A Son of the Rock

Pocket, 2004, 574 p, including ii p Map and v p Dramatis Personae.

The usual from Turtledove’s long series fiction, this being the fifth in his Darkness sequence, where he reinterprets the Second World War (at least as it occurred in Europe) in a fantasy setting complete with dragons substituted for aircraft, behemoths for tanks, leviathans for submarines, with added unicorns (for colour,) and magic as the agent of weaponry.

Here, the tide of war has turned, the Algarvian invasion of Unkerlant has been halted and pushed back, and the pursuit of the ultimate theoretical magic is on the verge of being put to systematic use in Turtledove’s equivalent of the Manhattan Project. This can apparently cause devastating earthquakes via spells which also seem to involve a degree of time twisting.

Along with common soldiers (and not so common; this is a world of overweening Kings and servile subjects – at least to their king’s face) we have partisans, resistance groups, people playing one side against the middle, others hiding from the occupying power, even recruits from conquered nations enlisting in their vanquisher’s cause.

It has all the faults I have noted previously, the constant repetition of information the reader already knows or of characters’ thoughts, the utilitarian prose, the lack of depth to most characters, the sexism and misogyny.

I still can’t make up my mind whether Turtledove approves of any of these or not: but he does depict soldiers’ resignation and weariness. As far as racial prejudice is concerned, though, he is clearly against it. As should we all be.

Pedant’s corner:- On the Map Kuusamo is spelled Kuusano. Written in USian. Every name ending in ‘s’ is given s’ for its possessive rather than s’s. Otherwise; blond (blonde,) “a little village of her own” (of his own,) “who’d taken over for the departed Mosco” (who’d taken over from the.) “In a whisper even he had trouble even he had trouble hearing” (unnecessarily repeated ‘even he had trouble’,) “walked thought the door” (walked through the door,) “lese majesty” (x 2, lèse-majesté,) “which weighed more nearly as much as he did” (why that ‘more’?) “‘We’ll better drive ‘em back over the river’” (‘We’d better drive them back,) “‘doesn’t seem to worried’” (doesn’t seem too worried,) “and those who followed him trust no one who’d fought the redheads on their own” (trusted no one who’d,) “‘and you to, milady’” (‘and you too, milady’,) “Ilmarinen came up to Sabrino” (the scene had changed; it was Fernao whom Ilmarinen came up.) “Fernao want to take her in his arms” (Fernao wanted to,) “at Leino’s jointing the war” (joining the war,) “Phalanx of Valmieran” (elsewhere always ‘Phalanx of Valmiera’,) “something else instead of hold their little eggs” (something else instead to hold,) “a company of Yaninan soldiers were ..” (a company … was,) “when I set home to Vanai” (when I get home,) “outside of” (no ‘of’, just ‘outside’,) “he hoper their was a bridge” (he hoped there was.)