Dies the Fire (S.M. Stirling)

Stirling – Dies the Fire

* Mass Market Paperback: 592 pages
* Publisher: Roc (September 6, 2005)
* ISBN-10: 0451460413
* ISBN-13: 978-0451460417

i recently finished reading S.M. Stirling’s Dies the Fire. i don’t want to come right out and state that it was a bad book because it was not. i actually enjoyed it to a large degree. to be honest though, i am glad someone loaned it to me instead of being an out right buy.

in Dies the Fire, a flash of light crosses the globe, killing all electronics. its similar to an electromagnetic pulse, but unlike an EMP, more is affected than just electronics. in a standard EMP (assume non-nuclear), the fluctuations in a magnetic field cause a wave reaction. interactions with that wave actually induce/generate electricity which shorts things out, often permanently. in the “books of the change”, this pulse seems to have actually changed the laws of physical properties. as an example, gunpowder is useless, it still burns, but at a far lower temperature and speed. as a result, pressure does not build and a bullet will not fire.

lets get to the reason i didn’t fully care for the book, the issue of masturbation. its not that characters are hyper-sexual, nor it is filled with graphic scenes, more that the author was wanking his “i am smart” cock while he wrote. the story wanders back and forth between two diverse groups of survivors. each group is slathered in Stirling’s self love as he over describes every aspect of their world. we understand within the first 50 pages that the people in the story are going to have to learn to do everything with out technology. we get that they are going to starve to death if they do not manage to store food and learn to grow crops. this does not mean that we need to read about every aspect of medieval farming. nor do we need to read a full conversation determining which crops should go into which field. this kind of self gratifying, masturbatory knowledge flaunting was annoying as hell.

luckily, by the time you reach the last 5th of the book, Stirling seems to advance the plot much faster as he starts cutting off chapters early, leaving you to infer how it turns out based on future events. basically, he stops spoon feeding us his spunk, and instead gives us the benefit of an assumed intelligence, and with it, the ability to understand simple concepts.

it was a good book, and i plan to read the others in the series, but…. they are low on my priority list.
i think the saving grace for the book was that it all takes place in the pacific northwest where i live. reading about things i know, on fire, destroyed, or filled with cannibals.. its is kinda fun from that perspective.

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anyone planning to read this should note that:

1. “witches” are not evil (you will be told this in snarky conversation no less than 3 times)
2. the Society for Creative Anachronisms (SCA) will rule the world when everything turns to shit. in case you are unaware who the SCA are, they are the people who study and recreate old timey stuff like knights and jousting. they are also the folks who (yeah yeah) like witches, allow themselves to be poorly represented by 10-12 fools playing sword fight in public parks and yelling “thou art a mother-fucker” when you clothesline them WWF style as you run past (oh to dream dreams).