Well, let me first give you an introduction to Harry Turtledove. I guess he's the master of alternative fiction. He did stuff like what would happen if the confederates had AK-47's, or if aliens invaded during World War II. That kind of stuff. Well, in "Into the Darkness" Turtledove sets world war two in a fantasy world. So, he has dragons instead of airplanes, behemoths instead of tanks. And magic instead of science, etc. The concept is ok, but it really gives the atmosphere of early 20th century Europe with dragons, not a medivel atmosphere or anything.
Well, for a brief summary of the plot, with the connections to the real world. 30 years ago, the mighty nation of Algarve (Germany) was defeated by the forces of Valmeria, Jelgava (either or both of which could be France) Sibiu, (Belgium????) Unkerlant (Russia) and the Forthwegian people (Polish people). The war resulted in Algarve giving up possesion of the Duchy of Bari, and the nation of Forthweg (Poland) being formed from parts of the old Unkerlant and Algarve. Then, Unkerlant goes into a civil war (the Russian civil war) where two twins, Kyot (either the Romonovs or Trosky) and Swemmel (Stalin, or a combination of all the commies), argue over which one was born first.
Of course, Swemmel wins in the end.
Well, the book starts off when the Duke or Bari dies, leaving no heir. Seeing an oppertunity, King Mezentio (a really nice Hitler) seizes the Duchy, to the pleasure of everyone in Algarve and Bari. (this is probably the seizing of Czechoslovokia/Austria/Denmark by Hitler. Although in real life, none of those actions produced a reaction from any other countries. When Hitler invaded Poland, the Allied first declared war on him. But it certainly isn't Poland he seized, because Poland is Forthweg.) But anyway, Valmeria and Jelgava don't like this much, and they decide to stop Algarve by force. Thus, they attack Algarve, joined by Forthweg, and Sibui. Meanwhile, Unkerlank is finishing off a war with the neighboring country of Gyongos (either China or Japan. I'm leaning towards Japan)
King Swemmel decides that he doesn't like it very much that he isn't really gaining any ground on Gyongyos, and decides to invade the pre-occupied country of Forthweg. Thus, Forthweg is split between Unkerlant and Algarve, (Germany and the USSR deviding up Poland)
Now that Algarve has the western front all taken care of, it is free to take care of the Eastern countries one by one. It invades the island nation of Sibui from a sneak naval attack, and it manages to use its new behemoth (tank) formations and dragons (airplanes) to defeat Valmeria. The completition of their invasion of Jelgava isn't far away. Meanwhile, Swemmel looks to expand his territory, and invades Zuwayza. The attack is originally disastrous, because of the harsh Zuwayza desert. But, eventually they come to a peace with much of the land Zuwayza had going to Unkerlant (not all of it). (Now, I can't really figure this out, because nothing I know of happened like this in the second world war).
Meanwhile, the Algarvians are treating the ethnic Kaunians (both the Jews and the Romans) with very little rights.
In Valmeria, an former officer and some of his troops are harrassing the occupying Algarvian forces (French resistance)
The invasion of Sibui has dragged Lagoas (Britain) in to the war. While all this is going on, Kuusamo (Probably America, small chance its Japan) is waring with Gyongyos over a small island nation, Obodu (Hawaii? Korea?) And, the mages of Kuusamo are developing a link between the laws of contagion and similarity, which would revolutionize magic. (the Manhattan prodject)
Swemmel is getting impacient, and its evident that war will occur between Algarve and Unkerlant. But who attacks who is still a mystery. Will Mezentio rule the world? Will Swemmel? Will the forces of Kuusamo join those of Lagoas in fighting Algarve in the east, while the harsh Unkerlant winter defeats the forces of Algarve, eventually defeating the Algarvians? Will the winners then split Algarve in four parts, later to have the Lagoan, Kuusamoian, and Valmerian sections of both the country the capital city being combined, while the Unkerlantians build a large wall down the capital of Algarve, in an attempt to keep their people in? Will that wall then fall under the reforms of an Unkerlantian king with a funny birthmark on his head? If you want the answers to these and many other questions, read the book yourself, and the sequal (Descending Darkness).
Well, as for the actual book. The setting was much like a semi-modern European setting: there wasn't that much archaic things. Magic was treated just like a science, and the societies as very modern. The plot is interesting, and it does kind of draw you along, but if you know much about history, you can kind of guess what is going to happen next. Part of the fun was to guess who was who and stuff. Hmmm, looks like I just ruined your fun, eh? But at first, I thought that there were far too many characters, with many of them too similar to each other to get attached to any of them. However, after a few hundred pages, I was able to begin to cheer for certain characters, and despise others. Many of the characters were realistic, and they began to show real development (like when Skarnu turning into a sheepish officer who does nothing but listen to his seargant, to becoming a real leader of soldiers)
Overall, I'd say it was definately a good book, although not the greatest I've ever read. Its kind of original, but not really, because it really resembles the traditional WWII story. But the idea of putting it in a fantasy setting is cool.
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