Mr. Stirling has begun in Dies The Fire a bold project, to imagine what life would be like tomorrow if, suddenly, nothing worked. Guns, cars, planes... What if some event changed the essence of our reality, the rules of our physics, and in doing so took away all of our technology? How would humanity cope with that changed world? Would they band together? Would they survive?
Dies The Fire is an entertaining romp through an alternate universe in which just such a change occurs. We follow a group of protagonists, all of whom wind up in Oregon's Willamette valley, attempting to make a new life for themselves while creating new factions, new bases of power, new histories. This is a charming blend of science fiction premise with fantasy-realm execution and it works rather well in almost every sense but for the rather two-dimensional characters who populate our story. Of them, only Mike, the main protagonist feels truly alive. The others are little more than stereotyped caricatures which is why I've docked Dies a star from the four it might otherwise have received. (3/5 Stars)
You won't be surprised to hear that I agree. I wish the author had covered a lot more of Mike, and a lot less of Juniper. I also couldn't get past the whole 'guns don't work' thing. There are enough compelling real life disaster scenarios that we shouldn't have to suspend disbelief by attributing this one to some mystical cause. That set the book off on the wrong foot for me.
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