Several years after the events of 2007s Opening Atlantis, Victor Radcliff, now middle-aged, is called upon to lead the Atlantis colonies fight for independence from England. Victor, aided by his ex-slave friend Blaise, agrees to train and lead the ragtag colonial army against experienced British soldiers under Generals Howe and Cornwallis.
Harry Turtledove's rousing saga of a fantastic world at war, which began in Into the Darkness and continued through Darkness Descending, Through the Darkness, Rulers of the Darkness, and Jaws of Darkness, draws to its climactic conclusion in Out of the Darkness. As the Derlavaian War rages into its last and greatest battles, allied nations maneuver for positions against each other in a postwar world.
The absorbing, character-centered fifth volume (after 2002's Rulers of the Darkness) in Turtledove's fantasy saga paralleling WWII ranks as the strongest yet in the series. WWII buffs will of course enjoy watching the equivalents of the Manhattan Project, D-Day, the great Russian offensives of 1944, the appearance of German secret weapons and the withdrawal of Romania from the Axis. And the author continues to handle the action, both magical and martial, as deftly as ever.
Despite the title, Darkness Descending, the second novel in Harry Turtledove’s massive Derlavai saga, is far less pessimistic in tone than the introductory volume, Into the Darkness. Although the wars effects continue to be felt across the continent of Derlavai, and beyond, the actual battle sequences are generally limited to the Algarvian invasion of Unkerlant, told through only a few viewpoint characters.
Harry Turtledove is known for his alternate histories; from The Guns of the South to The Great War: American Front, he's practiced at imagining the ways society would have changed if various things had been different in history. Sometimes it's a key figure surviving (or dying); other times it's a strange new variable, like aliens landing during World War II. With Into the Darkness, Turtledove investigates a new wrinkle in this successful field: What if a world war were fought using magic?
