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Originally Posted by taosaur
Yeah, I'm pretty sure that character has been introduced, and I groaned a bit recognizing the super-Hitler trope from Nantucket. The premise of Dies the Fire is that the same moment in 1998 that Nantucket disappeared, electricity and combustion (including gunpowder) stopped working everywhere else, the combination of which strongly suggests some kind of alien test or experiment, but I doubt we'll get an explanation. That said, the non-Hitler characters are great, and Stirling's exploration of the scenario is compelling so far even if he stays well clear of "mind blowing" possibilities.
As for Correia, reading more of his work and learning of his role in Sad Puppies did shed some new light on that fiasco and the likely role of the Dunning Kruger Effect in driving the whole thing (particularly given MHI's semi-autobiographical "We swear he's super smart!" protagonist), but going any farther in that direction takes us into verboten P&R territory. Everything I've read from him so far is solid 3-star pulp, perfectly entertaining, but the idea that it deserves awards in addition to the massive licensing deals (Monster Hunter is a hugely successful video game franchise) is delusional.
Agreed that Oliver Wyman did a great job with the material. The narrator for Dies the Fire is solid overall, but has some odd pronunciations, including RAY-shun for ration or rationing, which comes up often in the early going.
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If you are a shooter, you might recognize the protagonist, i.e. accountants carrying a few extra pounds who like to shoot, have fantasies about being the hero and get the girl away from the rich super smarmy guy. The chicks with glasses are hot line was a dead give away. Yea, it's a pulp in the classic sense. Right now, I get the impression that Corriea has Honor Harrington syndrome, in that he's gotten a bit bored with it, but it's a very lucrative franchise and he doesn't know how to wrap it up. The last couple don't quite have that sense of fun that the first ones did.