Into the Darkness

I usually enjoy Harry Turtledove’s books quite a lot, and was looking forward for some time to reading this one. The setting certainly seemed promising: World War 2, but set in a world in which magic is real and provides the equivalent of many of the things that we achieve with technology. Thus, soldiers do battle with “sticks”, essentially magic wands that shoot beams of heat, dragons serve as aerial fighters and bombers, and so forth. There are nations in the world of Into the Darkness that are geopolitical analogues of the warring nations of the Second World War here in the “real world”.

I found this book to be a mixed bag. It certainly had its moments. But overall, I found it somewhat disappointing. The emphasis on male show more characters constantly wenching, or talking about wenching, or thinking about wenching, persisted from start to finish, and quickly became tiresome. Some of the threads of the story seemed downright boring. I admit that I am curious about what might happen to some members of the very large cast of characters, whether we will see equivalents of major historical events like Stalingrad, Midway, and others, and if so, what they might look like in this setting. But the “Darkness” series consists of six books, and I don’t think I want to wade through five more books if they sometimes become the sort of slog that this one sometimes was. show less

An interesting idea, World War 2 retold in a fantasy world with no technology. Dragons replace airplanes, etc. In general this follows the plot of WW2, but in Turtledove's own world. Like another reviewer I spent a lot of time in the first 2 books matching real countries to the countries in the book. The novels follow participants on all sides and civilians, and it was a fun book to read. As difficult as it may be for us to believe now, this actually happened, so while the plot may seem arbitrary and unlikely, its just the story of how World War 2 happened, in a fantasy world.

Seems to be an alternate history fantasy more than just a fantasy. Well written and enjoyable, but not interesting enough for me to want to read any more in the series. And Turtledove threw in completely unnecessary sexually graphic descriptions that just didn't add anything but lasciviousness to the overall plot.

i picked up this book shortly after having been introduced to the fantasy genre. thank goodness it was only after having read good fantasy that i encountered this. i never finished this book, and i can say it is definitely some of the worst writing i've ever attempted, fantasy or otherwise.

turtledove jumps from one pov character to another so rapidly in the beginning that the reader is incapable of forming so much as an opinion, much less a connection, with any of them. aside from that, the political situation as spelled out here, and even more so the characters' responses to it, are so ludicrous - so far from being even remotely realistic in their portrayal, it was laughable. a reader simply cannot accept such a huge cast of characters show more with seemingly not a one of them holding an ounce of practical intelligence.

while this wasn't the first fantasy book i ever picked up, it was the first turtledove book i ever attempted. it was so horrific, it is also now and forever the last. show less

A Fantasy world War II, with some elements of Magic like Dragons. Overall , I prefer this treatment to the "In the Balance" series by the same author.