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Russian Alaska #1
Russian Amerika
Alaska, 1989. In a world where Alaska is still a Russian possession, charter captain Grigorivich Plesnett has a stained past – as a major in the Czar's Troika Guard he was cashiered for disobeying a direct order. Now, ten years later, Grig charters out to a Cossack and discovers his past has not only caught up with him but is about to violently change his future, and the future of all nine of the nations of North America as well. Spanning Alaska from the Southeastern Inside Passage to the frozen Yukon, this is an epic tale of one man’s journey of redemption and courage to face old challenges and help birth a new nation.
592 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 3, 2007
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August 4, 2011I wanted to like this. I really did.
BUT.
Good believable Alternate Universes need reasons for why things are different not just some sort of hand waving that breaks a map down into an Alternate RISK boardgame.
Instead we get select little cultural slices with no reasons. Why is the Republic of California the country that seems to be the hub of the entertainment world where gay characters are more tolerated? (Especially with a "President Regan")
Why does "British Canada" not seem to have any sort of respect for the "First Nations" Nation - but the goode ole U.S. does? How do they get fleets through the Great Lakes which appear to be controlled by "French Canada"? And why is the tiny U.S. navy far superior to the British? (remember they are at uneasy truce with their confederate neighbors ) Also a "supposed" major battle is fought off the coast of Vancouver Island - where the British sea forces would be strongest as well as with tons of naval guns. - yet these are un mentioned - simply Russia vrs the Californians.
http://i.imgur.com/PLlTK.jpg
- and then there are vague references to "mutants" and "mind control"
The idea of a Yukon possibly not being sold to the U.S in 1859 (a historical fact - which is also mentioned in the book) led not to a sale in 1867 but to continued ownership. what is far more likely is the previously disinterested Great Britain would have made a bid for a cheaper purchase than the original sale price of 7.2 million.
I didn't mind the characters but with the flimsy background I couldn't suspend any of my belief.
Thumbs down.
BUT.
Good believable Alternate Universes need reasons for why things are different not just some sort of hand waving that breaks a map down into an Alternate RISK boardgame.
Instead we get select little cultural slices with no reasons. Why is the Republic of California the country that seems to be the hub of the entertainment world where gay characters are more tolerated? (Especially with a "President Regan")
Why does "British Canada" not seem to have any sort of respect for the "First Nations" Nation - but the goode ole U.S. does? How do they get fleets through the Great Lakes which appear to be controlled by "French Canada"? And why is the tiny U.S. navy far superior to the British? (remember they are at uneasy truce with their confederate neighbors ) Also a "supposed" major battle is fought off the coast of Vancouver Island - where the British sea forces would be strongest as well as with tons of naval guns. - yet these are un mentioned - simply Russia vrs the Californians.
http://i.imgur.com/PLlTK.jpg
- and then there are vague references to "mutants" and "mind control"
The idea of a Yukon possibly not being sold to the U.S in 1859 (a historical fact - which is also mentioned in the book) led not to a sale in 1867 but to continued ownership. what is far more likely is the previously disinterested Great Britain would have made a bid for a cheaper purchase than the original sale price of 7.2 million.
I didn't mind the characters but with the flimsy background I couldn't suspend any of my belief.
Thumbs down.
June 11, 2019
One of the things that I see people state throughout the other reviews that they didn't like was the lack of heavy exposition to explain how this world diverged from our own; however, upon reading it, I found that this didn't bother me in the slightest. Typically, I like exposition - I love David Weber - and I'm a sponge for every single minute little detail that must be present, but Mr. Compton's writing and story was entertaining enough that I didn't find myself missing it. Sure, sprinkled throughout the story you can catch tidbits here and there of historical information and I would love to know more, but I think that being familiar with the subject, e.g. American History, Russian History, etc., I was able to piece together enough reasonable alternate paths in my mind to not find it too jarring.
Overall, this is a great novel and I can't wait to read "Alaska Republik" to finish the series.
Overall, this is a great novel and I can't wait to read "Alaska Republik" to finish the series.
August 30, 2012
An interesting read with incredible detail of the Alaskan way of life. Slow to get started, but the final third of the book is very interesting. While not your typical alternate history book, a decent read for those interested in the genre.
October 30, 2012
I learned a lot about Alaska and Russian history.
May 17, 2014
Really badly written, choppy story line, 2-dimensional characters. But how could I not read a book with such an awesome map right at the start? Gets me every time...
August 23, 2014
Interesting alternative history book. Set in Russian Alaska in 1985, freedom is a hard fought war away!
October 29, 2015
Originally posted here: http://alternatehistoryweeklyupdate.b...
I have been having some bad luck with alternate histories published by Baen lately. First, there was the major disappointment that was Germanica by Robert Conroy and now there is Russian Amerika by Stoney Compton. While this is probably not the worst alternate history I have ever read, it is near the top...or the bottom in this case if you want to be precise.
The story primarily follows Grigoriy "Grisha" Grigorievich, a half-Russian, half-Native American charter boat captain in Russian controlled Alaska, in a world where Russia is a world power still ruled by the Czar. He was a major in the Troika Guard (Russia's French Foreign Legion), but he was kicked out after "disobeying an insane direct order". Since I only finished half of the book before I set it aside (and I didn't feel too bad about that since I paid for this book with my own money), I can't exactly say what that order was, but since it wasn't important enough to mention in the fist half of the book, I guess it couldn't be that insane.
Things just keep getting worse for old Grisha. He believes his marriage is ending ever since his wife got the hots for the handsome Russian officer who was quartered with them. Worse yet, what he thought would be nothing but a simple smuggling cruise for a boorish Cossack and his companion, Valari, becomes deadly when the Cossack tries to rape Valari and he dies after Grisha intervenes. Valari seduces Grisha and convinces him to run away with her to the southern republics of North America, only for Valari (who turns out is a Russian spy) to betray him to the authorities once they pull back into Grisha's home port to pick up some cash before they were to leave forever. Grisha is sentence to hard labor building a hotel for tourists, which is a likely death sentence until he is rescued by the "Dena'".
I believe Stoney is referring to the Athabaskan people known as the "Dena'ina" or "Dene" in Canada, although in the paperback copy I read its just "Den" with a dot coming right after the "n". My guess is that when the publishers printed this book the "a'" got replaced by the dot, because the e-book version of Russian Amerika doesn't have this problem. This means there is a major typo on what has to be dozens (if not hundreds) of pages. In fact my copy had a lot issues, including ink splotches on several pages that made it hard to read the text. Also there was a character who was called "Ambrose Ambrose". At first I thought it was another typo, but after the name came up again I wasn't so sure. No one commented on him having the same exact first and last name, so either that is an oversight on the author's part or that typo was repeated more than once.
Okay, if I keep stopping to complain I am never going to get through the rest of the plot summary. To make a long story short, Grisha decides to fight with the Dena' to kick the Russians out of Alaska. He trains with them, helps them infiltrate a major Russian base and even manages to find a new lover. Meanwhile, Valari works with the Russian military to undermine the Dena' separatists from the inside. I would love to tell you how Russian Amerika ended, but like I said, I stopped reading it at page 276. The plot summary from Wikipedia and the description for the sequel, Alaska Republic, suggests that the Russians were kicked out of Alaska so its likely that the good guys won and the bad guys lost. Yay...I guess.
To be fair, Russian Amerika is not all bad. I actually thought Stoney presented the alternate history of his universe fairly well. Its a standard balkanized North America timeline with several popular tropes include the Confederate States of America, the Republic of Texas and Deseret. Admittedly the First People's Nations seems like it is just space filler for fly-over country and the fact that Mexico and Central America are part of "New Spain" raises more questions then answers, but those are minor quibbles.
What is strong about this timeline is that Stoney never really explains how this balkanized North America came about. In any other genre that last sentence would be a criticism, but with alternate history, it works. It avoids the "As You Know, Bob" moments where the characters have to spend a page or two discussing the specific historical event that diverged this timeline from ours. Instead, Stoney just has the characters live in the world as is and don't take unnatural breaks to discuss history. It is refreshing actually and with the references to a "World War", a Russian military action in Algeria, the North American Treaty Organization (get it?) and the fact that technology doesn't seem to be more advanced than the 1940s (despite being set in the 80s) it leaves room for the fun speculation that alternate historians enjoy the most.
That all being said, lets see how either Stoney or Baen decided to visualize this alternate North America:
O my God. That has to be one of the ugliest maps I have ever seen in a printed book. Its nothing but arbitrarily straight line and curved borders. Why are our timeline borders so much clearer than the alternate borders? Why does the First People's Nations just randomly jut out into Canada like that? What is up with Arizona? Its color looks somewhat like the First People's Nations, but it has "Deseret" written across it. Why put the name there when it is obvious that Utah and eastern Nevada is Deseret? You want to know what is even worse about this map? Compare it to the map of Alaska that was also included with the book:
This is actually a fairly well done map. I like the perspective of putting Russian Amerika on its side and how the shading reflects how the influence of the Dena' or "Dene", as they are called on the map, (Consistency? What's that?) extends into Canada. So if they can do Alaska right, why phone it in for all of North America? The first map just looks cheap, which makes me angry when I think of all of the amazing alternate cartographers out there who I feature every week on Map Monday who could probably make a better map in their sleep. Advice to Publishers: spend some time on AlternateHistory.com or DeviantArt the next time you need to find someone to make a map, instead of handing it off to your stoned, unemployed cousin.
Typos and bad maps, however, are not enough to get me to stop reading a book only halfway through. Bad writing and a poor story, however, will. The dialogue was stilted and unnatural, plus there was rarely any time given to character development. People became friends and lovers without any real explanation. Additionally, the book is full of pointless philosophical debates that don't go anywhere and really just sound like two strawmen arguing. There is also several pages showing the step by step process on how the Dena' created a provisional government, just so the military leaders could say there is nothing for them to do until the war is over. One could perhaps argue that the military wing of the separatists just wanted a civilian government to exist to give them legitimacy, but this could have been removed from the book without hurting the story in the slightest.
I also never really understood the plan of the Dena'. I get the feeling they just wanted to win enough battles so that the southern American republics would recognize them and come to their assistance, but why would they do that? Russia is presented as a major force in this timeline. It is able to project power on other continents and, from one throw away comment I read, had a successful military intervention in Afghanistan (Something the Soviets were unable to do and the Americans are still struggling to do in this timeline. China, you're up next.). On top of that, in the early chapters of the book we learn that the North American nations had just signed a new treaty with Russia that eased tensions and opened Alaska to more trade. Why would they risk all of that just to start a world war to come to the help of some Indians? It just doesn't make sense.
I also hated the bad guys in this book. Yeah, I know they are the villains and I am not supposed to like them, but there is a difference between realistic antagonists and cartoon super villains. The Russians in Russian Amerika came off as just broad caricatures who, when not being illiterate, drinking vodka or saying Da, seem obsessed with raping, torturing and killing (not necessarily in that order). Now I may not agree with everything Russia is doing in the present day of this timeline, but even I feel this depiction of them is incredibly offensive.
Then there is the aforementioned Valari, who is a captain in the Russian military. She is perhaps the worst female character I ever read in fiction. She is an incompetent slut who is evil for the sake of being evil (like Lara from Outlaw of Gor for any MST3K fans out there). For example, after Grisha escapes imprisonment to fight for the Dena', it turns out Valari actually has a mole inside their army who is feeding her information thanks to a secret radio. What does she do with this incredibly important source of intelligence? Does she use it to keep track on the plans and movements of the Dena' so they could trap them and end their rebellion once and for all?
Nope, she just has the mole tell her when he and Grisha are going out on patrol so she can surprise him and offer Grisha a chance to rejoin the Russians and work for them. Yes, because the person who has been screwed over by his racist government (twice) would betray the people who rescued him and gave him a new purpose in life just because he was asked nicely by the woman who most recently fucked him over (both literally and figuratively) and represented the same racist government who had imprisoned and nearly killed Grisha in the first place. This ends not only with Grisha getting out of the trap without much effort, but also with the mole deciding he rather fight for the Dena' instead of Russia. Smart move, really.
What does Valari do for an encore after this? Well the radio the mole had does suddenly start broadcasting, potentially revealing the location of the Dena' forces. Since we know that her former spy is no longer trustworthy, this could obviously just be a trap and the Russians should either ignore it or perhaps send a small force of promyshlenniks (the elite Russian woodsman who enforce the Czar's rule in the Alaskan interior) to recon the location the radio last broadcasted from. Instead Valari, in her infinite wisdom, recommends that they send their few airplanes they have in the theater to strafe the position and they are, of course, chewed to bits after the Dena' light them up with their new anti-aircraft weapons. So after failing more than once at her job in a country where women are treated as second class citizens, Valari should kiss her career goodbye. Firing her would be the right thing to do, but no. Instead, her bosses promote her from captain to major. Wow...just wow. Was there still a Stalin in this timeline to purge all the smart people out of the Russian military?
You know talking about Valari reminds me that I need to mention the other female characters in Russian Amerika. In reading this book I discovered there are two types of female characters: those who are the victims of sexual assault or those who are obsessed with sex. Its actually quite uncomfortable to read at times. I can't think of a single female character who didn't either have some rape in her backstory or had strong sexual overtones surrounding her. It was weird, but considering Germanica had the same problems, this might just be par for the course with Baen's recent alternate histories.
Maybe things got better in the last half of the book, but I will never find out. Russian Amerika is bad and you should avoid it and its sequel. Admittedly the overall alternate history is handled well and at least the map of Russian Alaska is nice to look at, but the story is just barely readable. Some may argue that my review isn't complete or fair since I didn't read the whole book, but just as video game reviewers don't have to beat the game to review it, I also don't feel its always necessary to read the entire book before reviewing it. If it can't keep my attention the whole way through, then that is something that deserves to be mentioned in any criticism of the book.
Additionally, ignore the blurb on the front from Eric Flint (one of the most influential alternate historians of the modern era who authored of 1632, which started one of the longest running collaborative fictional worlds, not just in alternate history, but in speculative fiction) which called it "[a]n exciting story of war and revolution." He must have been doing someone a favor when he wrote that, because I certainly did not read anything like that in Russian Amerika.
I have been having some bad luck with alternate histories published by Baen lately. First, there was the major disappointment that was Germanica by Robert Conroy and now there is Russian Amerika by Stoney Compton. While this is probably not the worst alternate history I have ever read, it is near the top...or the bottom in this case if you want to be precise.
The story primarily follows Grigoriy "Grisha" Grigorievich, a half-Russian, half-Native American charter boat captain in Russian controlled Alaska, in a world where Russia is a world power still ruled by the Czar. He was a major in the Troika Guard (Russia's French Foreign Legion), but he was kicked out after "disobeying an insane direct order". Since I only finished half of the book before I set it aside (and I didn't feel too bad about that since I paid for this book with my own money), I can't exactly say what that order was, but since it wasn't important enough to mention in the fist half of the book, I guess it couldn't be that insane.
Things just keep getting worse for old Grisha. He believes his marriage is ending ever since his wife got the hots for the handsome Russian officer who was quartered with them. Worse yet, what he thought would be nothing but a simple smuggling cruise for a boorish Cossack and his companion, Valari, becomes deadly when the Cossack tries to rape Valari and he dies after Grisha intervenes. Valari seduces Grisha and convinces him to run away with her to the southern republics of North America, only for Valari (who turns out is a Russian spy) to betray him to the authorities once they pull back into Grisha's home port to pick up some cash before they were to leave forever. Grisha is sentence to hard labor building a hotel for tourists, which is a likely death sentence until he is rescued by the "Dena'".
I believe Stoney is referring to the Athabaskan people known as the "Dena'ina" or "Dene" in Canada, although in the paperback copy I read its just "Den" with a dot coming right after the "n". My guess is that when the publishers printed this book the "a'" got replaced by the dot, because the e-book version of Russian Amerika doesn't have this problem. This means there is a major typo on what has to be dozens (if not hundreds) of pages. In fact my copy had a lot issues, including ink splotches on several pages that made it hard to read the text. Also there was a character who was called "Ambrose Ambrose". At first I thought it was another typo, but after the name came up again I wasn't so sure. No one commented on him having the same exact first and last name, so either that is an oversight on the author's part or that typo was repeated more than once.
Okay, if I keep stopping to complain I am never going to get through the rest of the plot summary. To make a long story short, Grisha decides to fight with the Dena' to kick the Russians out of Alaska. He trains with them, helps them infiltrate a major Russian base and even manages to find a new lover. Meanwhile, Valari works with the Russian military to undermine the Dena' separatists from the inside. I would love to tell you how Russian Amerika ended, but like I said, I stopped reading it at page 276. The plot summary from Wikipedia and the description for the sequel, Alaska Republic, suggests that the Russians were kicked out of Alaska so its likely that the good guys won and the bad guys lost. Yay...I guess.
To be fair, Russian Amerika is not all bad. I actually thought Stoney presented the alternate history of his universe fairly well. Its a standard balkanized North America timeline with several popular tropes include the Confederate States of America, the Republic of Texas and Deseret. Admittedly the First People's Nations seems like it is just space filler for fly-over country and the fact that Mexico and Central America are part of "New Spain" raises more questions then answers, but those are minor quibbles.
What is strong about this timeline is that Stoney never really explains how this balkanized North America came about. In any other genre that last sentence would be a criticism, but with alternate history, it works. It avoids the "As You Know, Bob" moments where the characters have to spend a page or two discussing the specific historical event that diverged this timeline from ours. Instead, Stoney just has the characters live in the world as is and don't take unnatural breaks to discuss history. It is refreshing actually and with the references to a "World War", a Russian military action in Algeria, the North American Treaty Organization (get it?) and the fact that technology doesn't seem to be more advanced than the 1940s (despite being set in the 80s) it leaves room for the fun speculation that alternate historians enjoy the most.
That all being said, lets see how either Stoney or Baen decided to visualize this alternate North America:
O my God. That has to be one of the ugliest maps I have ever seen in a printed book. Its nothing but arbitrarily straight line and curved borders. Why are our timeline borders so much clearer than the alternate borders? Why does the First People's Nations just randomly jut out into Canada like that? What is up with Arizona? Its color looks somewhat like the First People's Nations, but it has "Deseret" written across it. Why put the name there when it is obvious that Utah and eastern Nevada is Deseret? You want to know what is even worse about this map? Compare it to the map of Alaska that was also included with the book:
This is actually a fairly well done map. I like the perspective of putting Russian Amerika on its side and how the shading reflects how the influence of the Dena' or "Dene", as they are called on the map, (Consistency? What's that?) extends into Canada. So if they can do Alaska right, why phone it in for all of North America? The first map just looks cheap, which makes me angry when I think of all of the amazing alternate cartographers out there who I feature every week on Map Monday who could probably make a better map in their sleep. Advice to Publishers: spend some time on AlternateHistory.com or DeviantArt the next time you need to find someone to make a map, instead of handing it off to your stoned, unemployed cousin.
Typos and bad maps, however, are not enough to get me to stop reading a book only halfway through. Bad writing and a poor story, however, will. The dialogue was stilted and unnatural, plus there was rarely any time given to character development. People became friends and lovers without any real explanation. Additionally, the book is full of pointless philosophical debates that don't go anywhere and really just sound like two strawmen arguing. There is also several pages showing the step by step process on how the Dena' created a provisional government, just so the military leaders could say there is nothing for them to do until the war is over. One could perhaps argue that the military wing of the separatists just wanted a civilian government to exist to give them legitimacy, but this could have been removed from the book without hurting the story in the slightest.
I also never really understood the plan of the Dena'. I get the feeling they just wanted to win enough battles so that the southern American republics would recognize them and come to their assistance, but why would they do that? Russia is presented as a major force in this timeline. It is able to project power on other continents and, from one throw away comment I read, had a successful military intervention in Afghanistan (Something the Soviets were unable to do and the Americans are still struggling to do in this timeline. China, you're up next.). On top of that, in the early chapters of the book we learn that the North American nations had just signed a new treaty with Russia that eased tensions and opened Alaska to more trade. Why would they risk all of that just to start a world war to come to the help of some Indians? It just doesn't make sense.
I also hated the bad guys in this book. Yeah, I know they are the villains and I am not supposed to like them, but there is a difference between realistic antagonists and cartoon super villains. The Russians in Russian Amerika came off as just broad caricatures who, when not being illiterate, drinking vodka or saying Da, seem obsessed with raping, torturing and killing (not necessarily in that order). Now I may not agree with everything Russia is doing in the present day of this timeline, but even I feel this depiction of them is incredibly offensive.
Then there is the aforementioned Valari, who is a captain in the Russian military. She is perhaps the worst female character I ever read in fiction. She is an incompetent slut who is evil for the sake of being evil (like Lara from Outlaw of Gor for any MST3K fans out there). For example, after Grisha escapes imprisonment to fight for the Dena', it turns out Valari actually has a mole inside their army who is feeding her information thanks to a secret radio. What does she do with this incredibly important source of intelligence? Does she use it to keep track on the plans and movements of the Dena' so they could trap them and end their rebellion once and for all?
Nope, she just has the mole tell her when he and Grisha are going out on patrol so she can surprise him and offer Grisha a chance to rejoin the Russians and work for them. Yes, because the person who has been screwed over by his racist government (twice) would betray the people who rescued him and gave him a new purpose in life just because he was asked nicely by the woman who most recently fucked him over (both literally and figuratively) and represented the same racist government who had imprisoned and nearly killed Grisha in the first place. This ends not only with Grisha getting out of the trap without much effort, but also with the mole deciding he rather fight for the Dena' instead of Russia. Smart move, really.
What does Valari do for an encore after this? Well the radio the mole had does suddenly start broadcasting, potentially revealing the location of the Dena' forces. Since we know that her former spy is no longer trustworthy, this could obviously just be a trap and the Russians should either ignore it or perhaps send a small force of promyshlenniks (the elite Russian woodsman who enforce the Czar's rule in the Alaskan interior) to recon the location the radio last broadcasted from. Instead Valari, in her infinite wisdom, recommends that they send their few airplanes they have in the theater to strafe the position and they are, of course, chewed to bits after the Dena' light them up with their new anti-aircraft weapons. So after failing more than once at her job in a country where women are treated as second class citizens, Valari should kiss her career goodbye. Firing her would be the right thing to do, but no. Instead, her bosses promote her from captain to major. Wow...just wow. Was there still a Stalin in this timeline to purge all the smart people out of the Russian military?
You know talking about Valari reminds me that I need to mention the other female characters in Russian Amerika. In reading this book I discovered there are two types of female characters: those who are the victims of sexual assault or those who are obsessed with sex. Its actually quite uncomfortable to read at times. I can't think of a single female character who didn't either have some rape in her backstory or had strong sexual overtones surrounding her. It was weird, but considering Germanica had the same problems, this might just be par for the course with Baen's recent alternate histories.
Maybe things got better in the last half of the book, but I will never find out. Russian Amerika is bad and you should avoid it and its sequel. Admittedly the overall alternate history is handled well and at least the map of Russian Alaska is nice to look at, but the story is just barely readable. Some may argue that my review isn't complete or fair since I didn't read the whole book, but just as video game reviewers don't have to beat the game to review it, I also don't feel its always necessary to read the entire book before reviewing it. If it can't keep my attention the whole way through, then that is something that deserves to be mentioned in any criticism of the book.
Additionally, ignore the blurb on the front from Eric Flint (one of the most influential alternate historians of the modern era who authored of 1632, which started one of the longest running collaborative fictional worlds, not just in alternate history, but in speculative fiction) which called it "[a]n exciting story of war and revolution." He must have been doing someone a favor when he wrote that, because I certainly did not read anything like that in Russian Amerika.
September 2, 2025
Stoney Compton’s Russian Amerika promises a balkanized North America but ignores it in favour of a predictable plot, mostly boring characters, and a muddled notion of its own alternate history.
Protagonist Gregori Grogorievich, a mixed-race fishing boat captain run out of the Imperial Russian equivalent of the French Foreign Legion for disobeying his commander, is almost deliberately boring compared with his background. Grigori is rarely a driver or even agent of events, instead being a passenger in a story in which he is meant to be the protagonist. He does go through plenty of adventures: being framed for murder, enslaved in a katorga, liberated and eventually recruited by the Dené resistance movement, and eventually becoming a focal point of machinations to change the face of North America. These events happen to him, because of others, he is always in the backseat, stoically taking things in his stride. Compton does at least make the Alaskan setting come alive with rich description. He captures both the majesty and the desolation of that particular part of the world. Wherever our protagonist is present, anytime we get an idea of the wider world it feels self-contradictory and just a mishmash of ideas.
The dialogue is for the most part expositional and perfunctory. Any occasion where we do get a character who seems to have a bit more life in them, they’re usually killed off in short order to remind us that the stakes are real. An exception is the brief cameo by a Confederate naval officer named Carter, whose drawl is rendered phonetically and stops just short of identifying him as a peanut farmer. The length of the novel is also an issue: it’s far too long for its concept, plot, story and characters. It feels like we go through multiple cycles of capture-escape-recapture-escape. Whole sections of the novel could be trimmed without losing much and the end result would be a far tauter tale that might have got its meaning across better. The aforementioned escape-recapture-escape sequences are usually accompanied by some sort of twist heralding the change in situation. Again, these feel almost like padding with almost every other character we meet having some ulterior motive or having loyalties elsewhere. Trimming the overall length would have stopped this repetition to the overall improvement of the novel.
Though ostensibly an alternate history thriller, Russian Amerika feels almost akin to survivalist literature in its portrayal of a guerilla resistance against an oppressive government in the Pacific Northwest. Albeit the alternate history setting allowing for the use of an historic oppressive government like Tsarist Russia and the resistance an indigenous movement. Another strong point of Compton’s writing is in its portrayal of conflict. There is confusion, there is tension, and events not directly witnessed by our protagonist (including a few deaths) happen off-page with Grigori (and the reader) only learning about them in the aftermath. These are sequences when the prose again comes alive. As alternate history, it is a confusing mishmash of various ideas that seem to have started with a map of balkanized North America and worked backwards from there. The divergence from our own history would seem to be the American Civil War going the other way, but things like a French and Spanish reconquests of Canada and Mexico, respectively, feel wholly implausible from that divergence.
A barely passable thriller wrapped in an alternate history wrapper, one that doesn’t make tremendous use of the latter in making the former feel interesting.
Protagonist Gregori Grogorievich, a mixed-race fishing boat captain run out of the Imperial Russian equivalent of the French Foreign Legion for disobeying his commander, is almost deliberately boring compared with his background. Grigori is rarely a driver or even agent of events, instead being a passenger in a story in which he is meant to be the protagonist. He does go through plenty of adventures: being framed for murder, enslaved in a katorga, liberated and eventually recruited by the Dené resistance movement, and eventually becoming a focal point of machinations to change the face of North America. These events happen to him, because of others, he is always in the backseat, stoically taking things in his stride. Compton does at least make the Alaskan setting come alive with rich description. He captures both the majesty and the desolation of that particular part of the world. Wherever our protagonist is present, anytime we get an idea of the wider world it feels self-contradictory and just a mishmash of ideas.
The dialogue is for the most part expositional and perfunctory. Any occasion where we do get a character who seems to have a bit more life in them, they’re usually killed off in short order to remind us that the stakes are real. An exception is the brief cameo by a Confederate naval officer named Carter, whose drawl is rendered phonetically and stops just short of identifying him as a peanut farmer. The length of the novel is also an issue: it’s far too long for its concept, plot, story and characters. It feels like we go through multiple cycles of capture-escape-recapture-escape. Whole sections of the novel could be trimmed without losing much and the end result would be a far tauter tale that might have got its meaning across better. The aforementioned escape-recapture-escape sequences are usually accompanied by some sort of twist heralding the change in situation. Again, these feel almost like padding with almost every other character we meet having some ulterior motive or having loyalties elsewhere. Trimming the overall length would have stopped this repetition to the overall improvement of the novel.
Though ostensibly an alternate history thriller, Russian Amerika feels almost akin to survivalist literature in its portrayal of a guerilla resistance against an oppressive government in the Pacific Northwest. Albeit the alternate history setting allowing for the use of an historic oppressive government like Tsarist Russia and the resistance an indigenous movement. Another strong point of Compton’s writing is in its portrayal of conflict. There is confusion, there is tension, and events not directly witnessed by our protagonist (including a few deaths) happen off-page with Grigori (and the reader) only learning about them in the aftermath. These are sequences when the prose again comes alive. As alternate history, it is a confusing mishmash of various ideas that seem to have started with a map of balkanized North America and worked backwards from there. The divergence from our own history would seem to be the American Civil War going the other way, but things like a French and Spanish reconquests of Canada and Mexico, respectively, feel wholly implausible from that divergence.
A barely passable thriller wrapped in an alternate history wrapper, one that doesn’t make tremendous use of the latter in making the former feel interesting.
March 11, 2023
Russian Amerika is and entertaining alternative history story set in a fractured North America in the late 1980s.
Grisha, a former elite Russian soldier turned boat captain has his life turned on its head when framed for the murder of a Russian intelligence agent. Sentenced to imprisonment in a penal colony in Russian controlled Alaska, he believes his life is over until rescued by the Dena Army, a group of resistance fighters determined to drive the Russians from their native land. Yearning for revenge, Grisha takes up arms against his former masters in the fight to free Alaska from tyranny.
Overall, I found this to be an enjoyable tale. The political intrigue between the USA, CSA, First Nations, (British and French) Canada and the republics of Texas and California was interesting. If anything, I would’ve enjoyed learning more about their history and relations with each other.
Worth checking out for anyone interested in alternative history.
Grisha, a former elite Russian soldier turned boat captain has his life turned on its head when framed for the murder of a Russian intelligence agent. Sentenced to imprisonment in a penal colony in Russian controlled Alaska, he believes his life is over until rescued by the Dena Army, a group of resistance fighters determined to drive the Russians from their native land. Yearning for revenge, Grisha takes up arms against his former masters in the fight to free Alaska from tyranny.
Overall, I found this to be an enjoyable tale. The political intrigue between the USA, CSA, First Nations, (British and French) Canada and the republics of Texas and California was interesting. If anything, I would’ve enjoyed learning more about their history and relations with each other.
Worth checking out for anyone interested in alternative history.
March 28, 2018
It was a fun read. Not much on how the world go to this point just have to use history as your guide and well Alaska is still owned by the Russians. The maps at the beginning do good to explain how the world is set up. It's a fun read. I picked it up at a used bookstore and when I saw it I had a laugh and knew I just had to read it. I enjoyed it and will be keeping my eye out for book two.
March 25, 2022
I really enjoy Stoney Compton's work in the 1632 books, so was happy to see how he would do with his own alternative histories. I found his writing enjoyable and very true to life as to the course of a revolution. If you like alternative history, this is the right time to read about people fighting Mother Russia.
December 28, 2017
Engaging. Entrancing even. The Athabascan/Alaskan milieu is a big part, but the pacing and plot idea also contribute.
May 12, 2020
Russia owns Alaska and there is no US as we know it. It is 1987 and the Athabaskans revolt to take back their traditional territory.
September 27, 2022
An alternate history of Alaska that is still governed by the Russian Empire. A revolution begins to break away and the other nations of the North American continent are brought into a massive war.
April 27, 2013
Slow, does not go into very great detail as to how the new reality occurred, sometimes this can be a good thing, in this case not.
There was no empathic, emotive link to any of the characters, a sense of moving through the story is one of the aspects of a good story for me.
His military terminology invented or next generation real was erratic and/or disjointed, ie the principle character was from he military back ground he would not refer tanks as just tanks, he would give them there proper designation and so on. Whereas his use of Russia social strata I felt was really good, even though it was the Bolsheviks who used prisoners as slave till dead labour, the Tsars preferred treatment was internal exile of boredom (counting trees became the only entertainment).
There was no empathic, emotive link to any of the characters, a sense of moving through the story is one of the aspects of a good story for me.
His military terminology invented or next generation real was erratic and/or disjointed, ie the principle character was from he military back ground he would not refer tanks as just tanks, he would give them there proper designation and so on. Whereas his use of Russia social strata I felt was really good, even though it was the Bolsheviks who used prisoners as slave till dead labour, the Tsars preferred treatment was internal exile of boredom (counting trees became the only entertainment).
February 27, 2012
Alternate history. Not a Turtledove, but an enjoyable read never-the-less. And it's about Alaska. Imagine a world where North America is balkanized, there was no World War II and the Czar beat back the communists in 1917. It's 1987 and technology is like the late 1940's. Alaska is owned by Russia and his being kept as a serfdom under autocratic, colonial rule. Except the Athabascans in the interior have plans for revolution. It's a little light in some places; like I said, it's no Turtledove, I liked it.
November 5, 2010
Interesting alternate history whereas North America is not three countries, but 11 and one, Russian Alaska revolts against the Czar.
I personally like "hero" books where a "nobody" survives many trials and tribulations, rising to defeat both their own past and their challenges of today. This is one of those kinds of books...
I personally like "hero" books where a "nobody" survives many trials and tribulations, rising to defeat both their own past and their challenges of today. This is one of those kinds of books...
June 25, 2013
This is not a bad book. I grew up in Alaska so maybe I'm biased. But it was fun and geographically accurate. That being said, the writing was not entirely my style and I found it hard to suspend disbelief in a number of parts. Worth reading if you come across it, but I wouldn't go too far out of my way...
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April 5, 2016Not perfect, but a mostly enjoyable read overall. My quibbles were some logical holes -- such as English being the lingua franca for the Alaskan Pacific Coast in a region colonized only by Russia -- and disappointment that it was structured as the start of a series when I wanted a self-contained novel.
December 8, 2023
Very amateurish prose, plot line was okay not the best Alternate history but conceptually interesting. Points deducted for approving portrayals of women in active combat roles, homosexuals, and for being a bit cartoonish in its overall presentation of the politics.
November 21, 2010
Good first effort by Compton. The North American ethno-socio-political landscape needs more explanation, particularly Russian Amerika. I'm looking forward to the sequel.
May 2, 2017
Russian Amerika is set in the late 1980s in an alternate history where Russia still controls Alaska. Whilst the story itself is quite good it's built upon a shaky foundation where the surrounding countries just are with no explanation such as a Republic of California who rushes to the aid of the Alaskans fighting for independence the United States of America (which doesn't include Texas or California) also rushes in, whereas British Canada sides with Russia and there's no real background as to why they do this beyond a few throw away remarks.
Asides for that complaint however the story is good, the last third especially so.
Asides for that complaint however the story is good, the last third especially so.
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January 9, 2018Pretty darned good alt-history milSF.
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