Jaws of Darkness

Darkness #5

by Harry Turtledove

Harry Turtledove's masterful story of a magical world's cataclysmic war-which began with Into the Darkness, Darkness Descending, Through the Darkness, and Rulers of the Darkness-continues in this, the fifth volume of the Jaws of Darkness. The grand conflict for control of the continent of Derlavai rages on, in a battle with all the drama and terror of the Second World War-only the bullets are beams of magical fire, the tanks and submarines are great lumbering beasts, and the fighters and bombers are dragons raining fire upon their targets. Yet hope may be dawning at last. The terrible onslaught of the conquering forces of Algarve-who power their battle magics with the life energy of their murdered victims-begins to founder as it runs into a sorcerous ship of ice used by embattled nations of Lagoas and Kuusamo to ferry their deadly dragons across the seas to strike at the very heart of Algarvian power.But though the tide has begun to turn, the conflict is far from over. The widely disdained Kaunians still struggle desperately to escape as the Algarvians kill them by the thousands-for life energy, but also simply for the crime of being Kaunian. And as the deaths of innocent civilians on both sides continue to feed the flames of war, those who have struggled to survive and preserve their freedom have only their passions to see them through. . . .At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Genres: Fantasy, Alternate History, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Science Fiction, War, Military Fiction

588 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 2003

About the author

Dr 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.

Reviews

[Jack Deighton · Rating 3 out of 5]

The usual from Turtledove’s long series fiction, this being the fifth in his Darkness sequence, where he reinterprets the Second World War (at least as it occurred in Europe) in a fantasy setting complete with dragons substituted for aircraft, behemoths for tanks, leviathans for submarines, with added unicorns (for colour,) and magic as the agent of weaponry.
Here, the tide of war has turned, the Algarvian invasion of Unkerlant has been halted and pushed back, and the pursuit of the ultimate theoretical magic is on the verge of being put to systematic use in Turtledove’s equivalent of the Manhattan Project. This can apparently cause devastating earthquakes via spells which also seem to involve a degree of time twisting.
Along with common soldiers (and not so common; this is a world of overweening Kings and servile subjects – at least to their king’s face) we have partisans, resistance groups, people playing one side against the middle, others hiding from the occupying power, even recruits from conquered nations enlisting in their vanquisher’s cause.
It has all the faults I have noted previously, the constant repetition of information the reader already knows or of characters’ thoughts, the utilitarian prose, the lack of depth to most characters, the sexism and misogyny.
I still can’t make up my mind whether Turtledove approves of any of these or not: but he does depict soldiers’ resignation and weariness. As far as racial prejudice is concerned, though, he is clearly against it. As should we all be.

[Patti · Rating 3 out of 5]

The fifth book in author Harry Turtledove’s The World at War series is probably the most personal. Jaws of Darkness takes the characters we’ve followed all throughout the story Turtledove has been telling and deepens their story. Here they are dealing with the aftermath and consequences of their actions and choices up until this point.

That’s not to say the action or battles are missing from Jaws of Darkness. The entire series is based on the premise of World War II in a fantasy setting where men ride behemoths instead of tanks; dragons fly the skies instead of planes, men slay each other with magical sticks instead of rifles, “eggs” release sorcerous energy as they are either buried in the ground, released from dragons, or tossed from giant “egg tossers”.

The magical energies of this world are generally found on various ley lines which criss-cross the lands. The magical energy in these lines and in life itself is manipulated by mages on both sides. The Algarvians, who are obviously supposed to represent the Germans, have manipulated the life energy of humans to use as a weapon. The only problem with that is they have to kill people to harness that energy. Using the Kaunian people as scapegoats for all that has been wrong with the world, they have had a good supply of lambs for the slaughter.

To read my full review, please visit: https://thoughtsfromthemountaintop.co...

[Harry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Turtledove’s still in the habit of not giving quite enough visual description—the flags of Derlavai’s nations, appearances of characters, etc.—and yet repeating himself ad nauseum as regards character traits, but the penultimate book in the Darkness series is very gripping—things really start to go awfully for the Algarvians, and the outcome of the war looks to be changing decisively, and by the end, a lot is happening that the characters seem to more or less deserve—both good and bad.
Keen for the final one, where the Derlavaian war wraps up. Good stuff.

[Chance · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dear heavens the authors favoritism of sertion cheaters is too apearent

[Chip Hunter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fifth title in the overly long "World At War" series actually picked up the pace a bit from the previous plodding volume, Rulers of the Darkness, which in my opinion was the low point of the entire story. Here we really get to see some progression towards the conclusion of the story, as major events and revelations occur and some of the long-lived story arcs finally reach their purposes. Where the previous volume felt like a series stuck in a rut, this one steers towards definite conclusions, and brings the close of the story into sight.

JAWS OF DARKNESS finds Algarve hard pressed on all sides, as Unkerlandt relentlessly presses forward with their seemingly endless supply of everything in the West, and a Kusuuman/Logoan force establishes a beachhead in the East. It seems like a loosing fight now for Algarve and this book simply chronicles one defeat after another as their empire shrinks. Of more interest to the reader, each of the individual viewpoint characters undergo significant changes in this book, making it stand out to me as one of the best of the series. As each of these characters continue to be developed, many of their stories reach their full potential only in this book. As each is swept along by world events, with very little influence on where they'll be or what will happen to them, these stories are what really make these books worth reading.

That being said, this book still suffers from some of the same repetitive and often annoying descriptions and occurrences that have plagued the entire series. Most of this stems from Turtledove's writing style, with his insistence on relentlessly reminding the reader about each character's idiosyncrasies. If there is a single reader that doesn't remember Zuwayzi(sp?) don't wear clothes or that Forthwegians love mushrooms (and Algarvians don't) or that Gyongyosians won't eat goat, I would be truly surprised. Coming off as being almost insulting to the reader, this habit of Turtledove's to hammer in well-known ideas is something that he just can't seem to get away from and really has hampered my enjoyment of every book of his I've read. That, and the poor use of character dialogue to explain situations to the reader can make for a frustrating read, but if you've enjoyed the previous books of the series, you should enjoy this one.
Why no voting buttons? We don't let custom

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

I should say I thoroughly enjoy this series, but I'd hesitate to call them 'great' books. They are very entertaining. I won't do a review of all 6 just now because I've been reading them on something like 6 month intervals (the books themselves don't take too long to read).

Obviously if you've read the previous 4 books you know this is a loose re-telling of WWII. I won't get into the details of the background and where they significantly differ from actual history (that might appear in an 'Into Darkness' review).

As with the previous 4 books, this story is loosely based on one year: 1944. Obviously some important events happened that year, especially the invasion of Normandy and the Warsaw Uprising.


Stop here if you don't want to see plot spoilers.

Some of the critiques I have for this book are:

There is an annoying change of name from 'Boulevard of the Equestrians' to 'Avenue of Horseman' which Turtledove inexplicably (and I'm assuming accidentally) makes for Priekle (Paris's) largest street (i.e. the Champs-Elysees).

D-Day takes place in Spain, rather than France, since in this story Spain is occupied by Germany rather than merely being official neutral.

A general annoyance is that there is no Siege of Leningrad, no invasion of Italy, no serious Battle of Britain, and basically no coverage of the Pacific Theater. I also find it annoying that Germany is much larger than the US and the Americans and English speak different (in fact, completely unrelated) languages.

[B. Barron · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to say I was taken a bit by surprise. It has been a while since I read the previous book in this series, and at the time I wasn’t really impressed by it – I thought the series was slipping inevitably toward that “Series that Never Ends” point when I would just say to heck with it. Frankly I expected this book to be good, but only rating a 3; I feared it might only deserve a 2.

And bam – it was pretty great. The Algrarveians are loosing as the war presses toward its conclusion, and it’s a fun ride down with them.

So a solid 4. I am thinking I need to read something else before I plunge into the final volume, perhaps breaking this series up is the correct tactic for me. I think that is what I shall do.

[Helle · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this fifth installment of the Darkness series, the Derlavain War is drawing to an end. But Algarve won’t give in without a fight and Unkerlant does not care how many people must be killed for victory. The smaller countries start to stir (with the help of new magic from Kuusamo) and resistance is showing everywhere. The land is damaged by all the fighting and people are making the best of it. As in all the previous books, the characters really carry the story and I still love it.

[Liviu · Rating 5 out of 5]

1944 - collapse of Algarvian power in most Derlavai, Eorsforig uprising crushed when the unktlenater army stops on the river ?? (aka Warsaw, soviet, vistula)

first tests of super magic aka nuclear bombs, Algarve uses new powerful weapons but too little too late

Story continues, page turner, characters die, new characters take their place...

[M Tat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Volume 5 is where utter headway is made, and the war crumbles beneath BOTH warmonger's tread. I imagined that peace, resolve, SOMETHING would occur. . .but Turtledove reminds the reader--through storytelling--that war's consequences and actions continue to ripple more broadly than expected. There is never a real end to conflict, only the cessation until paradigms truly shift.

[Nathan]

Need something fantasy/sci fi to read befor bed.

[Tristen · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book sucked i never knew what was going on at all.

[Brentman99 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great series with very strong characters. I like how the action moves and Turtledove writes great combat scenes. I like how he uses his characters and enjoyed the series.

[Lorenzo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quinto volume della Guerra dei Regni. Da leggere come gli altri