Harry Turtledove continues his multi-viewpoint
world-spanning fantasy analog to World War II with Rulers of the
Darkness. This fourth
volume drives home the difference between the macrostory of the world at
war and the various microstories of the individuals whose lives are
controlled by the larger events. Even as the international events
unfold in one direction, personal stories have a tendency to go opposite
the way a character's country's fate goes.
Rulers of the Darkness continues to portray
characters from almost all of the countries in his world and from
positions ranging from partisans to generals, soldiers to civilians.
Although the shear number of characters sometimes makes the stories
difficult to follow, the tapestry Turtledove is weaving is made richer by
the juxtaposition of multiple plots and viewpoints which help shed light
on a variety of storylines. While the interweaving of plots and
characters may, at times, seem unlikely, late in the novel, Turtledove
addresses this very point in a way which is reminiscent of the idea that
in the real world everyone is connected within six degrees.
Another aspect of the novel which is heavily
influenced by the number of viewpoint characters and their storylines is
the pacing of the plot. Turtledove appears to take a long time to
advance any of the stories. However, if a reader were to only read
the sections of the novel which deal with a specific plot, for instance
the attempts of the Kuusamans and Lagoans to create a new form a magic,
the specific plots move quickly. However, as already noted, by
breaking them up and looking at a variety of plots, Turtledove is able to
make his created war much richer.
The war which has consumed Derlavai and the
surrounding islands is clearly an analog for our own world's World War
II. Frequently countries and situations, if not characters, can be
linked to their real world models. However, the pairing is not
exact. Although the Kaunians seem to clearly represent the Jews,
their previous empire and the fact they they still have their own
countries also make them akin to the Ancient Romans. The
Gyongyosians are based on the Japanese, although their role in the war
seems slighter than in the real World War II. This may, however,
simply be a result of Turtledove's authorial decision of which areas to
cover.
While the comparison between the world of Derlavai and the real world is
obvious, there are points where the dichotomy between the fantasy world
Turtledove is presenting and twentieth century civilization is made
obvious. At times like this, the reader is jarred out of
Turtledove's world as the common tropes of a fantasy world compete with
the recent past of our own more mundane world.
In the end, it isn't the world wide situation of the
novel which holds the reader's attention. Instead it is the personal
stories of the characters Turtledove has created. Fortunately, he
has populated Derlavai with real people who find themselves in difficult
situations. Some of them behave heroically, such as Cornelu, the
Sibian leviathan rider who has been pulled from his homeland, but still
fights against what he sees as the forces of evil. Fernao finds
himself working with his country's traditional rivals to develop magic and
he finds himself fighting his own desires for his married colleague, Pekka.
Other characters simply try to live their lives apart from the war around
them. The love story of Ealstan and Vanai, who must hide Vanai's
Kaunian identity so she isn't arrested by the Algarvians, or Istvan, who
every day lives his life as a soldier, afraid that his shame is never
revealed to his comrades. Other characters are not as heroic.
Various characters from lands which have been invaded who are working with
the invaders in order to make their own lives more bearable. With
such a large cast (there are seventeen viewpoint characters), each reader
will be able to find some characters he can relate to.
In the end, Rulers of the Darkness, the fourth
novel in the ongoing series, is bittersweet. Even as advances are
made on the front against Algarve, which country Turtledove has portrayed
in the most consistently negative terms, characters the reader has come to
like face difficult trials and tribulations. In past books,
Turtledove has shown no compunction about killing viewpoint characters,
and he continues to kill them in Rulers of the Darkness. This
is refreshing since the reader can never be sure who shall live and who
shall die, making the book that much more realistic.
The war which began in Into
the Darkness continues to rage, but in Rulers of the Darkness,
Turtledove shows is progressing to a new stage, possibly signaling an
endgame. His characters are also moving along in their personal
relationships and desires, some receiving their comeuppance, others
finding themselves in a losing situation. The emotions which a
reader feels when characters' fates are revealed is a testament to the veracity
with which Turtledove endows these people.
