After the Downfall

October 13, 2008
Alternate historian Turtledove (The Man with the Iron Heart
) opens this fantasy with Hasso Pemsel, a tough Wehrmacht captain, cornered in a Berlin museum as the Russians close in. Pemsel falls into another world, where he promptly rescues beautiful blonde half-goddess Velona from three swarthy men. Velona seduces him and explains that the blond Lenelli invaders rule over the dark native Grenye, keeping them subjugated with magic. Experienced from fighting on the Russian front, Hasso brings modern military ideas to the Lenelli before they invade the Grenye stronghold of Bucovin, but when the Grenye capture him, conversations with intelligent, lovely high priestess Drepteaza start to erode his assumptions about both races. Pemsel's slow enlightenment breaks no new ground, but his story will appeal to fans of Turtledove's straightforward style and military know-how.

April 1, 2009
Adult/High School-This alternate history opens with German Captain Hasso Pemsel battling Russian soldiers amid the ruins of the Museum district in war-torn Berlin. With nothing to lose, he decides to sit on a museum artifact labeled the navel of the world, and he's whisked into a parallel universe. He finds himself in a medieval-seeming place inhabited by two people at war with one another: large, blond, arrogant, and technologically superior Lenelli and smaller, swarthy, defensive, and wily Grenye. Turtledove's third-person narration from Pemsel's perspective provides excellent descriptions of the sights and smells of a medieval city, details about technology and strategy in warfare, and suspenseful battle scenes. The male characters are well developed through dialogue and action, and although most of the women are merely sexual partners, Velona and Drepteaza, priestesses of Lenelli and Grenye, respectively, present formidable challenges to Pemsel. A few are wizards with magical abilities, and a couple of unicorns make minor appearances, but this is not a fantasy novel. The story is well paced, alternating among battle scenes, strategic planning, political intrigue, romance, and the captain's insights about human nature."Sondra VanderPloeg, Colby-Sawyer College, New London, NH"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2008
An ancient relic flings Germany army captain Hasso Pemsel from the ruins of doomed Berlin to a fantastic though also war-torn other world. There he falls among the tall, blond Lenelli and in love with their goddess incarnate, Velona. At first he willingly helps the Lenelli in their war against the short, dark, barbarian Grenye, but soon he sees that his friends are making the same mistakes that the Third Reich did in its death-duel with the Russians. He knows where that course leads. After the Grenye capture him, it becomes even clearer to him that any war of extermination is a bad idea, but this one is especially so because Velona uses her magic to try to terminate him for sleeping with Grenye women. When he genuinely falls for one of the latter, the die is cast. He develops gunpowder, equips the Grenye with dragon-bone amulets to resist enemy magic, and discovers wizardly powers of his own. Modest by Turtledoves standards but intelligently carried out.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)