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Darkness Descending | Rating | |
| A | |||
| Harry Turtledove | |||
| Series | Related Books | ||
| The Darkness | Into the Darkness, Darkness Descending, Through the Darkness, Rulers of the Darkness, Jaws of Darkness, Out of the Darkness | ||
The Derlavian War grinds on, now involving nearly every nation in the southern hemisphere. Only Ortah, protected by swamps and mountains, remains at peace, the eye of this massive hurricane. Algarve has conquered Jagelva and Valmiera, Forthweg and Sibiu. Now they aim to smash the kingdom of Unkerlant with a drive for the capital. But Unkerlant is a massive land with hordes of peasants to draw on for strength. The cannot match Algarve for skill, but their numbers just might make up the difference.
I enjoyed this book, even more than the last. All the good aspects are still there - the massive war shown in detail from multiple viewpoints via a huge cast of characters, the familiar-yet-different weaponry. But by now, the second book, I had no problem remembering who is who and where on the map they are. And the countries are also beginning to show definite signs of real-world analogies. Unkerlant is looking more and more like the Soviet Union under Stalin, and Algarve is clearly Germany. Forthweg is Poland, Valmiera is France, and Yania is Italy. But Turtledove wisely doesn't make the countries too similar to real world counterparts, and not every country has a counterpart at all.
I also enjoyed how things heated up. The combatants start resorting to outright murder in order to fuel their magics. This makes things so much more desperate for those under the knife, and implies that things are not going well for the armies themselves. A character actually manages to get killed, as well, which helps. The story from that perspective is promptly taken up by a companion, so it affects little in the story. But it does provide the impression that nobody is safe.
The only downside is the same one as the first, as well. With so many characters, each with their own story to tell, things can proceed at a crawl at times, at least for that individual character. The story of Pekka the research mage, for instance, seems to be drawn out forever. Other character's tales, like the soldiers', are more given to showing the progress of the war itself, and so overlap a great deal; their stories, the main story, goes at a perfectly satisfactory pace, I feel. But others do not.
It isn't quite necessary to read Into the Darkness in order to understand this book. Turtledove provides enough mentions of how things began to satisfy a reader who starts here. I still would highly recommend it, though. It will help the enjoyment of this novel immensely.
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