Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #185171 in Books
• Published on: 2003-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 496 pages

Customer Reviews

A Stirling Tale
This is an excellent read. It combines elements of the classics of Hope, Kipling and Haggard, into an alternative universe of the 21st Century.
The basic premise is a meteorite strike in the 1870's essentially scoured civilisation from Europe and North America. The remains of the British empire have decamped to the Jewel in the Crown, India. A century latter, the author carefully recreates the world which results from this event, as a backdrop to a trilling adventure story. It was interesting of the author, an American, not to have the US present except as a collection of struggling city states. Also the empire is not an English empire, but more an Indian one, where the former conquerors have been blended and mixed into the gloriously diverse makeup of the subcontinent.
I have not been really a fan of the author, lukewarm to his Drakkan series & finding his Islanders fairly okay. Hopefully, this will the start of a new series.

A new fascinating alternate history scenario
After the Fall (multiple asteroids or comets impacting the Earth at high speed in 1877) the Western civilization survives in British India and is menaced by a true evil empire, a Czar ruling from Samarkand and worshipping the Black God with human sacrifices. As a character says, the plot has "vile villains, a beautiful princess and a valiant knight" in it, but on the background you can appreciate the meticulous research which led to a successful world building: history, politics, religion, technology, all subtly different from ours. The only flaw lies IMHO in too much clearcut good vs. evil characters, unlike the more ambiguous, but more rich in depth, characters of his former novels, like Eric von Shrakenberg in the Draka trilogy or Isketerol in the Nantucket series.

All in all, another must for AH buffs (and not only for them) from a leading author

Wonderful Book
What an excellent read this was! Well written, fast paced and exciting.
The feel of the Indian Army was just right and the playing of "The Great Game" was given a whole new meaning.
I haven't enjoyed a book so much in a long time.