Decisive Darkness: Part One – Majestic

Decisive Darkness #1

by Paul Hynes

In August 1945, Japan was hit with two nuclear weapons. This, along with the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, caused the government to surrender.

What if it had not?

Paul Hynes imagines a world in which a fanatical junta takes over Japan and pledges a fight to the bitter end. Using real-world plans relating to the invasion of the Home Islands, along with an extensive knowledge of American, British, Soviet and Japanese attitudes and capabilities at the time, Hynes crafts a story of harrowing losses, desperate measures, and unspeakable horror for the civilian population.

Genres: Alternate History, War

185 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 30, 2016

Reviews

[Tom Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title says it all. In this grim but very well-researched and compelling book (part 1 of 2), Paul Hynes explores just how much worse the end of the Second World War could have been. We consider it obvious now that Japan would have surrendered after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but as Hynes shows, things could easily have been different - and far darker. Though this scenario is dystopic in that sense, it is not written with a sense of glorying in despair, and there remain springs of hope nonetheless. Highly recommended.

[Allen McDonnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is an Essay

This text it quite interesting to a history nerd like myself. It is well researched and plotted out but there are almost no characters and the character interactions necessary for a traditional character driven novel. Instead we get what is in effect a multi-chapter essay about one way events could have developed if the Anami coup de tet had succeeded in mid August 1945.

[VRDrive · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great concept and well thought out. However, the writing is a bit janky sometimes.