Book Review of Harry Turtledoves' After the Downfall

After the Downfall is the latest book by the much acclaimed author of Guns of the South, Ruled Britannia, the Videssos series, the whole Southern Victory series and the Wolrdwar & Colonization series, to name just a few of his more noteworthy works. It is a combination of the fantasy, military fiction genres with a tad bit of the flavor of science fiction woven in.

If you are a history buff the cover, of the hardback, is an attention getter. Let us face it, there is something catchy about a World War II, Nazi Wehrmacht officer mounted on a rearing unicorn. You just have to pick it up and read the dust jacket to see what it is about, even if you think the picture is ridiculous.

Turtledoves' selection of an average Wehrmacht captain as the hero of his book is pure genius. After all, the Nazis are ultimate "fascinating bad guys." We love to hate them. Let us be honest, they were horrendous mass murderers bent on world domination and racial genocide but, to pay the devil his due, they did design snazzy uniforms and put on a heck of a parade.

Without getting into details, the plot of After the Downfall revolves around one Captain Hasso Pemsel who, while fighting the Russians during the fall of Berlin, is magically transported to another world. Within moments of his arrival in this new world he sees an extremely beautiful "Aryan" looking woman being pursued by three short, swarthy, dark haired, "Jewish" looking men who seem determined to kill her. In a split second he reacts as a Nazi would, he kills the three men with his submachine gun and saves the "Aryan" woman.

However the two peoples are not what they first seemed to Hasso Pemsel. The supposed "untermenschen" are Grenye, a short, dark haired people who, left to their own devices would be at about a bronze age level of technology. The woman is of the Lennelli, a medieval, steel/iron age society made up of tall blonde haired people, some of whom can use actual magic.

Captain Pemsel, relying on his Nazi indoctrination, takes up with the Lenelli and begins to assist them with their war of conquest and total subjugation against the "savages" (the Grenye). He teaches them new tactics and leads their troops into battle while discovering he has some magical abilities of his own.

In the process he is captured by the Grenye who then want this person from another world to help them and set about trying to convince him to do so. During the course of his captivity Pemsel comes to realize the Grenye are (surprise!) people also. People who are fighting for their very survival against an invading horde bent on their utter destruction. This is something a Wehrmacht soldier, who fought against the Russian hordes pouring into eastern Germany, can readily identify with.

The fact that the books hero, Hasso Pemsel, spends the entire book coming to grips with the horrible reality of what Nazi Germany had done (at least on its eastern fronts) and finally seems to seek some redemption, knowingly or not, by helping his new worlds "untermenschen," the Grenye in their struggle for survival is something the reader is expecting, yet it is still subtle. Pemsel slowly begins to make the connection that, if the Grenye can be people, maybe the Jewish people of Europe were also people who deserved to live too.

Personally, the whole "wizards riding unicorns" scene, while a fascinating picture, is really not my "thing." That said Harry Turtledove has written a great many excellent books and, occasionally, he has laid the proverbial "bad egg," The Man with the Iron Heart springs to mind, given that this book is more in the fantasy area than any other I found it to be surprisingly good. It is an easy read which is hard to put down. You just have to know what will happen on at least the next page. The end of After the Downfall leaves it clear that this is the first in another Turtledove series, rather than a stand alone novel, and I am actually looking forward to the next book even though fantasy is not usually my preferred genre.