I found The Peshawar Lancers to be very easy to fall into. S.M. Stirling is very talented at creating believable and fully realized worlds; you can really tell how much thought and research goes into them.

This book in particular deals with an alternate history where man's technological progress was halted in the 1870's by an asteroid colliding with the Earth. Flooding, long winters and cold summers, starvation, mass migration, cannibalism, and disease follow. Fast forward to 2025 where the major world powers are the Caliphate, the British Raj Empire (now comprising mainly of India, Australia, and parts of Africa), France Outre-Mer, The Mikado of Japan, and the Czar of All Russias. Russia survived by creating a religion that centers around cannibalism and is intent on bringing the whole world under the influence of Tchernobog. Europe is considered a dangerous frontier full of cannibalistic savages.

The story mainly concerns the King siblings, who find themselves being pursued by an agent of the Czar, Count Ignatieff, who is intent on their assassination as well as the end of the Royal house of the British Raj. Stirling also introduces a sisterhood of psychics used by the Russians who can see the outcomes of different possibilities. This serves an interesting purpose of allowing flash backs to The Fall and The Exodus, both important periods in the history of the world.

I will admit the characters are a bit one dimensional at times. Should this turn into a series I'm sure they would develop very nicely. However, this story, despite its length, was a bit too fast paced and action packed for more character development. On the other hand Stirling spends so much time developing and introducing the world and its history you often forget any flaws.

Overall an interesting, "what if" sort of story.