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Tales from the Black Chamber #1
Black Chamber
The first novel in a brand-new alternate history series where Teddy Roosevelt is president for a second time right before WWI breaks out, and on his side is the Black Chamber, a secret spy network watching America's back.
1916. The Great War rages overseas, and the whole of Europe, Africa, and western Asia is falling to the Central Powers. To win a war that must be won, Teddy Roosevelt, once again the American president, turns to his top secret Black Chamber organization--and its cunning and deadly spy, Luz O'Malley Aróstegui.
On a transatlantic airship voyage, Luz poses as an anti-American Mexican revolutionary to get close--very close--to a German agent code-named Imperial Sword. She'll need every skill at her disposal to get him to trust her and lead her deep into enemy territory. In the mountains of Saxony, concealed from allied eyes, the German Reich's plans for keeping the U.S. from entering the conflict are revealed: the deployment of a new diabolical weapon upon the shores of America...
1916. The Great War rages overseas, and the whole of Europe, Africa, and western Asia is falling to the Central Powers. To win a war that must be won, Teddy Roosevelt, once again the American president, turns to his top secret Black Chamber organization--and its cunning and deadly spy, Luz O'Malley Aróstegui.
On a transatlantic airship voyage, Luz poses as an anti-American Mexican revolutionary to get close--very close--to a German agent code-named Imperial Sword. She'll need every skill at her disposal to get him to trust her and lead her deep into enemy territory. In the mountains of Saxony, concealed from allied eyes, the German Reich's plans for keeping the U.S. from entering the conflict are revealed: the deployment of a new diabolical weapon upon the shores of America...
388 pages, Paperback
First published July 3, 2018
About the author
S.M. Stirling
165 books1,584 followersStephen Michael Stirling is a French-born Canadian-American science fiction and fantasy author. Stirling is probably best known for his Draka series of alternate history novels and the more recent time travel/alternate history Nantucket series and Emberverse series.
MINI AUTO-BIOGRAPHY:
(personal website: source)
I’m a writer by trade, born in France but Canadian by origin and American by naturalization, living in New Mexico at present. My hobbies are mostly related to the craft. I love history, anthropology and archaeology, and am interested in the sciences. The martial arts are my main physical hobby.
MINI AUTO-BIOGRAPHY:
(personal website: source)
I’m a writer by trade, born in France but Canadian by origin and American by naturalization, living in New Mexico at present. My hobbies are mostly related to the craft. I love history, anthropology and archaeology, and am interested in the sciences. The martial arts are my main physical hobby.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 147 reviews
July 18, 2021
Disappointing
For me, and many others, the one thing a good alternate history must be is believable. Unfortunately I did not find BLACK CHAMBER believable in many of its key points.
For instance, it is common in the United States to view the Germans as the bad guys in both WW2 and WW1. While this is clearly pretty much accurate for WW2 it is not so clear for WW1. The Imperial German leadership was not evil or totally to blame for the war. Ineptness certainly contributed to the disaster but they were not anymore evil than the other participants. BLACK CHAMBER portrays them as would be world conquerors and some kind of Nazi prototypes. Though Ludendorf was an extreme right winger, anti Semitic and an early, but inconsistent, Hitler supporter, it seems that he may have been as much nuts as Nazi. Did the Germans have reason to be worried about allied intentions? One example. Not long before the war British First Lord of the Admiralty "Jackie" Fisher publicly advocated "Copenhagening" the German fleet. That is making an unprovoked, surprise attack on the German fleet at anchor.
While it is true that Teddy Roosevelt was one of the first modern progressives, Mr. Stirling describes the book's third administration in terms which would make modern wokes, democrats, leftists, "progressives", socialists of all sorts green with envy. Their cups would over flow if they could achieve just a part of the U.S. described in BLACK CHAMBER. In this, as in many other key points, the author appears to be indulging in pure fantasy.
I generally enjoy character and setting development and asides about various topics. However this book has so much of it that I can only regard it as irritating filler.
Then there is the readers' guide at the end. An awful collection similar to what I would expect to find in juvenile works, particularly those intended for students.
For me, and many others, the one thing a good alternate history must be is believable. Unfortunately I did not find BLACK CHAMBER believable in many of its key points.
For instance, it is common in the United States to view the Germans as the bad guys in both WW2 and WW1. While this is clearly pretty much accurate for WW2 it is not so clear for WW1. The Imperial German leadership was not evil or totally to blame for the war. Ineptness certainly contributed to the disaster but they were not anymore evil than the other participants. BLACK CHAMBER portrays them as would be world conquerors and some kind of Nazi prototypes. Though Ludendorf was an extreme right winger, anti Semitic and an early, but inconsistent, Hitler supporter, it seems that he may have been as much nuts as Nazi. Did the Germans have reason to be worried about allied intentions? One example. Not long before the war British First Lord of the Admiralty "Jackie" Fisher publicly advocated "Copenhagening" the German fleet. That is making an unprovoked, surprise attack on the German fleet at anchor.
While it is true that Teddy Roosevelt was one of the first modern progressives, Mr. Stirling describes the book's third administration in terms which would make modern wokes, democrats, leftists, "progressives", socialists of all sorts green with envy. Their cups would over flow if they could achieve just a part of the U.S. described in BLACK CHAMBER. In this, as in many other key points, the author appears to be indulging in pure fantasy.
I generally enjoy character and setting development and asides about various topics. However this book has so much of it that I can only regard it as irritating filler.
Then there is the readers' guide at the end. An awful collection similar to what I would expect to find in juvenile works, particularly those intended for students.
August 7, 2018
Posted to the Literary Lawyer
A Great Example of Indulgent Writing - 2 Stars
My first experience with S.M. Stirling may very well be my last. If you are looking for a novel in which you get to experience the author’s fantasies and have the privilege of the author explaining to your the MANY topics he researched to write the book, this might be the book for you.
Synopsis
Ignore the canned synopses you will find scattered across the internet. Despite it’s claims, this is not what I would define an alternate history novel. Abandon any hope of a novel that features a larger than life Teddy Roosevelt and his exploits in some alternate time line. The story focuses on Luz, a female spy of the alternate history version of the Black Chamber, the forerunner of the NSA. She is tasked with getting close to a German Agent under the guise of a Mexican revolutionary fighter of who's identity she has stolen. In a series of serendipitous events, her life is saved by a stranger and she stumble upon a secret that is far greater than anyone anticipated. On her wits alone, she crafts a mission to save the United States from the most diabolical attack they have ever faced.
Frustratingly Misleading
This is what I would define lazy alternate history. This may stem from my own understanding this type of the concept. It is my expectation that alternate history takes some events of history, changes the outcome and explores what might natural occur as a result. (As an aside, I would suggest you watch The Man in High Castle for a great example. Maybe even read the book. I can't vouch for the original source material). In this novel the author allegedly uses Teddy Roosevelt serving a second term before WWII as the catalyst for the story. Honestly, I am not a student of American History. Maybe these events and the fictionalized Black Chamber would have been natural outcomes but more realistically, this was a massive stretch in an attempt to make the novel seem more interesting.
I Think I was supposed to be Impressed
There was detail in this book. A LOT of detail. From concepts ranging from electrical engineering, spy techniques, language, history, submarines, rockets and weapons. The author did a considerable amount of research on these topics. How do I know this. The author goes out of his way have the characters spout off lots of facts and details related to each of these (and more) topics. My son loves a book series called My Weird School . One character loves to show off the fact that she read the dictionary. She does this by constantly using big words that no one else understands. This is basically what the author has done. Instead of using the research to craft detailed descriptions or show realistic working of weapons, submarines etc., we get a pages devoted to detail and technical specifications. It wasn’t impressive, it was irritating. To make is worse, the protagonist often speaks in Spanish, without any translation provided. My apologies for being fluent in only one language. This was a major irritant throughout the book.
On top of the author’s indulgences, I found the novel contained a troubling love story that underlies the second half of the novel. It is suggested very early that the main female character is a lesbian or bi-sexual. This is not an issue. I only point this out because it is relevant. It is how the romance evolves that I found disconcerting. At one point in the novel, Luz and Ciara, the love interest/serendipitous partner have a discussion about H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine . In an apparent attempt to show he is aware of the representations of women in literature, the characters briefly discuss the trope of the Nubile Savage in The Time Machine . While the character shows some apparent awareness, the character proceeds to use a mix of “skilled but naïve” and “born sexy yesterday” tropes. Ciara is a rather brilliant and beautiful woman who is both naïve about the world as well as her as of yet unexplored sexuality. I could not help but feel uncomfortable though the novel as it felt that it was the innocence and naïveté (about life and her sexuality) that the main character found attractive and appealing. The characters pointed out how H.G. Wells created a love interest that was a “pet with a bosom” while at the same time creating a love interest that was a pet with a bosom that can also do tricks. While the love interest does well for herself in the end, a love story that resolves around an older experienced character falling for a naïve, younger character falling, largely because of those specific characteristics, is questionable in my mind. On top of what I wrote above, the romance was forged during intensely stressful circumstances in which the naïve character had to largely rely on the older experienced character. Regardless of your take, I find love stories that rely on the inequality of the parties to be troublesome.
Final Thoughts
Despite the attempt to market the book as something it is not, the story is written like an action adventure novel. This is not a problem if you are being honest about what you are writing. A James Rollins novel may not make it to Oprah’s book club, but James Rollins never pretends he is writing anything but action adventure. While the story has the trappings of research, social consciousness and attention to detail, it nothing more than a façade covering an adequately written novel with a questionable plot and a misleading premise. Had the author not tried so hard to convince the reader that this story was something it was not, I would have likely been much kinder in my review.
A Great Example of Indulgent Writing - 2 Stars
My first experience with S.M. Stirling may very well be my last. If you are looking for a novel in which you get to experience the author’s fantasies and have the privilege of the author explaining to your the MANY topics he researched to write the book, this might be the book for you.
Synopsis
Ignore the canned synopses you will find scattered across the internet. Despite it’s claims, this is not what I would define an alternate history novel. Abandon any hope of a novel that features a larger than life Teddy Roosevelt and his exploits in some alternate time line. The story focuses on Luz, a female spy of the alternate history version of the Black Chamber, the forerunner of the NSA. She is tasked with getting close to a German Agent under the guise of a Mexican revolutionary fighter of who's identity she has stolen. In a series of serendipitous events, her life is saved by a stranger and she stumble upon a secret that is far greater than anyone anticipated. On her wits alone, she crafts a mission to save the United States from the most diabolical attack they have ever faced.
Frustratingly Misleading
This is what I would define lazy alternate history. This may stem from my own understanding this type of the concept. It is my expectation that alternate history takes some events of history, changes the outcome and explores what might natural occur as a result. (As an aside, I would suggest you watch The Man in High Castle for a great example. Maybe even read the book. I can't vouch for the original source material). In this novel the author allegedly uses Teddy Roosevelt serving a second term before WWII as the catalyst for the story. Honestly, I am not a student of American History. Maybe these events and the fictionalized Black Chamber would have been natural outcomes but more realistically, this was a massive stretch in an attempt to make the novel seem more interesting.
I Think I was supposed to be Impressed
There was detail in this book. A LOT of detail. From concepts ranging from electrical engineering, spy techniques, language, history, submarines, rockets and weapons. The author did a considerable amount of research on these topics. How do I know this. The author goes out of his way have the characters spout off lots of facts and details related to each of these (and more) topics. My son loves a book series called My Weird School . One character loves to show off the fact that she read the dictionary. She does this by constantly using big words that no one else understands. This is basically what the author has done. Instead of using the research to craft detailed descriptions or show realistic working of weapons, submarines etc., we get a pages devoted to detail and technical specifications. It wasn’t impressive, it was irritating. To make is worse, the protagonist often speaks in Spanish, without any translation provided. My apologies for being fluent in only one language. This was a major irritant throughout the book.
On top of the author’s indulgences, I found the novel contained a troubling love story that underlies the second half of the novel. It is suggested very early that the main female character is a lesbian or bi-sexual. This is not an issue. I only point this out because it is relevant. It is how the romance evolves that I found disconcerting. At one point in the novel, Luz and Ciara, the love interest/serendipitous partner have a discussion about H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine . In an apparent attempt to show he is aware of the representations of women in literature, the characters briefly discuss the trope of the Nubile Savage in The Time Machine . While the character shows some apparent awareness, the character proceeds to use a mix of “skilled but naïve” and “born sexy yesterday” tropes. Ciara is a rather brilliant and beautiful woman who is both naïve about the world as well as her as of yet unexplored sexuality. I could not help but feel uncomfortable though the novel as it felt that it was the innocence and naïveté (about life and her sexuality) that the main character found attractive and appealing. The characters pointed out how H.G. Wells created a love interest that was a “pet with a bosom” while at the same time creating a love interest that was a pet with a bosom that can also do tricks. While the love interest does well for herself in the end, a love story that resolves around an older experienced character falling for a naïve, younger character falling, largely because of those specific characteristics, is questionable in my mind. On top of what I wrote above, the romance was forged during intensely stressful circumstances in which the naïve character had to largely rely on the older experienced character. Regardless of your take, I find love stories that rely on the inequality of the parties to be troublesome.
Final Thoughts
Despite the attempt to market the book as something it is not, the story is written like an action adventure novel. This is not a problem if you are being honest about what you are writing. A James Rollins novel may not make it to Oprah’s book club, but James Rollins never pretends he is writing anything but action adventure. While the story has the trappings of research, social consciousness and attention to detail, it nothing more than a façade covering an adequately written novel with a questionable plot and a misleading premise. Had the author not tried so hard to convince the reader that this story was something it was not, I would have likely been much kinder in my review.
June 22, 2018
I'm a big fan of alternate histories, particularly when they are done well, and Stirling creates an alternate universe in rather precise detail. It's World War I and a nearly victorious Germany is dominating continental Europe. Back in North America, Teddy Roosevelt has just been elected president again, tough, charming, knowledgeable. And, backed by a secret spy network known as the Black Chamber. Move over James Bond, the premier agent in this network is the stunningly beautiful Cuban-Irish American Luz O' Malley, who fights like Wonder Woman (without the magic bracelets). She's tough, clever, charming, and thoroughly modern in outlook, Annie Oakley in a dress. The use of airships (zeppelins), including luxury cruise liners, almost gives this a steampunk feel. It is very detailed and thought out. The action when it occurs is first-rate, although some may find it slows its pace at points. Overall, quite a worthwhile read and the start of a new series.
July 19, 2018
There’s common advice, from librarians and others, that if you reach page 50 in a book and don’t love it, you should set it aside and move on. I stuck with this book for more than three times that amount, and I don’t love it. I think I could have loved it, but as it is, I don’t.
The author can, from a technical view – spelling, punctuation, syntax, etc. - write. However, I think he’s out of his comfort zone in this book. There’s a story buried in the pages, somewhere, but it takes so much effort to try to find it. It’s clear that the author knows “stuff”, and he wants to share it, all of it. The story is told by the character of Luz, a young intelligence agent in 1916. She’s on a mission to learn about what’s happening in Germany during WWI. She gets herself into some touchy situations, but having joined with German officer Horst, both romantically and on official duty, she manages to wiggle out of them. That sounds good, right? But Luz is constantly musing about unrelated things: philosophy, history, food, weather, combat techniques, castle building, womens’ fashion, piano quality, violin quality, music, composers, Electrical Experimenter Magazine, the cost of things in 1916. It’s exhausting reading. These constant non-sequiturs create so much distraction that the story gets lost in the muddle.
This is one of a very few books I haven’t finished in many years, and I might have stuck with this one until the end if it wasn’t taking such a toll on my patience. I want to yell, “Get to the point, already!” But it never does. Here’s a sample from about page 150: Luz, her German cohorts, German high military commanders, and another woman are invited to witness a horrific event where hundreds of prisoners are killed in front of their eyes. Afterwards, the women retire to their room. They don’t mention what they’ve just witnessed, despite the fact that it made the one woman violently sick to her stomach. Instead, they conveniently have a piano and violin in their room, so they begin to play a duet or two. I can see that they might do that to take their minds off of the terrible thing they just saw, but all along, Luz’s musings wander all over the place, from topic to topic, none of which have anything to do with what has or will happen, or the fact that they are likely in danger. I understand that the author wants to show what a well-educated and smart young woman Luz is, but, as I said, it’s distracting. At the same time, Luz, who’s undercover, reveals her real identity and purpose to this woman she’s just met, in a German colonel’s office, and knows little to nothing about. It seems very unrealistic.
Also, while the summary for this book says:
In an alternative 1912, President Taft suddenly dies, and Teddy Roosevelt wastes no time in grabbing power as he wins another term as president.
So far, all I’ve seen of Teddy Roosevelt is in the prologue, a mere seven pages. Luz mentions him from time to time, but as far as I can tell, with more than 40% read, this book really doesn’t seem to involve him.
One big suggestion if you’re going to tackle this book is to know your WWI era history backward and forwards. If not, you’ll be lost. Also, be prepared for some shocks, like Hawaii already being the forty-ninth state, with discussion of how it’s possible that the Philippines and/or Puerto Rico could soon become states, too. There’s no explanation about how Hawaii came to be a state at that time, or when, exactly, it did. Also be prepared to find yourself in the midst of a lot of Spanish words and phrases with no attempt at helping you understand their meaning. I spent a lot of time on my phone looking up translations as I read along. This, too, makes it hard to follow whatever story there is. Later in the book, the Spanish seems to ease off a little. In it’s place, there are German phrases, but for these, explanations are worked in. I never understand why authors think it’s a good idea to dump a lot of foreign language into a book written in English without any attempt to assist the reader in understanding the meaning. Also, I found the long chapter headings confusing. What do the little capital "B's in parenthesis mean? Why was it necessary to write them in two languages? I can only hope that some of this was corrected in final editing.
I find that each time I reach for the book, I hesitate to pick it up. I willfully start looking for something, anything, else to do instead of reading further. For me, that’s a strong sign that I should move on. Maybe I’ll come back and finish this story at some point, but it won’t be soon. There are so many good books out there that are rewarding to read, I just can’t justify wasting time reading something that feels like punishment.
I appreciate having won an ARC of this book through a Goodreads giveaway, but I just can’t force myself to read any further.
The author can, from a technical view – spelling, punctuation, syntax, etc. - write. However, I think he’s out of his comfort zone in this book. There’s a story buried in the pages, somewhere, but it takes so much effort to try to find it. It’s clear that the author knows “stuff”, and he wants to share it, all of it. The story is told by the character of Luz, a young intelligence agent in 1916. She’s on a mission to learn about what’s happening in Germany during WWI. She gets herself into some touchy situations, but having joined with German officer Horst, both romantically and on official duty, she manages to wiggle out of them. That sounds good, right? But Luz is constantly musing about unrelated things: philosophy, history, food, weather, combat techniques, castle building, womens’ fashion, piano quality, violin quality, music, composers, Electrical Experimenter Magazine, the cost of things in 1916. It’s exhausting reading. These constant non-sequiturs create so much distraction that the story gets lost in the muddle.
This is one of a very few books I haven’t finished in many years, and I might have stuck with this one until the end if it wasn’t taking such a toll on my patience. I want to yell, “Get to the point, already!” But it never does. Here’s a sample from about page 150: Luz, her German cohorts, German high military commanders, and another woman are invited to witness a horrific event where hundreds of prisoners are killed in front of their eyes. Afterwards, the women retire to their room. They don’t mention what they’ve just witnessed, despite the fact that it made the one woman violently sick to her stomach. Instead, they conveniently have a piano and violin in their room, so they begin to play a duet or two. I can see that they might do that to take their minds off of the terrible thing they just saw, but all along, Luz’s musings wander all over the place, from topic to topic, none of which have anything to do with what has or will happen, or the fact that they are likely in danger. I understand that the author wants to show what a well-educated and smart young woman Luz is, but, as I said, it’s distracting. At the same time, Luz, who’s undercover, reveals her real identity and purpose to this woman she’s just met, in a German colonel’s office, and knows little to nothing about. It seems very unrealistic.
Also, while the summary for this book says:
In an alternative 1912, President Taft suddenly dies, and Teddy Roosevelt wastes no time in grabbing power as he wins another term as president.
So far, all I’ve seen of Teddy Roosevelt is in the prologue, a mere seven pages. Luz mentions him from time to time, but as far as I can tell, with more than 40% read, this book really doesn’t seem to involve him.
One big suggestion if you’re going to tackle this book is to know your WWI era history backward and forwards. If not, you’ll be lost. Also, be prepared for some shocks, like Hawaii already being the forty-ninth state, with discussion of how it’s possible that the Philippines and/or Puerto Rico could soon become states, too. There’s no explanation about how Hawaii came to be a state at that time, or when, exactly, it did. Also be prepared to find yourself in the midst of a lot of Spanish words and phrases with no attempt at helping you understand their meaning. I spent a lot of time on my phone looking up translations as I read along. This, too, makes it hard to follow whatever story there is. Later in the book, the Spanish seems to ease off a little. In it’s place, there are German phrases, but for these, explanations are worked in. I never understand why authors think it’s a good idea to dump a lot of foreign language into a book written in English without any attempt to assist the reader in understanding the meaning. Also, I found the long chapter headings confusing. What do the little capital "B's in parenthesis mean? Why was it necessary to write them in two languages? I can only hope that some of this was corrected in final editing.
I find that each time I reach for the book, I hesitate to pick it up. I willfully start looking for something, anything, else to do instead of reading further. For me, that’s a strong sign that I should move on. Maybe I’ll come back and finish this story at some point, but it won’t be soon. There are so many good books out there that are rewarding to read, I just can’t justify wasting time reading something that feels like punishment.
I appreciate having won an ARC of this book through a Goodreads giveaway, but I just can’t force myself to read any further.
July 13, 2021
First of a new series set in an alternate WW1, where Teddy Roosevelt won re-election in 1912, along with a more-horrible Great War. This book is about an amazingly-accomplished young female secret agent of US military intelligence, her adventures in Europe, and her discovery of a monstrous plan by the Germans:
I never quite believed in the protagonist, although her adventures were certainly entertaining. I found the plot a bit ramshackle as well, and the climax rushed and abrupt. Stirling has certainly done his homework, but the results were a bit disappointing. 2.5 stars, rounded up.
Tom Shippey liked it (WSJ):
https://www.wsj.com/articles/science-...
"Alternate histories run on details, true facts you didn’t know, factoids that might have been true, challenging you to tell them apart. “Black Chamber” combines them on every level—political, historical and scientific—all worked into a tension-filled tearaway plot. Nor has Mr. Stirling shown his hand yet, for we are obviously booked for sequels. What are those mast-arrays on the German battleships at Wilhelmshaven?"
I never quite believed in the protagonist, although her adventures were certainly entertaining. I found the plot a bit ramshackle as well, and the climax rushed and abrupt. Stirling has certainly done his homework, but the results were a bit disappointing. 2.5 stars, rounded up.
Tom Shippey liked it (WSJ):
https://www.wsj.com/articles/science-...
"Alternate histories run on details, true facts you didn’t know, factoids that might have been true, challenging you to tell them apart. “Black Chamber” combines them on every level—political, historical and scientific—all worked into a tension-filled tearaway plot. Nor has Mr. Stirling shown his hand yet, for we are obviously booked for sequels. What are those mast-arrays on the German battleships at Wilhelmshaven?"
June 8, 2022
I won this book in a goodreads drawing.
An alternative history set in a world where Theodore Roosevelt won the election of 1912. The conditions to bring on World War One are in motion, and T.R. has inaugurated a proto-CIA to stop such shenanigans.
The heroine of the story, Luz O'Malley Arostegui, is a personal friend to TR, and the only female member of the spy group, The Black Chamber. She goes on assignment, and from there, you basically get a Modesty Blaize novel, only without Willy.
Pretty decent.
An alternative history set in a world where Theodore Roosevelt won the election of 1912. The conditions to bring on World War One are in motion, and T.R. has inaugurated a proto-CIA to stop such shenanigans.
The heroine of the story, Luz O'Malley Arostegui, is a personal friend to TR, and the only female member of the spy group, The Black Chamber. She goes on assignment, and from there, you basically get a Modesty Blaize novel, only without Willy.
Pretty decent.
July 24, 2018
Stirling delivers a well-written tale (as usual), but that’s all I can say about it. His painstaking descriptions of minutae in both apparel and weaponry seemed to drag interminably. I found myself skipping entire pages, just to get to the end of an interlude whose outcome wasn’t in question. If there’s another volume in this saga, please count me out.
January 9, 2019
It's an interesting premise, but I kept expecting the main character to think a little more deeply about the events in the story and the world around her. (The idea of a US remade by Teddy Roosevelt and other progressives of his time is fascinating, but the fact that the story never really interrogates the less attractive aspects of it, like eugenics and Prohibition, left my historian self deeply disturbed.) At times the pace dragged, too. Other readers may have a different experience with this book, but I spent too much time looking for other things to read rather than finish it.
July 25, 2018
http://www.themaineedge.com/buzz/blac...
My affection for the alternate history subgenre of speculative fiction is no secret. I’ve always been enamored of the answers to “what if?” questions that these sorts of stories can provide. The idea that one small difference can cause ripples that lead to larger and larger divergences – it makes for fascinating fiction.
S.M. Stirling is one of the foremost practitioners of alternate history; his latest is “Black Chamber,” the first in a series about a World War I that was significantly different than our own, from the enemies being fought and the institutions doing the fighting. It’s a strong introduction, one that hints at the many differences – large and small – between that history and this one.
The year is 1916. Teddy Roosevelt is the President of the United States, having made his way back to the White House after years away. His latest foray into the Oval Office has resulted in some bigger, bolder initiatives – both domestic and international – that are leading toward an America that is much more progressive in some respects, yet considerably more conservative in others.
In this world, rather than wait until WWII for a covert agency (i.e. the OSS/CIA) to spring up, Roosevelt created the Black Chamber, a secret organization devoted to espionage and other unsavory work that the powers that be would prefer to see confined to the shadows.
Luz is an agent of the Black Chamber, highly educated and highly skilled; she’s one of the best they’ve got. Her assignment is to infiltrate the upper echelon of the German effort to wage war on Europe and beyond. Posing as a Mexican revolutionary with an anti-American bent, Luz uses all of her skills to with the confidence of a German agent code-named Imperial Sword; said agent has been in America for reasons that Luz’s superiors would very much like to know.
But when Luz succeeds in gaining the necessary trust and proximity, the plot that is ultimately revealed to her far outstrips anything she could have anticipated. For in the remote mountains of Saxony, a plan is being set in motion to ensure that the United States will be unable to enter the looming conflict – a plan that has potentially horrifying consequences for not just Luz and her contemporaries, but possibly the entire nation. And she has to trust someone … but who?
“Black Chamber” has a lot going for it. There’s a richness of detail with regards to the world building that is quite nice; when it comes to this sort of thing, I tend to lean more toward the “less is more” attitude. That is, I’m not someone who needs exposition dumps – a handful of organically provided moments of specificity beats the hell out of text blocks of authorial hand-holding. Stirling trusts the story and trusts the reader, allowing for a feeling of discovery.
Granted, it only works because of a solid sense of characterization. Luz makes for a fine heroine – smart and capable while also flawed. She serves the foundation of the narrative without ever feeling like she’s invulnerable; despite her status as the main character, she never feels 100 percent safe. That balance is VERY hard to pull off.
And of course, when you’ve got someone who knows how to put together a spy story doing the telling, it’s tough not to be sucked in. It’s tense and propulsive for the most part; there are a couple of stretches where the action lags just a bit, but the narrative rarely loses much steam. You’ve got the requisite sharp turns and surprising developments – it’s just a good espionage yarn.
Granted, there are a few things I would have wanted from “Black Chamber.” I’d have liked a bit more Teddy Roosevelt – the flashes we get certainly whet the appetite. And it gets a little crowded and abrupt in the third act. But those are relatively minor criticisms – it’s definitely a page-turner.
If “Black Chamber” is any indication, we can expect this newest series from S.M. Stirling to offer the same level of historical veracity and adventuresome storytelling that we’ve come to expect. It’s a strong start – one whose continuation I anxiously await.
My affection for the alternate history subgenre of speculative fiction is no secret. I’ve always been enamored of the answers to “what if?” questions that these sorts of stories can provide. The idea that one small difference can cause ripples that lead to larger and larger divergences – it makes for fascinating fiction.
S.M. Stirling is one of the foremost practitioners of alternate history; his latest is “Black Chamber,” the first in a series about a World War I that was significantly different than our own, from the enemies being fought and the institutions doing the fighting. It’s a strong introduction, one that hints at the many differences – large and small – between that history and this one.
The year is 1916. Teddy Roosevelt is the President of the United States, having made his way back to the White House after years away. His latest foray into the Oval Office has resulted in some bigger, bolder initiatives – both domestic and international – that are leading toward an America that is much more progressive in some respects, yet considerably more conservative in others.
In this world, rather than wait until WWII for a covert agency (i.e. the OSS/CIA) to spring up, Roosevelt created the Black Chamber, a secret organization devoted to espionage and other unsavory work that the powers that be would prefer to see confined to the shadows.
Luz is an agent of the Black Chamber, highly educated and highly skilled; she’s one of the best they’ve got. Her assignment is to infiltrate the upper echelon of the German effort to wage war on Europe and beyond. Posing as a Mexican revolutionary with an anti-American bent, Luz uses all of her skills to with the confidence of a German agent code-named Imperial Sword; said agent has been in America for reasons that Luz’s superiors would very much like to know.
But when Luz succeeds in gaining the necessary trust and proximity, the plot that is ultimately revealed to her far outstrips anything she could have anticipated. For in the remote mountains of Saxony, a plan is being set in motion to ensure that the United States will be unable to enter the looming conflict – a plan that has potentially horrifying consequences for not just Luz and her contemporaries, but possibly the entire nation. And she has to trust someone … but who?
“Black Chamber” has a lot going for it. There’s a richness of detail with regards to the world building that is quite nice; when it comes to this sort of thing, I tend to lean more toward the “less is more” attitude. That is, I’m not someone who needs exposition dumps – a handful of organically provided moments of specificity beats the hell out of text blocks of authorial hand-holding. Stirling trusts the story and trusts the reader, allowing for a feeling of discovery.
Granted, it only works because of a solid sense of characterization. Luz makes for a fine heroine – smart and capable while also flawed. She serves the foundation of the narrative without ever feeling like she’s invulnerable; despite her status as the main character, she never feels 100 percent safe. That balance is VERY hard to pull off.
And of course, when you’ve got someone who knows how to put together a spy story doing the telling, it’s tough not to be sucked in. It’s tense and propulsive for the most part; there are a couple of stretches where the action lags just a bit, but the narrative rarely loses much steam. You’ve got the requisite sharp turns and surprising developments – it’s just a good espionage yarn.
Granted, there are a few things I would have wanted from “Black Chamber.” I’d have liked a bit more Teddy Roosevelt – the flashes we get certainly whet the appetite. And it gets a little crowded and abrupt in the third act. But those are relatively minor criticisms – it’s definitely a page-turner.
If “Black Chamber” is any indication, we can expect this newest series from S.M. Stirling to offer the same level of historical veracity and adventuresome storytelling that we’ve come to expect. It’s a strong start – one whose continuation I anxiously await.
June 26, 2018
When this book came across my desk for review—I was stoked. I don’t read a ton of alternative history, but this one sounded so so so good that I was eager to read it without question.
I sounded like alternative history mixed with some espionage and sci-fi so how could I pass? I couldn’t!
OK so now I remember why I don’t read alternative history. Having a masters in history makes alternative history hard. Like really hard to read. I kept getting confused—-why was this happening? No that’s not what happened, I would scream in my head! I literally kept reminding myself that this was a fictionalized account of history—-essentially it was #fakehistory
Admittedly, it took me a long long long time to read this book mostly because I struggled with my own inner voice telling me that this wasn’t how things happened. I couldn’t just let my mind go and let the story happen.
How much of my own personal bias and struggles got factored into this review? Quite a bit if I am being honest. If I take out my own personal struggles with the historical piece, then I would say that this book was rather unique. I thought that Stirling did a great job writing a creative and memorable story for his readers. The premise of the story itself was really detailed and well thought out. Luz was my favorite character. She wasn’t your typical heroine and I really respected Stirling for creating this different and vibrant character.
This book is described by some readers as a James Bond-ish style novel and I would agree that this book had a lot of similarities with the infamous spy. Sophisticated, action packed and primarily driven by main characters rather than supporting characters. And I would completely agree with this! Stirling puts his energy into the main characters and I loved that.
So where does that leave me? If I was going on my own personal struggles I would say 2 stars but if I am looking at it from an objective perspective—I liked the writing and thought the story was full of creativity and strong characters so I would say based on writing—a 4 star rating. But I had to average them out and settled on 3 stars for this one.
This book is truly aimed at fans of alternative history, if you like that sort of thing then you will probably love this book. If you are me and like history to be more or less the same, then you might want to pass on this one. Though if you don’t have a huge understanding of WWI then you might not even care about alternative history!
See my full review here
I sounded like alternative history mixed with some espionage and sci-fi so how could I pass? I couldn’t!
OK so now I remember why I don’t read alternative history. Having a masters in history makes alternative history hard. Like really hard to read. I kept getting confused—-why was this happening? No that’s not what happened, I would scream in my head! I literally kept reminding myself that this was a fictionalized account of history—-essentially it was #fakehistory
Admittedly, it took me a long long long time to read this book mostly because I struggled with my own inner voice telling me that this wasn’t how things happened. I couldn’t just let my mind go and let the story happen.
How much of my own personal bias and struggles got factored into this review? Quite a bit if I am being honest. If I take out my own personal struggles with the historical piece, then I would say that this book was rather unique. I thought that Stirling did a great job writing a creative and memorable story for his readers. The premise of the story itself was really detailed and well thought out. Luz was my favorite character. She wasn’t your typical heroine and I really respected Stirling for creating this different and vibrant character.
This book is described by some readers as a James Bond-ish style novel and I would agree that this book had a lot of similarities with the infamous spy. Sophisticated, action packed and primarily driven by main characters rather than supporting characters. And I would completely agree with this! Stirling puts his energy into the main characters and I loved that.
So where does that leave me? If I was going on my own personal struggles I would say 2 stars but if I am looking at it from an objective perspective—I liked the writing and thought the story was full of creativity and strong characters so I would say based on writing—a 4 star rating. But I had to average them out and settled on 3 stars for this one.
This book is truly aimed at fans of alternative history, if you like that sort of thing then you will probably love this book. If you are me and like history to be more or less the same, then you might want to pass on this one. Though if you don’t have a huge understanding of WWI then you might not even care about alternative history!
See my full review here
March 5, 2022
Ознакомился с творчеством популярного в правой республиканской среде фантаста Стирлинга. Заявленная тема звучала очень интересно — шпионские интриги в антураже альтернативной Первой Мировой. А вот исполнение...
Первое, что удивило — это дикий фанатизм Стирлинга от исторической фигуры Теодора Рузвельта (примерно как у определенных наших от Сталина). В его варианте истории в годы войны вместо слабака-демократа Вудро Вильсона пост президента занимает твердокаменный консерватор Тедди Рузвельт, и тут как начнется! США сразу признают и права женщин, и права цветных, и изобретают ВООБЩЕ ВСЕ, от боевых дирижаблей до дальнобойного сонара, и экономика расцветает, и армия сильнее всех в мире, прям нет им равных. Тедди при этом и страной правит, и в кулачном бою может навалять, короче, идеальный персонаж. Демократы, пацифисты и прочие внутренние враги отправлены в трудовые лагеря, ученые изобретают, заводы дымят, рожь колосится.
Все это довольно глупо, конечно, но я от right-wing фантаста особого полета интеллекта и не ожидал. А ожидал стильных ретро-приключений в стиле сталинской шпионской фантастики («Война невидимок» Шпанова, «Тайна двух океанов» Адамова, все такое). Но шыш!
Начало вполне бодрое. На сцену выходит американская супершпионка, доверенное лицо Дядюшки Тедди. Она и красавица, и умница, и владеет всеми видами оружия, и боевыми искусствами, и разговаривает на десяти языках, включая точное копирование региональных диалектов, у нее и фотографическая память, и искусство обольщения всех подряд независимо от возраста и пола... короче, все при ней. И вот она уже летит через Атлантику на гигантском супердирижабле, и втирается в доверие к кайзеровскому агенту, далее следуют погони, п��рестрелки, драки, крушение поезда, проникновение в секретные лаборатории, где фашисты создают смертельные газы... Просто то что прописал доктор!
Но запала у автора хватает буквально страниц на сто, а далее все персонажи просто сидят на месте и бесконечно разговаривают ни о чем. Например, одна глава длиной в сорок (40) страниц полностью посвящена тому, как две девушки сидят в комнате, играют на фортепьяно и рассказывают друг другу о себе, о своих отцах, матерях, братьях, сестрах, где они жили в детстве, чем занимались, как учились музыке, какие у них были интересы, в каких ма��ьчиков они влюблялись, и тд, и тп, сорок (40) страниц. Если в кадре появляется садовник, он не просто проходит мимо, а читает лекцию про то, как обустроен его сад и как он за ним ухаживает. Электрик детально рассказывает про электричество, военный — про устройство автомата, повар — про свою кухню, подводник — про подводную лодку, героиня — про величие Тедди Рузвельта.
Едва дочитал.
В финале опять становится чуть поживее, но это уже не спасает ситуацию.
В целом и так было понятно, что ультраправый фантаст — горе в семье, но чтобы настолько...
Первое, что удивило — это дикий фанатизм Стирлинга от исторической фигуры Теодора Рузвельта (примерно как у определенных наших от Сталина). В его варианте истории в годы войны вместо слабака-демократа Вудро Вильсона пост президента занимает твердокаменный консерватор Тедди Рузвельт, и тут как начнется! США сразу признают и права женщин, и права цветных, и изобретают ВООБЩЕ ВСЕ, от боевых дирижаблей до дальнобойного сонара, и экономика расцветает, и армия сильнее всех в мире, прям нет им равных. Тедди при этом и страной правит, и в кулачном бою может навалять, короче, идеальный персонаж. Демократы, пацифисты и прочие внутренние враги отправлены в трудовые лагеря, ученые изобретают, заводы дымят, рожь колосится.
Все это довольно глупо, конечно, но я от right-wing фантаста особого полета интеллекта и не ожидал. А ожидал стильных ретро-приключений в стиле сталинской шпионской фантастики («Война невидимок» Шпанова, «Тайна двух океанов» Адамова, все такое). Но шыш!
Начало вполне бодрое. На сцену выходит американская супершпионка, доверенное лицо Дядюшки Тедди. Она и красавица, и умница, и владеет всеми видами оружия, и боевыми искусствами, и разговаривает на десяти языках, включая точное копирование региональных диалектов, у нее и фотографическая память, и искусство обольщения всех подряд независимо от возраста и пола... короче, все при ней. И вот она уже летит через Атлантику на гигантском супердирижабле, и втирается в доверие к кайзеровскому агенту, далее следуют погони, п��рестрелки, драки, крушение поезда, проникновение в секретные лаборатории, где фашисты создают смертельные газы... Просто то что прописал доктор!
Но запала у автора хватает буквально страниц на сто, а далее все персонажи просто сидят на месте и бесконечно разговаривают ни о чем. Например, одна глава длиной в сорок (40) страниц полностью посвящена тому, как две девушки сидят в комнате, играют на фортепьяно и рассказывают друг другу о себе, о своих отцах, матерях, братьях, сестрах, где они жили в детстве, чем занимались, как учились музыке, какие у них были интересы, в каких ма��ьчиков они влюблялись, и тд, и тп, сорок (40) страниц. Если в кадре появляется садовник, он не просто проходит мимо, а читает лекцию про то, как обустроен его сад и как он за ним ухаживает. Электрик детально рассказывает про электричество, военный — про устройство автомата, повар — про свою кухню, подводник — про подводную лодку, героиня — про величие Тедди Рузвельта.
Едва дочитал.
В финале опять становится чуть поживее, но это уже не спасает ситуацию.
В целом и так было понятно, что ультраправый фантаст — горе в семье, но чтобы настолько...
September 19, 2018
A lot of build up with little payoff. The break-point of Teddy Roosevelt redux is a good one, but using it as a jumping off point to jump-start a leftist paradise is a step to far for believability, the hyper-sexualized lead is trying way to hard to be Jayne Bond, the female paramour is utterly, ridiculously, naive for a nominal spy, and the downwind changes in the European war are unexplained in light of the altered American history. Mix this with an abrupt conclusion that violates every conventional rule of writing (telling, not showing, the unfired Chekhov's guns) leave much to be desired.
June 8, 2018
The first installment of a new series, Black Chamber is an alternative history novel of the period just prior to America's entry into World War 1.
In this timeline, Teddy Roosevelt is president, and has set America on his "Progressive" path. The book is the story of a secret agent, Luz, who is sent undercover to discover what Germany is planning. She discovers a plan for Germany to employ a truly deadly secret weapon against the United States.
I really enjoy some of Stirling's books. The "Island in the Sea of Time" series and the "Change" series are some of my favorite alternative history books. Stirling has set up the beginning of another intriguing series with this book.
However, there were some parts of the book that I had issues with. For one, the pacing of the book was sometimes challenging, and somewhat disappointing. For example, Stirling goes on and on for 12 pages describing the hero climbing a wall, while seeming to rush through more important parts. A second issue was that the premise of the beginning of Roosevelt's presidency were missing. For example, Stirling several times refers to a war with Mexico, and the rise of the "Black Chamber" spy agency, but he never tells the reader what happened. Perhaps he will explain in subsequent books, but it would have added greatly to the story if he had done it in the first.
All in all, I found this to be a fun read. I had a hard time putting it down. And I am looking forward to the next book.
In this timeline, Teddy Roosevelt is president, and has set America on his "Progressive" path. The book is the story of a secret agent, Luz, who is sent undercover to discover what Germany is planning. She discovers a plan for Germany to employ a truly deadly secret weapon against the United States.
I really enjoy some of Stirling's books. The "Island in the Sea of Time" series and the "Change" series are some of my favorite alternative history books. Stirling has set up the beginning of another intriguing series with this book.
However, there were some parts of the book that I had issues with. For one, the pacing of the book was sometimes challenging, and somewhat disappointing. For example, Stirling goes on and on for 12 pages describing the hero climbing a wall, while seeming to rush through more important parts. A second issue was that the premise of the beginning of Roosevelt's presidency were missing. For example, Stirling several times refers to a war with Mexico, and the rise of the "Black Chamber" spy agency, but he never tells the reader what happened. Perhaps he will explain in subsequent books, but it would have added greatly to the story if he had done it in the first.
All in all, I found this to be a fun read. I had a hard time putting it down. And I am looking forward to the next book.
July 6, 2018
Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy
While I was happy to read an alternative history thriller as a change of pace, reading BLACK CHAMBER felt like a chore to work through with it's extensive detail about almost everything which slowed the plot way down or just confused me at times. I love a good world building effort and this book excels at that but getting into the minutia of every little detail became over whelming at points and parts that I wanted more explanation on were skimmed over leaving me guess as to why characters where doing things and what was going on generally.
Confusion and exhaustion aside, the alternative history aspect of the plot was fun to read. I enjoyed seeing what changes to history were made and the book had an exciting steampunk James Bond feel but with a female as the titular suave spy. I liked Luz though at times she does come off as too perfect, she's a wonderfully vibrant and tough lead character. The other characters were fun too and I enjoyed learning about the various alliances and more about the Black Chamber spy group.
BLACK CHAMBER is a well researched and thought out alternate history thriller set during WWI but I felt like I needed to know a lot more about the real WWI to understand everything that was happening in this alternate history. I enjoyed the thriller part and Luz fighting the bad guys on an airship was awesome. Since this is the first book, there is a lot of set up required so I'm hoping the next book in this series focuses more on the espionage and less on the details of this world and every characters' backgrounds.
While I was happy to read an alternative history thriller as a change of pace, reading BLACK CHAMBER felt like a chore to work through with it's extensive detail about almost everything which slowed the plot way down or just confused me at times. I love a good world building effort and this book excels at that but getting into the minutia of every little detail became over whelming at points and parts that I wanted more explanation on were skimmed over leaving me guess as to why characters where doing things and what was going on generally.
Confusion and exhaustion aside, the alternative history aspect of the plot was fun to read. I enjoyed seeing what changes to history were made and the book had an exciting steampunk James Bond feel but with a female as the titular suave spy. I liked Luz though at times she does come off as too perfect, she's a wonderfully vibrant and tough lead character. The other characters were fun too and I enjoyed learning about the various alliances and more about the Black Chamber spy group.
BLACK CHAMBER is a well researched and thought out alternate history thriller set during WWI but I felt like I needed to know a lot more about the real WWI to understand everything that was happening in this alternate history. I enjoyed the thriller part and Luz fighting the bad guys on an airship was awesome. Since this is the first book, there is a lot of set up required so I'm hoping the next book in this series focuses more on the espionage and less on the details of this world and every characters' backgrounds.
October 14, 2023
From the grandmaster of alternative history science fiction comes a trilogy sent in the era of the Great War, the war to end all wars we know as We War I. German chemists have synthesized nerve gas to use against civilian targets. U-boats menacing ocean-going vessels, and deep cover spies round out the plot.
March 2, 2018
“I received free books from Penguin Random House in exchange for this review.” I have always liked alternate history books and this is now one of my favorites!
August 27, 2018
Billed as an alternate history, this is unintentionally as much a time travel novel. The protagonist, Irish-Cuban Luz O'Malley Arostegui, is a over-the-top Mary Sue 2018 heroine miraculously transplanted a century back in time to an alt-history 1916. She is an atheist, bisexual, multicultural, multilingual, and a polymath. At 25, her expertise includes martial arts, rock climbing, acrobatics, period weaponry, the Kama Sutra and the nuances of Nietzsche's philosophy in the original German dialects. Her capabilities make James Bond seem like a plodding clerk by comparison. If Einstein hadn't barely beaten her to the punch, she probably would have developed atomic physics and nuked the Kaiser.
Although Stirling takes some care with her superficial details like dress, her sensibility is impossibly 2018. Mercifully, she is not so "woke" as to torture the reader with tedious lectures on
intersectionality or the 73+ alleged varieties of gender. Nevertheless, she is thoroughly anachronistic.
The book appears to be meticulously researched. Unfortunately, the author can't restrain himself from showing off nearly every bit of it in excessive detail. It is also annoying that the characters frequently speak (or think) in languages other than English and this is all too often not translated.
Overall, this is a lightweight spy thriller with an impossibly modern heroine and an alt-history twist, sort of "Multi-culti Lara Croft vs. The Hun". It seems to have been written with a movie deal in mind. In a sense, I hope Stirling gets that deal - the movie would probably be more enjoyable than the book.
Although Stirling takes some care with her superficial details like dress, her sensibility is impossibly 2018. Mercifully, she is not so "woke" as to torture the reader with tedious lectures on
intersectionality or the 73+ alleged varieties of gender. Nevertheless, she is thoroughly anachronistic.
The book appears to be meticulously researched. Unfortunately, the author can't restrain himself from showing off nearly every bit of it in excessive detail. It is also annoying that the characters frequently speak (or think) in languages other than English and this is all too often not translated.
Overall, this is a lightweight spy thriller with an impossibly modern heroine and an alt-history twist, sort of "Multi-culti Lara Croft vs. The Hun". It seems to have been written with a movie deal in mind. In a sense, I hope Stirling gets that deal - the movie would probably be more enjoyable than the book.
August 27, 2018
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“Black Chamber” is the first installment in an alternative history series positioned right before America’s entry in the Great War. I really enjoyed it and I am looking forward to the next in line!
Theodore Roosevelt has been elected president in 1912 and he is still at the White House in 1916. He has brought a lot of progress in the States ever since and has created a Secret service called Black Chamber. His secret service agents have intelligence of a great weapon being built in Germany that is expected to attack the States. Therefore he sends one of his best senior operatives to work it out.
Luz is a senior Black Chamber operative. She is a Cuban-American with friendly relations to President Roosevelt. She boards a flying vessel heading to Amsterdam with the task to portray as a Mexican revolutionario and cooperate with the Germans, in order to get more information on their plan. She gets in touch with the German contact and establishes her path there.
Stirling has done a great job creating an alternative Universe, where Kaiser Wilhelm is attacking both Europe and America with deadly weapons of mass distraction. The English and the French are really suffering under the Central Powers rage. It’s only the Americans that can help, but they haven’t yet engage in War.
Secret agent Luz is a marvelous character. She is a very capable woman. She is trained and strong and as good as any male operative would be. She is quite intelligent too. Luz can understand many things about a person based on their body language, their accent and their reactions to every situation.
The secondary characters are very well built as well. Ciara is a woman that understands mechanics and technology. She is quite rare for that period of time. Horst, on the other hand, is a very powerful man. He is strong and smart and very open minded. He admires the two ladies for their personalities and rare capabilities. That’s very honourable of the author, as it was a man’s world, as it still is in many cases.
“Black Chamber” is the first installment in an alternative history series positioned right before America’s entry in the Great War. I really enjoyed it and I am looking forward to the next in line!
Theodore Roosevelt has been elected president in 1912 and he is still at the White House in 1916. He has brought a lot of progress in the States ever since and has created a Secret service called Black Chamber. His secret service agents have intelligence of a great weapon being built in Germany that is expected to attack the States. Therefore he sends one of his best senior operatives to work it out.
Luz is a senior Black Chamber operative. She is a Cuban-American with friendly relations to President Roosevelt. She boards a flying vessel heading to Amsterdam with the task to portray as a Mexican revolutionario and cooperate with the Germans, in order to get more information on their plan. She gets in touch with the German contact and establishes her path there.
Stirling has done a great job creating an alternative Universe, where Kaiser Wilhelm is attacking both Europe and America with deadly weapons of mass distraction. The English and the French are really suffering under the Central Powers rage. It’s only the Americans that can help, but they haven’t yet engage in War.
Secret agent Luz is a marvelous character. She is a very capable woman. She is trained and strong and as good as any male operative would be. She is quite intelligent too. Luz can understand many things about a person based on their body language, their accent and their reactions to every situation.
The secondary characters are very well built as well. Ciara is a woman that understands mechanics and technology. She is quite rare for that period of time. Horst, on the other hand, is a very powerful man. He is strong and smart and very open minded. He admires the two ladies for their personalities and rare capabilities. That’s very honourable of the author, as it was a man’s world, as it still is in many cases.
July 21, 2018
Okay, I did something I rarely do. I put this book down. I plowed through to about 35% and had enough.
I came across a review on Black Chamber by S. M. Stirling in the Wall Street Journal. It had some of my favorite interest – alternative history and Theodore Roosevelt. The premise is that during the 1912 US presidential election, President Taft dies, Teddy wins the Republican nomination and becomes President of the United States – again. Teddy is then POTUS during World War I. Excellent premise, right?
Wrong! Teddy Roosevelt is barely in the storyline. He is name-dropped by one of the characters, incessantly. Unfortunately Black Chamber is a disappointment. It is “overwritten” with a heavy hand by the author using pretentious and pedantic dialog that is hard to slog through. It’s as though the author is trying to show off how much knowledge he accumulated in his research and is determined to share all of it; to the point of getting in the way of the story. Characters are unlikable and come across as cardboard stereotypes. The protagonist, Luz, annoyingly switches between English and Spanish mid-sentence throughout the book, which pulls the reader off stride.
After a while, I started to speed read just to plow through – not an enjoyable experience for a pleasure read, until I concluded this was a waste of my time. I don’t know who the target audience reader is, but I’m not one. Black Chamber is supposed to be the first in a series. It is my last read of the series.
I came across a review on Black Chamber by S. M. Stirling in the Wall Street Journal. It had some of my favorite interest – alternative history and Theodore Roosevelt. The premise is that during the 1912 US presidential election, President Taft dies, Teddy wins the Republican nomination and becomes President of the United States – again. Teddy is then POTUS during World War I. Excellent premise, right?
Wrong! Teddy Roosevelt is barely in the storyline. He is name-dropped by one of the characters, incessantly. Unfortunately Black Chamber is a disappointment. It is “overwritten” with a heavy hand by the author using pretentious and pedantic dialog that is hard to slog through. It’s as though the author is trying to show off how much knowledge he accumulated in his research and is determined to share all of it; to the point of getting in the way of the story. Characters are unlikable and come across as cardboard stereotypes. The protagonist, Luz, annoyingly switches between English and Spanish mid-sentence throughout the book, which pulls the reader off stride.
After a while, I started to speed read just to plow through – not an enjoyable experience for a pleasure read, until I concluded this was a waste of my time. I don’t know who the target audience reader is, but I’m not one. Black Chamber is supposed to be the first in a series. It is my last read of the series.
July 27, 2018
"Black Chamber" eBook was published in 2018 and was written by S. M. Stirling (https://smstirling.com). Mr. Stirling has published more than 50 novels.
I received an ARC of this novel through https://www.netgalley.com in return for a fair and honest review. I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence and some Mature Situations. The story is set during the World War I years, though in an alternate timeline. In this world, President Taft dies in office and Teddy Roosevelt becomes president again instead of Wilson. The result is a much more conservative US. A US that is primed to enter World War I against Germany.
The primary character of the story is Luz O'Malley Aróstegui, a young woman who is a spy for the Black Chamber, an American intelligence organization. She is sent on a secret mission to Europe posing as a Mexican revolutionary who is seeking Germany's assistance. She discovers that the Germans plan a secret attack against American cities to delay them from entering the war.
Aróstegui must use both her feminine wiles as well as her considerable skill to fool the Germans, obtain the information she has been sent for, and report her findings.
I thoroughly enjoyed the 13.5 hours I spent reading this 400 page alternate history thriller. The altered timeline is interesting and gives a foundation for some creative stories. I have read many of Mr. Stirling's novels and have found them all very entertaining. The chosen cover art is OK. I give this novel a 4.5 (rounded up to a 5) out of 5.
Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.
I received an ARC of this novel through https://www.netgalley.com in return for a fair and honest review. I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence and some Mature Situations. The story is set during the World War I years, though in an alternate timeline. In this world, President Taft dies in office and Teddy Roosevelt becomes president again instead of Wilson. The result is a much more conservative US. A US that is primed to enter World War I against Germany.
The primary character of the story is Luz O'Malley Aróstegui, a young woman who is a spy for the Black Chamber, an American intelligence organization. She is sent on a secret mission to Europe posing as a Mexican revolutionary who is seeking Germany's assistance. She discovers that the Germans plan a secret attack against American cities to delay them from entering the war.
Aróstegui must use both her feminine wiles as well as her considerable skill to fool the Germans, obtain the information she has been sent for, and report her findings.
I thoroughly enjoyed the 13.5 hours I spent reading this 400 page alternate history thriller. The altered timeline is interesting and gives a foundation for some creative stories. I have read many of Mr. Stirling's novels and have found them all very entertaining. The chosen cover art is OK. I give this novel a 4.5 (rounded up to a 5) out of 5.
Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.
July 27, 2018
This book is a great spy story wrapped up in a fascinating alternate history. The preface sets the scene. In 1912, Teddy Roosevelt is contending against William Taft for the soul of the Republican party Progressives versus Conservatives, respectively, when a telegram arrives. Taft has died of a heart attack, leaving TR a clear path to another term as president.
A few years later, the First World War is raging in Europe. TR is on the verge of joining Britain and France to fight the Kaiser. A field operative of TR’s Black Chamber and a young woman of varied and interesting background, Luz O’Malley Arostegui, takes a luxury airship to France and inserts herself into the middle of a multi-nation spy versus spy caper. What she discovers is a monstrous weapon that’s about to be unleashed on the unsuspecting United States, unless she can get word back to the president in time.
This feels like the beginning of a series, and I’m certainly hoping to read more about Luz!
A few years later, the First World War is raging in Europe. TR is on the verge of joining Britain and France to fight the Kaiser. A field operative of TR’s Black Chamber and a young woman of varied and interesting background, Luz O’Malley Arostegui, takes a luxury airship to France and inserts herself into the middle of a multi-nation spy versus spy caper. What she discovers is a monstrous weapon that’s about to be unleashed on the unsuspecting United States, unless she can get word back to the president in time.
This feels like the beginning of a series, and I’m certainly hoping to read more about Luz!
January 28, 2019
Pretty good Stirling novel: fast-paced, with large amounts of skullduggery, violence and technical detail. Set in 1916, we see a USA under a united Progressive Republican Party led by Teddy Roosevelt (In this history, Taft dies in 1912, giving Roosevelt the Republican nomination, and shortly thereafter, the White House), standing at the brink of entering the Great War. This isn't my period, and while the advances do seem in line with Roosevelt's goals and beliefs, they seem to have progressed (both technologically and socially) more smoothly than perhaps would be realistic. I enjoyed this more as an espionage/adventure story than as alternate history book. 3.5 stars.
November 9, 2017
**Review to come**
Read
December 5, 2018This is a great book! Smart, sarcastic female lead character. Teddy Roosevelt has a great description. I am waiting for vol 2.
December 1, 2018
A super-exciting plot and ....
... really well told. I was afraid the extensive use of foreign languages would be a hindrance to the flow of the story, but Stirling does a good job mixing in translations and explanations.
The use of the German "super-weapon" which calls up the USA's use of the A bomb against Japan to end WW2 was skillfully crafted. However, I couldn't help but think how different one's feelings are when your country is on the "using" and not on the "receiving" side.
... really well told. I was afraid the extensive use of foreign languages would be a hindrance to the flow of the story, but Stirling does a good job mixing in translations and explanations.
The use of the German "super-weapon" which calls up the USA's use of the A bomb against Japan to end WW2 was skillfully crafted. However, I couldn't help but think how different one's feelings are when your country is on the "using" and not on the "receiving" side.
July 20, 2018
New book and a different direction
from Mr. Stirling. Black Chamber is a fast paced AH spy novel. Quite different from the Change series that has just concluded. Great character development, romance, concept and action. All ingredients we have come to expect from one of my favorite authors. You will love it.
from Mr. Stirling. Black Chamber is a fast paced AH spy novel. Quite different from the Change series that has just concluded. Great character development, romance, concept and action. All ingredients we have come to expect from one of my favorite authors. You will love it.
September 1, 2018
First of all I have been a huge fan of Stirling's Change series alternative history novels for a decade and before the podcast came out they were on my list of books I pre-ordered as soon as they were available. If you want a short taste of his works read the Nantucket series that is tied to the Change series. I even got Katie to read them haha.
With that being said I really wanted to love this book as well and the writing is top notch as it should be with a veteran author but I just didn't care for the way the author took care of the necessary info dumps as we are being told about the differences between our own world and the alternate timeline Sterling has created.
The alternate history (AH) timeline in this book begins with Teddy Rosevelt winning the 1912 presidency and then the 1916 presidency as well. In our own timeline Woodrow Wilson became president. The main storyline takes place in 1916 just before America is about to plunge into WW1 against Germany. Teddy manages to move the country forward in a progressive manner in Sterling's AH timeline far more than actually happened for many decades through sheer force of personality and has created the Black Chamber that operates as a supercharged CIA.
Our MC and POV character Luz is a mixed race Cuban-Irish woman in her mid 20's who is one of those uber capable Black Chamber operatives. She travels on a dirigible from New York to Europe impersonating a Mexican revolutionary bent on regaining independence from Mexico. Oh yeah the U.S. invaded Mexico when Poncho Villa and his revolutionary's raided into the southern US, the raiding part actually happened historically and the US really did send troops into Mexico on an expeditionary force but obviously didn't launch a full scale invasion. (If you're a history nerd like me something worth looking into. The US did consider taking over Mexico but racist views stopped it from happening, they simply didn't want to add so many brown skinned citizens to the country)
Luz makes contact with the German agent and of course sexual sparks fly between the two because it wouldn't be a Stirling book if there wasn't some sex haha. Luz and Horst fight their way into Germany killing more than a few soldiers from supposed allies along the way.
Luz finds out that the Germans have a doomsday type of weapon that they hope to use to neutralize the Americans before they even get into the war and knows she somehow needs to get this info back to save America.
The book is action packed and a lot of fun to read some of the time but there are a couple of things that really bothered me. I did not like the over explanation of the political situation at times. This is mostly done through train of thought chapters within Luz's mind. It really interrupted the flow of the narrative at time and took me out of that movie in my mind I drone on about ceaselessly haha. I could have done with about 75% less of the over description to keep the story moving along. I didn't need to know exactly how a German officer of noble blood would be dressed in comparison to a peasant soldier to understand the story itself. I understand that Luz is supposed to be a spy cataloging every last detail that might be pertinent to practicing her craft but it bogged the story down for me. When she is thinking about some of this stuff during the middle of a firefight with enemy soldiers it seems like it would take minutes, not seconds, for some of these strings of details and info that aren't related to the firefight to play out. A soldier should have been able to just walk up to her and shoot her while she's thinking about how his boots and hat mark him out as a Silesian peasant because if he had been wearing a different cut of boot or finer weave he clearly would have been a Silesian Noble.
I also didn't care for the constant string of Spanish, and at times German colloquialism phrases that she sometimes said out loud and more often thought in her mind and then had explained in English. If she had only explained them when she was talking out loud to someone who wouldn't have understood it wouldn't have bothered me but when she is doing it supposedly in her mind why would she need to explain the phrases to herself? I understand that Stirling is doing it for the reader's benefit but it also took me out of the story having someone explain a phrase they use to themselves.
All in all I thought it was a plot line that was fun and as a spy novel there was certainly a lot of action but I was bogged down in the details that slowed the story down for me. If another Change novel is in the works I will be right on top of it again but I'll probably skip book 2 in this series.
With that being said I really wanted to love this book as well and the writing is top notch as it should be with a veteran author but I just didn't care for the way the author took care of the necessary info dumps as we are being told about the differences between our own world and the alternate timeline Sterling has created.
The alternate history (AH) timeline in this book begins with Teddy Rosevelt winning the 1912 presidency and then the 1916 presidency as well. In our own timeline Woodrow Wilson became president. The main storyline takes place in 1916 just before America is about to plunge into WW1 against Germany. Teddy manages to move the country forward in a progressive manner in Sterling's AH timeline far more than actually happened for many decades through sheer force of personality and has created the Black Chamber that operates as a supercharged CIA.
Our MC and POV character Luz is a mixed race Cuban-Irish woman in her mid 20's who is one of those uber capable Black Chamber operatives. She travels on a dirigible from New York to Europe impersonating a Mexican revolutionary bent on regaining independence from Mexico. Oh yeah the U.S. invaded Mexico when Poncho Villa and his revolutionary's raided into the southern US, the raiding part actually happened historically and the US really did send troops into Mexico on an expeditionary force but obviously didn't launch a full scale invasion. (If you're a history nerd like me something worth looking into. The US did consider taking over Mexico but racist views stopped it from happening, they simply didn't want to add so many brown skinned citizens to the country)
Luz makes contact with the German agent and of course sexual sparks fly between the two because it wouldn't be a Stirling book if there wasn't some sex haha. Luz and Horst fight their way into Germany killing more than a few soldiers from supposed allies along the way.
Luz finds out that the Germans have a doomsday type of weapon that they hope to use to neutralize the Americans before they even get into the war and knows she somehow needs to get this info back to save America.
The book is action packed and a lot of fun to read some of the time but there are a couple of things that really bothered me. I did not like the over explanation of the political situation at times. This is mostly done through train of thought chapters within Luz's mind. It really interrupted the flow of the narrative at time and took me out of that movie in my mind I drone on about ceaselessly haha. I could have done with about 75% less of the over description to keep the story moving along. I didn't need to know exactly how a German officer of noble blood would be dressed in comparison to a peasant soldier to understand the story itself. I understand that Luz is supposed to be a spy cataloging every last detail that might be pertinent to practicing her craft but it bogged the story down for me. When she is thinking about some of this stuff during the middle of a firefight with enemy soldiers it seems like it would take minutes, not seconds, for some of these strings of details and info that aren't related to the firefight to play out. A soldier should have been able to just walk up to her and shoot her while she's thinking about how his boots and hat mark him out as a Silesian peasant because if he had been wearing a different cut of boot or finer weave he clearly would have been a Silesian Noble.
I also didn't care for the constant string of Spanish, and at times German colloquialism phrases that she sometimes said out loud and more often thought in her mind and then had explained in English. If she had only explained them when she was talking out loud to someone who wouldn't have understood it wouldn't have bothered me but when she is doing it supposedly in her mind why would she need to explain the phrases to herself? I understand that Stirling is doing it for the reader's benefit but it also took me out of the story having someone explain a phrase they use to themselves.
All in all I thought it was a plot line that was fun and as a spy novel there was certainly a lot of action but I was bogged down in the details that slowed the story down for me. If another Change novel is in the works I will be right on top of it again but I'll probably skip book 2 in this series.
May 12, 2018
I received free books from Penguin Random House in exchange for this review
This is not normally the kind of book I'd pick up. I'm really into history, and I enjoy reading historical novels, but somehow I've never really gotten into alternative history books (unless alternate history is part of a time travel sci fi book or something). I think I read one Harry Turtledove book I didn't like and it sort of turned me off the whole genre. But after this one I may have to revise my opinion.
I picked this up as a free ARC at a comic con and I was pleasantly surprised with how good it was. The underlying concept is really interesting (President Taft dies in 1912, Teddy Roosevelt gets elected, enacts a passel of Progressive new policies, sometimes in ways that seem almost undemocratic, and has to deal with America getting involved in the Great War). I liked the idea of a female spy operating in this time period, and how she uses chauvinistic ingrained attitudes to her advantage while still being entirely capable.
The plot itself is intriguing (the Germans are up to something that might affect America's interests and our heroine, Luz, must figure out what it is by impersonating a Mexican revolutionary and cozying up to a German spy), and Luz is a great character. I feel like some people would probably say she's too much of a super spy (she's pretty much good at everything, and she's got a Sherlock Holmesian way of figuring people out just by the way they speak, i.e. hearing Ciara speak once in broken German and determining exactly where she was born and raised and that she's lower middle class, etc), but I didn't mind it. As a woman in her business at this time, she'd have to be this capable or she would never have been accepted in the first place.
I really liked Ciara as well and Horst was a good antagonist, although aside from the two of them, there's not a lot going on in the way of supporting character development (this reminded me in a lot of ways of James Bond books/movies).
There are times when Luz (the story is told mostly from her POV) goes on digressions about weapons, or technology, or the countryside, or how Germans act, or her past, or the aforementioned Holmesian analyses, and these digressions often take place in the middle of another scene. I didn't mind (I'm a sucker for little character details and I really liked Luz and her unique voice), but I can see this being bothersome to people who aren't as intrigued by historical detail as I am. (The author also frequently has Luz break into German or Spanish, although seldom for more than a sentence at a time, and doesn't translate most of it. None of it is essential to the plot, so you don't NEED to translate it, but I definitely had google translate out myself, because I like to know all these things. This might be something else that some may find bothersome, even though I didn't personally).
The action is scenes are well written, the historical context is well explained, and Luz's challenges as both a double agent and a woman are interesting and fleshed out. There is also a rather unexpectedly sweet love story going on as well. It's doesn't overwhelm the plot, but I enjoyed the bits of it that were there. It's just enough that you understand why the two characters like each other and you're invested in how it turns out, and it makes the ending even better.
This is supposed to be the first in a series of Black Chamber novels, and though I've never read SM Stirling before, I would absolutely read another book involving these characters. I hope the other books will involve Luz as well, because I would really enjoy following her adventures, especially given that the book sets up a situation that has a lot of possibilities for further action for her. This is good reality based escapist fiction, and I'm ready for another volume.
This is not normally the kind of book I'd pick up. I'm really into history, and I enjoy reading historical novels, but somehow I've never really gotten into alternative history books (unless alternate history is part of a time travel sci fi book or something). I think I read one Harry Turtledove book I didn't like and it sort of turned me off the whole genre. But after this one I may have to revise my opinion.
I picked this up as a free ARC at a comic con and I was pleasantly surprised with how good it was. The underlying concept is really interesting (President Taft dies in 1912, Teddy Roosevelt gets elected, enacts a passel of Progressive new policies, sometimes in ways that seem almost undemocratic, and has to deal with America getting involved in the Great War). I liked the idea of a female spy operating in this time period, and how she uses chauvinistic ingrained attitudes to her advantage while still being entirely capable.
The plot itself is intriguing (the Germans are up to something that might affect America's interests and our heroine, Luz, must figure out what it is by impersonating a Mexican revolutionary and cozying up to a German spy), and Luz is a great character. I feel like some people would probably say she's too much of a super spy (she's pretty much good at everything, and she's got a Sherlock Holmesian way of figuring people out just by the way they speak, i.e. hearing Ciara speak once in broken German and determining exactly where she was born and raised and that she's lower middle class, etc), but I didn't mind it. As a woman in her business at this time, she'd have to be this capable or she would never have been accepted in the first place.
I really liked Ciara as well and Horst was a good antagonist, although aside from the two of them, there's not a lot going on in the way of supporting character development (this reminded me in a lot of ways of James Bond books/movies).
There are times when Luz (the story is told mostly from her POV) goes on digressions about weapons, or technology, or the countryside, or how Germans act, or her past, or the aforementioned Holmesian analyses, and these digressions often take place in the middle of another scene. I didn't mind (I'm a sucker for little character details and I really liked Luz and her unique voice), but I can see this being bothersome to people who aren't as intrigued by historical detail as I am. (The author also frequently has Luz break into German or Spanish, although seldom for more than a sentence at a time, and doesn't translate most of it. None of it is essential to the plot, so you don't NEED to translate it, but I definitely had google translate out myself, because I like to know all these things. This might be something else that some may find bothersome, even though I didn't personally).
The action is scenes are well written, the historical context is well explained, and Luz's challenges as both a double agent and a woman are interesting and fleshed out. There is also a rather unexpectedly sweet love story going on as well. It's doesn't overwhelm the plot, but I enjoyed the bits of it that were there. It's just enough that you understand why the two characters like each other and you're invested in how it turns out, and it makes the ending even better.
This is supposed to be the first in a series of Black Chamber novels, and though I've never read SM Stirling before, I would absolutely read another book involving these characters. I hope the other books will involve Luz as well, because I would really enjoy following her adventures, especially given that the book sets up a situation that has a lot of possibilities for further action for her. This is good reality based escapist fiction, and I'm ready for another volume.
March 17, 2018
Excellent book! S.M. Stirling creates detailed characters and a story that comes alive in your mind. Plenty of action and a lovely ending.
May 26, 2018
This isn’t a book that I would normally pick up. I got an advanced copy at Emerald City Comic Con and thought I’d give it a try. I generally like altered history stories anyway.
My brother and dad were the history lovers in the family and luckily I learned a bit. I could see where someone that doesn’t know the basic history timeline could easily get sucked into this story as real.
Basically President Taft dies earlier than he should and a very progressive party lead by Teddy Roosevelt takes control. Since he’s progressive a lot of things start happening earlier like women’s rights, etc. This book follows the story of a female spy that is sent into Germany to find out what is going on. Word is out that the Germans have a new weapon and it’s her job to find out about it. What she uncovers is terrifying and now the race is on to save America.
The book interestingly uses German, Spanish and even some French to get points across and remind you of the characters and where they are from. Some is explained/translated some isn’ which I found frustrating as I like to understand what I’m reading.
Luz’s character was well thought out. The way she thinks, acts everything. It was amazing sometimes reading her as she came across quite like an American James Bond. She had a few nifty items to use and was a lethal weapon on her own.
I would read more of her adventures if there are any.
My brother and dad were the history lovers in the family and luckily I learned a bit. I could see where someone that doesn’t know the basic history timeline could easily get sucked into this story as real.
Basically President Taft dies earlier than he should and a very progressive party lead by Teddy Roosevelt takes control. Since he’s progressive a lot of things start happening earlier like women’s rights, etc. This book follows the story of a female spy that is sent into Germany to find out what is going on. Word is out that the Germans have a new weapon and it’s her job to find out about it. What she uncovers is terrifying and now the race is on to save America.
The book interestingly uses German, Spanish and even some French to get points across and remind you of the characters and where they are from. Some is explained/translated some isn’ which I found frustrating as I like to understand what I’m reading.
Luz’s character was well thought out. The way she thinks, acts everything. It was amazing sometimes reading her as she came across quite like an American James Bond. She had a few nifty items to use and was a lethal weapon on her own.
I would read more of her adventures if there are any.
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