Customer Comments

First you survive and then you build. Going back to the new world created in Dies the Fire we see a new, sparser world. Some have failed and died, some have worked together and thrived and some, inevitably, want to have everything for themselves. Stirling further developes his characters in this novel, they have grown and changed, but he keeps them true to thier inner selves. Power still corrupts, fear and deperation still lead us down paths we might otherwise never take. The people are very human. After the first book you have to see what happened to the people, how did they build their new society, it's curiousity. At the end of this book you won't be able to get your hands on the next book fast enough to find out what's going to happen. You are going to be up all night!

This book has been billed as alternate history but the chilling reality of it is that it feels all too real a possible future. Stirling writes with such detail that you find yourself wondering where you would stand in the world after technology fails, or the more likely reality, when we can't afford to support it. I started skipping ahead wondering how Alaska faired. I couldn't put it down and when I did I was contemplating and planning for my survival. I also felt the pain of the characters as the new reality forced terrible personal losses. This series is not just a survival fantasy it shows the pain and emotional upheaval, the politics and technical ingenuity that would be part and parcel of such a complete change in the world as we know it.