Emberverse Universe Books In Order

Publication Order of Emberverse Universe Books

Emberverse series by SM Stirling
Author S. M. Stirling writes the “Emberverse” (or “Change World”) series. All of the technology has been rendered useless in this post-apocalyptic alternate history series of novels. The series began publication in the year 2004, when “Dies the Fire”.

They portray the events after a mysterious, albeit sudden, worldwide event called “The Change” which happened exactly at 6:15 pm Pacific Standard Time on March 17, 1998. This Change alters all physical laws, as well as the course of history once it causes firearms, electricity, internal combustion engines, explosives, steam power, and most forms of high-energy-density technology on the planet to no longer work. Much of the action in the novels is set in the Willamette Valley in Oregon.

The later series, “The Change”, focuses on the now-adult kids of the original trilogy’s major characters. Then a third sub-series, starting with “The Golden Princess”, features the grandkids of the original survivors as the central characters, and it concluded with “The Sky-blue Wolves” in 2018.

“The Emberverse” is closely related to Stirling’s previous “Nantucket” series, since both deal with The Change’s aftermath, however its effect is radically different in the two series.

“Dies the Fire” is the first novel in the “Emberverse” series and was released in the year 2004. The Change happened when this electrical storm centered over Nantucket island produced this blinding white flash that rendered all fuels and electrical devices inoperable. Which plunged the world into a dark age that humanity wasn’t ready to face.

Michael Pound was flying over the state of Idaho going to the holiday home of his passengers when the engines of his plane died inexplicably. This forced a less than perfect landing in the wilderness. And while he leads his charges to safety, he starts realizing that the engine failure was no isolated incident.

Juniper McKenzie was playing guitar and singing when her tiny Oregon town became thrust into the darkness. Now, as she takes refuge in her family’s cabin along with her daughter and a growing group of friends, she is determined to create a farming community to benefit those that survived this crisis. However even while people begin to band together to help each other, there are those that build armies for conquest.

Readers were intrigued by the survival, all the making-do, the politics, and living off the land in the novel, which created the tension, drama, and increased heart rate. Fans became hooked on the novel, finding every aspect of these people surviving and the social evolution in this new world to be both compelling and believable.

“The Protector’s War” is the second novel in the “Emberverse” series and was released in the year 2005. It has been eight years since the Change rendered all technology inoperable across the entire globe. Rising up from the ashes of the industrial and computer ages is this brave new world. Survivors have committed themselves to rebuilding society, banding together in their tribal communities.

In Oregon’s Willamette Valley, ex-pilot Michael Havel’s Bearkiller are renowned warriors. The mystical Clan Mackenzie, which is led by Juniper Mackenzie (a Wiccan folk singer), is their closest ally. Their leadership has already saved countless lives.

However not every leader has aspirations of an altruistic nature. Norman Arminger, a medieval scholar, rules the Protectorate. He’s built an army, enslaved civilians, and spread his forces from Portland through the majority of western Washington State. Now he wants the Willamette Valley farmland, and he is willing to wage war in order to conquer it. And unknown to both of these factions is the imminent arrival of this ship from Tasmania that bears British soldiers.

Fans liked this novel as these characters are getting more fleshed out, and you see more inter tribal and clan disputes here. There is more action in this one, the female characters here are strong and real, while the men aren’t brave cowboys without flaws, which makes them feel like real people. Readers found themselves especially glued to the final hundred pages of the novel, unable to even turn away from the events that conclude the book.

“A Meeting at Corvallis” is the third novel in the “Emberverse” series and was released in the year 2006. During the Change’s tenth year, the survivors living in western Oregon live in a world devoid of all technology. Michael Havel’s Bearkillers own the lands west of Salem in order and peace. And to the east, the Clan Mackenzie is flourishing under Juniper’s leadership, High Priestess and bard.

Together, they have been able to hold the warlord of Portland, Norman Arminger, at bay. With his dark fantasies of a neofeudal empire, he rules a lot of the Pacific Northwest, spreading fear with his castles, knights, and holy inquisition. Even more dangerous, and possibly Arminger’s most powerful weapon of all, is Lady Sandra, his ruthlessly cunning consort.

These factions have yet to meet in battle due to Arminger’s daughter falling into the hands of Clan Mackenzie. However Lady Sandra has a plan to retrieve her. Even if this means plunging the whole region into open warfare.

“The Sunrise Lands” is the fourth novel in the “Emberverse” series and was released in the year 2007. Young Rudi Mackenzie has grown up with the knowledge that he is going to one day take leadership over the Western Oregon survivors of the technological disaster known as the Change. However the prophecy made right at his birth spoke about an even greater destiny for him, one that soon will be fulfilled.

One mysterious traveler has shown up in the Willamette Valley. He brings with him news from the East, from Nantucket Island, which has long rumored to be the Change’s source. He’s been sent on this quest to bring back with him the Sword of the Lady from the sunset seas.

Rudi, since he is the son of the High Priestess, IS the Sword of the Lady. Rudi, now being guided by this traveler, he journeys off on a quest across the Changed land that used to be America. However between Rudi and his destiny lies the Valley of the Paradise, along with this cult led by a madman that is determined to stop him.