortably accept if told minute by minute and hour by hour. It does give one pause to think what it would take to survive and what we would have to confront to survive.

Silly book.

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I really liked this book, though as a previous reviewer I read somewhere said, the characters are little 'too likable' in that everyone wants to follow them and they 'know' exactly what to do.

That said, I enjoyed the story, even while it scared the crap out of me. It was written in a very realistic style for how our world would fall apart should such an event happen. There would probably be people who thrived, people who died right away (or more slowly and terribly) there would be people who would lose what we would call 'civilized humanity' and others who would become purely animalistic as well as cannibalistic.

I found the story (and the future books as well) fun, scary, intriguing and practically 'unputdownable' They do throw in a bit of paranormal 'woo-woo' (lol) with the witch/wicca side that caused me to pause a bit,

but if I could suspend my disbelief for something that knocks out all technology (including gunpowder) in a single instance, it isn't far to suspend that suspension into the fact that other (and more physical) manifestations of 'powers' might grow...thankfully nobody every threw a fireball with their hands or anything.

Stirling kept it very much in the realm of possibility even if not probability and that is what made for a very scary read.

--Aileene

#1 of a speculative fiction/dystopian series set in a modern world beginning the night of "the Change" when some sort of worldwide, catastrophic event like a giant electromagnetic pulse renders modern technology useless. Everything electrical, battery-operated, or explosive is rendered instantly inoperative--planes fall out of the sky, automobiles stop working where they are, the lights literally go out all over the world. Mass chaos ensues, and as expected, as the months go by, much of the population left after the initial Change dies from starvation, various diseases and plagues, and eventually from the brutality of other men, with roving bands of cannibals stalking the countryside. A few vicious, power-hungry men setting up mini-empires in various cities, ruling by violence and terror to take what they want and control the populace.

But out in the countryside (this takes place primarily in Oregon, with Portland being the demense of the evil Protector) small of people retreat to family farms and try to plan for a future, raising food without electricity, gasoline-powered machinery or modern conveniences. They must also, of course, protect themselves from the ruthless bands of bandits, cannibals, and the Protector's increasingly far-reaching cohorts demanding feudal-like power, tithes of food and service and the like.

This story is told primarily from the point of view of two people, leaders of two different such groups, Juniper MacKenzie and Mike Havel, Mike having been a bush pilot whose plane crashed in the episode with the Larsson family his current clients on board--all miraculously survive the crash, and Mike, a former Marine, sets out to keep his charges safe. Juniper was a folk musician and High Priestess of a small Wiccan coven and heads for her cottage in the hills with a few friends when the Change happens. Very hard to put down! Interesting story, and very much looking forward to the next book in this series to see what happens to our friends (and to society!) as time goes on.

Great book! Loved the characters.

Enjoyable story, but,too much accomplished in the time span of the book.

Great read.

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