The Protector's War (Emberverse Book 2)

This book was well researched. I was born in Sweet Home and lived in Lebanon and then moved to Eugene. Real fun to see all the places mentioned in a story. Only a couple of times did the author lose me. I enjoy the characters and of course all the action. The story line does catch the feeling of the valley and the people who live here. Even the ranchers on the east side of the mountains. Cannot wait (even though I have to) for the next book. I will not go into the story because when other reviewers do this it sometimes ruins the book for me if they give too much away. Just trust me you will love it.

This book, the second in the "Dies the Fire" trilogy is even better than the first. There is so much to assimilate upon reading the book, but it takes you along and shows you how different the world we are so familiar with becomes after "The Change."

The time frame in this book is only a few months out of of two different Change Years but it really leaves you breathless wnting more. Mr. Stirling does a great job of setting the scene and the people are believable. The enormity of what has occurred to our world is really strong in light of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

My only regret is that we have to wait another year for number three, "A Meeting at Corvallis." Suffice to say, this reader will be waiting with bated breath.

I absolutely loved Mr. Stirling's Nantucket Island series, and believe he should go back to that story - PLEASE! Though this book was fun in a way (you know the "good guys" will always win), I don't believe for a minute that suddenly what's left of the civilized world - or at least the NW corner of it - would ever suddenly become WICCAN. Most people don't even know what that is, plus I just can't see the countryside becoming so wildly overgrown in such a short period of time (9 years) after the event. He has started bringing in more and more of a fantasy tinge, what with the WICCAN "magic" beginning to appear. This is so unbelievable that I had to truly push myself to get to the end. Most of the book, for me, was simply flipping pages until we got back to the story. I also disagree with his view that the citizens of this new world want nothing to do with the title of "Americans" or of their country as the United States of America.

Mr. Stirling, I absolutely look forward to each and every book you write, but please, stop already with this kind of nonsensical witch stuff, and all the unnecessary details of Celtic songs and dances, plus, if you ever lived in the Pacific NW, you wouldn't even dream of wearing a kilt, especially in our cold, wet and windy winters. I love all Celtic music, but it's no good just to show the lyrics if one can't put a melody to them while reading them. Maybe next time, add a CD of the songs mentioned in the book as an "extra".

I enjoyed the book; it remained a true sequel although I found the title to be misleading as the so-called "Protector's War" had not begun as of the last page - this does guarantee interest in the next novel.

You always hear that sequels are never as good as the original... well... Stirling may have actually done it! This second book of the trilogy has made it very difficult to wait the three months before the last book comes out!

I have been impatiently waiting for this book ever since Dies the Fire came out. I have to say I am disappointed. There are parts of the book that are WONDERFUL and there are what appear to be huge chunks missing from the plot and from the story, as if the editor (or Stirling himself) took an axe to the manuscript.

Lakaeditn is an old Hawaiian illness peculiar to extremely successful authors, similar to lakanookie, a disease peculiar to geeky kids.

What I think is that this book should have been edited much better.

For example, the book abruptly switches from Stirling's normal, and very well done, linear exposition mode, to retrograde exposition where the point of view starts to shift and then returns to the omniscient editor. Each time this happens, the book seems to start over. It is as if Stirling wrote four or five versions of the same book, and then shuffled the pages of the ms. together and sent it to the editor.

The thing that bothers me the most is that the book could have been and should have been one of the best books Steve Stirling has ever written. His writing style has improved, and his infatuation with kinky sex for the sake of kinky sex has been reduced to normal levels.

In addition, the bad guys become less like scary sociopaths and cardboard villains, and become real people. To be able to make us care about the Lord Protector and his wife, and about King Charles III is terrific writing.

Now I can go back to waiting to find out what really happens in the Protector's War, which still hadn't started by the epilogue.

Walt Boyes

The Bananaslug. at Baen's Bar

I read through some of the positive and negative reviews and found much agreement with both.
The worst part of this book is that it really does not deliver on the promise implicit in the title. Supposedly it is about the Protector's war. But it should have been the Protector's skirmish, with a war coming sometime. The plot really did not progress that much.
Still, the author has a great writing style. The violence is a bit too graphic for my taste, but certainly the realism is there. I could feel the shock and violence.
Clearly, this is a postmodern novel. The mysterious change just happens with no attempt to explain it, much like Groundhog Day. Can't say I like it, but there it is. Don't expect the cold voice of reason. Also the wicca, earth mother religion and pages of mumbo-jimbo are hard to swallow. Sure, this is the author's world and he can create it like he wants. But likely or believable? Not so much.
Also the author prides himself on authenticity and a grasp of the fine points of medieval-style combat. Sorry, but that is also pretty much unbelievable. Obviously, he is of the school that an English longbow hits with devastating force, penetrating good armor plate and mail like paper. Good theater, but I don't buy it. Mail, especially poor quality mail, can be pierced by longbows, no doubt about it. But not easily. Not going to drive arrows through mail up to the feathers.
And women archers who can fire 45 arrows in a couple of minutes will need a bow with fairly light draw weight. Maybe a light bow could break through a weak link at close range, but you can't have a high rate of fire and a 150 pound bow being done by a 120 pound girl all at the same time. King Kong, could do it, maybe.
Also, the streets are not going to be invaded by a jungle of vines in nine years, not even in the tropics, much less Oregon.
Finally, the changing perspectives and multiple points of view were too confusing. This book desperately needed an editor that could kick some sense into the author.
Too bad. Sterling has a gift for writing, and some of his passages were brilliant. But that is not enough to save this novel..

Set eight years after the events of the first book in the series, this one picks up almost where the other left off. We still deal mainly with three clans and their chiefs who each represent a different kind of society that developed in the medieval way after all technological progress was stopped and rolled back through some sort of godlike interference. Mike Havel leads the Bearkillers which are a martial society based on the Templars and the like; Lord Arminger is the Protector - who is a tyrant with a fetish for the less delicate ways of interrogations; and Juniper Mackenzie leads the Wiccans in song and dance and everything nice. These three are obviously going to have a war - even without a title telling us so - that will feature Mackenzies and Bearkillers against the Protectorate. But, even almost 600 pages of this novel, and the name, the war has yet to start.

Instead, we are treated to many pages of description of the Wiccan ways including their songs, chants, and festivals. Also many pages of descriptive text which seems to describe every rock in every creek along every mile that runs through the Wilamette Valley. Also many pages of how great it is to farm in this valley which has a very nice and moderate climate. All of these were very excessive and detracted from my enjoyment of the book. There is also a lot of repetition. Obviously, the author is fascinated with medieval armor but why did he choose to describe every kind of armor with all their names again and again and again and again?

A new twist here was that a trio of Englishmen show up. Well, in the beginning of the book the author did something that I absolutely do not care for. Each chapter focused on different people and jumped around in time. It's OK to have a chapter on the English, then a chapter on the Americans, and so forth: but to first have a chapter on the English with the next chapter focused on the Americans nine months later and then go back in time to follow the English nine months before was a device that I did not like. Putting all the English chapters together first in the book would have made much more sense. Also, there are huge gaps in the plotting: After the English escape from a battle in Morocco, they suddenly appear in Oregon. Even with the nine month gap in time, what other things did they see or do? and why is a Tasmanian ship jumping around the globe like this when it states that its goal is to chart things out?

When the Brits make it to Oregon, it's not a surprise that three of them join the Mackenzies. Especially since their ages are just right for three of the main characters that are otherwise unattached. Gee, can you guess how that part will develop?

For a 580 page book, precious little happens over the spring and summer that it describes except for a few skirmishes, ambushes, a kidnapping, and several individual battles. While very well described, it's not anywhere enough to really make this book a winner. Overall, this is a book that will appeal to readers of the author who have already started the series. I would strongly recommend against reading this one first as you need to understand the background before much of this makes sense.

I know that several others in the series have already been published. Please tell me that the total amount of Wiccan lore has been but back? By a lot! Please?

The weakest of the original trilogy. I'll start off by saying that I am a stickler for titles. A book/movie title should be concise and to the point, while being relevant to the plot. This book is titled "The Protector's War." It is anything but about a War with or for the Protector. It's about the many adventures of the previous protagonist and what've they've done since 10 years ago. It's about the villians daughter being captured...it's about English guys making their way to America...its' about...uhhh....

SPOILERS

I'm going to be honest, the book is forgettable. It's the halfway point between the first book and the third. The only notable plot advancements are "The bad guy's daughter is captured and lives with the Mackenzie's (she's nice.), Eddie Liu (a minor antagonist) is killed at the end, Nigel Loring and two other guys escape from England (things are okay there) and come to Oregon of all places, and a war is brewing between the bad guys and the good guys (Did you really need to be told that?) That's it. You could read this paragraph and be fully prepared for book three.

Stirling goes all in with the Wicca mess, now it's an entire nation of people who worship the Lord and Lady. So yeah, expect lots and lots of prayers and incantations and all that junk which is somehow taken deadly serious. Laughable.

Characters just sort of wander around and kill bad guys, talk about killing bad guys, or farm. That's it.

The author does a better job with villains this go around, fleshing them out and giving us a view of how things are working from there side. I like how he establishes them as not flat out villains, but a different lifestyle, albeit one that values nobility over everyone else.

A major gripe is, as I described, the plot goes NOWHERE. It's just people fighting, wandering around, and worshipping Wicca. For example, there's an entire plot line where the bad guys are trying to get their hands on some chemical weapons. You think to yourself, "Oh Susan Sarandon's titties, this could be a game changer!" Then the English guys come into play with their knowledge of chemical warfare and the gear to retrieve these and you're like "Ohhhh that's how they connect to it all" But then you're let down because, oops they rendered the gas inert, that plotline went down the drain. What's the point!? Why even tell me this?

Another problem is, yup, Stirling still hates his editor. Does this guy get paid to NOT edit these books? Listen, I don't need to know about some do nothing battle in the Atlantic when the plot is over in the Pacific Northwest. I don't want to read about Mike Havel having breakfast with the other protagonists where they say "Hey remember that time" Or "Hey this just happened, let me tell you..." Get. to. the. plot!

Stirling spends a considerable time in this book having his characters sit around a table, eating, and describing their recent adventures. What does this have to do with the "Protector's War?" If you advertise a war, MAKE IT A WAR.

Read this review, then skip to the third book. It's better.

The Protector's War is very suspenseful, exciting and engaging, and I especially liked the switch from the Old World to the New, which really tied in well with the whole Medieval dystopian culture and how it evolved the way it did. The division of the Pacific Northwest into old-school greed-heads and earth-loving Wiccans is handled believably, believe it or not. The villain is a total creep and the heroes are straight out of Ivanhoe, if you like that sort of thing. I do.
That being said, one thing bugged me, and it will seem a small thing to most. The Protector's War the author goes into great detail about the customs of the new tribes, and how they survive. What they cultivate for clothing, medicine,how they party etc. Well, where is the hemp Mr. Sterling? In a State where cannabis is now legal, there is no hemp farming ( makes better clothes than cotton ), no cultivation for medicine ( but they DO grow the sometimes deadly opium ). There are descriptions of large Wiccan festivals, and they are all sloshed on booze,described in detail, even the teens hiding in the woods. Ha ha, that is REALLY hard to believe! Fact is, it is not even mentioned, not once. Did it disappear from Washington State at some point? Appears so. Is the author totally clueless, or is it more sinister than that? It would not have bugged me if he hadn't gone into such great detail about these things. He has greatly detracted from any connection to actual contemporary behavior in his alternate world. He could have put in a good word for the truth.
At any rate, I am so hooked ( ha ) on the plot that I will continue The Change Series, annoyed as heck while doing so.

This book, the second in the Change series, follows the lives of the principal characters - Michael Havel, Juniper MacKenzie, and Norman Arminger, "the Lord Protector" - eight years after the Change rendered all modern technology inoperable worldwide. However, the opening chapter introduces three new characters who will become increasingly important as the series continues: Nigel Loring, British soldier and noble; his son Alleyne; and "Little John" Hordle, all survivors of the results of the Change in England.

In the same way he did in the "Islanders" series, Stirling attempts to show an entire world - through the novel's opening in England, following the flight of the Lorings from captivity around the Changed world, Stirling tries to show the ways in which the Change has created new societies. When Stirling sets his action in Oregon, the setting for the original novel, he does well; his picture of the societies arising from the ashes of the United states are detailed, exciting, and convincing.

For me, however, the scenes of the Lorings' world voyage aren't as real or convincing as the remainder of the novel. Perhaps it's simply that we don't see enough of them, though Stirling did very well under similar circumstances in the "Islanders" trilogy. Whatever the reason, these passages - told largely in flashback throughout the novel - don't ring as clear or true as the rest, and they detract from what is otherwise a well-written and entertaining novel.

Despite these weaknesses, however, "The Protector's War" is interesting, enjoyable, and exciting, and leads well into the last third of the trilogy.

S. M. Stirling has given us another well written and engaging story that pulled me through the book impatient to see what the next page would hold. In my opinion he is a Modern Master of Science Fiction.

The Protector's War starts about 8 years after Dies the Fire ended. Juney and her Mackenzie's are welcoming new immigrants to their area, Mike is enjoying fatherhood and his Bearkillers are building a society their proud of, while the Protector gears up to invade their lands and enslave their people.

This novel introduces the Lorings to the mix and starts with their struggles in England as that nation deals with all that the change has inflicted. You may remember that Sir Nigel Loring was the SAS Commander that Sam Aylward credits with teaching him the skills of war he's used to help the Mackenzie's become a regional power. This novel sets the stage for the Protector's War without actually including anything but the skirmishes, but don't mistake it as filler. It fleshes out the cast of characters (even a villain loves his child while the noblest heroine can have a mean streak) and the implications of what this war will mean to what was the West Coast of a country once called the United States. This book is well worth the price!

Second in the Emberverse science fiction dystopian series and revolving around three bands of good guys: the Bearkillers, the Mackenzies, and the English contingent. This story's locations encompass England and Oregon.

It's been nine years since the EMP hit the world and took out all technological advances.

My Take
What the Protector's War does is set us up. It describes the various parties' progress and alliances and introduces a new set of characters and starts out most unexpectedly in England. I must confess to checking the front cover and Goodreads to make sure I was reading a) S.M. Stirling and b) the second book in the Emberverse. It is Stirling, and he introducing a third "group" while providing us with information on how the EMP hit somewhere other than Oregon. Seems that most of Europe is gone except for England, some of the northern reaches of the Scandinavian countries, and parts of Greece, Sicily, and Italy. Tasmania made out all right as well as New Zealand's South Island. Australia wasn't as badly hit as Europe, but it was bad enough. The North Island, well, it's gone.

Oh, lord, it is a depressing tale of how England fell apart, what it's come to now, but it is funny when the escaping trio runs into Jamaica Farm and the why of their traditional English smocks. It's incredibly sad as well to read as Nigel remembers the history of Lorings in England. Their loyalty and vigilance for England, especially compared to how they are now rewarded.

Signe Havel is definitely NOT pleased that young Rudi is the spitting image of his father. Her husband. Nor does she care that his conception occurred before she and Mike hooked up. She's angry enough that she'll endanger his life and call down Mike's wrath on her while Ken points out what she may well be worried about.

Stirling goes on to describe the changes made in their lands in the past nine years. He also notes the development of the "knightly" class as Ken points out the distinctions between those parents/siblings who can afford for a child to gain the skills to become a A-lister. Just as in medieval days, it's the men willing to fight (and win) who will get the land. The more land you have, the more you have to pass out to followers who in turn work your land for you which gives you more time to practice weapon skills. Which means you can gain more land. And that land requires workers in this low-production economy.

It's terrifying when the trap Mike and Signe lay turns on them. Most battles are skirmishes between the allies and the Protectorate. Just as deadly, but smaller. But there's a change in these battles, for neither Mike nor Juniper are content to defend. As they are the good guys, most of their battles are successful, and yet every battle has its casualties. One in particular has a couple that make me cry, and it does yield one highly rated bonus. It'll be interesting to see how Matilda changes toward her father, or at least his methods, when she has to spend time with the Mckenzies.

I've read a few reviews who dislike Stirling's description of how the EMP affected our world, and I can see their point. However, I have no intention of learning physics, chemistry, or how mechanical things work, so I don't have a problem with this.

It's a daring and terrifying escape for Sir Nigel, Alleyne, and Hordle. I don't envy that a'tall, a'tall. Sir Nigel will turn out to have some really good ideas. It'll be fun to see out they work out in the next story.

Mike does have an odd grasp of groveling.

I like Astrid and Eilir's Dúnedain Rangers, and I think they have a good idea going. It's practical, and I'm curious how it'll play out, especially since Eilir is starting to question her purpose and being with the Dúnedain Rangers. Shee's thinking about a family and children. I'm wondering if this is a set-up for Astrid's death in a future story. Another concern is the new and potentially dangerous competition arises between Astrid and Eilir over Alleyne. Stirling is quite pointed in Alleyne and Hordle voicing concerns about Astrid's sanity, and near as I can tell, Stirling hasn't provided us any action or emotional issues that would have me questioning how scary Astrid is in her obsession with the Lord of the Rings. He makes it sound as if she'll go off the deep end, violently. I agree she's too obsessed with it, almost embarrassingly so, but Stirling has only been telling us this; he hasn't done any show that would make me think it on my own. It sounds more as if Astrid has shoved all her fears and PTSD from that night the EMP hit into her fantasy world.

We do get an inside look at the Protector and his "lovely" wife when Sir Nigel and Captain Nobbes arrive. It's a visit that begins with some hesitation and goes downhill. Words of the Protector that don't bear out what one sees.

Oh, lol, Liu is really losing it what with Lady Kat picking up the wrong book for Matilda! But I can't believe Juniper, Sir Nigel, or any of them didn't plan for an ambush.

A romance is brewing for Juniper, and that ending absolutely sucked!! I have got to know how it turned out, and I'm panting to read A Meeting at Corvallis , 3, after Stirling left me wondering about the results of that ambush and that ceremony for the dead. I can't tell if anyone died or if it's a general ceremony for those who have died in this story or if it's ????

The Story
Seems Queen Hallgerda doesn't like the questions Sir Nigel is asking about Parliament and elections, about lifting the Emergency Powers Act. Too bad Charles doesn't care to remember who saved his royal ass when that EMP hit.

In Oregon, the Bearkillers and Mckenzies decide to go on the offensive against the Protector. They're tired of simply fighting back. And they manage to acquire one small "bomb", hopefully it will be handy against the Protector's chemical weapons!

The Characters
Seems I had too many characters and I got cut off, so I've removed the minor characters. If you want them, see my review on my blog, http://kddidit.com/2015/02/18/book-review-s-m-stirlings-protectors-war/

Oregon
Larsdalen and the Bearkillers are…
…a mercenary band, a.k.a., the Outfit, which settled on Ken's farm. Their people support a dedicated military group. Michael Havel, a.k.a., Lord Bear, is former Special Forces and was a pilot in the pre-EMP world. Now he's the leader of the Bearkillers and married to Signe Larsson, one of Ken's daughters. Mike and Signe have twin daughters, Mary and Ritva, and a son, young Mike. Astrid Larsson is Signe's sister and still completely caught up in the world of the Lord of the Rings. A world that has caught on with many of the young people. She also wrote the Red Book of Larsdalen, which doesn't half embarrass Mike. Louhi is Mike's dog while Charger is his horse.

The one-eyed, one-handed Ken Larsson is their father, a former CEO, who now advises Mike and tinkers with machinery, seeing what he can make work in this new world. He's married to Pam Arnstein, their swordmistress and vet. Vicki is his assistant.

Ken's son and Signe's twin, Eric, is Mike's right-hand man. Luanne, Will's daughter, is Eric's wife. Will Hutton began the Change as a horse wrangler, and now he's Mike's left-hand man. Angelica is his wife.

The Dúnedain Rangers are…
…a troop of young people led by Astrid (she rides Asfaloth) and Eilir (she rides Celebroch). Reuben Hutton is a member and Will's adopted son. Others include Marcie, Donnal, and Kevin Lewis, their best medic. Mithrilwood will become their base camp.

The Mackenzies are…
…Wiccans who escaped to Juniper's farm — now Dun Juniper — and have taken to the wearing of kilts and renaming themselves Mckenzies. The fortified farms they've established are referred to as Duns. They've grown so much that they have separated into septs: Raven, Wolf, Bear, Coyote, and Elk. (Laurel Wilson and her people are being referred to as the Fluffy Bunnies, F-Bs for short.) The Mckenzies are strong in handcrafts.

Juniper Mckenzie is the Chief of the Mckenzies. Rudi is her son — and the unacknowledged son of Lord Bear; his spirit name is Artos. Eilir is her twenty-three-year-old deaf daughter and Astrid's best friend and blood-sister. Cuchlain, Juney's dog, is still alive. Andy and Diana Trethar ran the organic restaurant and food store in Eugene pre-EMP, now they handle the food and cooking for all Dun Juniper.

Dennis Martin has become the clan's best brewer as well as their best woodworker, carver, and leatherworker. He also runs the honey-wine operation while his mead is much sought after. From being a genial skeptic, Dennis has also become the High Priest of the Singing Moon. Terry is his stepson and following in his stepfather's footsteps. Jill and Maeve are their other children. Sally is Dennis' wife and the principal for the Dun Juniper high school and Lore-Mistress for the clan as a whole, overseeing the schools and Moon Schools. Juniper reckons it's a good role for Sally as she has all the patience that Judy lacks.

Chuck and Judy Barstow were also part of the original core group. He was a gardener and a member of the SCA pre-EMP. He was also High Priest of the Craft. Today he's Lord of the Harvest, a.k.a., Minister of Agriculture and Second Armsman. Judy is the High Priestess of her own Wolf-Star; in her civilian life, she was a nurse and midwife. Their children include Aoife, Daniel, and Sanjay are their adopted children while Tamsin and Chuck, Jr are their children born since the Change. Pywackett is Judy's ancient cat. Alex is Chuck's younger brother and a building contractor.

Dun Fairfax was…
…the Fairfaxes' farm where the couple were found dead in Dies the Fire , 1. Now Sam Aylward, a former SAS soldier from England whom they rescued in Dies the Fire, and who is now First Armsman, is its lord. Seems he's making a reputation as Aylward the Archer. The Mckenzies were lucky since Sam's pre-EMP pastime was the making of bows and arrows. Sam is married to Melissa, who is accounted a good cook. She's also the High Priestess of Dun Fairfax. I think Edain, the eldest, Tamar, and Richard, a toddler, are Melissa's and Fand is their newborn daughter. Garm and Grip are the dogs. Eleanor is Melissa's mother and a bit bonkers. Her fully functional sister, Aunt Joan, has two children: Harry and Jeanette. Sounds like Billy Hickock may be a good match for Tamar. The former bookseller, Larry Smith, is a shepherd now, and Lurp is his collie. Others at Dun Fairfax include Bob, Alice Dennison, Steve, Jerry, Carl is a former architecture student, Wally, Shane, Deirdre, Allison, and Nancy.

Dun Carson
Cynthia Carson Mckenzie is one of those who joined later; she commands the escort. Her children include Sean and Niamh with Jack as her husband. Her brother Rowan changed his name to Raymond and is a Dedicant in Wicca who is highly skilled with his ax. The pregnant Joanna is his wife. Morianna is their daughter.

Sutterdown is…
…a new town the Mckenzies are raising, and it has a vineyard. Tom and Moira Brannigan are the High Priest and Priestess of Sutterdown. Brannigan serves as mayor and does a special ale Dennis thinks is spiked with magic mushrooms.

Allies include:
University of Corvallis
Luther Finney, an old friend of Juniper's, and Captain Jones of the university's militia are from the Corvallis Faculty Senate. Councilor Edward Finney is Luther's son, a logistics specialist in the air force (back in the day) and now a farmer. Pete Jones was a history teaching assistant with an interest in the SCA. Too many with the university group want to placate Arminger and includes Turner and Agnes Kowalski. These last two have some, um, "proposals" for Sutterdown on which Sir Nigel coaches Juniper ahead of time, lol.

The Lord Protector is…
…a former history professor. Norman Arminger is a vicious dictator who is much too interested in returning to a brutal era of serfs and conquering. His Portland Protective Association is his army. Sandra is his equally vicious wife. Princess Matilda is their young and precious daughter, and only child. Lady Katrina Georges, the princess' physical education tutor, is sent as a "nanny" for Matilda.

Salazar and Johnson are Arminger's sparring partners; Conrad Renfrew seems to be a sparring manager(?).

Eddie Liu is now Marchwarden Liu and Baron Gervais, serving Arminger. Mack is his giant friend. Jabar Jones was a Blood before the Change, now he's an adherent of Arminger's and Baron of Molalla. Chaka is his young son. Alexei Stavrov had been one of Arminger's original backers; pre-EMP, he'd been a KGB agent, drug smuggler, extortionist, and loan shark. Lord Piotr is his son.

Crusher's gang is…
…encouraged by Armitrage. Crusher Bailey, a.k.a., Carl Grettir, forces people in the area to spy for him. Arvand Sarian and his family keep the Crossing Tavern. Aram is one of Arvand's sons. Baron Emiliano is buying horses.

England
The prison of Woburn Abbey
Sir Colonel Nigel Loring was once deep in His Majesty's confidence and very popular with the troops. Maude Loring is his beloved wife. Pommers is the horse Loring will have to leave behind. Alleyne Loring ( he has a passion for Tolkien) is Sir Nigel's son and was a childhood companion of Sergeant John Hordle's (a.k.a., Little John), whose father ran a pub close to Tilford Manor, the Lorings' home. The Special Iceland Detachment (SID), Varangians, are irregular troops for Charles and guarding Sir Nigel Loring.

The Pride of St. Helens is the last step in the escapeNobbes is the captain, a Tasmanian, who turns out to be a bit too credulous.

The British government has…
…gone mad with King Charles III as the new ruler of England too greatly influenced by Hallgerda for whom he threw out Camilla.

The Cover and Title
The cover is a range of browns and oranges into yellow with a man wearing a quiver and clutching a bow who stands atop an abandoned SUV in a a glowing orange field of grasses, looking into a smoky fog of yellows and murky browns. The author's name is in a dark, embossed brown while the title is embossed and blue just below it in a smaller font.

The title is something of a misnomer. I picked it up expecting it would address the evil antagonist, provide his perspective, since it is the Protector's War. It's not. I'm guessing that Stirling meant this as the good guys being protectors.

I finally broke down and got the hardcover version because I did not want to wait any longer. "Dies the Fire" was a great book and up to this author's usual standards. Then the paperback came out a week later! Silly me.

This book gets really BORING at times. People musing about various things that do not have a whole lot to do with anything gets a bit old after a while.

It should have been edited better, plus the numerous typos are a bit distracting (although I particularly like the "pron shop" one, had a bit of a guffaw at that).

The newly introduced british folk are a good addition however they speak as if they lived in the 1940s. I am a brit and found it a bit annoying.

There is entirely too much attention given to the wiccan faith, the songs and poems get on my nerves, as would a christian theme or a jewish theme.

I found Havel to be a bit one dimensional in this book. In fact there was no depth to his character.

I found Juniper annoying, is she scottish or irish? or both??? She would not be celibate if she was a true wiccan.

I found the SCA stuff laughable. I do not think the SCA membership would be able to survive any better than anyone else in that situation. Maybe, but the situation is not supposed to be "pretend".

anach·ro·nism: An error in chronology; especially: a chronological misplacing of persons, events, objects, or customs in regard to each other. Well I guess that's true, but......

There is no conflict within the different groups, all the good guys are REALLY good and the bad guys REALLY bad. Not much in between.

All in all I still liked it and am looking forward to "Meeting at Corvalis). I am hoping this book is a bridge to a better episode.

The book is less well written than the first book of the trilogy, and still suffers from poor editing from two perspectives.
1) There are many abrupt scene changes where you are reading one paragraph (characters in one place), then without any transition the next paragraph starts a new scene/plot flow. Very disconcerting, and done quite a bit.
2) The book is long and there are lots of lull-spots where not much happens.

Both these characteristics are in Dies the Fire and The Protector's War. I didn't read the third yet, but I expect to continue with a lot of scanning over laborious or slow sections.

The Protector's War - there is never a war but a bunch of skirmishes. Also I was hoping for some more concrete explanation of why the laws of physics got disrupted. There are a few pages, then it is never fully addressed.

There have been many reviews of this book, so let me add my two cents...

The many flashbacks are disconcerting. Makes the plot far harder to perceive. Granted, in the Nantucket series, there are sections slightly out of time order. But necessitated by the world wide sprawl of the events. In Conquistador, Stirling also gave several flashbacks. However these were very easy to follow and they fitted naturally into the logic of the narrative flow. If you look at the over 50 reviews of Conquistador, there have been no complaints about out of sequence episodes. (Complaints about other things, but not this.) Sometimes it works, and here in the Protector's War, it does not.

This series is the dual to the Nantucket trilogy. Stirling does so in several ways. There is no American flag used by the protagonists. At one point, a character asks why. The reply by one of the main characters is that the US is dead, and the flag should properly not be used for something that no longer exists. I'm paraphrasing, but this is the gist.

Contrast this with the Nantucket trilogy. Where on the 3 book covers, the US flag is prominently displayed. The Republic of Nantucket is explicitly the US in that archaic world.

Possibly too, and here I speculate, Stirling is comparing the world in this book with the Postman by David Brin. Also set in the Pacific NorthWest, after a global collapse. Brin describes a US rising out of the rubble. Many readers will undoubtedly be familiar with Postman, and perhaps Stirling here offers his book as a counterpoint.

As a minor point, look at the bad fellows in Stirling's trilogies. Arminger and his wife map naturally to Walker and Hong in the Nantucket series. But Arminger's wife lacks Hong's sadism, and may seem as a more rounded, realistic figure.

By the way, Jerry Pournelle's influence is acknowledged in the name of a minor character, Russian physicist Sergei Lermontov. In Pournelle's Mercenary series, Lermontov is an Admiral in the CoDominium.

The story jumps around between the surviving groups which makes it hard to follow. The story just bounces around too and does not really go anywhere. As with all series,there is a cliff hanger to make you buy the next book. I will pass.

Getting better with this one... Readable if not high enjoyment.

It may not be really 3 stars, but compared to the first one, it

sure seems like it.

Stirling fixed some of the prior problems

-- toned down the SCA and Wiccan love-fest

-- and the frequent convenient coincidences....

And added some new improvements

-- the characterizations seem much better done here

-- the effect on islands and the wider world is brought in

-- beginnings of military manuvers seem better done...

Though there are still a couple remaining

-- a bit of a slow pace for me,

-- and still going on a bit over what's for lunch all the time

The biggest new oddity is that time flows oddly.

Not just that the flow of the text is a bit choppy cutting

back-and-forth, but that the time portrayed does not seem to

match up well.

-- The decay of buildings and the globe-trotting Brits all

seem to happen a bit fast, more in line with a 20 years-later than just a half-dozen.

-- Meanwhile, that they are just now figuring out what happened

to the machines or that they are ramping up to a war seems more

like 1 year later rather than a half-dozen.

The sequel to the Stirling's post apocalyptic novel Dies the Fire starts off in an odd place, England. It's been eight years since some unknown force for some unknown reason decided to flip the switch on our lovely planet's ability to use most of its 20th Century technology (electricity, guns, etc.). In Dies the Fire we follow the people that the Change has affected in a pretty limited area, mostly Oregon and parts of Idaho, so to open half way across the world to see the Change in effect in England was a bit of a surprise. There, the change has had similar effects, causing mass chaos and death before a few enterprising soldiers helped the Royal Family escape, and later brought them back to reestablish order. And now, one of the key soldiers who helped pull the nation out of chaos is being rewarded by being imprisoned for dare suggesting that little things like Parliament be restored.

The more things change.

Thus starts The Protector's War. Nigel Loring, said soldier, is rescued and begins an exciting and adventure filled journey, past cannibals and pirates to a more familiar setting, Post Change's Williamette Valley. Meanwhile, in the Williamette, there hasn't been much of a change in the tensions between the harsh Overloard The Protector, and his rival heads of states, The Bear Killer's Mike Havel, and everyone's favorite Wiccan Clan Chieftain Juniper McKenzie. Yet, things haven't been totally static, families and communities have grown, and the lands overseen by our more malevolent leaders are thriving, through hard work and cooperation.

Yet, the tensions are still there and everyone knows a War is coming. Despite the title, the War isn't exactly imminent, but it's not exactly far in the future either. In the Bear Killer Camp, Lord Bear aka Mike Havel is becoming increasingly frustrated both on the home front and with the state of affairs. Despite increasing signs of aggression, many of Havel's allies are hesitant, while at home, it is becoming increasingly obvious to his wife, that young Rudi MacKenzie, Juniper's 9 year old son, is also the son of the Bear Killer chief.

The Mackenzies themselves are feeling the pressure of approaching war, while dealing with the Harvest. The Clan Chieftain is struggling with her ingrained distain for violence and warfare, despite it's necessity, and her knowledge that a proactive strike is needed. Yet, there are people suffering within the Protector's territory, and she uses this excuse as an opportunity to send a message, or more precisely, a bit of as slap in The Lord Protector's face.

What follows is a series of skirmishes between what is simply the forces of good, and the forces of evil. There is little in the ways of ambiguity here in Stirling's exciting and fast paced second novel in the series. The Protector is evil, plain and simple, and it doesn't take long for most people to realize that. Not even our English friend Nigel Loring, who coincidentally (although many character's in this book point out there are no such things as coincidences) ends up with a group inspecting the Protectorate for chemical weapons that were left behind after the change.

One of the ironies of the book is that, despite the title, The Protector and the upcoming war are minor characters in this book. In reality, like Dies the Fire, but on a different scale, this is about communities. The leaders of the opposing clans must find a way to bring order and stability within their community while preparing for a war with a potential stronger opponent. Basically, Mike and Juniper know that in order for them to have a chance in this war, they most get their own houses in order, and create something worth fighting for. Havel deals with the issues of family, while bringing the battle to a band of roving bandits being supported secretly by The Protector.

What impressed me most about this book was the way Stirling handled potential political issues within the framework of his story. Unlike some author's he never tries to exploit scenarios to make a political statement. It would be easy to turn this into a thinly disguised ficdtionalization of current events, but he never stoops to that level. Even the religious scenes of the Wicca religion, which dominate this book, are drawn with love, yet with enough of a skeptical voice to prevent this from becoming the Wiccan version of Left Behind.

The Protector's War suffers a bit from the second book syndrome. This is definitely a set up book, a bridge between two major events, the Change and the potential Williamette War between the aligned states and The Protector. The story lines at times seem a bit scattershot, but in the end they are all pulled together nicely. Including the British subplot, and giving us a small glimpse of the world beyond Orgegon, was a pleasant surprise, and a stroke of genius by the writer. In the end, this was a well written, fully detailed novel, full of developed character and a story that leave you wanting more. While not as complete or compelling as Dies the Fire, it is a good second step in the development of the story.

The first book in this series, "Dies the Fire," advanced an interesting premise, but was unsatisfying for a number of reasons. I rated it a 3, but didn't think it really was a 3; it was, however, better than a two. "The Protector's War" also gets a 3, but it is much better book than "Dies the Fire." It wasn't quite a 4, but it was a full star better than the first book. Maybe the next installment will get over the hump.

First the good points. Since Stirling writes reviews on the store, it seems logical to assume that he reads them as well. This assumption is reinforced by the fact that many of the common complaints that were recited about "Dies the Fire" were remedied in this book. First and foremost, the obsession with Wicca has at least been muted. Wicca is still obviously the chosen religion, and Christianity remains an object of scorn, but both are much more subtly presented in this book than in the first. The reader is not forced to suffer through interminable passages about the intricacies of Wicca and Wiccan ceremonies.

Second, and perhaps more importantly, there is a cogent, scientific hypothesis advanced for what caused "The Change." I'm no physicist or engineer, and the theory may be complete nonsense, but it doesn't matter. It's out there, and it's plausible. Works for me.

Third, there is more explanation for how things are done in the changed world, and how some prosper while others die. Some might find these expositions of daily life boring, but this is what I expect from alternate history. It adds flavor and nuance to the story and makes it much more real.

Fourth, we finally get some interesting characters involved in some interesting adventures. Sir Nigel and his crew are the best thing to happen to this story. Here are characters with some substance and depth. Stirling's family history is probably responsible for this; his ancestors were British military. Again, whatever the genesis, it is welcome in this storyline. Moreover, we get some glimpse of The Protector and what makes him tick. It has the probably unintended effect of making the reader be able to relate to him in some way.

Now the bad. While we don't have to endure the seemingly endless passages about Wicca, we now have to endure even more introspection by Juniper, the Witch Queen. It might be worth it if these ruminations made her a more interesting character, but they don't. If anything they make her even less likeable in the sense that you really don't care what happens to her in the end. If it would make her stop whining and wondering what the Lord and Lady have in mind for her, I'd vote her out of the dun in a heartbeat.

Mike Havel, the "king" of The Outfit, the neighbor of the witches and the other protagonist to The Protector's antagonist, continues to be little more than a cut-out militarist/benevolent dictator. The passages of his being a hard ass do not make him interesting or give him depth; they make him as unlikeable as Juniper. In a very real sense this reminds me of the criticism of the miniseries "The Stand" with Rob Lowe as the good guy and Jamie Sheridan (I think) as the bad guy. Because Sheridan did such a good job of giving evil some character and panache, the reviewers all were of the opinion that viewers would root for the bad guy. So too in this book, the bad guy seems at least as interesting, and mayber as likeable, as the good guys.

In the first book there were some rather graphic scenes of violence and death visited upon human beings. Now, we get excruciating detail of injury and death inflicted upon animals, especially horses and dogs (probably the two animals most associated with humans as companions. Coincidence? Right.) War is hell. Innocents suffer unfairly. It's grim. We get it. Move on. It adds nothing to the story after the third or fourth time.

Finally, what's with the insistence of describing every tree, bush and flower in the Willamete Valley? It's a beautiful place; we don't need it re-described in minute detail every time someone ventures out of their dun.

Last point to make. There are some potentially interesting comparisons to make between The Portland Protective Association as Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union (you choose the evil totalitarian regime you like to hate), the McKenzie Clan (the witches) as the United States (citizen soldiers and democracy -- sort of) and The Outfit (the Bearkillers) as England (standing army that is available to right wrongs and a king to guide the empire). I suspect that's where this is all going to end up. While Stirling is an anglophile, it is also clear that he is a liberal. After all, it takes a dun to raise a child and all concerned are better off for it. Hmmm. Didn't Hillary write a book like that?

Bottom line: This is worth the price and the time.

Look, there is one LOR and that should be enough. I don't know about other SciFi readers but I'm getting pretty tired of these long, long, long, trilogies that do little or nothing but set up the final chapter of the last book.

What is going on here? Something or someone or somewhat has managed to 'turn off' parts of the laws of physics on Earth so that electricity, gunpowder, internal combustion, and so forth no longer work. Who? How? Why? No matter, what counts is now people on Earth revert, for no apparent reason, to some sort of feudal society so that Stirling can write a long, long, long trilogy about swords, damsels, in distress, evil Overlords, etc., etc., etc.

I did not read the first in the trilogy, I picked up the second because I was traveling in Panama and it was all that was available, and I will not read the last segment because ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

I actually think Stirling is a good writer and seems to know his way around a good plot. So why do yet another LOR? Why not write something original and, hopefully, in less than 1500 pages?

I found that everytime I started getting to like the story it would stop or change subjects or switch gears without finishing the smaller plot or finish the plot very unsatisfactory. For instance the family that was running from the Baron and his men, it started out fine and then of course the rest of the Wiccan Army shows up and it ends. Some mumbo voodoo curse and the bad guy runs away. No one bothered to help the family or find out why they were running they were just forgotten. Well later they are caught stealing sheep but the point is there was no conclusion to the scene when it ended I was like "what just happened!". It misses the small points that make a world believable, most humans would have talked to the family and would offer them food or something or at the very least say the scouts could not find them. There was no humanity in the scene (which I thought it was going to show) just a chance for the Wiccan horde to throw a few curses around and forget the main point of the scene which was the family running from dogs.... Very bad stuff there in my opinion. I like the small things in scenes this one just made no sense.

Also leaving out important elements of the story. Such as when the Wiccan Witch is talking about who would stand against the Bad Guy in Portland she completely left out Mt Angel and the so-called warrior monks as an ally. Granted that is something small but it sticks with me when the story drops very interesting parts like the Monks. They sound interesting but are ignored, I guess being Christians is not worth writing about. Why are they ignored? Their premise is as I said an interesting one but they are left out except for a couple of pages.

There seem to be no faults in the utopian "good guys" world. There are no turn coats or spy or killers or rapist they are all perfect. Except for the one scene with the girl complaining about being seduced by the young A-Lister and getting with baby but that is not to show anything bad it is to show off Mike Bearkillers skills at being a leader to the English Chap. Of course he fixes the problem in 20 seconds and they walk off into the sunset and we never read about it again. The Characters are just too simple even the Heroes.

Although I like Mike his wife and the English trio they are interesting. Hordle is one of my favorites but I am left with an empty character in the end. Of course the English trio and Cpt. Nobbes went from the coast of Africa to Portland without any detail what so ever which made it look silly. As I said though the little things make a story for me even if it would have just been a small plot about getting around South America or did they cross the pacific ocean did they meet any more ships on their travel did they stop off anywhere to give background to the over all story? I don't know it just beamed them to Portland without an answer to just simple questions. Did they get the Prince to safety? I guess I am left to make up my own story.

The mind numbing wiccans are just that mind numbing. I can not say much about them because I just skipped over most of the irrelevant rituals and such and singing it annoyed me. We can not find out what happened to the Prince of Wales but we can read dozens of pages of wiccan rituals and silly plots. I have nothing against wicca I know nothing about it actually but if this is what it is then it is nothing I would want to know. That might sound harsh but really if the book is accurate it is silly to me, and I am not a Christian either really more agnostic I guess I know why now. I think the old Roman Gods would be more fitting, Mars and Jupiter, Gods of War and the blade and bow and stuff such as that. Just annoying to read all the mother earth stuff to be honest. I felt I was being fed religious propaganda half the time when reading about the disfunctional "Clans". Either they were either Lord of the Rings heroes or Druids I do not know really know which I could not read the nonsense.

But it is his story and I am free to read it or not and that is what it comes down too. Of course there are some huge gaps missing:

What happened to the US Army, Marine Corp, US Navy? For 60 years the US military has stockpiled food and gear for such a world and even without rifles and tanks would make them a incredibly powerful force. They just went poof? The Dark Lord in Portland would have been far better as some egotistical General carving out his own slice of the pie. Tacoma Washington is home to one of the largest US Army bases in the country yet they just died of starvation? Not to mention the numerous Naval Bases throughout the area. At least give an explanation such as you know they killed each other off or got VXed or something. Because to be honest I would rather have the kevlar body armor and helmet of the military then chain mail from 1400. But that is just me, not my story.

That is just one huge gap I kept asking about but never found an answer.

I love the premise of the story I just think it was badly presented. No offense to anyone that loves it.

Do you remember that Simpson's episode where Homer is listening to the Bible on tape and he keeps fast forwarding through all the begating? Well, that is pretty much what you'll do with this book. I found myself skipping over page after page after page to get out of the renfair geek/ Wiccan crap and get to the good bits. There were very few good bits.

This book reads like that kid in high school who just couldn't stop telling you all about his 23 level Paladin. Or that religious nut on the corner that just can't stop telling you about Jesus (Or Samhian in this case)

Aside from that there is about 0 character development and almost 0 plot. Oh, and this book requires me to suspend even more disbelief than the last one which is a pretty tall order.

Curiosity has gotten the better of me and I will probably get the third book, just to watch the Protector get smacked and to see which of the main characters will die valiantly (C'mon you know that's what's going to happen). But, I could probably have skipped this book and I doubt I would have really missed anything that the back flap of book 3 won't tell me.

After the inspired premise but flawed execution of Dies in the Fire, I was hoping that this novel would get things going in a good way. Second novels of fantasy series often do that, since the opening book exposition is out of the way for the most part. Not so here, as there was still more exposition in the form of the British contigent being added to things.

And you know what? I found their situation to be more interesting than the doings in Oregon. I mean sure, Sir Nigel Loring, his son Alleyne, and their faithful guard dog John Hordle (nicknamed "Little" precisely because he isn't) were pretty one dimensional characters in the too good to be true realm, with their only faults being that they want what's best and will challenge authority to do that.....but Stirling uses them very well in their initial scenes.

I say initial scenes because most of the book is a jarring jump cut between time periods, which seems a bit pointless until you rememeber that the author is Tolkien obsessed. And boy is he obsessed, as the Astrid Larsson character, whom I rather liked in Dies in the Fire, goes from being a fantasy loving teenager to a 'does she live in the real world or in Middle Earth' adult. In other words she's Arwen, from LOTR, brought to life right here in Oregon. And the author's heavy hinting at a possible relationship between her and Elirir Mackenzie is all too believable if you read his previous Nantucket trilogy where we were constantly reminded of the major lesbian relationship among the main characters, with much sexual detail thrown in.

The Wicca stuff was just as heavy as in the first book, if not more, but it was okay because it let me skip ahead. Juniper Mackenzie, the real villain of the first novel if you want my two cents, is just as insufferable here as in Dies in the Fire, and both she and other protaganist Mike Havel (aka Lord Bear) both bitch endlessly in their inner monologues about the rank hero worship their given by their people......but never out loud, because then it might stop. Juniper, of course, can fight just as well as any man, sing better, and be a much better leader. All the while she flirts with Mike Havel, who fathered her young child Rudi. Rudi is the least spoiled and most down to earth kid in the world. Of course.

What went right? Well besides the Brits, we get to know more about the ostensible villain of the series, Norman Arminger, The Protector. He's still presented as evil and bad, but his issues and such are at least touched upon. Arminger does love his daughter though, even if it's made clear that she's much better off with the Mackenzies after they take her hostage during a raid/skirmish. Also, though unlike some reviews I've read, I like how they did King Charles III. While I'm no Brit and don't read about him everyday, his story (we never see him) fits what we Americans think and know about him.

This is a long review for someone who didn't much care for the book. But I had bought it back when I was readin the Nantucket trilogy, which is a little better than the current series. I feel bad for ripping Stirling like this, but I do own six of his books now, so it's not like I haven't paid him. The guy clearly has a following, and I would be more solidly with the books if he would just be more focused on life and conflict, and less on Wicca and leaders who claim they don't want the job but of course do. This premise has such potential, I merely wish it had been done better.

The characters and descriptions in this book are well up to the standard we're used to from Stirling and the plot is quite interesting so that I wouldn't normally hesitate to give a novel with those characteristics 4 or even 5 stars. The reason for the negative review of this book is that it is not a complete novel.

First problem begins with the fact that like his Island series the second book (this one) starts several years after the first concluded however unlike in the Island series the intervening years were not ones of relatively peaceful growth for the heroes nor are there any flashbacks or other explanations covering those years. Having finished reading the book I think they had one war in the intervening years and many small conflicts all (or at least most of them) with the protector. However I'm not sure even after having read the book.

Second In the course of the book the view point jumps back and forth both among characters and in time going over some events several times and skipping stuff I would have very much liked to see described (Such as forex. a couple of British characters sailing around the southern tip of South America and up north to the protectorate Stirling leaves their story with them only partway across the Atlantic and doesn't return to them until after they've arrived at the Protectorate.

Third and most annoying in my opinion the book cuts off very suddenly, practically in mid battle (not counting the Epilogue which has no connection to the plot of the book other then being a Pagan religious ceremony) And to make matters worse book No. 3 in this series does not appear to resolve any of the loose threads established in this book but rather starts several months after this book ends treating all those unresolved issues as if they've already been resolved.

So to summarize what there is of the story in this book is very well written but large portions are missing.

The first in the series was very uneven, but there were enough interesting ideas that it seemed worth laboring on. This book starts out well, with an account of post-Change England which introduces some new characters. However, we almost immediately get yet another absurdity - how in the world are the English managing to navigate? Certainly sextants could be raided from the British Museum and other sources, but using one is both an art and a science - and when you also consider that all the calculations must be done by hand (or perhaps with a slide rule), it seems a tad unlikely that things would go so well.
There are some fine battles, and interesting developments in the new cultures - I was hoping to see some cracks appearing as Astrid becomes both more powerful and more deranged.
But, the pace is slow. We have far more detail than is ever needed, particularly since much is repeated again and again. Rarely does anyone merely draw a bow - rather the author must remind us again that they take the archer's T and draw the (insert long description of arrow) from the (insert description of quiver), place the arrow on the string, draw to the kiss-ring and loose . Let's not forget the sound effects either.
Implausible coincidences are piled high ,and the reader still finds no reasonable explanation of the Change. (And , oddly, very few characters seem to dwell on it much either.)
Sigh. Don't buy this book.

Short version of review: despite some shortcomings that were quickly apparent and that made me believe I wouldn't like this book as much as I've liked Stirling's other works, I got caught up in it and ended dragging it everywhere until I finished it. A very good read.

Longer version of review: this is the flip side of the "Island in the Sea of Time"; that is, what happened to the people who _weren't_ on Nantucket at the time of the Event. Like all of Stirling's more recent books/series, the plot can roughly be summarized as, "Something causes civilization to take a big knock to the noggin, and everybody who survives has to rush around and get real creative and work real hard to preserve what civilization is left and reorganize at a lower technological level, except that some of the survivors decide that this is their golden chance to be _un_civilized, which is okay because it means we have to have lots of nifty battles between the Good Guys and the Bad Guys."

That makes the books sound incredibly hackneyed, repetitive and formulaic, and believe it or not, they aren't. Stirling spends some serious effort on making his "what ifs" very plausible, on the large scale. It's on the small scale where I have sometimes struggled to suspend disbelief. The world goes casters up, and among the few survivors are an incredibly diverse selection of multi-talented, hard-working individuals who just might pull off this preserve-civilization thing. Right. Sounds like a Heinlein novel. He can teach college-level physics and make an incredible souffle, knows fine wines and can build a plasma rifle from popsicle sticks and gum...only Stirling makes it believable, because he's doing the opposite of what Heinlein did, with his sodbuster-nuclear-family disaster survivors. Stirling's survivors come together in functional community, and while he doesn't belabor the point, the reasoning is obvious: useful, functional people are going to try to form communities like this, because they know that this is the only way to survive. Thus, this is what functional communities will look like. I'm not so very sure that the elite of the future society would all be SCA alumni, but in a future age where hygeine rules are very relaxed, perhaps they would be.

The one thing that I dislike, and it's not specific to this book...Stirling needs to retire some of his old imagery. Can we please have a book where he doesn't talk about some guy rotating his shoulders like a ploughman preparing for a hard day of work? The image was a distinct and evocative one the first time he used it; unfortunately, that was at least ten books ago. And there are plenty more like that. Time to retire some of those.

This book was very disappointing sequel to the very interesting "Dies the Fire". The events pick up 9 years after the "Change" an event where technology fails after the Laws of Physics change. Millions Die and Humanity is reduced to living in the dark ages.

The Protector who considers himself to be Sauron from LOTR is a very bad person who keeps one group of survivors in the Pacific Northwest as Slaves. The good guys are broken up into various camps to oppose him, the two main ones being the Mackensies (based on the Druidic Picts who faced Julius Caesar) and the Bear Killers (basic Fuedal Frankish Heavy Cav).

A third group of English exiles fleeing a crazed Prince Charles who is now King join the Good Guys amidst numerous coincidences and Dues ex machina (the book kinda hints that the coincidences are due to Wiccan Gods and Goddesses, Wheel of Time crap etc).

Be prepared for some of the worse poems and songs to appear in scifi since the Star Trek episode "The Way to Eden"

The War spoken of in the title never happens. Most of this book refreshes our memory from the last book and sets the stage for what will hopefully be a better third and final installment in the series.

OK.... there's some good stuff, like Prince/King Charles' descent into madness and the unexpected Icelandic element. But instead of rounding out the characters, Stirling has flattened 'em out.

I guess the whole Mackenzie BS would be easier to take if there actually was some tension between factions within their community. I mean, c'MON, there have GOT to be more vocal Christians hanging out and doing good in Sutterdown. I wish that the fundie preacher from the last book had survived, to provide some interplay between two different belief systems sharing worldly resources from necessity.

But nooooo....... this book is not interested in thoughtful exploration of any of these concepts. It's just battle scenes, Wicca apologetics, nostalgia for Merrie Olde Englande.... like many other reviewers noted, wouldn't it be nice to see Juniper have PMS? Or the Methodists do something good, too? In fact, a hybrid Christian/Pagan religion rising from the ashes seems to me a more likely outcome.

And the Protector and his lovely wife... um......... they might be more believable if they weren't so one-dimensionally eeeeevil.

The whole business with the wild horse & Rudi about did me in. PUH-leez.

The good news? I'm reading the next book (Meeting At Corvallis) and it's already much, much better.

I was afraid that someone had replaced SM Stirling with the worst of Mercedes Lackey..... he might yet redeem himself.

P.S. Are there really THAT many SCA people in Oregon????????

After reading "Dies the Fire", I couldn't wait to get my hands on the second book, but wow, he really blew it.

First of all, he starts the book 8 years later, and spends the entire first 50 agonizing pages rambling on about his new characters that the reader has no reason to care about during this stage of the story. As anyone mildly interested in the plot would be, I was anxious to find out about what happened to the main characters after the first book. After battling my way through the first never ending chapter, he suddenly jumps ahead another year, talks about the main character Mike Havel for 30 pages, still avoiding the task of filling in much back story, and then goes back to his new characters in England again.

As if to rub it in, he spends another vague 20 pages on the new circumstances surrounding another main character, and then returns to England again. In short he spends most of the whole first 250 pages building his new English characters. Extremely aggravating.

So I get through the first half of the book, and begin debating whether or not to finish it. I decided to continue only to find to my great dismay, that Stirling is going to WASTE practically the rest of the book, having the characters sit around a bar and tell stories about what has happened over the last one MONTH! ARE YOU KIDDING ME??

After that he clumsily tosses in a few small chapters at the end of the book advancing the story slightly.

What on earth was he thinking?

The only reason I gave two stars instead of one is because the first book was so good, and it seems that the reviews are slightly better for the third book, so against my better judgment I am going to try and read it and hope the author came to his senses and actually writes a decently fluid story to end his trilogy.

The second of the series originating with "Dies the Fire" (which has been dubbed the Emberverse setting by some) continues the story of an Earth where the laws of physics have changed irrevocably for some unexplained reason, causing electrical systems, internal combustion, and other high technology devices to fail. This story takes place eight and nine years after the start of the first novel.

Stirling chooses a split narrative for this entry, telling several stories at once in alternating chapters. He then frames all the stories together by gathering the main characters together in a tavern (this would be hackneyed for something like a D&D session, but here it works fairly well). This may be tedious to some readers. It is a common device, but if you find one plotline more interesting than another, you might find the story drags in places.

Finally, we see more of the Changed world, far beyond the Willamette Valley. The first 50 pages of the book, in fact, take place in the British Isles with new and engaging heroes seeking escape from the increasingly erratic monarchy. Stirling was clearly channeling British adventure fiction authors in this section, Talbot Mundy and others. It certainly has a "King of the Khyber Rifles" feel to it.

This book is an improvement over Dies the Fire in several ways, it contains just as much action, more characters, and broader scope. He also toned down the Full-Frontal Paganism that I felt bogged down the narrative. He also subtlety moves the tone of the story away from its post-apocalyptic roots and more into more of a fantasy story. Neo-fantasy, is that a genre? Certain sections delve right into magical realism, in fact.

Unresolved plot lines and the prospect of even more epic battles are bound to leave you anxious for the third in the series, "Meeting in Corvallis".

Forgive the fractured flow of the rant, I just finished the book and the only pay-off is getting to vent my spleen a bit. If someone gave you this book, they don't think very much of you. If you enjoyed this book, you should by a couple copies of "Ultraviolet" so you can have it running in every room of your house, it's more intellectually stimulating than this waste of time. I have never disliked a group of protagonists more than in this book, "Lady Juniper" more than any of them. All of the characters are flat, the leaders are worshipped with no exceptions, and the fact checking is just plain awful. Stirling is an "amateur historian" according to his bio, he needs to add "lazy researcher" to the list. Why people who are one tragedy away from destruction would spend time making sure their kilts and scot's bonnets are historically acurate is a question never even flirted with, except for the fact that they are led by an incarnation of Wicca and therefore to survive must transform themselves into the worst of ren-faire Celts. Oh, and don't be fooled by the title, there is no war, there are a couple of skirmishes but a whole lot more singing and feasting. If you are a rational human being and not just someone who vapidly wonders about how "cool" it would be if they went back to the mideval times then don't bother at all. If you're a simpleton who thinks that books should be more like TV, this is probably still too slow for you.

For the record I would be interested in knowing how many 40+ women can pull a 80 pound draw long bow and pot 20% of her shots in a two inch wide strip at 250 yards. BS! Juniper is one of the most tritely over-gifted characters since Lucas created young super-genius Anakin. And then there are the constant "why"s that the active reader of Post-Apocalypse genre must ask. Mostly questions of why aren't they doing this, why aren't they trying this, and why do all the main characters either come from another country or speak a fairly obscure language (Gaelic, Finnish).

To sum up, the characters are completely flat, their backgrounds are pure tripe, their actions are boring to anyone who isn't some Wiccan fundamentalist who has been waiting for a book that wastes incredible amounts of time on the rituals of a wide eyed fanatic. The plot moves at a glacial pace and goes nowhere, the writign is awful, there is not subtext, good guys get descirbed as handsome and strong, bad guys get described as maggots and afterbirth. There is no real reason for this, except Stirling doesn't want to run the risk of having his flat boring villain steal any of the sunshine flying off of his perfect glorious amazing protagonists.

For better writing in this genre, try anything. "Folk of the Fringe" by Card does the same job with a lot more style and metric tons of more talent. David Brin's "The Postman" spends some time in the same geographic area, but his rich characters make triumph something to cheer for, not some tepid foregone conclusion. Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" takes the genre into prose literature, while "Snowfall" by Mitchell does a way better job justifying some behavioral anachronisms that crop up after civilization collapses, and is way way way more interesting and much better written. And if you just want slavish celtic culture worship that ignores it's own hypocrisy, well, there's Charles DeLint doing it with way more style. Stirling's books are the lowest common denominator of PA fiction. The good guys will win, the bad guys will lose, and in between the good guys jig and play bagpipes while the bad guys harness hydraulics to create machine shops and then build historically accurate castles. Why? Well, if you're unlucky enough to read this book you'll be asking that a lot.

Okay...without using cliffs notes to make a review, here's the good, the bad, and the ugly:

The good: you can actually read this book on it's own without reading the prequel or sequal to this book. You can figure out who the characters are, where they came from, and pretty much what they are doing. That being said...

The bad: Half this book is the travels of a couple of brits from England to Oregon, and quite frankly, nobody cares. Stirling could've had the guys hop off the boat in Portland and the reader wouldn't have missed anything at all. Come on...give us a whole book of McKenzies and Bearkillers poking the Protectorate in the eye, and the Protectorate scheming and maneuvering to be rid of these thorns in his side. It's called "The Protector's War", not "Robin Hood's and his Merry Men's travels and travails from Old Blighty"

The ugly: This book is an excellent preview for Stirling's ability to create unsatisfying filler.

Usually, when a book gets this many things wrong, I'm outta there in 50-100 pages. This one, though, had such a fascinating premise that I stuck with it till the bitter end. I want my money back.

As many have pointed out, the book is in dreadful need of an editor. Sentence and paragraph construction is frequently awkward, often confusing, and sometimes completely nonsensical. Pacing and structure wouldn't have passed a freshman composition class, and the number of times he will state a fact on one page, then contradict himself 2 pages later is staggering.

However, I don't know if even a wicked-sharp editor could save this mess. While the premise is fascinating, and a number of characters interesting, the plot is pure paint-by-numbers. Characters rarely develop or grow, good guys are always good, bad guys are irredeemably usually insanely evil. There is zero complexity or tension within the main characters. Stirling repeats himself over and over. Some of that is necessary in a book like this, Harry Turtledove repeats himself a lot, the difference being that Turtledove knows how to tell a story.

My biggest gripe, though, is how much he gets wrong. From oxen being a prevalent draft animal in Oregon (there are virtually no oxen in the entire state, and none that I know of on the westside), to his developing a fully-formed, lavish, even rich feudal society that quickly, to the completely impossible feats of archery and swordsmanship.

Stirling obviously knows feudal weapons, customs and construction. And he DID have a fairly unique and fascinating premise. In the hands of a good writer, it could have been a knockout. As it is, I think the folk who gave it a 3 are overly generous.

Give this stinker a pass.

This latest book by Stirling continues his story of a world (ours)where the laws of nature as we know them have suddenly changed. The technology of steam and beyond is gone. A world where most of what was considered necessary for life is no more. It is one where the 18th/19th/and elements of the 20th century all struggle alongside a more dominant 5th century tech wise. Stirling has toned down his characteristic sex content alot to where it no longer overwhelms the story of 20th century Americans trying to keep a society that they can recognize alive. The villians are starting to flesh out and new heroes are arriving, questions about the rest of the world are being answered, and Wicca seems to be about to tip the scales in the religion department. The book has alot of action,as do all Stirling books, the research has been done so one can see the way society is being reestablished, and the tech stuff is up to par too. All in all a good read and worth picking up.

Like other reviewers, I did not realize that Protector's War was the second volume of a trilogy. I was intrigued enough by PW that I took the time to read Dies the Fire. They are entertaining additions to "end-of-world" literature, but keep your expectations low.

I find nonlinear structures and multiple points of view to be more interesting than otherwise. I wasn't annoyed or confused by that aspect of Protector's War, especially given the chapter headings. The basic premise, however (an abrupt alteration to the laws of physics such that rapid explosions and inorganic electricity no longer occur) is wildly implausible. Stirling's characters mostly chalk it up to the actions of some very powerful, possibly supernatural agency. Despite their discussions, I had trouble suspending my disbelief.

Stirling provides explanation for many of the issues other reviewers have raised - the disproportionate survival of Wiccans and the attraction Wicca has for other survivors; the spread of medieval institutions like feudalism, etc. I like that he doesn't ignore the need for explanation. On the other hand, he does so by having the characters ruminate at length. Not only is this unlikely, given the demands of their lives; it's also too heavy-handed.

The primary source of annoyance (besides Astrid - I too devoutly hope for her demise in book 3) is the facile convenience with which characters having vitals skills survive. In Dies the Fire, Mike Havel just happens to be in the right place at the right time to rescue a man who is not only a highly skilled wrangler and horse-trainer but also just happens to have smithing skills that go far beyond farrier-work. Surviving Wiccans just happen to know the intricacies of animal husbandry, wild edibles, sheep-shearing and wool-spinning. Maybe it's because I don't hang out with the local chapter of the SCA, but I found all that to strain credibility well past breaking point.

Dies the Fire and Protector's War may be a fun distraction for fans of "end of world" fiction - but don't expect too much.

The second book in the series, it proceeds with the same theme of modern man suddenly bereft of most of his technology. After all, what good is knowledge of genetic engineering and nuclear physics when you can't even generate electricity any more?

The second book uses the plot device of a round-the-world voyage by the Tasmanians to illustrate how the Change effected the rest of the world. It also brings new protagonists into the story.

Well worth the time if you're looking for speculative fiction.

I love post-apocalyptic novels and Stirling's series is one of the best. Imagine a world in which knowledge of blacksmithing and medieval weapons is at a premium, a world where gunpowder and modern explosives no longer work but where edged weapons and crossbows rule the day. The Change has come and people are re-discovering feudalism. Intriguing plot, great characters, exciting action sequences and excellent pacing combine to make The Protector's War a great read--and will inspire you to get Stirling's other books too.

Those readers who like the action and intricacy of Stirling's plots may like my own book The Towers of Greed available on the store.com at the following link. The Towers Of Greed Be sure to get it from seller Whitebear as that's me.

A friend suggested I may like to read this series due to my love of living the old ways. I have read the first book and am half way through the second. Its getting better and I like the inventiveness. However, for me anyway, its not one of those "so good you can't put it down" books. I get a little fed up because it starts telling you about how they figure out how to live and rebuild things, then you get loads of fighting scenes,....To be honest I find those depressing to read and boring. I skip through the fight scenes which leaves me about 1/2 or a little more of the story left to read.

I found this novel to be very frustrating, because I should have strated reading this trilogy after the third book in the series was published. _The Protector's War_ leaves a lot of balls in the air. An excellent read, but I'm annoyed that I'll have to wait until 2006 to see how it all turns out.

In some ways I like Stirling's Nantucket trilogy better. The tension between Bronze-Age cultures and the exiles from the 20th Century made for wonderful plot lines. However, Stirling has stirred up the mundane post-apocalypse world of the Willamette trilogy by adding a touch of the supernatural at the hands of the elder gods. Unlike the previous reviewer, I don't think this is any less believable than the forces that changed physical constants to create "The Change". After all, it's all deus ex machina!

This book continues the "Dies The Fire" trilogy in a post-change world (eight to nine years after the change) in a civilization without electricity or working guns. I won't elaborate on the plotlines that the book portrays but I'd like more to give my impressions of the novel as a whole. Don't worry, I won't give anything away.

When I first got the book, I saw the title "The Protector's War" and thouht, good, the McKenzie clan and the Bearkillers (the "good side) will fight the Lord Protector, win, and in the third book "Meeting at Corvalis" they'll work out their differences and all will be good in the world. Thought I enjoyed the many descriptions of the Wicca traditions and Celtic folklore made alive by post-change McKenzies, I wanted to see more battle and more conflict. I didn't want a 400 page gore-fest, but the book seemed to plod along in places, and sprint in other skirmish scenes, meandering most of the way through the scenic Oregon urban "wilderness". I was fully expecting a war when no ware really came, and was laid bare and hanging in the looming inevitability that will be war, not peace, in the next novel. We even have to wait a year to find out if some of the characters live or die. I know you've got to suck your readers in for the next book, but it seemed that too many threads were left hanging and frayed.

I give this book three stars mostly because I really loved the descriptions of the scenery and clan life, but battle scenes and quick pace were lacking, and way too many threads were left lose for me to give Stirling a Sterling rating, excuse teh pun. We can only hope for "Meeting at Corvalis" that the whole plotline can be summed up for us we we will want to await his next trilogy.

I got very excited about this trilogy after reading the first book "Dies the Fire". That book showed how quickly society could collapse if one day all modern technology stopped working. 99% of the population starves, succumbs to disease, or dies preying upon one another, all with very well described reasons and situations. This second book in the trilogy picks up 8 or 9 years after "The Change" happened. Setting aside some of the author's use of flashback, overly flowery descriptions, and fairly limited character development, the book just never seemed to get its act together.

I haven't read much about the author's background, but he seems to have a deep interest in and respect for the Society of Creative Anachronism, Wiccans, Tolkien, and a few other similar modern fantasy elements. In short, if you are into those things, the future is very bright, you'll do well, and life will become a never-ending medieval renaissance festival.

It gets a bit tiresome to watch hundreds of pages worth of story keep demonstrating that people have gone from barely scraping together enough food to eat and fighting off all sorts of dangers to now spending most of their time living an idyllic medieval life of singing songs, quoting fluent gaelic, showing off gold-medal archery skills, jousting, maintaining elaborate armor, and carving totem poles.

Having a struggling single mom go from singing folk music at bars to leading a pseudo-highland clan society of thousands in but a few years is a bit of a stretch. Her society has no internal strife. Her people have plenty of food to eat, even though few grew up as farmers. They are excellent archers, even though using the English longbow can take a lifetime of physical practice to reach mediocrity. Nobody questions her right to rule. Nobody seems to fall out with their neighbors, practice any deceit for personal gain, waste time on pointless fueds over honor, covet their neighbor's wife, or fail at something. They probably don't have the time since they spend it all brewing beer, learning sign language, poetically spouting gaelic verse, adjusting their ornate kilts, adjusting their flat scots bonnets, planning the Harvest festival, and such.

The bad guys fare much worse. They can't really do anything right. The "Protector" is too busy being a cardboard villian. As a former history professor he seems fixated on being a cross between the hollywood version of the tyrannical King John of Robin Hood myth and Tolkien's Sauron. He builds huge armies, makes his peasants wear bulky big spikey slave collars, and never misses the chance to torture, lie, or sneer. Yet, for all his might, he can't seem to handle a few hippy communes of folk singers and military vets, even though the bad guys outnumber them several times over. He can build huge concrete castles and manufacture a million crossbows, but he certainly can't fight a border war, or plant agents to sow dissent, sabotage and strife.

Heaven forbid the bad guys have any good qualities, or the good guys have any foibles. What started out as a great series has lost its way with this second installment.

Wow,

Do not bother picking this book up. It started decently, but 400 pages later nothing much happens except they kill a few bandits and we learn 200 pages about a post-modernist celtic culture that nobody would give two rags about. I mean pages and pages of protagonists watching children play during a Samhain festival, talking about nothing and doing nothing. Mr. Stirling, please take a laxative. About halfway through the book Stirling does flashbacks... alright, one flashback is fine... maybe two. But he then proceeds for hundreds of pages filling us in with flashbacks that DO NOT NEED TO BE TOLD! There are hundreds of pages full of filler details that are irellevant to any plot development. It's almost as if Mr. Stirling had no idea what to do with this book(wow, think of that!) and decided to fill it with pointless details in order to make his Publisher's deadline. I can see how this book would be an editor's nightmare. Please, don't let my wasted time be for nothing and go out and do something that would actually be worth your time and money!

I love S.M. Stirling and alternative history in general. But when he wrote the Islands in the Sea of Time novels, he at least made distinctive breaks so that each book stood on its own. This book can not stand on its own. Too many major questions are left unanswered. It may encourage us to buy the next book, but I am frustrated that I am left not knowing if some of the major characters developed by Stirling will even be ALIVE in the next book.

Unlike another reviewer, I do not have a problem with the culture developing so quickly after the Change in both governments and beliefs. But while I can see that the Wiccans might believe one thing, and Christians another, the credibility of the story was hurt by the near factual basis of divine intervention by the Wiccan deities. We don't see the Holy Trinity intervening when the Bearkillers invoke Jesus - why should we see the Lord and Lady as actual characters interacting with Juniper? He would have been better to leave it to us to decide if the Wiccan religeon is true or not.

All in all, I enjoy his writing and am enjoying this series - but am frustrated by some of the turns this book took without actually reaching the climax.