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Ice Weasel
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Granted, we are here because of an abiding love of Tolkien's work, but there are other books that may find a place in our hearts (or at least our shelves).

I'll start off by recommending "The Emberverse Series" by S.M. Stirling.

The Wikipedia entry captures it well in a few sentences:

Emberverse, or Change World, is a series of post-apocalyptic alternate history novels written by S. M. Stirling. The novels depict the events following "The Change", which caused electricity, guns, explosives,internal combustion engines, and steam power to stop working, closely paralleling the initial impetus of Steve Boyett's 1983 novel Ariel and the BBC seriesThe Changes. Most of the action in the series takes place in the Willamette Valley of Oregon in the United States..

The series primarily focuses on how the characters survive the loss of 600 years of technological progress. The original trilogy,Dies the Fire, concerns the conflicts between aPortland-based neo-feudal dictatorship and the free communities of the Willamette Valley, primarily the Wiccan Clan Mackenzie and the Bearkillers. The later series,The Change, now scheduled to be completed in 2013 after seven novels, focuses on the now-adult children of the original trilogy's major characters.

The Tolkien connection comes in many forms (the Protectorate's symbol is a "lidless eye") but primarily from one group, started by two (then) teenage girls who head for the woods with some others, and adopt Lord of the Rings as "The Histories". They even adopt Elvish as the official language, call themselves the Dúnedain Rangers, and have a flag bearing a silver tree with seven stars. 

It could easily have been a clumsy, even embarrassing attempt at mimicry, but the use of the LOTR references in the books comes across as a tribute to the power of the original. Stirling loves the books, even when having some fun at the expense of one of the characters who is completely immersed in them.   Part of this shows how humans cling to things to help define their reality and social fabric, even when all rational definitions and sober social constructs have been torn apart, violently.  There is much to like in how these people survive and flourish, given their conditions.

The books are now at the third generation "post change".. and are fun to read.  I have come to care about the characters, which is always a good sign, and even when it is painfully obvious that one or two are going to die, the deaths come hard to the reader. (There are, however, no Red Weddings here... feel free to love these characters without fear of a dagger on the next page... )



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Ice Weasel
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On Landroval: Krohkur, Cynnabon, Skaldhi, Nurdanor, Crenbo, Brodur, Rhyton, Myopique, and Clehpto
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Siltharan
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I hate to go "Oh, because of a common theme these things are SO similar," when they're probably not (haven't read the series), but the TV series Revolution begins with the same theme. Electricity goes poof... Then of course more is revealed about how it went poof, who made it go poof, why it went poof, how it affects power, governments, people, etc. :D

Ice Weasel
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I was rather hoping "Revolution" on NBC would be similar... it wasn't anything like it, really.

The "event" that rids the word of rapid combustion technology (internal combustion, gunpowder, etc) is given as "it happened, no one knows why, and we're too busy trying to stay alive to worry about it much". In fact, Stirling has other books that feature the same (so we think, at least) event, but it caused different things to happen. There is a shorter series about what happened to the island of Nantucket... it was "swapped" with Nantucket of early history. I mean the British Isles are full of tribes, the Egyptians and Persians are going at it hammer and tongs... and then people who know a LOT about advanced technology (airships, anyone?) show up. Some go power mad, and become warlords and empire builders... some try to keep native populations alive through medicine and negotiation... anyway, same event, different outcome from the point of view of the characters. (Nantucket Trilogy or Islander Trilogy: begins with "Island in the Sea of Time", continues with "Against the Tide of Years" and finally "On the Oceans of Eternity". )

I had to stop watching "Revolution" only because it seemed so... i don't know... "Lost"? Secret cabal controlling everything, some with the secret... blah, blah, blah.

I will say that the Emberverse is very connected with the spiritual. It doesn't really come out and say "THIS set of beliefs is correct"... it has room for some paganism, Wicca, Christianity, even Judaism and hints now of Buddhism.  Stirling doesn't say "here is the truth" so much as "everyone may be right... it's interpretation, the filter of the human mind, but there is something greater than we are". He's not out to answer questions so much as to pose them, and let his characters mull them over, in context. As a result, it's thought provoking for the reader, as well. Emberverse has right-out-front connections to spiritual "magic"... or at least the suggestion of it, with something else pulling strings... 

 



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Ice Weasel
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On Landroval: Krohkur, Cynnabon, Skaldhi, Nurdanor, Crenbo, Brodur, Rhyton, Myopique, and Clehpto
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I'll be adding that one to my "to read" list, sounds like something I'd enjoy. 

If anyone else uses Goodreads my name is Bob_b. Great community over there with a ton of more focussed sub-groups. Send a friend request!

I'm currently reading A Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. I love the humanity he interjects into his characters. Really enjoyed and highly recommend his Mistborn Trilogy as well. All in the fantasy genre.

China Mieville's "Perdido Street Station" and "Kracken" are 2 books that seems to keep coming back to my memory. Very intellectual and bizarre. I guess you'd classify his writing as new weird fiction or bizarro. I found myself often re-reading many parts of his books because is so far out there, but by the end it all makes perfect sense. If you haven't read any Mieville, be prepared to have your mind blown, but by all means give him a try.

 

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Trower, I'd love to hear more about your thoughts on Mistborn. I won a copy in a Twitter competition and promised to review it for a friend's book blog, but I can't quite figure out how I feel about it. I wasn't massively overwhelmed by it, but I keep going back and re-reading bits here and there. Was it a slow burner for you?

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I've been meaning, and keep forgetting, to mention that I've read the first Emberverse book, Dies the Fire. I truly enjoyed it and will no doubt read the rest of the series. I particularly enjoyed the Tolkien tie-in.  While I enjoy reading books in a series I can never read them one right after the other. I like to jump around and read a variety of books/genres, though science fiction and speculative fiction tend to be my favorites. And for some reason I'm drawn to post-apocalyptic dystopian stories. (I do not, however care for stories that features zombies.) One of my favorite books series along these lines is Margaret Atwood's Madd Addam series that begins with Oryx and Crake.

I have to agree with comments about the Revolution TV series. I did watch it for a while, hoping it would improve. While it's usually not a problem for me, I had a hard time suspending my disbelief with that particular storyline.  Also the intro for the first several shows (maybe the whole first season) irritated me - "We're waiting for someone to light the way..." - Excuse me!? Waiting?

Back to books :-) Reading is one of my greatest joys. Hmmm... Maybe it's time for a Daniel Suarez novel...



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Ice Weasel
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S.M. Stirling wrote  a pair of books that make a fun side-trip.

The Sky People and In The Courts of The Crimson Kings  are related (caveat: I'm not finished with Crimson Kings yet), and really need to be read in that order. Part homage to the old Golden Age stories (John Carter of Mars, etc), part a conjecture of planetary evolution and pondering about cosmic truths, they take an interesting idea and weave a really ripping action story.  The Sky People takes place on Venus, where, back in the early days of the space race, mankind discovered primitive humanoid culture, flora and fauna that are a bit too close to Earth's history to be coincidence. The Crimson Kings happens on Mars, where early space exploration found a highly advanced civilization in decay. They are certainly interwoven.

Stirling does a masterful job of postulating some things from one basic truth underlying his entire story. It isn't just formula with a thin veneer of odd names, you get a feel that these are alien cultures. The characters are three dimensional, and offer some interesting backgrounds. The undercurrent is chilling, and worthy of some late night conjecture. 

Heartily endorsed as a nice break from long series or simply something different. Steak and potatoes are good, but sometimes you want sushi. 



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Ice Weasel
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On Landroval: Krohkur, Cynnabon, Skaldhi, Nurdanor, Crenbo, Brodur, Rhyton, Myopique, and Clehpto
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Daffin
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Late t' this party, but just havin joined (as Kheshli) I got th' prerogative t' bump dormant threads ;)

Just wanted t' say, th' Stirling trilogy sounds intrestin an I'll probly have t' look into it, but fer my money, th' bestest post-apocalyptic novel is still Larry Niven an Jerry Pournelle's Lucifer's Hammer. Pure natural disaster, no secret cabals or nothing, but thought out an described in a way that still seems entirely plausible. It's nearly 40 years old, an them as is enterin their  dotage, like me, will quite likely have run across it already, but if yer not familiar with it, it's sort o' th' Gaffer o' all post-apoc novels, an worth th' read. Also very well  done is David Brin's Th' Postman, despite havin been made into a ho-hum movie...



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Perizota
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The Postman, when it first came out as a short story, was amazing. The book is still very good. You are right, the movie was meh.

 

I am currently re-reading The Codex Alera series.

 

Pz



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