The Company of the Dead

November 7, 2011
Time travel, airships, the Titanic, Roswell: from these well-worn bones, Kowalski builds a decidedly original creature that blends military science fiction, conspiracy theory, alternate history, and even a dash of romance. In a very different 2012, Joseph Kennedy, a major in the Confederate army, must play the German and Japanese empires off against each other, as well as the Union and Confederate governments, to save the world from meddling time travelers who could bring about humanity’s extinction. The weary, gritty mood of men pushing themselves beyond endurance lends an emotionally compelling touch to even the woolliest aspects of the plot, such as where the time machine came from, how it works, and why it gives people strange visions. Unfortunately, the female characters are mostly offstage and passive; Kowalski is best at exploring the much more complex relationships among male allies, enemies, and rivals.

Starred review from January 1, 2012

Its daunting length notwithstanding, Kowalski's first novel (originally published in Australia in 2004, where it won two prestigious sf awards) is a tightly plotted, action-packed tale that will satisfy speculative-history buffs and lovers of political thrillers alike. Titanic enthusiast Jonathan Wells, having discovered a means of time travel, stages a well-intentioned but ill-considered attempt to avert the sinking of the doomed liner on April 15, 1912. The attempt proves fruitless but changes that night's events just enough to keep the United States out of World War I. By the 21st century, unchecked German and Japanese aggression has reduced America to a third-rate power, its streets occupied by Japanese soldiers and fragmented by a second Southern secession. Enter Joseph Kennedy, Confederate intelligence operative and fictional scion of the iconic American clan, who comes across Wells's diary, recovered from the Titanic's wreckage. Convinced that an unaltered history, even one containing the horrors of the 20th century that we know, is preferable to the present with its looming prospect of a civilization-ending war, he decides to try to change history back. VERDICT Despite some overlong expository passages in its early chapters, this is an enthralling read, populated with sympathetic characters and believable science.--John Harvey, Irving P.L., TX

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