I'm a huge fan of post apocalyptic fiction, however I'm on the fence with these books.
In Dies the Fire, I loved the whole idea of "the change". I fell in love with Juniper Mackenzie. I can't imagine really falling in love with a culture like hers though.
I admit I've read every book in the series. I have not kept them though. That means I don't realllly love him.
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I thought they were fantastic. Not quite as good as the other half of the story (the Nantucket trilogy), but very good.
You know that the fourth one in the Dies the Fire series just came out, right? It's starring Rudy MacKenzie. I am so dying to read it.
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I'll send it to you, if you want it. I just finished it.
I haven't read the Nantucket trilogy. I'm going to have to now. I suppose it answers all the questions that these four books have been leading up to?
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I like Stirling's books quite a bit (generally; Conquistador *really* dragged, and I say that as someone who is generally a sucker for the "dimension door leads to paleolithic/completely uninhabited alternate universe" subgenre).
I understand that he's planning to answer some questions in the trilogy that The Sunrise Lands is the beginning of.
Stirling's writing is definitely not wonderful; he's no George R. R. Martin, Card, Butler, McHugh or LeGuin. I enjoy his stuff anyway. I view it as popcorn SF, on the same general level as Turtledove's or Eric Flint's work.
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I, too, loved the concept of the change. I REALLY wanted to learn more about it, even though that wasn't the point of the story.
Towards the end of the 2nd book and throughout the third book though, it seemed like a lot of time was being spent having cheap "RAH RAH gooOOOO OUR TEAM!" moments. Stirling raved a bit too hard about how charismatic Rudy is, but somehow it still worked for me. I kind of stopped caring about the other characters all that much they reached a near-invulnerable status.
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Nantucket is brought up in The Sunrise Lands. I’m still yearning for a few more questions to be answered.
I enjoy Rudy’s character; I just wish he’d make him a little more human. No one is that wonderful.
I had a love/hate relationship with Conquistador. I enjoyed the time spent in the “other California”. I was bored to death with anything that happened on this side of that dimension door.
I loved the first three books enough to purchase The Sunrise Lands in hardback. I really had to read it. I enjoy the story line very much. I just feel let down when I finish each book.
I wish someone else could have taken his great ideas and wrote the books, instead of him.
That being said, I’ll be starting on his Nantucket triology now.
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