Dale Cozort

Dale Cozort’s second Exchange novel continues from book one in a nicely consistent manner, inviting new readers with just enough hints of backstory to motivate the action, while keeping past readers satisfied by leaving the details untold. There’s a powerful theme of unbelonging, as characters with complex histories of deeds good and bad carve a life in their strange new world, while justice devolves into fear and the need to survive.

Well-researched science backs the mystery of intersecting worlds. Well-plotted action and well-drawn characters bring it to life. And well-hidden depths await exploration and discovery. All this makes Devouring Wind a cool story, action-filled with just the right amount of occasional violence and romance, offering plenty for readers to think about. No cardboard cutouts here—every good guy has a dark side and every darkness has some window to light.

The story’s complete. The exchange comes to its end, again. But who is the girl? What do the green monkeys know? And what will happen next? I’m eagerly hoping there’ll be more.

Disclosure: I was given a copy and I offer my honest review.… (lisätietoja)

You could also call this "What if World War II played out exactly like a game of Axis & Allies", with the obvious difference that A&A starts with Germany and the US already at war--but come on, any American player who doesn't concentrate on the Pacific is gonna have a lot of trouble winning. The major difference in the thread is that this is (fictional) real life, not a board game, so logistics and resources of course play a major, major role. Japan goes down to defeat by 1944, after nasty fighting in the Indonesian oil fields (where the Japanese get to use their army to full effect, unlike IRL) and a politically unloseable but militarily draining and irrelevant fight in the Philippines. The end of the Pacific war is seriously ugly, with the putative invasion of the home islands, tonnes of famine and horror, dug-in resistance throughout the Co-Prosperity Sphere, and an even more godawful mess in China (where Chiang and Mao are colliding hard over the ruins of Japanese supremacy as early as 1943) and even to a degree India (where the shift in Japanese focus to Asia from the Pacific has led to a large increase in funding to anti-British activists).


Meanwhile, in Europe, Germany has not run roughshod or anything, but everything has happened a little bit faster and a little bit better--as the cracks in their war machine begin to show, the question becomes whether the additional damage they have inflicted on the Soviets will be enough to tip the balance in a different direction than historically. The capture of the Caucasus oil fields is a huge issue here, as is the minimal impact of Lend-Lease (although Roosevelt is still fighting for more). Britain is largely impotent, and the Germans own the Middle East, but they are having trouble keeping it--Rommel has minimal resources, and the Brits aren't that impotent. The Russians cannot wait the Germans out, and are preparing a final blow, after which the only option is endless disappearance, defeating them by withdrawing into Siberia to the point where they just can't keep up anymore. Both Germans and Russians are putting out feelers for peace, of course, but in the absence of a big defeat, overconfidence still reigns in Berlin and the Germans don't get yet how overextended they really are. The Americans are divided, and Roosevelt is looking for a way to get in on the European war.


It's a bigger war, with more death, and as yet an unclear result, because, maddeningly, this is a speculative essay. The alternatehistory.com thread is slowly working toward a conclusion, but I'm totally gonna forget, which is a shame because this is clear, cogent, and goes into amazing strategic detail and depth without getting too hung up on the kind of detail and depth most WWII detail-and-depth men flock to--T34 specs and shit like that. It is a fascinating take on 1940s geopolitics, and if only Axis & Allies represented things like oil fields, it would have all kinds of implications for the game I'm looking forward to this Sunday. Alternate History Newsletter.… (lisätietoja)