Advance and Retreat

Advance and Retreat (2002) is the third novel in the War Between the Provinces fantasy series, following Marching Through Peachtree. This series closely reflects the events of the American War Between the States, but uses dramatic license to create thoughts and words for the characters. Moreover, it uses punny names for persons and places and reverses most everything from directions to uniform colors. This volume covers the period after the fall of Atlanta to Sherman through the destruction of the Army of Tennessee as an effective force. It portrays the generals on both sides as human beings with both strengths and weaknesses. While the characterizations are frequently based on the remaining documents of that period, nobody now or then knows for sure what went on in the privacy of these minds. Some traits are fairly well established from documentary evidence, but others are more like SWAGs. Read some of the many published histories and biographies covering this period and make your own guess. Certain characters are treated more sympathetically in this novel -- i.e., George Thomas and Bedford Forrest -- than they were by their own professional peers; both displayed a competency that was not acknowledged by their ultimate commanders. On the other hand, Hood was totally belittled by his superiors, yet regained his reputation by blowing his own horn in his memoirs and speeches. This novel is fun, but can be frustrating if you aren't a Civil War buff. Some of the punny names are really obscure. Nevertheless, I still wish Harry Turtledove would write nonfictional history books. Maybe a study guide for this series? Recommended for Turtledove fans and all alternate history buffs who also like fantasy. -Arthur W. Jordin

The war between the provinces is going badly for the north, with the breakaway provinces devastated by years of war and by the greater industrial power of the south. Northern commander Bell conceives of a daring ploy--with southern general Hesmucet's soldiers rampaging through the north, Bell decides to counter-attack. To invade Tennessee--uh, Franklin--and take the war to the South. With the assistance of capable unicorn commander Ned of the Forest, Bell has a chance and he's certainly always been a general willing to take the battle to the enemy. Author Harry Turtledove delivers alternate history using a variety of viewpoint characters including common soldiers, junior officers, and senior generals to deliver the shades of gray that every war involves. In ADVANCE AND RETREAT, even more than in the earlier novels in this series (SENTRY PEAK and MARCHING THROUGH PEACHTREE), this formula works. The reader is dragged into the battle, into the emotional entanglement between Captain Gremio and Sergeant Thisbe, the growth of blond Corporal Rollant, and even the laudanum-soaked Lieutenant General Bell. The western front of the U.S. civil war can certainly claim to be the deciding theater, but it lacks the romance of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson and is, therefore, less studied than the Virginia battlefields. Turtledove's fantasy retelling (reversing compass directions, making the disenfranchised group blond serfs rather than black slaves, with unicorns rather than cavalry and nobility rather than democratically elected leaders and renaming cities and battlefields (Nashville becomes Ramblertown--cute) brings this critical piece of history into a new light--and a light that allows the reader to strip away the emotional entanglements that still surround the U.S. Civil War and develop new emotional weight based on the power of Turtledove's writing. This is the best Turtledove I've read in a long time.

This is the sequel to Marching Through Peachtree and it is a serviceable addition to Harry Turtledoves repertoire of alternate history or thinly veiled historical fantasy novels. This book and its predecessor are very good in the sense that any of Harry's full-length novels are a love it or hate it relationship. Either you love a historical perspective with a high degree of descriptive writing or you hate it. This being said I think this particular series of Mr. Turtledoves is turning out to be my least favorite of his many ongoing series. Maybe it is because it is a basic retelling of the American Civil War through the eyes of its Generals and in a few cases common soldiers. The Civil War has been rehashed perhaps more then any other time in alternative fiction and this time since Harry did not change the order of events there was little to surprise us. A little magic was thrown in and generals had last names like Heated Ham and other silly names. A good book but one without any true innovation. The South was the North in the book and the North the South. The swarthy invaders play the part of Caucasians in our world and "blonds" reprise the role of African slaves in our world. An interesting book but one that does not quite measure up to his other works. What this book lacked is what Harry does so well. That is to take a chain of historical events and twist them and show us the outcome. This is more like reading a retired generals memoirs in our world and changing the names. I bought it and don't regret it and would gladly pay hardcover prices again but I look forward to his other works more.