books 2008: Dies the Fire, by S.M. Stirling

[supercheesegirl]

Another sci fi novel lent to me by Mike in thr art department. This was actually pretty fascinating: one ordinary day, the power cuts out--not just the electricity, but every kind of power, all over the world, and everything Changes. Cars won't start, guns won't fire, batteries won't work, and suddenly the US, and probably the whole world, is pre-industrial. The novel follows two plucky heroes in the midwest: Mike, a former military man who knows how to hunt and fish and survive in the wild, and Juniper, a Wiccan renaissance faire musician with a coven full of useful folks like organic farmers and midwives.

The characters were a little tiresome--Mike is a total male Mary Sue (Mikey Sue?), and Juniper is just a little too "blessed be" and keeps spouting random Celtic sayings. Also, after reading the book I looked at the author photo on the back cover and suddenly realized why the SCA pretty much saves everyone. I have never seen a nerdlier man. Clearly he's just waiting for the day when he can whip out his historically accurate broadsword and be very popular. But overall, the premise of the book is really interesting, interesting enough to carry it through its other faults. I had a couple of restless nights laying awake figuring out how I'd get out of Philly if the Change suddenly did hit the world. And Stirling's plot makes sense--it's honestly totally logical that SCA folks would be incredibly useful if such a catastrophe hit, and there are a lot of similar things that you wouldn't necessarily have seen coming. The characters, while being tiresome, are also smart enough to figure out what happened right away and take action, and that makes them worth reading. I'd say three stars, and I might read the second one.

Comments

[sleepyworm.livejournal.com]

I strenuously object to the "guns not firing" thing! That's just a chemical reaction! Are the laws of thermodynamics rent asunder as well? Seems pretty questionable to me...

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

Well, there's a lot more detail in the book itself, but apparently chemical reactions that cause any sort of spark/fire are severely impaired after the Change. The characters try to work a steam engine, too, but ignited things just seem to burn not as hot. (Although ordinary lighters full of lighter fluid work just fine? I questioned that one.) They theorize that aliens or something have shifted the physical laws of the world, but they haven't found out any answers yet.

And I'm kind of enjoying that there are no answers--because we're following just a regular group of people who manage to survive. It's nice for once to not be with the front runner hero people who are saving the world and instead see what the normal people are doing.