This is a huge book, but well worth reading if you have the stamina for it.Takes a classic sci-fi staple, alternate history, and takes it to the very bitter end.What if the Nazis won World War II is a very common alternate history idea used in many sci fi stories, but this one extrapolates this idea with so much detail and heartbreaking realism, that you end up thanking our lucky stars that we DID win WWII.The book already takes place in a time where the Nazis have won WWII and pretty much conquered all of Europe. America is still technically its own country and the last free country in the world, but has no influence or power over the Nazi empire.There are few small pockets of resistance left in Poland and we see some resistance fighters struggle against the awesome juggernaut of the Nazi empire. Our hero is a disillusioned Brit who somehow ends up in the Polish Resistance and we see through his eyes just how dismal life is under the iron heel of Nazi rule.
This book was interesting because it combined a very fast moving/eventful plot with a well developed character analysis of the main protaganist..Peter. The author combines events from the history of the Nazi Regime and the powers fighting World War 2, as well as the formation of revolutionary moments, and used them to speculate on what life would be like if Germany won World War 2 through the eyes of Peter, an educated English man, a resister, a servant, and eventually a revolutionary fighter/husband and father. The book was over 1,000 pages long, but i found it easy to stay in to and would recommend it to those who like history and a good story to get lost in.
Do You like book The Children's War: A Novel (2002)?
This is a very well written book where the basic plot line is "What if Hitler had won WWII..." There are three main characters in the book, the most prominent of which is Peter Halifax whose life is the focus of the book. The book follows his life from a 'normal' citizen of the Third Reich to him becoming a forced laborer. The other two main characters are Polish freedom fighters.While the book is very long it is full of content and there is always something new happening that keeps the pages turning. This is not my favorite book, but it definetly ranks on my top five list.
—Kevin
Heavy book. Heavy in weight, heavy in subject, and just plain really hard to make sense of. Where was the editor? And why give it 4 stars if the plot lines are flailing around like the ends of a broken rope? Len Deighton also tackled the alt history of "what if the Nazi's had won?" in "SS-GB" and did it with so much better characterization, plot structure, and sense of place. Why did I like this book and the sequel "A change of regime" so much? Because of the main character, a young man run afoul of the authorities who begins in the absolute nightmare of being crated up like a vase for shipping to rise as a fighter, a husband, and as a father. His ultimate redemption runs in parallel with the changes in the regime both from within and without and give us hope for the future. A rewarding slog.
—Randall
