That line that Juniper has to walk, between savior and stern-hearted matriarch, is a wonderful dichotomy in the book. Knowing her limitations, knowing her families limitations, is important. I think it shows a lot about the obligations of social responsibility, how to recognize when someone can be socially responsible. and when someone can’t. It also shows the price people have to pay when they have to turn someone away who they know they cannot save. Choosing to rescue or not rescue someone comes with hardships.
Aside from the social and cultural revelations Stirling offers, he writes some crackerjack action sequences that will fill the mental movie screens of every reader out there to overflowing. The author knows his weapons, and he knows how war is waged.
In Dies The Fire, Stirling also sets up the villain. The Lord Protector doesn’t get much space in this book, but I got the definite feeling that a cataclysmic battle is building. This guy is a definite nemesis for Mike Havel and Juniper because he has a lot of the same skill sets the warlord and the witch possess. But he uses his powers for evil, and that’s gonna be a conflict of epic proportions.
I’m really looking forward to reading these first three books because they complete one arc in the series. The second trilogy takes place about 20 years later. Two of those books are already out, and by the time I catch up with those, the third book should be in my hands. Maybe I was late getting to these books, but the timing seems to be most fortunate.
Article comments