DID NOT FINISH (330 pg of 608) ponderous SF about Nantucket being sent back mysteriously in time to the 1250 BC. Characters act if this was just the aftermath of a bad storm rather than a MAJOR life & world change.

Weaker than the companion/parallel trilogy taking place in the modern era. I'd probably give it 2.5-2.75 instead of 2, but limits of the rating system.
The biggest points against it: 1)there's some really distasteful anti-lgbtqia language in here, and while I think the point is that we're supposed to see those views as incorrect it still feels pretty uncomfortable given when it was written and that it was written by a straight cis white male. 2)overall the plot and major antagonist feel a lot less well/believably written than in the companion trilogy. At least there, there was a pretty considered effort to explain why and how the antagonist was able to achieve what he did (from his education and background, to early attempts at organization, to a consolidation of knowledge resources whether in print or in the form of experts). There really isn't any of that here...yet the antagonist is able to demonstrate knowledge and expertise *well* beyond what should be available to him across a wide array of technical and historical fields. ( )

After just reading the entire 15 book Emberverse series (and previously having read the 9 “Lost Regiment” series by Forstchen and about a half dozen of the “Ring of Fire” stories by Flint) I find myself a bit exhausted with “Nantucket”. I’ll read the other two books, and enjoy them…but Stirling is doing something so strange here that he’s making me a bit uncomfortable. “Dies the Fire” requires a modification of the laws of physics that doesn’t exist in the particular ‘time’ frame of the current story (some 3,000 years in the past in this sequence). Both series involve something happening to Nantucket…but that seems to be the only commonality. And, while I can’t see that it makes any difference which CHANGE series you read first, I’m hoping someone can tell me what book(s) ties them all together. I’m looking for closure here, people.

Meanwhile, just as in the “Emberverse”, Stirling allows a convenient Deus Ex Machina (in the form of a Coast Guard training sailing ship) to be caught within the ‘change’ such that, with the already technical industrial underpinnings of Nantucket itself we’re off to a roaring good start. But, of course, we need some bad guys. So, in addition to the local weirdos who can’t handle the ‘change’ and/or want/need to alter the direction of the efforts to reestablish some semblance of order—and survivability—we have some really smart people with some really megalomaniac tendencies to contend with. We’re talking all-out war. And on two continents. ( )

This is the start of an excellent series. There's so much detail and thought given in, such rich history brought to life, and vivid characters. ( )

I started with the Change novels and I can see the similarities in turns of phrase, even in the reader for the audio version, but I'm enjoying it all the same, even if those quirks bring me a tad out of the story.
I like the survival and alternate history aspects of this story, and, of course, the understated, Stirling-style romance. I won't give away who, but I especially liked the ones in here! ( )