The Protector's War

A Novel of the Change

By: S. M. Stirling

Narrated by: Todd McLaren

Rising from the ashes of the computer and industrial ages is a brave new world. Survivors have banded together in tribal communities, committed to rebuilding society.

In Oregon's Willamette Valley, former pilot Michael Havel's Bearkillers are warriors of renown. Their closest ally, the mystical Clan MacKenzie, is led by Wiccan folksinger Juniper MacKenzie. Their leadership has saved countless lives.

But not every leader has altruistic aspirations. Norman Arminger, medieval scholar, rules the Protectorate. He has enslaved civilians, built an army, and spread his forces from Portland through most of western Washington State. Now he wants the Willamette Valley farmland, and he's willing to wage war to conquer it.

Unknown to both factions, however, is the imminent arrival of a ship from Tasmania bearing British soldiers.

©2005 S. M. Sterling (P)2008 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Stirling's blending of fiction and history produces a strange, hybrid civilization, in which the confrontation between warlord and mystic is viscerally satisfying." ( Booklist)
"Readers who relish a battle between the forces of light and darkness...are in for a rousing good time." ( Science Fiction Weekly)

The Emberverse trilogy gets progressivley worse.

Dies the Fire was interesting and the clichés were newish then but by the time I've heard them this many times and there've been this many coincidences, this much incredible luck, and so many implausibilies beyond the fundamental Alien Space Bat implausibility of the disappearance of explosives/guns, internal combustion and electricity, I'm just plum tired of it. BTW, I'm surprised there isn't more use of hydraulic technology.
I like Todd McLaren's voice and his acting is good but some accents are off -don't try if you can't do them- and every ~20 pages or so there is a jarring mispronunciation. The persistent corzman/corzmen for corpsman for example is particularly grating. Okay, Obama said it this way once but multiple times in multiple books?
I think if I had known how marginal this was, I would not have gone beyond Dies the Fire but now I'm committed and my Virgo nature prohibits simply Googling the plot to find out what happens.

Great listen, I strongly recommend this one...

Protectors war is the second in the series by S. M. Stirling and it continues the great story that Dies the Fire began. 5 stars to Performance, and 4 to story, simply because it is a little different then what I usually read and I found a few parts to be a little strange. But 5 overall stars because it is a great book that I would highly recommend.

truly enjoying

Although the series started out a bit slow for me. I have found it very much to my liking. The characters are put together extremely well. In some points I found the back story to some of the character as entertaining as the main story line....thanks

Not bad ...

This was a good book. If you read and enjoyed the first book, you will probably like this one. Several years have passed from the first book to this one but the story continues on nicely. Unfortunately, the author does repeat quite a bit from the first book, reminding the reader who everyone is and the like. The performance is just as good as the first book. I am looking forward to the third book in the series. This book was worth the credit.

A book that needs an abridged version

Whew, I have finally got to the point of fast forwarding to survive this author. The premise of this story is good, but the theme is buried under brutally long boring sections of trivia. If ever an author needs to have his works abridged for audio, it's this guy.

Comes off somewhat contrived, but I'll listen on

The writing style is a little hokie at times and battles are fairly predictable. There are elements that make the suspension of disbelief a little difficult, but, overall, a fun bit of candy and I'll likely listen to the next book in the series.

well written with strong characters

a. tale that envelopes you in an after-world that draws you in with its strong characters as they struggle to survive and prosper in a world where Death abides.

Pronunciation

Being from the Willamette Valley it was nice to hear most of the names pronounced correctly. Some were just slightly off and a some were real head scratchers.

A masterful weave of old and new

This is the second of the change novels I have read and I must say I am hooked. I'm really taken by the way the author weaves in all aspects of life in this rebuilding world from sociology and religion to politics and technology (or lack thereof). All of these things bring pressures that have an effect on the progression of the plot. I like how characters that were adults before the change have different perspectives and attitudes than those that were very young or not born until after and how people adjusted and value different things based on the priorities of the times and of the setting. I gave it a four overall mostly because I was a bigger fan of "Dies by fire", and I think this work falls short of that one, but that could be because this book is further along in the timeline and lacks the raw struggle for survival that seemed to be everywhere in the last installment.

The narration is excellent as well and I'll be looking for more work done by Mr. McLaren.

Overboard

Ah Lord And Lady Mr. Stirling does tend to lay it on thick what with all of the Wiccan this and that. However, if you can get past that, which is at times is hard to do since Stirling developed such a heavy man crush about it that it practically permeates everything in the story line, it really is a very good and well thought out story worth every bit of the time reading/listening.