The Time of Troubles II

The Time of Troubles II (2005) is the second omnibus edition of the Time of Troubles series, including The Thousand Cities and Videssos Besieged. In the previous volumes, Avtokrator Likinios of Videssos assisted Sharbaraz, the rightful heir, to regain the throne of the Marukaner Empire from an usurper. Later Likinios and all his family were executed by a rebellious general and then Sharbaraz tried to put a puppet on the Videssian throne. After years of misrule, Maniakes, son of Maniakes, led a revolt against the usurper and was crowned as the Avtokrator of the Videssian Empire. Then Maniakes had to fight against the Marukaner King of Kings that he had helped to restore to his throne. Unfortunately, the Videssian army was understrength and had lost its confidence after continuous losses against the Makurans. Avtokrator Maniakes concentrated on the Kubratoi, using the hammer and anvil technique against the nomads with great success. Then Maniakes started landing troops on the coast of the westlands to hit the Makuraner troops and flee back to the ships. The Videssian troops regained their confidence during these operations. In The Thousand Cities (1997), Abivard is still within Across staring at Videssos the City and cursing the domon patrols in the strait. He is determinely trying to make the priests of Phos preach the heretical doctrines of the Vaspurakaners, but he believes the religious policies of Sharbaraz King of Kings will cause more trouble than otherwise. In Vaspurakan, the Makurans are having even more trouble trying to get the local priests to teach the doctrines of the Makuraner religion. Soon Abivard receives word that Vaspurakaners are revolting. Vshnasp marzban is dead at the hand of the Vaspurakaners and his successor-- Mikhran marzban -- needs assistance to put down the revolt. Abivard gathers up all the troops in Across and rides off to Vaspurakan. He doesn't try to take the Vaspurakaner fortresses on the way, but does fight forces deployed against him. He also burns the fields outside any fortification that tries to oppose his march. Then he breaks the siege at Poskh, but now he has to stop the revolution. After discussing the events with Mikhran and various locals, Abivard travels to Shahapivan to speak to Hmayeak, the senior priest in the Vaspurkaner sect. Tatul -- the nakharar of Shahapivan -- refuses to let holy Hmayeak come to Abivard's tent, so Abivard asks to be admitted into the city. Tatul is dumbfounded at the request, but goes to consult Hmayeak. Although Abivard is allowed within the city, he is not permitted within the shrine itself lest he defile it with his bloody presence. He talks to Hmayeak outside the doors and agrees that the Vaspurakaners can continue to worship Phos. Now he only has to convince Sharbaraz King of Kings. In this story, Maniakes lands his troops in Lyssaion on the southern coast of the westlands. Then he takes his troops to the northwest to attack the Thousand Cities.

With this book and The Time of Troubles I, the 4-book Time of Troubles novels are being republished. Volume II contains The Thousand Cities, which is told from the Marukaner General Abivard's point of view, and Videssos Besieged, which is told by his counterpart (and foe) the Videssian Emperor. Abivard has come up in the world since the first book in the series (see Time of Troubles I for The Stolen Throne). Now the General to King Sharbaraz, Abivard finds his problems have gotten more difficult. While he has successfully invaded all the Westlands of Videssos, he cannot find a way to cross the sea into the capital. Meanwhile the Videssan army is now striking back, using their navy to place troops wherever they wish. King Sharbaraz expects Abivard to win more and more battles while offering fewer resources and troops. And his wife Roshnani, while always offering able counsel, contines to urge big changes in Marukan society. Videssos Besieged is again told by now-Emperor Maniakes, who is losing support as the war continues to falter. Tax revenues are almost non-existant with the Marukan army occupying most of the West, and the Kubrati invading from the North. Now he's losing the support of the priests and the people for committing incest; he married his first cousin and he's quite happy about it. Turtledove shows us his background as a technical writer in spending far too long describing a magical spell in forging a document that's just a fantasy version of cut and paste using an actual (squeak!) mouse. Once again the books closely follow the history of the Byzantine Empire, with magic overlayed here and there. This is the same formula, history meets fantasy, used in the Darkness series (which retold World War II as a sword and sorcery epic) and the Peachtree trilogy (The US Civil War). Turtledove, as always, does it well. I can't give the book (the two novels) five stars because the characters are too similar to Turtledove's other heroes: logical-thinking straight-talking types married to women much like themselves. The characters observe repeatedly that war kills people, that women do battle in the birthing bed, and that people are people the world over. The books are enjoyable but don't make the leap to profound.