Book Review - Dies the Fire

For the first time ever I read the same book twice. Several years ago I read Dies the Fire by S.M. Stirling and this summer I decided to read it again because I enjoyed it so much. At first glance it is labeled a Science Fiction/Fantasy book, but it's rather low on that sort of material. There is an element of the supernatural in the premise of the story: on March 17, 1998 all electricity and guns stop working for no apparent reason, though there are hints that it has something to do with an event in Nantucket. From there it follows three people on their journey through a world where cars don't run, tractors don't plow, and people must grown their own food or starve. There are a lot of excellent characters including a wiccan preistess, an ex-marine, a history professor, and a Lord of the Rings-obsessed teenager. It's fun to see how they make it in this world that none of us can really comprehend. Of course there are your good guys and one REALLY bad guy, so it ends up being a story of good vs. evil, but I never minded. If you like post-apocalypse literature, or if you just like to get attached to good characters, this is a good book. Dies the Fire is the first in the "Change" series followed by The Protectors War (which I just finished and includes some details on how the rest of the world fared in the change) and A Meeting at Corvallis. These three books I feel are excellent. The saga continues when the wiccan preistesses son goes on a cross country travel in an epic quest for a magical sword while dodging the craziness of a cult obesessed with stoping him. While I enjoyed this spin-off series as well, I didn't like it as much as the first three book - Rudi seems to have fifty million lives, it takes TOO DAG-GONE LONG to get across the United States, and the magical elements are much more pronounced and likely to turn some people off. But, if you're looking for an interesting read for the end of summer, get Dies the Fire!