The country of Algarve is successful in its blitzkrieg tactics, but becomes bogged down in the desolate winter of Unkerlant, its main enemy. Algarve's king decides to undertake blood magic, which amounts to genocide, in order to break the deadlock.
Darkness Descending: Book Two of The Darkness Series
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Amazon Review
In recent years, Harry Turtledove has specialised in alternate-history novels in which World War Two, say, is grimly complicated by the arrival of invading alien reptiloids; the fantasy sequence that started with Into the Darkness and continues with Darkness Descending is a powerful demonstration that it is human malice, not military technology, which we have to fear. Broadly speaking, the sequence replays World War Two with magical fantasy empires in place of the participants we know; there are analogies between the fiercely militarist kingdom of Algarve and the Third Reich, just as the dangerous paranoid who rules the rival empire of Unkerlant has much in common with Joseph Stalin. There is a Manhattan project making military use of the underlying rules of magic, and a particularly vicious version of the Holocaust, and a large cast of vividly realised viewpoint characters--Unkerlant's principal general, an Algarvian dragon pilot, various confused civilians--caught in the wheels of history. Turtledove provides some worryingly thoughtful material here about power and its consequences; his bleak use of stock fantasy images in a developed military context--screaming unicorns caught in firestorms--is coarse-grained, but unforgettable.--Roz Kaveney
Review
"Tutledove is almost certainly unique in reconceiving World Ward II in magical fantasy terms and on an immense scale--so far, completely successfully."--"Booklist "(starred review)
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Marshall Lord
TOP 100 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
"Darkness Descending" is the second part of Harry Turtledove's reworking of the World War Two story set on a planet where technology is based on magic rather than machines.
Dragon riders replace aircraft, Behemoths replace tanks, East and West have been transposed, Eurasia has been moved to the Southern hemisphere so that Scandinavia becomes equatorial, and names and superficial national characteristics have all been changed. But this is real history, not alternative history. Again and again the terrible events of the book are based on real historical incidents.
Some of the changes to racial characteristics are impishly amusing, such as the fact that the people who correspond to the Finns live in an equatorial climate and look like Zulus, while the Saraha Desert becomes "the land of the Ice people," the Gyongyosian people who correspond to the Japanese are physically large, and the Kuusamans who correspond to Americans have epicanthic folds.
Other changes are rather more biting - the "Kaunians" who correspond to Jews are tall, blue-eyed, and blonde.
What Turtledove appears to be trying to do with this series is to study how different people responded to a time of great evil. Some people were sucked into taking part in that evil, some fought against it, others just tried to live through it. The changes to the names and characteristics of the participants seem to be intended to give the reader an opportunity to leave behind some of our emotional baggage about the holocaust so that we can try, not to justify the wrongs which people did in terrible times, but to understand how it could have happened.... Read more ›
Dragon riders replace aircraft, Behemoths replace tanks, East and West have been transposed, Eurasia has been moved to the Southern hemisphere so that Scandinavia becomes equatorial, and names and superficial national characteristics have all been changed. But this is real history, not alternative history. Again and again the terrible events of the book are based on real historical incidents.
Some of the changes to racial characteristics are impishly amusing, such as the fact that the people who correspond to the Finns live in an equatorial climate and look like Zulus, while the Saraha Desert becomes "the land of the Ice people," the Gyongyosian people who correspond to the Japanese are physically large, and the Kuusamans who correspond to Americans have epicanthic folds.
Other changes are rather more biting - the "Kaunians" who correspond to Jews are tall, blue-eyed, and blonde.
What Turtledove appears to be trying to do with this series is to study how different people responded to a time of great evil. Some people were sucked into taking part in that evil, some fought against it, others just tried to live through it. The changes to the names and characteristics of the participants seem to be intended to give the reader an opportunity to leave behind some of our emotional baggage about the holocaust so that we can try, not to justify the wrongs which people did in terrible times, but to understand how it could have happened.... Read more ›
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As all Harry Turtledove fans know his ability to create new and alarmingly graphical portrails of war in a fantasy word, is nothing short of masterful. This book is no different, continuing the lives of up to 16 characters, the war on mainland Delavai (Europe) continues. Algarve are forced to take up Blood Magic in order to advace into snowy Unkerlant (Russia). Algarves Mages are made to slaughter thousands of Kaunians in ways depicting the Nazis of Germany. Where as in Unkerlant the king is forced to retaliate with the murdering of his own peasants. As This goes on one of the outer-islands, Kuusamo, are forced into war and their top Theoretical mages undertake something resembling the Manhattan Project. Will This be the end?
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By humanitysdarkerside
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Turtledove's third installment in the series is still excellent. I still have the feeling of being in WWII.
Ealstan and Vanai are still on the loose. Vanai discovers a magic that changes her looks from Kanaian to a more acceptable look.
Unkerlant are still resisting Algarve, though things look bleaker for them. Lagoa discover a magical weapon they can use. Underground movements are still active, though betrayal threatens.
The story still moves from one place to another and one has to keep tongue in cheek.
By Mr. A. J. D. White
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
A real page turner like most of turtledove's novels... If you like any of his books you will love this.
This is the second part of an intrigueing series of books (not sure how many parts there are in this). It tell the tale of a war torn continent (anyone with a vague knowledge of world history from 1912 to 194x, will recognise where he has got some of his ideas from) but the twist is that this is a fantasy world with dragons, magic and the like...
A nice twist and a gripping novel...
Just one thing to mention Turtledove has a almost unique style of writting in that he has no main characters (or loads and laods depending on how you look at it) the story evolves around events and places as much as people....
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