This book takes place in an alternate present where good and evil are reversed
925637
This book takes place in an alternate present where good and evil are reversed. This is the first of many twists which I won't go into here because of the fear of ruining the readers enjoyment of this book. This book is the second novel in a trilogy, and the first is Time's Arrow: The past starring Spiderman and the X-Men. The third novel is titled Time's Arrow: The Future, and all three star the same characters. The main villain is Kang the Conquerer whose mad plan is to destroy all timelines in a desperate search for a lost love. There is some unrealistic violence in these books, but no more than the comic book code will allow. Even so parents might want to exercise some caution before allowing young children before allowing youngster to read this trilogy.
4647753
All Souls Day by Martin Berman-Gorvine is an alternate history book that mixes elements of HP Lovecraft with American history. It took me almost a year before I could finally read All Souls Day, but, when I finally did, I read it in one sitting. While I found the story thrilling, I think this novel might be better appreciated by YA fiction fans.

Before I get any further into my review, I would like to say that the book cover doesnt do the story justice. However, I think most readers will be hooked as soon as they dive in. The sociological aspects are expressed through the lives of the teenagers, and there are many levels at play throughout the storyline. Convinced that their community has been saved by a demon, the people dedicate their lives to serving Moloch, but the more that is revealed about their way of life, the more one has to wonder if the people are living a lie perpetuated by the demon.

As a result, a group of teenagers are reluctant to participate in an upcoming ceremony requiring a human sacrifice. The plot centers on their attempt to escape, while figuring out who they really are without the labels assigned to them. This is not unlike a coming of age story taking place in the shadow of a horrific entity who controls and destroys the lives of the people supposedly saved from the devastation plaguing the rest of the world.

If you're looking for something cerebral AND action-packed, I recommend this novel.
4349542
In the 14th century, the plague hit Europe. But instead of killing a third of the population, it kills 99%. Islam and Buddhism rise, along with China and the Ottoman Empire. The New World is settled west to east and India becomes the country to spark the Industrial Revolution. This tale that spans centuries is told through a series of reincarnations, through religious and philosophical discussions, and through scientific discoveries.

I dived into this book very much looking forward to a grand, sweeping alternate history. However, this book wasn't told the way I thought it would be. Using reincarnation to keep some semblance of the same main characters throughout the tale, the book still reads more like a sequential collection of short stories. The alternate history component is really subtle for the first half of the book. If you had not read the description of the book and just set into it, you would think that it was a plain historical fiction told from the viewpoints of the Muslim empire, China, and India. A few things indicate what is going on in the first half (such as the Chinese fleet discovering the western coast of the Americas). Yet much of the focus is about what is going on internally for these various empires.

The second half really makes it apparent that this is an alternate history but it is not until the end that the plague of the 14th century is discussed in what would be modern scientific archaeological circles. I found the second half of the book more interesting as the various governments and empires have spread and now have to deal with one another. I especially liked that some Native American groups managed to hold their own in this alternate history, becoming sovereign governments the other nations had to deal with.

Much of the book delves into various religions and philosophies. This is done through the main characters of each reincarnation. While it is done well, it is also done thoroughly and many ideas are repeated throughout the book. This is my only criticism of the book: sometimes this focus on religion and philosophy would get repetitive and I would tune out. While I understand that each reincarnated character believes they are experiencing these thoughts and moments of celestial clarity for the first time, after the 4th or 5th character went through this experience, I was worn out. There are very long stretches of contemplation and reflection and not much action in the first half of the book. The second half has a much better balance.

The ladies were no shrinking violets in this book. Roughly half the book is told through the eyes of female characters.  They are religious leaders, philosophers, poets, historians, scientists, etc. Yet they still have to struggle against patriarchy, except in one Native American nation. As a side note, it was nice to see a few lesbians represented in the last quarter of the book.

It was very interesting to see how history could have been affected by so many Caucasians and Christians dying out in the 14th century. Indeed, the red-headed Caucasian becomes a rare being indeed and highly prized among some harem owners.  While little pockets of Christianity continue on, it is a small cult-like religion. This aspect of the book was fascinating. While this was not the book I expected when I picked it up, I am very glad I gave it a listen. Plenty of food for thought lies within this book.

I received this audiobook at no cost from the publisher via Audiobook Jukebox in exchange for an honest review.

The Narration: Bronson Pinchot gave a decent performance. His character voices were all distinct and he had believable female character voices. My one little quibble is that he sometimes chose to do an accent and sometimes not. So sometimes we would have characters with foreign accents and then in the next reincarnation story none of the characters would have accents. Sometimes I was listening to an excellent performance and sometimes it was just OK.
2993287
The Man in the High Castle provides an alternate history of the world following WWII, one built on the premise that the axis powers, that is Japan and Germany won and the world was split between the two. The main part of the story takes place in Japanese occupied California in 1962. A major theme is the notion of parallel universes, "fake" history, a "fake" present, manifest through fake historical artifacts or fake "Historicity". Similar to Orwell's 1984 there is a novel within the novel: a book called The Grasshopper Lies Heavy. This, describes another alternate history in which the allies won the war, although the outcome is different to the history we are familiar with. We are left to ponder which history is the true one? At the close, one of the main characters, Juliana, consults the Oracle, Yijing, and discovers an intriguing possibility, a hidden truth in plain view.
The i Ching is the star and through a font of knowledge, reveals the first layer of the story. Looking at the background of the novel takes the story further and provides some insightful imagery into the way the plot has been manipulated and adjusted further. The balance, and contrasting tone  of the story reveal hidden truths through the true I Ching providing a satisfying conclusion. One wonders what the next stage will reveal.
4100281
This is the latest volume in an extended alternate history, most of it around the Pacific Northwest. Taken as a whole, it is a beautifully written, extended look at what happens of the laws of physics are fundamentally changed, and humans can no longer use electricity, or nuclear power, or even gunpowder. When you take modern societies and immediately plunge them into a world relying on muscle power, blade, and bow and arrow, things Change.

In this volume, the daughter of the High King of a realm stretching from Oregon and British Columbia inland to Iowa is murdered. The king was much beloved, and the murder is a suspected tool of an inhuman, alien power. Together with visitors who crossed the Pacific from Japan to elude the inhuman foe, a small band searches for the key that could lead not just to revenge, but gaining a hand in a long war with a cold, unfeeling foe.

The writing is that of a mature hand, graceful and at times poetic, yet Stirling does not let style keep the novel from unwinding a spellbinding story.
2252766
The characters were interesting and a unique plot was made this a fun book to read.  It's amazing  that creating truly evil  people can bring the good people into the forefront.  I love to read something different instead of the cookie cutter romance.
406668
Good and Evil, Alternate out-of-phase Universes, Dragons and Wizards, all mixed with a dash of religion, along with some endearing "down-to-earth" characters, make this very fast paced adventure a very enjoyable read. I'm looking forward to Book 2!
2468450
When Lobsang is taken to a supposly famouse master Lu Tze the Sweeper, Lobsang realizes that the sweeper is something more then he thought. In another place, a clockmaker named Jeremy has had a dream about a the perfect clock and decides to make it. In another place, Susan is getting visits from the Death of Rats and has learned that the apocalyse is coming. In yet another place Death is assembiling the four horseman for the apocalypse. This story contains glass clocks, time spiners, the fifth horseman, history monks, yeti's, and Auditors.

 I liked this book alot because of it's brilliant ideas on time and monks. The one reason I don't like this book is because of the description on the time spinners. It was incredibly confusing.

 I gave the book four stars because it was brilliant yet confusing. I recomend it for anyone.
4310802
An interesting book with a different theme. No real right or wrong, good or bad - everything depends on your view which the writer has the characters( and also the reader) change a number of times through out the tale. A solid 4.5.
3512586
An interesting book that starts strong and gets progressively weaker.  The first few chapters focus on a hybrid world where software programs maximize efficiency by providing step by step instructions to minimum wage workers. This gives way to a robot driven dystopia which is then contrasted in the second half of the book by a utopian version of our robotic future.

The socialist utopia in the second half of the book could have been written in 1908.  Everyone is equal. Nobody strives for more.  Goods are magically provided by "the system".  Everyone gets to chase their creative dreams.  In other words, human nature is somehow suspended.

The dystopian world in the first half of the book is a little bit more believable, but again it offers nothing new versus past books and movies.

The really interesting part of the book is the beginning, where the author describes a hybrid world in which humans are reduced to mindless automatons. Whereas the author uses it as a transition state on the way to the robot takeover, I think he would have been wiser to focus the entire book on this hybrid world.  It is a fresher take on the future, and unlike his ultimate dystopian and utopian worlds, this hybrid world does not require increasingly unlikely leaps in technology.
4685945
This was not my style because of The Twilight Zone aspect of the world. Everything seems set in the real world (cell phone use, references to pop culture) except for the one Bermuda Triangle of a forest in Colorado.
I'm used to either a completely alternate universe (as done in urban fantasies) or everything being set in the real world.

Joe was a very hard character to empathize with, and I get that was the point.  I have a difficult time with "hate him/love him" journeys because the first impression always lingers in my mind, and the author does a very good job of making him hateable.

The storyline is quite different with adventure, time jumps, and mythology thrown in.
4443925
This book was thoroughly enjoyable.  I love books like this in an alternate future, and I also enjoy how it is split up into short stories.  One of my favorite parts is how the different characters are all somehow connected.  The author provides a very interesting look into what America could be like if, true to the title, Abraham Lincoln lost the civil war.
2088181
Once again the author presents us with an alternative UK. However one of our heros is a broken beaten man and another a disgraced hero who has reformed himself only to be doomed. The enemy is the friend and the friend the enemy. Wonderful author. This is a book not only about an alternative past but people with very real prolems in a very real life. Clever clever author
1698032
A different type of book for me, but I did like it. The book occurs after a fictional devastating war. Kip has moved out of his home to a small airport which has fuel and a generator for power. There is also a small airplane that he can use to go around the perimeter of the airport to watch out for other survivors who come to kill so she's can have a more advantageous place to live and are willing to kill to get it. Kip lives with another survivor who is more radical. One day, kip hears an SOS on his radio but loses the signal. It's always on his mind but he doesn't follow up on it for a while. A new subplot is developed. This book centers on how some people can turn really evil in a crisis and how some can retain most of their goodness. Give it a try.
3878973
This book smacks of a Gibson style world but has it's own interesting twist of and alternate future. It's a good read.
4426059
Seems to be a fantastical book. The age old fight between good and evil as a young girl/woman struggles against the expectations of place, time and gender. It is also a struggle between a step-mother, Anna and step-daughter Vasya. Anna is set in her spiritual beliefs/religious and doesn't understand the child. Vasya is blessed/cursed and sees beyond beliefs and into the world of magical beings and nature. I seldom read fantasy but this book has historical and paranormal aspects. It is set in the harsh and often unforgiving Russia in the 14th century. It takes patience to get to where the subtle changes start to happen and you can see in the 2nd half of the book why you were given so much information on how the world was built for the readers. I look forward to reading future books by Ms. Arden.
1947233
First off, this isn't a typical Amazon title, rather it is the product of PS Publishing, which puts out limited, signed editions by various science fiction and fantasy authors. Specifically, "The Human Front" was limited to 400 hardcover and another 500 paperback copies, all of which have long since sold out from the publisher. That said, there are copies available on the internet, and fans of alternate history will definitely want to track this one down.
As I alluded to above, "The Human Front" is Ken MacLeod's take on alternate history, but anyone who knows MacLeod knows it will be anything but conventional. Actually, it does start off conventionally enough: it's the early 1960's and World War III has been raging with varying degrees of ferocity since 1949. Joe Stalin is a romanticized guerrilla fighter in the model of Che, and the Soviet Union has been beaten down to the point where the allies have installed a government in Petrograd.
Macleod rather cleverly juxtaposes roles in this world; in addition to Stalin, JFK is reviled as a butcher ("Hey, Hey, JFK, how many kids have you killed today?"). By so doing, he obliterates the myths of the past, and rather shrewdly, points out that historical interpretation is largely a function of the circumstances in which one lives, or more simply, a result of how the past turned out. While he is no apologist for Stalin (by any stretch) he creates a plausible reality where he is revered as a pragmatic, dedicated revolutionary, rather than reviled as a butcher. Thus removed from our known context he can create an absurd inversion that nonetheless sheds light on how we view our own heroes.
However, instead of following this believable alternate reality to a logical conclusion, MacLeod throws a curveball in the main character, John Matheson's, enigmatic encounter with one of the U.S.'s strange disc shaped bombers. Although the next twenty pages of narrative are fairly conventional, MacLeod has set the stage, and everything thereafter is tainted by this puzzling mystery.
To go any further would spoil the plot, but suffice it to say that the novel takes numerous bizarre twists before arriving at a fascinating ending. Specifically, unlike most Alternate History, which revels in an outcome discrete from reality, MacLeod attempts to reconcile his world to our own in a manner reminiscent of Philip K. Dick's "The Man in the High Castle". The mechanism of this reconciliation is completely original without being outlandish, and the statement made is simple but profound. In essence, MacLeod is arguing that we are all victims of circumstance, that, generally speaking, shaping the world's destiny is beyond the individual. Thus, it is left to each of us to live as best we can, in the hopes that the cumulative result is something better than where we started. At the same time, unlike much Alternate History, (and particularly what one would expect from such a politically conscious writer) MacLeod isn't entirely displeased with the path history has taken, and actually seems to find it better than many of the alternatives.
MacLeod packs more into the seventy-five pages of "The Human Front" than most authors do in novels four times as long. He has blended so many genres, I've lost count, and it's almost unfair to categorize it as Alternate History, in spite of the fact that it won the Sidewise Award for best Short Form Alternate History in 2001. Rather, MacLeod created a true SF hybrid, that evokes the best of many different themes. At the same time, he has written a character driven novel that explores some interesting themes around meaning and purpose. Ultimately, this is a work of literature in which the content far surpasses what one might expect from the length.
Jake Mohlman