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Crosstime Traffic #1
Gunpowder Empire
02 Jeremy Solter is a teenager growing up in the late 21st century. During the school year, his family lives in Southern California-but during the summer the whole family lives and works in the city of Polisso, on the frontier of the Roman Empire. Not the Roman Empire that fell centuries ago, but a Roman Empire that never fell.
For we now have the technology to move between timelines, and to exploit the untapped resources of those timelines that are hospitable to human life. So we send traders and businesspeople-but as whole-family groups, in order to keep the secret of Crosstime Traffic to ourselves.
But when Jeremy ducks back home for emergency medical treatment, the gateways stop working. So do all the communication links. Jeremy and his sister are on their own, Polisso is suddenly under siege, and there's only so much you can do when cannonballs are crashing through your roof...
Jeremy Solter is a teenager growing up in the late 21st century. During the school year, his family lives in Southern California-but during the summer the whole family lives and works in the city of Polisso, on the frontier of the Roman Empire. Not the Roman Empire that fell centuries ago, but a Roman Empire that never fell.
For we now have the technology to move between timelines, and to exploit the untapped resources of those timelines that are hospitable to human life. So we send traders and businesspeople-but as whole-family groups, in order to keep the secret of Crosstime Traffic to ourselves.
But when Jeremy ducks back home for emergency medical treatment, the gateways stop working. So do all the communication links. Jeremy and his sister are on their own, Polisso is suddenly under siege, and there's only so much you can do when cannonballs are crashing through your roof...
For we now have the technology to move between timelines, and to exploit the untapped resources of those timelines that are hospitable to human life. So we send traders and businesspeople-but as whole-family groups, in order to keep the secret of Crosstime Traffic to ourselves.
But when Jeremy ducks back home for emergency medical treatment, the gateways stop working. So do all the communication links. Jeremy and his sister are on their own, Polisso is suddenly under siege, and there's only so much you can do when cannonballs are crashing through your roof...
Jeremy Solter is a teenager growing up in the late 21st century. During the school year, his family lives in Southern California-but during the summer the whole family lives and works in the city of Polisso, on the frontier of the Roman Empire. Not the Roman Empire that fell centuries ago, but a Roman Empire that never fell.
For we now have the technology to move between timelines, and to exploit the untapped resources of those timelines that are hospitable to human life. So we send traders and businesspeople-but as whole-family groups, in order to keep the secret of Crosstime Traffic to ourselves.
But when Jeremy ducks back home for emergency medical treatment, the gateways stop working. So do all the communication links. Jeremy and his sister are on their own, Polisso is suddenly under siege, and there's only so much you can do when cannonballs are crashing through your roof...
286 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2003
28 people are currently reading
861 people want to read
About the author
Harry Turtledove
564 books1,963 followersDr Harry Norman Turtledove is an American novelist, who has produced a sizeable number of works in several genres including alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy and science fiction.
Harry Turtledove attended UCLA, where he received a Ph.D. in Byzantine history in 1977.
Turtledove has been dubbed "The Master of Alternate History". Within this genre he is known both for creating original scenarios: such as survival of the Byzantine Empire; an alien invasion in the middle of the World War II; and for giving a fresh and original treatment to themes previously dealt with by other authors, such as the victory of the South in the American Civil War; and of Nazi Germany in the Second World War.
His novels have been credited with bringing alternate history into the mainstream. His style of alternate history has a strong military theme.
Harry Turtledove attended UCLA, where he received a Ph.D. in Byzantine history in 1977.
Turtledove has been dubbed "The Master of Alternate History". Within this genre he is known both for creating original scenarios: such as survival of the Byzantine Empire; an alien invasion in the middle of the World War II; and for giving a fresh and original treatment to themes previously dealt with by other authors, such as the victory of the South in the American Civil War; and of Nazi Germany in the Second World War.
His novels have been credited with bringing alternate history into the mainstream. His style of alternate history has a strong military theme.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 95 reviews
December 2, 2022
Just not as exciting as the author’s many other works. Two teenagers stuck in an alternative, low tech Rome. Moderate adventure. What is amusing is that I could not resist comparing this to H. Beam Piper’s alt World Series. In Turtledove’s world the protagonists are aghast at slavery and human injustice, to the extent that they comment on cruelty to animals. For Piper, his chaps wheel and deal, kill and maim, and then justify the same!
July 27, 2019
If science fiction can be considered to be a physical landscape as well as a literary type, then in the realm of “what if?” lies the alternate history novel. For what is the interest in such tales, other than to extrapolate what could happen, rather than what did? Gunpowder Empire is the first in a series from the doyen of the alternate history story, Harry Turtledove.
We begin the novel in late 21st century Los Angeles. Teenagers Amanda and Jeremy Solter are breaking up from school for the summer, and with their parents about to spend the summer working away – not in a foreign place but in an alternate universe.
Jack and Melissa Solter (Mom and Dad) work for Crosstime Traffic, a company that specialises in supplying much needed resources from alternate universes to the places in need on Earth. The Solters spend their summers in the city of Polisso in a universe where, although it is the 21st century, the Roman Empire still exists.
This is therefore a Roman Empire but one that is different. The Roman soldiers now have gunpowder (hence the book’s title) and fight with guns and cannons as well as swords, bows and arrows. However where somethings have changed, other things have not. Slavery still exists and the emancipation of women is yet to happen in this Roman world.
Polisso – on the Solter’s world a village in Romania, here a city – lies on the border between the Roman Empire and an emerging one, that of the Lietuvian. The Lietuvian Empire is what would be seen as Poland and Lithuania on our world. There are often border skirmishes between the Romans and the Lietuvians, but usually the world is at peace.
Much of the first part of the book shows the family as they travel to Polisso and settle into a routine, selling gaudy watches and Swiss Army style penknives for grain, which is returned to their modern home. When Melissa becomes sick, Jack returns with her to Earth to get medical care that she wouldn’t receive in Polisso, and as a result the teenagers are left to hold the fort, so to speak, expecting their parents to only be gone for a few days.
Unfortunately, the time travel network mysteriously goes off-line, leaving Amanda and Jeremy stranded without external communication. At the same time, the Roman authorities begin to grow suspicious of their trade and the family are watched carefully, just as the Lietuvians set siege to the city.
My first impression is that this is more straightforward than the usual Turtledove fare and perhaps more enjoyable because of it. The emphasis is on telling a story, not creating something with complexity. We do not have the broad sweep of characters or the epic scale of events we normally read in Turtledove’s novels. The focus is on Jeremy and Amanda and mainly set in the city of Polisso.
The narrative has the feel of a Heinlein juvenile (Tunnel in the Sky is the obvious one), or a similar author – it is not a coincidence that the book is dedicated to Heinlein, Andre Norton and H. Beam Piper, who are clearly an influence. There is a lot of telling rather than showing here, but it is not unbearable.
There are differences to the juvenile templates created by Heinlein, Norton and Piper, but on the whole they are subtle ones. Turtledove’s teenagers are perhaps a little more whiny than Heinlein’s, who just got on with it. But then you could say that such behaviour reflects modern society, that we have moved away from being more hands-on and practical to a more esoteric lifestyle, perhaps. How a modern millennial would cope without electricity and their mobile phone/computer is an interesting point of comparison to make.
Some points are shown well, although there are issues with others. The teenagers of Turtledove’s narrative may not be your typical young adult of the future. Their background is clearly middle-class and with a fairly privileged lifestyle. The fact that they have bothered to learn Neo-Latin (not something our games console/social media obsessed culture would care about) at times makes them feel a little like Heinlein’s super-capable protagonists (although to be fair there are times when they are obviously not).
More overtly there is an ongoing idea of Amanda’s issues with the concept of slavery as an accepted part of society, which is not subtle. The two youngster’s ability to deal with people using animal furs is also a little overwrought – surely you would accept it as a fundamental part of life, even if you personally disagree with it. Think of a vegetarian’s reaction to omnivores, which does not usually generate the need to be sick (like wearing fur here does in this story.) Whilst these are valid points, they are ones that could be dealt with more subtly.
Of course, the main point of the story is that, despite all of the challenges that come their way, it should not be a surprise to find that Amanda and Jeremy survive. Some might even say that they are perhaps better for the independence that such a situation could create, with the caveat that it’s a hell of a way to get an education. Though the path to learning may be a little different, the outcome is something that by the end readers will welcome.
In summary, Gunpowder Empire is a great read. It’s not particularly original, though it reads nicely and encapsulates much of what readers want in an alternate history by focusing on the tale rather than obscuring it with complexity. It’s a great introduction to anyone who hasn’t read alternate history before and wants to try some before moving onto the bigger stuff.
We begin the novel in late 21st century Los Angeles. Teenagers Amanda and Jeremy Solter are breaking up from school for the summer, and with their parents about to spend the summer working away – not in a foreign place but in an alternate universe.
Jack and Melissa Solter (Mom and Dad) work for Crosstime Traffic, a company that specialises in supplying much needed resources from alternate universes to the places in need on Earth. The Solters spend their summers in the city of Polisso in a universe where, although it is the 21st century, the Roman Empire still exists.
This is therefore a Roman Empire but one that is different. The Roman soldiers now have gunpowder (hence the book’s title) and fight with guns and cannons as well as swords, bows and arrows. However where somethings have changed, other things have not. Slavery still exists and the emancipation of women is yet to happen in this Roman world.
Polisso – on the Solter’s world a village in Romania, here a city – lies on the border between the Roman Empire and an emerging one, that of the Lietuvian. The Lietuvian Empire is what would be seen as Poland and Lithuania on our world. There are often border skirmishes between the Romans and the Lietuvians, but usually the world is at peace.
Much of the first part of the book shows the family as they travel to Polisso and settle into a routine, selling gaudy watches and Swiss Army style penknives for grain, which is returned to their modern home. When Melissa becomes sick, Jack returns with her to Earth to get medical care that she wouldn’t receive in Polisso, and as a result the teenagers are left to hold the fort, so to speak, expecting their parents to only be gone for a few days.
Unfortunately, the time travel network mysteriously goes off-line, leaving Amanda and Jeremy stranded without external communication. At the same time, the Roman authorities begin to grow suspicious of their trade and the family are watched carefully, just as the Lietuvians set siege to the city.
My first impression is that this is more straightforward than the usual Turtledove fare and perhaps more enjoyable because of it. The emphasis is on telling a story, not creating something with complexity. We do not have the broad sweep of characters or the epic scale of events we normally read in Turtledove’s novels. The focus is on Jeremy and Amanda and mainly set in the city of Polisso.
The narrative has the feel of a Heinlein juvenile (Tunnel in the Sky is the obvious one), or a similar author – it is not a coincidence that the book is dedicated to Heinlein, Andre Norton and H. Beam Piper, who are clearly an influence. There is a lot of telling rather than showing here, but it is not unbearable.
There are differences to the juvenile templates created by Heinlein, Norton and Piper, but on the whole they are subtle ones. Turtledove’s teenagers are perhaps a little more whiny than Heinlein’s, who just got on with it. But then you could say that such behaviour reflects modern society, that we have moved away from being more hands-on and practical to a more esoteric lifestyle, perhaps. How a modern millennial would cope without electricity and their mobile phone/computer is an interesting point of comparison to make.
Some points are shown well, although there are issues with others. The teenagers of Turtledove’s narrative may not be your typical young adult of the future. Their background is clearly middle-class and with a fairly privileged lifestyle. The fact that they have bothered to learn Neo-Latin (not something our games console/social media obsessed culture would care about) at times makes them feel a little like Heinlein’s super-capable protagonists (although to be fair there are times when they are obviously not).
More overtly there is an ongoing idea of Amanda’s issues with the concept of slavery as an accepted part of society, which is not subtle. The two youngster’s ability to deal with people using animal furs is also a little overwrought – surely you would accept it as a fundamental part of life, even if you personally disagree with it. Think of a vegetarian’s reaction to omnivores, which does not usually generate the need to be sick (like wearing fur here does in this story.) Whilst these are valid points, they are ones that could be dealt with more subtly.
Of course, the main point of the story is that, despite all of the challenges that come their way, it should not be a surprise to find that Amanda and Jeremy survive. Some might even say that they are perhaps better for the independence that such a situation could create, with the caveat that it’s a hell of a way to get an education. Though the path to learning may be a little different, the outcome is something that by the end readers will welcome.
In summary, Gunpowder Empire is a great read. It’s not particularly original, though it reads nicely and encapsulates much of what readers want in an alternate history by focusing on the tale rather than obscuring it with complexity. It’s a great introduction to anyone who hasn’t read alternate history before and wants to try some before moving onto the bigger stuff.
November 10, 2017
My first Harry Turtledove novel. And the first in this series.
I kind of like the "Crosstime Traffic" premise, but I thought this installment built a bit slowly. I suppose that's to be expected in a first volume: a fair amount of setup. The world he writes of is similar enough to ours to provide grounding, and different enough that we need to gain understanding as we go. After a rather slow first few chapters, Harry falls into a pattern I prefer: eschewing plain exposition in favor of a more gradual assembly. In the first few chapters, he lays out the frame, connecting the edge pieces; then the thoughts and dialogue of the characters add the interior pieces, a few at a time.
Even so, the major crisis of the novel comes after the halfway point, so be prepared for a relatively slack buildup. The book is evidently geared toward young adults, given the ages of the protagonists. It might be a bit dense and drawn-out for members of the immediate-gratification nation. But I look forward to reading the ensuing installments.
I kind of like the "Crosstime Traffic" premise, but I thought this installment built a bit slowly. I suppose that's to be expected in a first volume: a fair amount of setup. The world he writes of is similar enough to ours to provide grounding, and different enough that we need to gain understanding as we go. After a rather slow first few chapters, Harry falls into a pattern I prefer: eschewing plain exposition in favor of a more gradual assembly. In the first few chapters, he lays out the frame, connecting the edge pieces; then the thoughts and dialogue of the characters add the interior pieces, a few at a time.
Even so, the major crisis of the novel comes after the halfway point, so be prepared for a relatively slack buildup. The book is evidently geared toward young adults, given the ages of the protagonists. It might be a bit dense and drawn-out for members of the immediate-gratification nation. But I look forward to reading the ensuing installments.
January 14, 2019
I had read and enjoyed several other books in this series, so I was excited to get my hands on one about the Roman Empire! Since I'm far more interested in Rome than I am in good old "the South won the Civil War" plot standbys, I expected to love this.
Unfortunately, this book is as janky as my grandparents' car.
Crosstime Traffic has never had good characterization -- let's just get that out of the way. This book, obviously, doesn't buck that trend. Amanda and Jeremy get stuck in Rome by themselves during a war, the only two people in the entire world who know each other for who they really are. If I were in a fix like that with my brother, that relationship would become THE most important thing in my universe. Could you imagine if one of them died, and left the other completely isolated? In this book, they talk to each other occasionally, usually saying something like, "Boy I sure wish we could go home." "Yeah, me too." And that's it.
While this is stupid, it's what I expect from Crosstime Traffic. To make up for it, what I ALSO expect from Crosstime Traffic is thought-provoking, compelling, lived portraits of intriguing alternate history worlds. Feel the parallel world, smell the parallel world, live the parallel world. At the end of the book I BETTER BE MORE THAN HALF CONVINCED THIS REALLY COULD HAVE HAPPENED, HARRY. That's really the only thing these book are supposed to do, and this one failed.
The pseudo-Roman world is... weird. It's the same year as the modern day, but they haven't progressed past clumsy early-Ottoman style gunpowder weapons. That's interesting enough, but it seems like that's the ONLY thing that differentiates the lives of "modern" Romans from the lives of the buried citizens of Pompeii. Nothing else has happened. Like, guys, it's been over two thousand years. They haven't even figured out glass. While the text tries to explain the lack of progress, it's not convincing. This is pretty wack and seems deeply unimaginative. At least explore a little bit of how gunpowder had to have changed the renowned Roman war machine, the very thing that allowed them to make and keep the Empire in the first place!
Some other details are strange, like the fact that Amanda's and Jeremy's family is here in the Empire trading baubles for grain. Grain, for the apparently overcrowded Malthusian home timeline. First of all, how could Roman farmers using hand tools even create enough excess wheat to make a difference to a world that can't adequately feed itself with industrialized farming? Food shortage is like the least realistic future problem to face the world, and it's even funnier when the only throwaway mention of other problems is "global warming hadn't stopped, but it had slowed down."
The biggest issue, though, is that this book doesn't seem as much interested in investigating the alternate Roman Empire as it is recoiling in disgust from it. So much repetitive time is spent covering Amanda's and Jeremy's modern horror at slavery, corruption, substandard hygiene, sexism, menial work, and the wearing of animal furs that you hardly learn anything about the world outside of what they hate about it. These books are always more thoughtful and philosophical than adventurous, but the thoughtfulness here is ninety percent just empty moralizing. Yeah, I already know slavery is bad. Their reaction to animal fur is just crazy -- Jeremy literally throws up after holding a fur coat, even though as a family they eat meat! Is that really something Turtledove thinks people in the future will be so sensitive to?
There's barely any detail given about the world, and almost nothing thought-provoking. Anytime the story verges on truly posing a moral or ethical dilemma, it backs off twice as quickly with the voice of a teenage narrator concluding, "I just don't know, man." Hopefully, the weakness of this book just reflects the fact that it's the first in the series, and Turtledove hadn't quite gotten his YA legs yet, but I was seriously disappointed. I really wanted to explore the Roman Empire.
Unfortunately, this book is as janky as my grandparents' car.
Crosstime Traffic has never had good characterization -- let's just get that out of the way. This book, obviously, doesn't buck that trend. Amanda and Jeremy get stuck in Rome by themselves during a war, the only two people in the entire world who know each other for who they really are. If I were in a fix like that with my brother, that relationship would become THE most important thing in my universe. Could you imagine if one of them died, and left the other completely isolated? In this book, they talk to each other occasionally, usually saying something like, "Boy I sure wish we could go home." "Yeah, me too." And that's it.
While this is stupid, it's what I expect from Crosstime Traffic. To make up for it, what I ALSO expect from Crosstime Traffic is thought-provoking, compelling, lived portraits of intriguing alternate history worlds. Feel the parallel world, smell the parallel world, live the parallel world. At the end of the book I BETTER BE MORE THAN HALF CONVINCED THIS REALLY COULD HAVE HAPPENED, HARRY. That's really the only thing these book are supposed to do, and this one failed.
The pseudo-Roman world is... weird. It's the same year as the modern day, but they haven't progressed past clumsy early-Ottoman style gunpowder weapons. That's interesting enough, but it seems like that's the ONLY thing that differentiates the lives of "modern" Romans from the lives of the buried citizens of Pompeii. Nothing else has happened. Like, guys, it's been over two thousand years. They haven't even figured out glass. While the text tries to explain the lack of progress, it's not convincing. This is pretty wack and seems deeply unimaginative. At least explore a little bit of how gunpowder had to have changed the renowned Roman war machine, the very thing that allowed them to make and keep the Empire in the first place!
Some other details are strange, like the fact that Amanda's and Jeremy's family is here in the Empire trading baubles for grain. Grain, for the apparently overcrowded Malthusian home timeline. First of all, how could Roman farmers using hand tools even create enough excess wheat to make a difference to a world that can't adequately feed itself with industrialized farming? Food shortage is like the least realistic future problem to face the world, and it's even funnier when the only throwaway mention of other problems is "global warming hadn't stopped, but it had slowed down."
The biggest issue, though, is that this book doesn't seem as much interested in investigating the alternate Roman Empire as it is recoiling in disgust from it. So much repetitive time is spent covering Amanda's and Jeremy's modern horror at slavery, corruption, substandard hygiene, sexism, menial work, and the wearing of animal furs that you hardly learn anything about the world outside of what they hate about it. These books are always more thoughtful and philosophical than adventurous, but the thoughtfulness here is ninety percent just empty moralizing. Yeah, I already know slavery is bad. Their reaction to animal fur is just crazy -- Jeremy literally throws up after holding a fur coat, even though as a family they eat meat! Is that really something Turtledove thinks people in the future will be so sensitive to?
There's barely any detail given about the world, and almost nothing thought-provoking. Anytime the story verges on truly posing a moral or ethical dilemma, it backs off twice as quickly with the voice of a teenage narrator concluding, "I just don't know, man." Hopefully, the weakness of this book just reflects the fact that it's the first in the series, and Turtledove hadn't quite gotten his YA legs yet, but I was seriously disappointed. I really wanted to explore the Roman Empire.
May 26, 2012
I have never read any of Turtledove's work, since they often center on the Civil War or WWII, not my favorite topics. But this sort of YA series intrigued me - it is about the multiverse. A way to cross over to alternate timelines was discovered, and Crosstime Traffic established to train people to go to various timelines, and trade and barter to bring things back. Some timelines have no people yet, even though it is the same "time." Others are ones where Hitler won WWII, or Germany won WWI, or the South the Civil War, or China rose to prominence, etc. In this book (the other books in the series seem to focus on other families and timelines), is set in a timeline where the Roman Empire never fell, and is still strong. They have developed gunpowder, but not much else. The world contains only a few great empires, like Persia, China, and Rome. And while they have skirmishes along the border for land, the empires themselves, in the middle of these vast kingdoms, are basically safe from invasion, since it would take a miracle to plow through the whole of the Roman empire and still have enough forces left to take on Rome. Turtledove gives some great arguments and reasons for the strength of these empires, and why they haven't progressed as much as some. Rome is stuck with bureaucracy and "paperwork." There are rules and laws and tariffs for just about everything. Jeremy and his sister Amanda, both teenagers, spend their summers with their parents in Agrippan Rome, in a small border town, where they bring in items of small cost, but high value to the Romans. Items that are just a small step above what they can produce,and so are sought after - straight razors, combs, mirrors, and winding pocket watches. They take payment in grain which they ship home through a transportation chamber hidden in the subbasement of their house.
While there, they must play their parts, with Roman names, clothing, and use only what is available in that timeline,and speak what has become a more modern form of Latin, neoLatin. They make friends, and trade. But then their mother gets ill, and their father takes her back for a checkup, to see what is wrong, since medicine is crude and basically non-existent in this timeline. All seems well, and their mother is recovering, known through messages that can be sent back and forth - no video, since it takes too much bandwidth. But one day, right in the middle of a text messaging session with his best friend, stationed in a Chinese timeline, the machine suddenly stops, and says that there is no connection to the home office. They keep trying, but nothing. No transportation chamber is in the house, since it was never sent back, but was waiting for their parents to return. There is another one outside of town, which is how they arrive, as if "from a different town," but when Jeremy checks, it too isn't working. So they are cut off from their timeline, with no way of knowing when or if it will be fixed. And meanwhile, their northern neighbors, the Lietuvans, or lithuanians in their timeline, decide to try and seize their town, and so the kids are on their own, in a small ancient town under siege. How they cope with it, while trying to maintain their cover, and stay alive makes for a rousing adventure. Turtledove does a great job of making the world seem real and alive, and the explanations of the political systems are interesting and make great sense. I am looking forward to the next one, sitting in my TBR pile from the library. I will try and look for these at the used bookstores., as I would like to own them
While there, they must play their parts, with Roman names, clothing, and use only what is available in that timeline,and speak what has become a more modern form of Latin, neoLatin. They make friends, and trade. But then their mother gets ill, and their father takes her back for a checkup, to see what is wrong, since medicine is crude and basically non-existent in this timeline. All seems well, and their mother is recovering, known through messages that can be sent back and forth - no video, since it takes too much bandwidth. But one day, right in the middle of a text messaging session with his best friend, stationed in a Chinese timeline, the machine suddenly stops, and says that there is no connection to the home office. They keep trying, but nothing. No transportation chamber is in the house, since it was never sent back, but was waiting for their parents to return. There is another one outside of town, which is how they arrive, as if "from a different town," but when Jeremy checks, it too isn't working. So they are cut off from their timeline, with no way of knowing when or if it will be fixed. And meanwhile, their northern neighbors, the Lietuvans, or lithuanians in their timeline, decide to try and seize their town, and so the kids are on their own, in a small ancient town under siege. How they cope with it, while trying to maintain their cover, and stay alive makes for a rousing adventure. Turtledove does a great job of making the world seem real and alive, and the explanations of the political systems are interesting and make great sense. I am looking forward to the next one, sitting in my TBR pile from the library. I will try and look for these at the used bookstores., as I would like to own them
February 6, 2013
Wow. I don't know where to start. The book was just so bad. Well, it's dated. It's only 10 years old, but being set so far into the future (he didnt give an exact year, but I estimate about 80 years) ages a book extremely quickly. The tech in this book is actually less advanced than what we have now. I know.
I should probably backtrack. The premise of this book is that at some time (Turtledove doesn't like to use exact years) people in our world learned how to dimension travel. So, like the greedy people we are, we traveled to other worlds, took their supplies (most notably oil, cause we're still using that 80 years in the future *sarcasm*) and returned with it to our world.
The plot revolves around the Solters family (did anyone else notice the typo on the back of the book) who travel to a world in which the Roman Empire never fell. Interesting. I take a Latin class so I thought this could be pretty cool. Wrong.
In this strange world (which Turtledove claims came about by the nondeath of some random general) the Roman Empire is still around 2,000 years later but, incredibly, has changed very little. With the exceptions of guns, watches, and neoLatin (their strange new language); their culture is essentially exactly the same. Turtledove tries to explain, but honestly it's half-assed and pretty weak.
You should keep in mind that I couldn't finish this book. I didn't even get to the main plot point, which you can read about on the book or here on GoodReads. Just keep in mind that I cut a lot from this review, cause there was just so much I had to say (none of it good) and I couldn't fit it all.
I should probably backtrack. The premise of this book is that at some time (Turtledove doesn't like to use exact years) people in our world learned how to dimension travel. So, like the greedy people we are, we traveled to other worlds, took their supplies (most notably oil, cause we're still using that 80 years in the future *sarcasm*) and returned with it to our world.
The plot revolves around the Solters family (did anyone else notice the typo on the back of the book) who travel to a world in which the Roman Empire never fell. Interesting. I take a Latin class so I thought this could be pretty cool. Wrong.
In this strange world (which Turtledove claims came about by the nondeath of some random general) the Roman Empire is still around 2,000 years later but, incredibly, has changed very little. With the exceptions of guns, watches, and neoLatin (their strange new language); their culture is essentially exactly the same. Turtledove tries to explain, but honestly it's half-assed and pretty weak.
You should keep in mind that I couldn't finish this book. I didn't even get to the main plot point, which you can read about on the book or here on GoodReads. Just keep in mind that I cut a lot from this review, cause there was just so much I had to say (none of it good) and I couldn't fit it all.
July 25, 2019
The premise here is that not too far from now, people in a world very like ours discover that they can move between timelines. Our protagonists are a pair of high school-aged students temporarily marooned in a timeline where the Roman Empire never fell. They get caught in an artillery-era siege.
I think a 14-year-old might enjoy this book; I didn't. The historical details weren't enough to hold my attention in the absence of characters, and I've seen the basic premise enough times at this point to not get much out of it, and to notice the details of execution.
Partly the economics were all wrong. It seems hard to believe we would profitably trade pocketwatches and knives for grain with a pre-industrial society. 1600-era farming just isn't very productive and grain is not very scarce. Surely it would be easier to farm on a totally uninhabited world. Partly the Roman details weren't quite right. Over and over we see people making up written sale contracts for immediate execution. But Roman contracts _had_ to be oral; the written version was purely evidentiary. This is a prominent fact that Turtledove ought to know and that jarred me.
But the big problem with the book is that it's flat. Our heroes are marooned, they have various small adventures, and then they get un-marooned. The central conflict of the plot isn't really resolved by their efforts, they don't seem to learn or grow very much, they just saunter through a mildly interesting setting. And that setting was too loosely drawn to really hold my interest.
I see that this is marketed for YA, and there is surely a class of YA readers who would like it. But I can't recommend this to an adult reader.
I think a 14-year-old might enjoy this book; I didn't. The historical details weren't enough to hold my attention in the absence of characters, and I've seen the basic premise enough times at this point to not get much out of it, and to notice the details of execution.
Partly the economics were all wrong. It seems hard to believe we would profitably trade pocketwatches and knives for grain with a pre-industrial society. 1600-era farming just isn't very productive and grain is not very scarce. Surely it would be easier to farm on a totally uninhabited world. Partly the Roman details weren't quite right. Over and over we see people making up written sale contracts for immediate execution. But Roman contracts _had_ to be oral; the written version was purely evidentiary. This is a prominent fact that Turtledove ought to know and that jarred me.
But the big problem with the book is that it's flat. Our heroes are marooned, they have various small adventures, and then they get un-marooned. The central conflict of the plot isn't really resolved by their efforts, they don't seem to learn or grow very much, they just saunter through a mildly interesting setting. And that setting was too loosely drawn to really hold my interest.
I see that this is marketed for YA, and there is surely a class of YA readers who would like it. But I can't recommend this to an adult reader.
October 22, 2017
Harry Turtledove is an exceptionally detailed historian and spends countless chapters describing the economy and society of ancient Rome. However, his characters left a little to be desired. Their thoughts and actions were pitifully shallow. Predicable almost. The plot also took a while to pick up. Overall, it was an interesting and easy read.
March 18, 2024
Note to self. Stop reading reading books you aren't enjoying. I didn't realize that Gunpowder Empire was a young adult novel. I don't have anything against young adult novels, but honestly this was written like a kindergarten history primer about an alternative Roman empire.
Everything was just so repetitive and I didn't care about the characters at all. I even noticed several typos in the book.
Everything was just so repetitive and I didn't care about the characters at all. I even noticed several typos in the book.
March 31, 2025
Turtledove does it again!
When it comes to alternate history, Turtledove is a master-craftsman. This is a young-adult series, but it’s equally entertaining for adults. Bravo!
When it comes to alternate history, Turtledove is a master-craftsman. This is a young-adult series, but it’s equally entertaining for adults. Bravo!
September 27, 2013
I'd always heard of Turtledove as a good writer of alternate history, but hadn't read anything by him until this book, which I picked up at random. Although nothing on the cover marks this as a YA novel, it definitely is - moreover, it's a YA novel written in an infuriatingly condescending, didactic style which assumes the reader knows nothing of the most basic concepts of history, and is incapable of looking things up or even understanding anything that isn't stated in simple, short words. Reading it, I felt like I had been stuck in some kind of remedial class!
The premise is that, in the near future, travel into alternate worlds has been discovered, and is being used for commerce - products are brought from the "alternates" by merchants who pose as local people. Due to a technical glitch (?) two teenage siblings are stranded without their merchant parents in a medieval-style Eastern European country (which, for some reason, hasn't progressed or changed since the days of the Roman Empire). and have to get through the situation on their own. Unfortunately, there's not really all that much to "get through." Some bureaucrats ask some questions, there's some suspicion - but nothing really happens. The two teenagers act and think in a ridiculously immature manner, and there wasn't really much of anything interesting or different about the world that they're stuck in.
Not at all recommended.
The premise is that, in the near future, travel into alternate worlds has been discovered, and is being used for commerce - products are brought from the "alternates" by merchants who pose as local people. Due to a technical glitch (?) two teenage siblings are stranded without their merchant parents in a medieval-style Eastern European country (which, for some reason, hasn't progressed or changed since the days of the Roman Empire). and have to get through the situation on their own. Unfortunately, there's not really all that much to "get through." Some bureaucrats ask some questions, there's some suspicion - but nothing really happens. The two teenagers act and think in a ridiculously immature manner, and there wasn't really much of anything interesting or different about the world that they're stuck in.
Not at all recommended.
September 3, 2010
I had never heard of Harry Turtledove before last month. I saw his book while visiting my local library. I was intrigued by Gunpowder Empire because of my enjoyment of the ancient Roman empire. I've recently watched the entire ROME television series (via Netflix) and the SPARTACUS: SAND & BLOOD series (also via Netflix). So I was ready to enjoy this science fiction book about an American family in the 28th century who is able to travel to alternative timeline ... and in this case the alternative timeline is a city-state modeled after ancient Roman Empire.
The concept is unique and reminded me of KINDRED by Octavia Butler. A modern-day mentality operating in a long-gone culture. Turtledove does a nice job of making us realize the challenges of living in ancient Rome -- no electricity, no Internet, no pre-packaged food, slavery is standard and accepted, war is up-close and personal...
I enjoyed the set-up for the book ... but, the story got slow for me after awhile. The two major players in the story are youngsters (teen-age high schoolers). I think that is probably what limited the enjoyment of the story for me. Seeing things from a teenagers POV was a stretch for me in many ways.
The concept is unique and reminded me of KINDRED by Octavia Butler. A modern-day mentality operating in a long-gone culture. Turtledove does a nice job of making us realize the challenges of living in ancient Rome -- no electricity, no Internet, no pre-packaged food, slavery is standard and accepted, war is up-close and personal...
I enjoyed the set-up for the book ... but, the story got slow for me after awhile. The two major players in the story are youngsters (teen-age high schoolers). I think that is probably what limited the enjoyment of the story for me. Seeing things from a teenagers POV was a stretch for me in many ways.
February 18, 2012
Yes, this series is targeted at the teen/young adult audience. Yes, that means the writing is less complex than his other series. The point here is that Turtledove is trying to hook younger readers on reading and sci-fi in particular. If you are trying to pull in a younger, newer audience, you don't start them out with the theory of relativity! Crawl, walk, run. Don't write discouraging reviews because you thought you were getting something that wasn't intended. Encourage a new generation. This may be "bubble-gum" reading to adults, but it is fun & interesting to see where Turtledove's ideas twist history!
May 5, 2009
Good idea, bad execution.
November 19, 2012
A good kids book.
June 22, 2016
ick.
June 7, 2016
Really?! I wouldn't recommend this to anyone. I wish I had the 4 hours back I spent reading it. What a waste of time.
June 11, 2018
A "gunpowder empire" is one in which technology has developed only to the point of producing the most primitive firearms. In this story, the Roman empire has existed at that level for an indefinite period of time. Due to a competent general having survived longer than he did in the timeline we know, Rome withstood assaults by the Germanic forces, subsequently expanded to include most of Europe, and remains a dominant power at the end of the 21st century. It has intermittent clashes with Persia and Lithuania, but those challenges have not prompted much technological progress.
This Roman empire is one of a great many (perhaps an infinite number of) alternative realities existing alongside ours. In some, the Confederacy won the American Civil War. In others, Japanese warlords dominate China, or the human race is completely absent, etc. As for the people in our own reality (several decades hence), resource depletion is an issue. The population needs more food and raw materials than their Earth can produce. But luckily, they've discovered a way for agents to visit those parallel worlds to obtain what they need.
All this is conveniently explained for the reader as part of a bland classroom discussion at the story's outset. The two main characters are Jeremy and Amanda, high school siblings, and the point of view switches back and forth between them. As has happened in prior years, they will spend summer vacation with their parents in an outpost of the above-mentioned alternative Roman empire, trading machine-produced marvels such as mirrors and pocket watches for bags of grain. (Of course, the various dimensions must be kept separate, and the locals must not know the true origin of these goods.)
Although the concept is attractive, I'm beginning to wonder if we have too much alternative-history fiction. The novel I read just prior to this one (which I comment on here) is set in a reality in which the U.S. lost WWII, and other examples have been coming my way regularly since I first read Borges's 1941 story "The Garden of Forking Paths." The quality of this literature is uneven. What I always hope to find in it, and what I say Philip K. Dick provides in the write-up linked to above, is a twist that explores the idea from a new angle. Failing that, there at least needs to be some redeeming quality such as a wonderful story, strong characters, or exceptional writing. For me, even when the author has an interesting concept, as, say, Eric Flint does in 1632, it can be ruined by uninspired writing.
And, alas, the writing here is careless, the sentences unpolished. Most of it isn't egregiously bad, but occasionally I stumbled over stuff like this:
"Hardly any cultures that hadn't invented the camera produced art that didn't try to represent reality."
Or how about this?
"Crucifixion had never gone out of style in Agrippan Rome. Amanda shivered. It was an ugly way to die."
As for the story itself, if you strip out the moralizing (slavery is bad, killing animals for their fur is bad), the condescending way the author repeats and explains his points to make sure they're not missed, and various observations that are hammered on repeatedly (human nature is the same in all realities, e.g., people everywhere "needed to feel their group was better than some other group"), there isn't much left. Mom and Dad disappear and the kids have to fend for themselves, just as the locals are growing suspicious about where their comparatively high-tech products come from. My favorite part was the complaint by the frustrated artisan who wanted to reverse-engineer a Swiss Army knife. I'd have appreciated more focus on that, the technological interface between the two cultures, rather than assurances that ours is morally superior. Also, the exceedingly long glide path to a foregone conclusion, with nary a last-minute complication, is tiresomely anticlimactic.
This might be appropriate middle-school fare. I wonder if it was intended as a dramatized sociology textbook.
This Roman empire is one of a great many (perhaps an infinite number of) alternative realities existing alongside ours. In some, the Confederacy won the American Civil War. In others, Japanese warlords dominate China, or the human race is completely absent, etc. As for the people in our own reality (several decades hence), resource depletion is an issue. The population needs more food and raw materials than their Earth can produce. But luckily, they've discovered a way for agents to visit those parallel worlds to obtain what they need.
All this is conveniently explained for the reader as part of a bland classroom discussion at the story's outset. The two main characters are Jeremy and Amanda, high school siblings, and the point of view switches back and forth between them. As has happened in prior years, they will spend summer vacation with their parents in an outpost of the above-mentioned alternative Roman empire, trading machine-produced marvels such as mirrors and pocket watches for bags of grain. (Of course, the various dimensions must be kept separate, and the locals must not know the true origin of these goods.)
Although the concept is attractive, I'm beginning to wonder if we have too much alternative-history fiction. The novel I read just prior to this one (which I comment on here) is set in a reality in which the U.S. lost WWII, and other examples have been coming my way regularly since I first read Borges's 1941 story "The Garden of Forking Paths." The quality of this literature is uneven. What I always hope to find in it, and what I say Philip K. Dick provides in the write-up linked to above, is a twist that explores the idea from a new angle. Failing that, there at least needs to be some redeeming quality such as a wonderful story, strong characters, or exceptional writing. For me, even when the author has an interesting concept, as, say, Eric Flint does in 1632, it can be ruined by uninspired writing.
And, alas, the writing here is careless, the sentences unpolished. Most of it isn't egregiously bad, but occasionally I stumbled over stuff like this:
"Hardly any cultures that hadn't invented the camera produced art that didn't try to represent reality."
Or how about this?
"Crucifixion had never gone out of style in Agrippan Rome. Amanda shivered. It was an ugly way to die."
As for the story itself, if you strip out the moralizing (slavery is bad, killing animals for their fur is bad), the condescending way the author repeats and explains his points to make sure they're not missed, and various observations that are hammered on repeatedly (human nature is the same in all realities, e.g., people everywhere "needed to feel their group was better than some other group"), there isn't much left. Mom and Dad disappear and the kids have to fend for themselves, just as the locals are growing suspicious about where their comparatively high-tech products come from. My favorite part was the complaint by the frustrated artisan who wanted to reverse-engineer a Swiss Army knife. I'd have appreciated more focus on that, the technological interface between the two cultures, rather than assurances that ours is morally superior. Also, the exceedingly long glide path to a foregone conclusion, with nary a last-minute complication, is tiresomely anticlimactic.
This might be appropriate middle-school fare. I wonder if it was intended as a dramatized sociology textbook.
August 12, 2019
Turtledove puzzles me: I have enjoyed reading the Worldwar-series and its sequel the Colonization-series, but the 8th book in this combined story Homeward Bound was plain horrible, a strong contender for most boring novel ever.
Equally bad was the next one of his I tried: The Two Georges. Still searching for another good Turtledove, I read Opening Atlantis. It was okay, but I did not feel like reading the next four books in the series.
I love alternate history and the Roman empire is a particular interest of mine, so Gunpowder Empire sounded like a good idea.
It wasn't and will most likely be my last attempt (unless I receive a strong recommendation from someone I trust) to find another good one by Turtledove.
First of all, it's a Young Adult-novel. Nothing wrong with that at all - I've read plenty of good ones - but I would have liked to know it beforehand. This one is so boring and uneventful with such cardboard characters that I can't see how anyone can enjoy this.
I finished this hoping for something interesting and I am left very disappointed.
Equally bad was the next one of his I tried: The Two Georges. Still searching for another good Turtledove, I read Opening Atlantis. It was okay, but I did not feel like reading the next four books in the series.
I love alternate history and the Roman empire is a particular interest of mine, so Gunpowder Empire sounded like a good idea.
It wasn't and will most likely be my last attempt (unless I receive a strong recommendation from someone I trust) to find another good one by Turtledove.
First of all, it's a Young Adult-novel. Nothing wrong with that at all - I've read plenty of good ones - but I would have liked to know it beforehand. This one is so boring and uneventful with such cardboard characters that I can't see how anyone can enjoy this.
I finished this hoping for something interesting and I am left very disappointed.
April 4, 2018
I have been a fan of Harry Turtledove for decades. I have read, and enjoyed, almost everything he's published.
I like the story and it has potential. It reminds me of Household Gods. The problem is that this, as well as some of his other recent books, just don't have the same feel as his earlier works. Videssos, Worldwar, Darkness and the series starting with How Few Remain, were all epic series, spanning many novels. Each were amazing. This novel feels like it is more of a contractual obligation rather than something the author wanted to write. So many things are repeated over and over again. Oftentimes, these are things that shouldn't even need to be mentioned. The book has a feel of a student writing a book report requiring a minimum number of words, without enough content.
Aside from this, as I mentioned, I like the story and plan on reading the rest of the series.
I like the story and it has potential. It reminds me of Household Gods. The problem is that this, as well as some of his other recent books, just don't have the same feel as his earlier works. Videssos, Worldwar, Darkness and the series starting with How Few Remain, were all epic series, spanning many novels. Each were amazing. This novel feels like it is more of a contractual obligation rather than something the author wanted to write. So many things are repeated over and over again. Oftentimes, these are things that shouldn't even need to be mentioned. The book has a feel of a student writing a book report requiring a minimum number of words, without enough content.
Aside from this, as I mentioned, I like the story and plan on reading the rest of the series.
December 2, 2025
Another fascinating timeline from Mr. Turtledove but, in reading it at about the same time as Turtledove's How Few Remain, I was left uninterested in this series.
I understand how Crosstime Traffic could have come to pass, but in particular it seems there is a lot of delving into Amanda's and Jeremy's personalities. That may develop a future book; it may develop another timeline; it may mean that they take one of their local friends back to their home world. It's still a lot of development of two people that I wasn't able to care about.
Backstories, personalities, technologies have to be developed for the series. I understand this. It may be easier for alternate-Civil War and alternate-WWII series because so much of the history, personalities, and technologies are already developed. This book, however, wasn't as developed in art as other Turtledove writings, so I rated it hard.
I understand how Crosstime Traffic could have come to pass, but in particular it seems there is a lot of delving into Amanda's and Jeremy's personalities. That may develop a future book; it may develop another timeline; it may mean that they take one of their local friends back to their home world. It's still a lot of development of two people that I wasn't able to care about.
Backstories, personalities, technologies have to be developed for the series. I understand this. It may be easier for alternate-Civil War and alternate-WWII series because so much of the history, personalities, and technologies are already developed. This book, however, wasn't as developed in art as other Turtledove writings, so I rated it hard.
July 10, 2025
A sameness
I have read this twice and been left having not wasted my money, but still wanting.
This is a kids book for a 14 yo. It has the standard historical ‘flex’ and quite a bit of moral preening (but teens are like that).
I am more interested in the Crosstime Worlds and policies than 2 teens in a siege. Are they trusting their pay off of Evil King to two foreign teens? Not a whole delegation with more merchants? Trusted merchants? Like the delegation in the Videssos series?
This is the second of this series I read and wish he would aim slightly older in his reading demo.
I have read this twice and been left having not wasted my money, but still wanting.
This is a kids book for a 14 yo. It has the standard historical ‘flex’ and quite a bit of moral preening (but teens are like that).
I am more interested in the Crosstime Worlds and policies than 2 teens in a siege. Are they trusting their pay off of Evil King to two foreign teens? Not a whole delegation with more merchants? Trusted merchants? Like the delegation in the Videssos series?
This is the second of this series I read and wish he would aim slightly older in his reading demo.
March 20, 2020
Jeremy and Amanda Solters are teenagers living in the late twentyfirst century. Their parents are time traveling merchants--and they visit the Roman Empire yearly to ply their wares. While in Rome, they do as the Romans do--carry water grind wheat, and speak Neo Latin. They peddle mirrors, straight razors and Swiss Army knives. When their mom gets sick, and has for return to the twenty first century, Jeremy and Amanda are left on their own. And then the city falls seige to the Lietuvans, and the teens wonder if they will ever return home.
January 22, 2020
A novel about a family who time travel to alternate Earths to trade in order to feed a resource starved future world. The book does a great job making you appreciate modern conveniences. The family is trading in a world where Rome held onto power until at least early blackpowder cannon and matchlock weapons. Discouraging was finding out that Rome's bureaucracy was just as horrible, if not worse than modern America. The work is YA oriented but still held my interest.
May 27, 2023
It's ok, I guess. Not much literary depth, or mind-blowing dialog, but the premise is interesting, and the presentation is thought provoking. There is a clash of cultures, and while everyone believes they are clearly in the right, the author is aware that both are blind to their respective flaws. I wish a bit more time would be spent on exactly why each culture is like this. And perhaps a bit more deep characters. In all 3.5/5.
July 13, 2017
Terrible.
It's as if an over achieving 8th grader wrote this. The writing is awful.
It's as if an over achieving 8th grader wrote this. The writing is awful.
August 10, 2018
Excellent alternate history novel
June 8, 2019
The story moves rather slowly but the world building is great. Keep reading for the insight of how a modern person would feel in a place with much more violence, poverty and slavery.
July 31, 2019
Loved the premise of this book, but not the execution. Hoping the next book is better.
September 29, 2019
An elseworlds story for children, not all that great.
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