:: Dies the Fire

[delphipsmith]

Thank goodness for Wiccans, Renaissance Festivals, and the SCA, because otherwise all these people would be dead. Dies the Fire isn't a BAD book, it's just kind of...fluffy. Not that there aren't cannibals, rapists, gangs, and some detailed descriptions of death-by-broadsword, but everything happens just a leetle too conveniently. They need to escape from the city, and oh look! someone has a horse and wagon they use for Faire. They need supplies, and oh look! somebody in the group used to run an organic restaurant and has tons of supplies in the warehouse. (No mention of how they manage to get a baggage train laden with goods through a disintegrating city and out into the country.) They rescue a man and his wife from some White Power rednecks, and oh look! the man happens to be an experienced horse wrangler. They find a man trapped in a ravine, and oh look! he just happens to be a bowyer. As such, it has just the faintest tinge of wish-fulfillment on the part of the author.

A good summer read, but not the most complex piece of writing you'll ever encounter (or so I hope!). I doubt I'll be going on to the numerous sequels.

Comments

[ladyoneill.livejournal.com]

I love Dies the Fire--yeah, it has the issues you mention but it's a fun read. I've read the second and half the third and have the rest (dad enjoys them). There's a big time jump so everything is more settled in the later books. They even move to England (the books) for a while.

But much, much better is Stirling's original trilogy which is about what happened to Nantucket to start everything in "Dies the Fire". "Island in the Sea of Time" is one of my all time favorite books. I've read it at least a dozen times. the other two hold up as well. Yes, there's a bit of deus ex machina--one woman who knows Lithuanian, a language that hasn't changed in thousands of year so she can speak to the natives; an ancient historian; a coast guard ship stranded as well--but if you didn't have that, you'd have a very short book because everyone would die! lol