Gunpowder Empire by Harry Turtledove
Series: Crosstime Traffic #1
on 2003
Genres: Type III - Soft
Pages: 286
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased
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Series Rating:

Premise – Point of Divergence (POD)

Homeline: The discovery by Galbraith and Hester in the 2040's on the home timeline of the alternatives allows the creation of 'Crosstime Traffic'. Traffic is undertaken via capsules.

Agrippan Rome: General Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa did not die until much later and thus oversaw the conquest of Germania. Agrippa later succeeded Augustus as emperor, and laid the foundation for a more stable and longer-lived empire.

The Story

Jeremy Solter is a teenager growing up in the late 21st century. During the school year, his family lives in Southern California - but during the summer the whole family lives and works in the city of Polisso, on the frontier of the Roman Empire. Not the Roman Empire that fell centuries ago, but a Roman Empire that never fell.

For we now have the technology to move between the timelines, and to exploit the untapped resources of those timelines that are hospitable to human life. So we send traders and business people - but as whole-family groups in order to keep the secret of Crosstime Traffic to ourselves.

But when Jeremy's parents duck back home for emergency medical treatment, the gateways stop working. So do all the communications links. Jeremy and his sister are on their own. Polisso is suddenly under siege, and there's only so much you can do when cannonballs are crashing through your roof ...

The Review

Obviously this was developed as a primer and a way of introducing young adults to the Alternate History genre. As a result there is a lot of info dumping as the young reader is introduced, whether they like it or not, to the concept of alternate histories.

I enjoyed the book, but there certainly wasn’t much depth to the characters, and I don’t think Turtledove was able to realistically portray the young brother and sister who were the hero’s of the book.

Turtledove’s strengths have never been his characters, and in this book  restricted by length and a fairly generic back-story he can’t play to his strengths, nor can he play around with history. As a result I think it stumbles as an introduction to the genre.