This book is the first in the Draka series and, in my opinion, possibly the best of the bunch. So much has been written (mostly online) about the series that it’s hard to know where to start, but I’ll give it a try anyway.
Basically the book starts with a map of the world as it is supposed to be in this 1942 timeline. What we see is a Nazi Germany that has apparently conquered most of Europe (except the UK), including the part Russian European. a remnant Soviet regime beyond the Urals, a Japan that has conquered the eastern half of China, the East Indies and a large part of Australia, a USA that includes all of North and Central America, from the Arctic to Panama , South America divided between 4 big countries and, most surprisingly, a whole new country, the “Draka Dominion”, which includes all of Africa, the Middle East, Turkey, Central Asia and the western half of China.
The novel itself is a war story, but with much more background both in the plot and in the fictional quotes (from books, letters, etc.) that precede each chapter. The idea is basically that the Draka are entering the war against Nazi Germany, and an American journalist (perhaps based on William L. Shirer) is sent to cover the events. The Draka themselves are a dystopian society, a mutant descendant of South African apartheid mixed with the slave-owning societies of the Caribbean and the American South, with a Spartan-like militarism for good measure.
Perhaps one of the main reasons these novels have garnered so much attention is that the Draka are frequently used as point-of-view characters. This is obviously neither comfortable nor uncontroversial given the abhorrent nature of Draka society: some people have wrongly claimed that Stirling is somehow sympathetic to these views (he has made it very clear that he is not). Another thing is that the Draka are very well equipped: with automatic rifles, tanks similar to an M1A1 Abrams, planes similar to A-10 Thunderbolt II, and as a result, some readers say they almost feel sorry for their enemies. – that in this novel are Nazis.
At the end of the novel are some notes on various aspects of Draka society and a timeline covering the period from the origins of the Draka in the 18th century to their conquest of all of Europe (except the United Kingdom) and most of Asia. . , at the end of the analogue of World War II (known as the “Eurasian War”).
As I’ve hinted at throughout this review, with the maps, the fake quotes, the notes on Draka society, and the timeline, the book comes across as if it were serious alternate history. Of course, this is another reason for the controversy, as we have a war that starts much like our Second World War (and in the appendix timeline, we also have World War I, the Russo-Japanese War, American Civil War etc.), complete with historical figures like Hitler, Goering, Daladier, De Gaulle, despite the fact that there is a massive militaristic slave society on Europe’s doorstep. If you believe in the butterfly effect, this is just awesome, but even if you don’t, you would expect some of the other powers to factor this into their diplomatic and military policies rather than fight each other until they are eventually outmatched.
The plausibility of Draka society has also been criticized: they are over-industrialized and over-militarized, despite being a slave-owning aristocracy. They grow incredibly fast: Less than 20 years after settling in South Africa as a struggling British colony with a small population, they have not only conquered the French colonies in West Africa, but have also conquered Ceylon, Egypt, Crete and Tunisia. I could go on, but the gist of this criticism is that they grow too much, too fast, and in a way that is arguably inconsistent with the type of society they have.
Did you know? I don’t think it matters. What makes these novels worth reading and enjoying, or at least interesting to many people, has nothing to do with whether or not they are plausible.
I think the Draka are simply Stirling’s idea of the worst and strongest possible bad guys. You’ll also notice that in the Draka series, you’ll also run into just about every favorite alternate story device, from airships to Project Orion, and from steam-powered war cars to parallel worlds, and I think that’s part of the same pattern. My impression is that Stirling is trying to push the genre to the limit, and using Draka as point of view characters is just another one of those games that Stirling plays with his readers.