The Demi-Monde: Winter, by Rod Rees

The Demi-Monde: Winter, by Rod Rees.  William Morrow, 2010.  517 pp.  978-0-06-207034-0.

... in which a young woman is enlisted to save the US President's daughter, who is trapped in a virtual world populated by Nazis, terrorists, and various villains from world history.

The Demi-Monde: Winter is the first book in a series involving a virtual reality (the Demi-Monde), set in 2018.  This virtual world was created to simulate urban warfare scenarios for US soldiers in training, and the programmers populated the world with "dupes", virtual duplicates of real-life people, famous and otherwise.  The computer world's technology is set to be comparable to the technology available in Victorian times.  The most prominent people populating the Demi-Monde are some the worst people to ever live, including Reinhard Heydrich (one of Hitler's right-hand men), Lavrentii Beria (Stalin's chief of police), Tomas de Torquemada (a prominent figure in the Catholic Church's Spanish Inquisition), and plenty of others.  The catch?  The people in the Demi-Monde don't know that they're not real; all they know is that living in the Demi-Monde is hell.  Unfortunately for the real-life humans who are spending time in this computer simulation, if you die in the computer, then you die in real life.  Somehow, the US President's daughter Norma has been lured into the Demi-Monde, and is being held captive by Heydrich and his lackeys.  The US Army recruits a young woman, Ella Thomas, to infiltrate the Demi-Monde and bring Norma out safely.  However, the rulers of the Demi-Monde have a bigger plan for Norma and all of the residents of the computer world.

Opening Atlantis, by Harry Turtledove

Opening Atlantis, by Harry Turtledove.  ROC, 2007.  440 pp.  978-0-451-46174-2.

... in which we hear of the exploits of the Radcliffe family as they discover, settle, and lead a new community on the island of Atlantis.

Harry Turtledove is most famous for his alternate history novels.  In this book, the first of a trilogy, Turtledove explores the idea of an extra continent (or large island) in the Atlantic Ocean.  Although this island is named Atlantis by its discoverers, it's not actually the lost Atlantis of legend.  As you can see from the cover art above, Atlantis is basically the eastern United States, broken off from North America and now situated in the middle of the Atlantic.  Opening Atlantis follows the Radcliffe family through several generations after the founding of Atlantis.  The book is divided into three parts.  The first part is set in the mid-1400s during the War of the Roses, and follows Edward Radcliffe and his sons Richard and Henry as they discover Atlantis and bring the first wave of European settlers to this new world.  The second part is set about two centuries later, and follows the confrontation between Red Rodney Radcliffe (pirate) and his cousin William Radcliff (who changed his last name so as not to be associated with his pirate cousin).  The third part of the novel follows Victor Radcliff a few generations later, as he witnesses mounting tensions between English, French, and Spanish settlers, as well as tensions between the Europeans and their slaves.

Nation, by Terry Pratchett

Nation, by Terry Pratchett.  Harper, 2008.  367 pp.  978-0-06-143303-0.

... in which two young teens, the only survivors of a massive tsunami, attempt to rebuild their lives.

Nation is the story of two teenagers (both about 13 or 14 years old), who live in a world similar to our world in the late 1800s.  Mau is a boy who lives on a small island (analogous to a south Pacific island in our world); when the tsunami hits, he is alone on a different island going through a ritual to take him from boyhood to manhood.  Upon traveling back to his home island, he finds that the wave has destroyed his village and that he is the only one left.  Daphne is a girl traveling from London to live with her father, who is the governor of a British colony somewhere near Mau's island.  The tsunami wrecks her ship, leaving her alone with Mau on his island.  Despite being separated by language and culture, the two begin to work together to rebuild the island nation.  Gradually they are joined by other survivors from other islands.  As Mau takes up the leadership of this small group, he and Daphne are forced to confront the hidden secrets of the island, and to question the traditions and beliefs that govern their lives.

At the Queen's Command by Michael Stackpole

At the Queen’s Command is a peculiar sort of alternative history. Imagine Colonial America, shortly before the revolution, except America is called Mystria, England is Norisle, France is Tharyngia, and Native Americans are the Twilight People. Oh, and there are magic and wingless dragons. It’s an unusual starting place for a novel, but that’s where we find ourselves as At the Queen’s Command gets underway.

Once started, the book focuses on the story of Owen Strake, a captain in the Queen’s Own Wurms, who has been sent to the colonies from Norisle to conduct a survey of the land and report back to the continent on how best to fight the Tharyngians in the New World, should his homeland wish to extend their ongoing battle from the Continent to the Colonies. As he undertakes this mission, he must learn to work with the Mystrians who distrust him as well as overcome his own misconceptions about the land. Gradually, the main plot shifts from Owen’s original “mission” of mapping and reporting to the actual planning and execution of battle, especially after the introduction of the main villain, a Tharyngian madman with a penchant for creating zombies. (Yes, it's not just dragons and magic- the undead are there, too.)

Author Michael Stackpole’s unpretentious writing style keeps the plot moving briskly, which works in the book’s favor. Aside from the occasional distraction of trying to figure out which country/people names correspond to those from our own, more familiar history, the plot does a decent job of drawing the reader in, even if it’s not quite page turning. The characters in general are broadly drawn and lack any particular nuance. They’re not badly written, but they tend to stay firmly (and occasionally irritatingly) within the borders of the expected character types. Heroes are brave, on the side of right, intelligent, stoic and have occasional cutting wit. Antagonists are selfish, close-minded, pig-headed and given to acts of petty and occasional genuine cruelty, with the only real variance being in if they have sufficient intelligence to carry out their sinister plots. This doesn’t necessarily detract from enjoyment of the book, but does guarantee that the characters don’t provoke much in the way of deep thought or analysis.

The only real source of intrigue beyond the basic plot is pondering the political and social mechanics behind the lead up to a revolution. Lurking in the background of the main plot points and character development is the concept that Mystria is beginning to chafe under Norisle’s rule. Stackpole takes the time to explore the seeds of rebellious thoughts, allowing Mystrian characters to explain their beliefs that they deserve at the very least better treatment. However, as Owen Strake is a “red coat,” we also get a decent look at the perspective of one who believes wholly in the royalist viewpoint and can skillfully argue with the colonialists. Additionally, most of the major plot points receive some analysis from the perspective of their impact on Norisle’s control over Mystria. Will undertaking battle in this manner demoralize Mystrians and make them more dependent on Norisle? Will a different battle plan make Mystrians feel more independent, or perhaps resentful? Who benefits the most? Again, these perspectives aren't written with exceptional nuance, but they nonetheless provide an interesting jumping off point for contemplating the political and cultural machinations within the book and, potentially, in our own analogous history.

Overall, At the Queen’s Command has quick moving plot, with just enough twists on the genre(s) to keep it interesting and unique enough from other quick-read fantasy or historical fiction to make it worthwhile, if not a must-read. Judging by the number of books to his credit, Michael Stackpole has a knack for creating inoffensive but somewhat intriguing worlds, and filling them with just enough action to keep things interesting.

3/5 Stars (Or maybe 3.5/5. I'm indecisive.)

The Kingdom of Ohio, by Matthew Flaming

The Kingdom of Ohio, by Matthew Flaming.  Penguin, 2009.  328 pp.  978-0-425-23694-9.

... in which the princess of Ohio and a young construction worker in 1901 New York City shape history and find themselves caught up in a struggle between Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla.

This is a difficult book to summarize or categorize.  The main setting is 1901 New York City, though it may or may not be the same 1901 NYC from our timeline.  The story is also set in Los Angeles, probably in the 1990s, where the narrator lives. Peter Force is a young man who has moved from the wilds of northern Idaho (Kellogg, ID, if you must know) to NYC to be a construction worker on the new underground railroad system.  One evening Peter encounters a distressed young woman, who claims to be Cheri-Anne Toledo, the daughter of the king of Ohio.  She claims to have survived the assassination of her family, and was suddenly transported through space and time from 1894 Toledo to 1901 New York.  Claiming to be a student of famed inventor Nikola Tesla, Cheri-Anne attributes her travel to her work on a teleportation device.  However, after going to visit Tesla, she finds that he has no idea who she is, suggesting that not only did she travel through space and time, but that she also traveled between parallel universes.  Peter and Cheri-Anne find themselves caught between Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, and Edison's financier J.P. Morgan, all of whom are using the subway construction project to search for something hidden below the ground.  The outcome of their struggle could change all of history and time.

Colonization: Down to Earth by Harry Turtledove

Sequel to Colonization: Second Contact, the series set after the Worldwar series.


The Worldwar/Colonization series continues to be super awesome. You'd think the setting would run out of relevant story, but it's just heating up in Down to Earth! The characters from Second Contact (I don't think there were any new ones) continue to be compelling and exciting. I continue to enjoy the series greatly, although I am running out of new things to say about it in review!

Colonization: Second Contact by Harry Turtledove

In which humans and alien coexist with varying degrees of success twenty years after the partial conquest of earth during World War II, upon the arrival of the alien race's second fleet of ships.


Harry Turtledove is unequivocally the master of the alternate history fiction. His settings are their own special kind of nerdery where time travel, alien invasions or random events change history. So in Guns of the South, for example, the confederate army is supplied with AK-47s by time travelers. His books are an interesting mixture of real historical figures and events and fiction in ways that make (alternate) history come alive.