Harry Turtledove is known for his alternate histories; from The Guns of the South to The Great War: American Front, he's practiced at imagining the ways society would have changed if various things had been different in history. Sometimes it's a key figure surviving (or dying); other times it's a strange new variable, like aliens landing during World War II. With Into the Darkness, Turtledove investigates a new wrinkle in this successful field: What if a world war were fought using magic?

Although Into the Darkness doesn't take place on Earth, the characters are humans, and they react in plausible ways. In fact, the uses of magic for political ends are eerily similar to the ways weapons have been used to wage cold wars in our own world. And as the magic grows more powerful, the destructive cost of war to the people of Derlavai grows as well. This is no enchanting fantasy world where kindly old wizards use their magic to kill dragons and save fair maidens. Turtledove has envisioned a place where the humans are decidedly political and greedy, and where magic is just a way of getting what you want. --Adam Fisher


From Publishers Weekly
War is hell and its chaos is a precarious foundation for supporting the sprawl of this epic fantasy. Paralleling the approach of his bestselling alternative histories, Turtledove (Guns of the South, the Worldwar series, etc.) imagines a civilization reminiscent of medieval Europe, save that sorcery is an accessible power harnessed for military use. In the land of Derlavai, armies tap the energy of ley lines for firepower, train dragons to drop incendiary eggs and commandeer leviathans for submarine warfare. Troubles begin when the armed forces of Algarve invade the kingdom of Forthweg to reclaim territories partitioned from them a generation before. Neighboring Unkerlant follows suit, occupying the remainder of Forthweg and competing with Algarve for control of the balkanized duchies drawn into the fray. Turtledove builds a panoramic narrative from the experiences of a cast of hundreds intended to represent a cross-section of Derlavian society, including inexperienced student Ealstan, sensible foreign minister Hajjaj, decadent marchioness Krasta, noble officer Rather, and Vanai, a descendant of the fallen Kaunian culture whose pervasive presence throughout Derlavai lends events an aura of fatalism. Cogently rendered scenes in which these and other characters display the extremes of cowardice and heroism induced by life during wartime give the novel a Tolstoyan sweep, yet never gel into anything resembling a cohesive plot. Dizzying shifts of viewpoint capture the convulsive character of combat but make allegiances hard to keep straight. Even the spectacular war scenes, described with frontline immediacy, become repetitive and generic. Like the casualties that crowd its pages, this novel sometimes seems a victim of overly complicated designs. Author tour. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
A declaration of hostilities between the Kingdom of Algarve and the leaderless Duchy of Bari brings a host of nations into the conflict and spawns a World War that unleashes an outpouring of magic across the land. The acknowledged master of alternate history (the Worldwar series; The Guns of the South, LJ 9/1/92) now turns his attention to "pure" fantasy in his latest series, a chronicle of war that employs battle mages, fleets of dragons, and the power of ley lines. Encompassing numerous perspectives, from the nobility to the common soldiers to the hapless peasants of the warring nations, Turtledove's latest effort belongs in most libraries.Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Kirkus Reviews
The setting of alternate-history guru Turtledove's latest doorstopper is a world where magic works but human impulses remain pretty much the same. Here, memories of the Six Years War are still fresh; so that when the Duke of Bari dies, neighboring Algarve loses no time in reabsorbing the provinceto the general approval of both Bari and Algarve. But nearby nations, traditional enemies of Algarve, have already prepared treaties against just such an eventuality, and now they jointly declare war on Algarve. Magical wars are weird analogues of technologically more familiar conflicts, as squadrons of dragons drop explosive ``eggs'' and strafe the ground with fire; troop carriers move swiftly and accurately, buoyed up by the energies generated by ley lines; ships navigate along the marine equivalents; and soldiers carry sticks that fire magical laser-beams. And so on. Turtledove (The Great War, 1998, etc.) provides the usual sprawling panorama studded with hundreds of incidents and populated by a cast of thousands. But, as noted before in these pages, hes without the knack of penning lifelike characters. He isn't noted, either, for sheer innovation, and, in the absence of historical or geographical referents that might create some resonance, it's not at all clear why any of it should matter. Turtledove devotees will probably want to give it the once-over, but there's little here to attract the uncommitted. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Review
"World War II buffs will search for further reflections in Turtledove's fantastic mirror, but they will also, like other readers, be quickly caught up in the sheer ingenuity of the tale. It leaves us wanting more." --Booklist (starred review)



Review
"World War II buffs will search for further reflections in Turtledove's fantastic mirror, but they will also, like other readers, be quickly caught up in the sheer ingenuity of the tale. It leaves us wanting more." --Booklist (starred review)



Book Description
When the Duke of Bari suddenly dies, the neighboring nation of Algarve, long seething over its defeat a generation ago in the Six Years' War, sees its chance to bring Bari into the fold...an action which the other countries surrounding Algarve cannot, by treaty, tolerate. As nation after nation declares war, a chain of treaties are invoked, ultimately bringing almost all the Powers of Derlavai into a war of unprecedented destructiveness.

For modern magic is deadlier than in ears past. Trained flocks of dragons rain explosive fire down on defenseless cities. Massed infantry race from place to place along a network of ley-lines. Rival powers harness sea leviathans to help sabotage one another's ships. The lights are going out all across Derlavai, and will not come back on in this lifetime.

Against this tapestry Harry Turtledove tells the story of an enormous cast of characters: soldiers and generals, washerwomen and scholars, peasants and diplomats. For all the world, highborn and low, is being plunged by world war...into the darkness.



About the Author
Harry Turtledove is the Hugo-winning author of many SF and fantasy novels. His alternate-history novels, include the bestselling The Guns of the South, How Few Remain, the Worldwar series, and the recent Ruled Britannia. He lives with his wife and daughters in Los Angeles.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
The War to End All Wars
Harry Turtledove, the unparalleled master of the alternate-history science fiction/fantasy novel, gives his legions of fans the first in yet another captivating series dealing with world war. Into the Darkness presents the reader with several engaging, historically familiar elements that are soon cultivated in the depths of Turtledove's imagination. Here we have numerous political complexities, hundreds of characters, and a tense milieu that quickly grows even tauter, until a dozen countries lie on the brink of planetary annihilation. Author of bestsellers like How Few Remain, The Guns of the South, and Colonization: Second Contact , Turtledove proceeds to draw his readers into worlds of neverwhen as his narrative voice continues to sharpen and his skill at weaving a highly innovative but authentic tapestry develops even further.

When the Duke of Bari dies without an heir, the neighboring kingdom of Algarve attempts to reclaim Bari as its own. The people of Algarve still fume over their bitter defeat in the Six Years War, when Bari broke free as an independent country. However, the political intricacies of the realm are plentiful and precarious, with many treaties between nations already forcing allies into two camps: those who will defend Bari and war with Algarve, and those who will fight alongside Algarve in the coming conflicts. In this world, magic works, and squadrons of "stupid and vicious" dragons drop bomb-like eggs and breathe flames across the countryside. Using "ley-lines" of inherent natural earth magic to empowerthemselves, troops deploy and attack on land and sea, and in the air. Deep-sea beasts attack ships, while infantrymen battle one another with magical sticks of energy. No one is untouched by the unfolding events, as soldiers, noblewomen, and children are pulled into the ever-widening repercussions and consequences of the worldwide battles. As the war rages on, the lights of the land begin to flicker out one by one, perhaps not to be seen again for generations to come.

Unlike Turtledove's Civil War alternate history novels and his World War series, Into the Darkness doesn't use real historical figures to propel the story line. The author is content with taking some similarities to the events of World War I and imposing them upon a magical realm where humanity is marred by the same foibles, greed, flawed characters, and propensity for violence as is our own. Turtledove piles skirmishes and incidents one upon the other, threading them together to weave a gripping and powerful tale of intrigue which is fantastical but has underpinnings of realistic politics. The huge cast calls for a Dramatis Personae listing at the front of the book, as viewpoints switch rapidly from person to person, country to country, peasant to soldier, scholar to student to nobleman. An especially positive note for Turtledove's fans is that with his penning of a World War I fantasy, readers can expect to find the groundwork for a World War II fantasy series already there. Into the Darkness is a powerful foundation for future stories of a darkening world that must put away its painful past and find peace before it can rediscover its own lost light.

-- Tom Piccirilli

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Harry Turtledove turns his hand to a story of epic dimensions: the story of a World War in a world where magic works. When the Duke of Bari suddenly dies, the neighboring nation of Algarve, long seething over its defeat a generation ago in the Six Years' War, sees its chance to bring his small country back, as they see it, into the Algarvian fold ... an action which the other countries surrounding Algarve cannot, by treaty, tolerate. As nation after nation declares war, a chain of treaties are invoked, ultimately bringing almost all the Powers into a war of unprecedented destructiveness. For modern magic is deadlier than in eras past. Trained flocks of dragons rain explosive fire down on defenseless cities. Massed infantry race from place to place along a sophisticated network of ley-lines. Rival powers harness sea leviathans to help sabotage one another's ships. The lights are going out all across Derlavai, and will not come back on in this lifetime. Against this tapestry Harry Turtledove tells the story of an enormous cast of characters: soldiers and generals, washerwomen and scholars, peasants and diplomats. For all the world, highborn and low, is being plunged by world war ... into the darkness.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

A declaration of hostilities between the Kingdom of Algarve and the leaderless Duchy of Bari brings a host of nations into the conflict and spawns a World War that unleashes an outpouring of magic across the land. The acknowledged master of alternate history (the Worldwar series; The Guns of the South, LJ 9/1/92) now turns his attention to "pure" fantasy in his latest series, a chronicle of war that employs battle mages, fleets of dragons, and the power of ley lines. Encompassing numerous perspectives, from the nobility to the common soldiers to the hapless peasants of the warring nations, Turtledove's latest effort belongs in most libraries.

Steven H. Silver

Into the Darkness is the first novel of a projected six-book series. Although the battles hold up well for the single book, they'll begin to grow stale long before Turtledove reaches the final book. Fortunately, he introduces enough subplots, magical, political, and romantic, that he should have enough to focus on as the series moves towards its end.
— SF Site

Kirkus Reviews

The setting of alternate-history guru Turtledove's latest doorstopper is a world where magic works but human impulses remain pretty much the same. Here, memories of the Six Years' War are still fresh; so that when the Duke of Bari dies, neighboring Algarve loses no time in reabsorbing the province—to the general approval of both Bari and Algarve. But nearby nations, traditional enemies of Algarve, have already prepared treaties against just such an eventuality, and now they jointly declare war on Algarve. Magical wars are weird analogues of technologically more familiar conflicts, as squadrons of dragons drop explosive "eggs" and strafe the ground with fire; troop carriers move swiftly and accurately, buoyed up by the energies generated by ley lines; ships navigate along the marine equivalents; and soldiers carry sticks that fire magical laser-beams. And so on. Turtledove (The Great War, 1998, etc.) provides the usual sprawling panorama studded with hundreds of incidents and populated by a cast of thousands. But, as noted before in these pages, he's without the knack of penning lifelike characters. He isn't noted, either, for sheer innovation, and, in the absence of historical or geographical referents that might create some resonance, it's not at all clear why any of it should matter. Turtledove devotees will probably want to give it the once-over, but there's little here to attract the uncommitted.