title: Bitter Seeds
author: Ian Tregillis
finished: June 4, 2010
my rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
why?: Because Sword and Laser decided to read it (and I actually felt interested in it).
overall story:
In an alternate history of World War II, the Nazis have discovered a way to bring out superpowers in people. They have an invisible girl, a guy who can set things on fire with his mind, a guy who can turn insubstantial, a pair of telepathic twins… and a girl who can see the future. One day a British secret agent spots one of these superpowered people, a girl with wires attached to her head who seems to know his name, and brings the tale back home with him. And as the war breaks out, the British turn to the aid of warlocks in an attempt to counteract the German superpowers.
my impressions:
I enjoyed this story quite a bit. Usually I’m not big on the whole alternate history genre. I’m just not very fond of history, even when authors play around with it and all the "what-ifs." And World War II especially is not a big favorite. But this book managed to capture my interest early on, especially with the inclusion of the sci-fi and fantasy elements in the superpowers and the warlocks. And, well, it didn’t let me go again.
I think one of the things that caught me most about this book is that it blurred the lines of good and evil. Not so much in the high levels of the war, but on the level of the individuals. See, the story is mostly told from three points of view: Marsh, that same British secret agent who first spotted one of the German supermen, and one of the first members of Milkweed, the project dedicated to figuring out and standing against these strange powers; Will, a British warlock (though not too skilled a one) working with Milkweed; and Klaus, one of the supermen, specifically the boy who can turn insubstantial.
With Klaus we see a boy/young man who is rather afraid of the doctor who has made him what he is, and who does what he does not so much out of some evil drive, but more out of fear, and some pride in his country. He’s really a very human person, despite the rather superhuman thing he can do. Of course, through him we also get to see Gretel, his sister who can see the future, who may just be the most "powerful" character in the book. It honestly seems like she’s pulling the strings for the entire story, and I can’t say whether I think she has good intentions at not.
And on the other side of the blurring the line between good and evil issue, we have Will, the warlock. He has good intentions, and that’s obvious from the start. But the magic that he does is essentially negotiation with eidolons, super powerful beings full of nothing but malice for humankind. Almost like a sort of demon. And the price for these negotiations is paid with blood, and even lives… and it only gets worse with each new thing the warlocks ask the eidolons to do. So as the story progresses, we see Will wrestle with his consciousness as the things he and the other warlocks do start to weigh heavier and heavier on him… and we see just what the "good guys" are willing to do to win their war.
So we have the very human and somewhat sympathetic character on the side of the Nazis and the increasingly "evil" things that the British do to fight back, making for a quite interesting conflict on moral grounds. Add to that the highly driven Marsh and the highly manipulative, but detached Gretel, and you have a book that made me enjoy reading about WWII.
That said, this is the first book in a series. Didn’t know that going in, but I do now, after listening to an interesting interview that Tom and Veronica, the glorious leaders of the Sword and Laser, did with the author to wrap up the group’s read of the book. Of course, after finishing the book, it was pretty obvious that there was more of the story to be told. Too many questions left unfinished. I’ll definitely be checking out the rest of the trilogy as it comes out.
Tags: 4.5 stars, author: Ian Tregillis
