I've actually traded this book in without finishing it. I'll keep what review I had read up, though....

I've been reading this book, the first of a series, for a while and, well, we just haven't hit it off. Usually, I'm really interested in post-Apocalyptic, sociological books - The Stand and The Postman are both favorites. The books in the Dresden Files are ones that I can't put down, but Dies the Fire is one of those that it's hard to pick back up. (I've been taking it with me to doctor appointments and when I'm somewhere waiting for something.)

I don't know what it is about the book that just hasn't caught my interest. It doesn't suffer from having too many groups of characters to follow (The Stand certainly had this problem). The best guess I have right now is that there just isn't that much conflict. I'm half-way through right now and, while some inter-group conflicts have been happening, the characters seem to luck out and find people who know how to make bows from raw, natural materials, know how to swordfight, can make armor, etc.

The one main character, Juniper, is a Wiccan, which I don't have a problem with. However, she's constantly praising the Lord and Lady, making religious symbols in the air, etc., like a Wiccan version of a devout Catholic. It's a little annoying (and it would have been just as annoying if the character was Christian).

I won't be buying the other books in the series, unless something really outstanding happens in the remaining 280 pages....