Just Finished Reading: The Protector’s War by S. M. Stirling

This was the sequel to Dies the Fire in which an as yet unexplained event rendered all advanced technology useless and stopped firearms (and steam engines) from working.

It’s now Change Year Eight and the book divides itself between continuing the story of Mike Havel, Juniper Mackenzie and the Lord Protector Norman Arminger together with a thread about the fate of Europe. Here King Charles the 3rd rules most of Southern England together with parts of France & Spain. Trouble brews when the Queen falls out with a group of Nobles and they flee for their lives. Meanwhile in Oregon the clouds of war gather as Arminger gathers his forces for a final push against his neighbours with a terrifying new weapon at his disposal.

Much like the previous instalment this is a well written fantasy tale (feeling like a wish fulfilment at times) of heroic people thrust into strange circumstances. Yet despite the skill in delivery I find it impossible to take the series seriously. Though the characters are well drawn and often likeable they are just too perfect. The overarching message in the subtext is that modern civilisation is somehow deeply flawed and that only a vast cleansing can get us back to how we should be – in a mythical simpler time when all things where clearer. This did stick in my craw somewhat as Stirling was hardly subtle in his apparent distain for modern living. By far the biggest problem I had with both his books in the trilogy so far is the incredible speed that human civilisation fell apart after the Change. Whole societies collapsed in weeks if not days and quickly descended into chaos, cannibalism and plague. This is so unbelievable (although an understandable plot device to get the numbers of characters and situations down to a manageable size) that it made any suspension of disbelief – so vital to reading any work of Sci-Fi or Fantasy – quite frankly impossible.

Despite all of the above I did enjoy The Protector’s War and look forward to reading the final instalment when it comes out in paperback at some point next year. I am hoping for some explanation of what exactly brought the Change about. Juggling Mother (who I discussed this with recently) thinks that the author will use God to explain things. Maybe the trilogy is a retelling of the Great Flood myth? My first thought was that aliens had used a device to disrupt technology as a pre-invasion strike… but no aliens have appeared, at least not yet. Thinking about some of the sub-text though I’m forming an opinion that it might be the Old Gods making reappearance on the scene. There does seem to be a heavy dose of mysticism throughout the second book that, in my mind at least, points in this direction. I guess we’ll all find out soon enough.