S M Stirling

The Protector's War

Nine years after Dies the Fire, an unsteady truce reigns over western Oregon. Mike Havel's Bearkillers and Juniper Mackenzie's Wiccan clans, along with some other loose federations, are strong enough to have prevented the despot Norman Arminger from overruning them - so far. Occupying the rich farmlands south of Portland, these groups have quickly adapted to life after the Change, and have thriving societies with bustling economies.

Their cultures are starting to take root, too - the younger generations know nothing of gunpowder, electricity, or gasoline beyond stories from the adults. Most members of the Mackenzies have converted to the Wiccan religion, even though tolerance is still upheld as valuable anywhere outside of the Protector's territory. The Bearkillers are finding more and more of J.R.R. Tolkein's fictional traditions woven into their lives, even the elven language itself, thanks to a couple of young die-hard fans.

The Bearkillers and Mackenzies have their share of minor problems, both internal and external, but they're worried about the threat from Portland, because Arminger will never leave them in peace. To spice things up, a ship from Tasmania lands near Portland bearing some new characters. This book is not aptly named, as it covers events that are leading up to the showdown that will be the conclusion of the series, but not the war itself.

Stirling's descriptive writing of the Oregon countryside and the beautific settlements the main characters have created within it are nice, but sometimes painfully slow. I appreciate an author taking the time to describe the setting in detail, but something needs to be happening during those descriptions. I found myself skimming over them to get to the meat of the story. Passages about the technological developments spark interest, and of course the conflicts between the primary forces in the book are always fascinating.

The Wiccansim and Tolkeinism gets laid on a little thickly - it comes across as somewhat cheesy at times (imagine a 25-year-old woman pointing to a hang glider she has just sighted and calling out, "Nazgul!" as a warning). Flaws aside, this is an entertaining read, and the sheer speculation involved in a drastically Changed world will keep you turning pages.

The Protector's War

In Dies the Fire, author SM Stirling explores the consequences of an event that alters the fundamental principles of the universe such that modern technology -- particularly firearms, engines, and electricity -- no longer function. In the time between the onset of the event and the first harvest, the characters must face the physical challenge of survival in a changed world, while devising new social and moral structures better adapted to that world. Unsurprisingly, survival without modern technology demands a basically feudal structure -- and not every would-be king has the best interests of his people at heart.

The Protector's War picks up the thread about 8 years later. The chaos and starvation immediately following the event have subsided, and a variety of stable social structures have been formed. The British Isles have reverted to monarchy; America has a number of independent domains in a loose alliance, and a would-be emperor who believes his knowledge of medieval history amounts to manifest destiny. Conflict is inevitable; but can the remnants of modern America learn fast enough to prevail, without losing their souls in the process?

In some ways, this novel is misnamed. The Protector's War does not cover the war itself. Instead, it provides the prelude to an inevitable war between the feudal armies of the Protector (also a misnomer!) and the loose alliance of the free peoples.

An anticipated third volume will presumably complete the saga. That said, there's little room for disappointment. The hints of how the rest of the world has handled the situation are welcome, and provide an interesting perspective to the experiences of the familiar characters. With the immediate threat of starvation averted, and years of time elapsed, there is an opportunity to explore a more mature social response to the changed world, and Stirling takes full advantage of it, depicting how his chosen characters mold the original loose associations they founded into mature and lasting societies capable of responding to external threats.

I highly recommend this series as a thoughtful exploration of the interaction between technology and society. Although there is more than enough material for the traditional fantasy epic, Stirling has consistently avoided the direct appeals to emotion and individual heroism that are the hallmark of such tales. Instead, he keeps his distance and allows the characters to find their own ways to survive and thrive in a relatively non-judgemental fashion. The reader is invited to make judgements, of course, as do the characters themselves; but the author's perspective remains fairly neutral. The focus is clearly on the evolution (or de-evolution) of social structures, including their response to a threatening neighbor, rather than a simple adventure story. And that, ultimately, is what keeps it interesting.

Dies the Fire

A couple years ago, I started to have an idea for a novel. It wasn't the first such idea; I have several kicking their way around my head. I don't have time to write more than a chapter or two in brief spurts, but I let the ideas percolate and refine. Eventually, I will have that time, and hopefully the ideas will be timeless by then. Or something.

But at least one of those ideas is now out of the running, thanks to S. M. Stirling's Dies the Fire; he has simply done it, and done it well enough that I doubt I will follow down that particular path.

What was the idea? Simple: take the modern world as it is today, or close to it, and postulate some Event that prevents much of modern technology from functioning. It doesn't matter exactly how it works; what matters is how humanity copes with the results, which will effectively revert the world to the middle ages. The important things that make up modern civilization, for this purpose, are: electricity (computers, power delivery), explosives (including gunpowder and gasoline), and steam engines.

My idea was primarily concerned with firearms, and the effects of their removal: without them, the human race is back in direct competition with animals and each other by strength and speed. By removing firearms from the equation, which act as a remarkable equilizer in allowing smaller, weaker, and relatively untrained human beings to defend themselves on an equal footing with large trained soldiers, the world is forced to revert to feudalism. This has the obvious consequences on the civil rights of women, racial minorities, and those who simply aren't good at personal violence.

Stirling explores the idea very well, with a number of distinct and interesting characters he follows from the first moments after the Change through the formation of new social structures and the first season's harvest. Psychologists, anthropologists, fantasy readers, survivalists, SCA members, even wiccans will all find something interesting in this book.

Kudo's to the author for telling it first, and possibly better.

There's a sequel out, The Protector's War. It's sitting on my to-read shelf right now.

UPDATE: The Smallest Minority also reviews this book briefly.

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