I give up. I can't take it anymore. I really, really wanted to like this one because I've heard such good things about Harry Turtledove, but it took 75 pages for anything to happen. By page 158 I just don't care about any of the characters and there doesn't seem to be any kind of plot in motion, so I'm not going to keep beating myself up about this.

I love the concept behind this book, but I really need a plot and characters to structure it. We're given so little information to go on about who the characters are--except that Dawud is Jewish, a fact that we are not allowed to forget for more than a few paragraphs--that I just have no emotional investment in them.

Most annoying to me, though, is the style of writing. Something finally happens but then we have to have a full paragraph of Khalid thinking about how things are different in the Maghrib from how they are in Italy. This sometimes even interrupted action so that I forgot what was happening! The text is just so self-aware and points out every single instance where things would be different in the sane, safe Muslim world. I just think that most readers would be smart enough to guess some of these things on their own, without needing them highlighted every single time it happened. It's like the main character is mainsplaining everything to me.

I'm not going to give up on Harry Turtledove--he's written a lot of things that sound interesting--but am calling Through Darkest Europe quits. On to something with plot and action!


Quotes & Notes

None of these are spoilers, they're all just little incidental things.

p. 87 - There's no way on earth that smallpox scars would be mistaken for acne.

p. 111 - I found it interesting that Turtledove created an Islamic equivalent to Hitler. I actually wish I knew more about this situation, because Hitler arose out of very specific circumstances largely shaped by the post-WWI Treaty of Versailles and the Great Depression, neither of which would have necessarily happened in this world.

p. 153 - They stopped at a little town called Montevarchi for a snack and more coffee. Anywhere in the Muslim world, such a stop would have been as ritualized as a visit to a mosque. One or two of the leading five or six anonymous societies would have sold gasoline. etc...
At first I was intrigued by the idea of these "anonymous societies", thinking that it might be some kind of cultural business difference that Turtledove is speculating might have evolved...but then I realized he was probably trying to say "there was a Macdonalds and a Taco Bell" without referencing specific names. ( )

Another interesting look at a history that might have been, a rich and powerful Muslim world, while Europe floundered under centuries of dogmatic and orthodox thinking. This has created a fundamentalist schism within the Catholic world, with the followers of St. Thomas Aquinas seeing progress and the modern world as antithetical to the true teachings of God. As the Aquinists simmer and plot, two investigators, Senior Investigator Khalid al-Zarzis and his partner Investigator Dawud ibn Musa, are sent from the Mahgreb, the constitutional monarchy based out of Tunis, to see if they can assist the Grand Duke of Italy keep a lid on the volatile situation.

As with many of Turtledove's books, the point of departure in the history, and the world he creates gives you many chances to pause and reflect on the situation in our own world. It is easy to see how fundamentalism could have taken root in the Catholic church, or to see how easily a modern, progressive Muslim world could develop. A departure from many of Turtledove's other words is to have the story told primarily through the POV of Khalid, as opposed to using multiple POV characters. I think this did a much better job of giving the reader a unique perspective on the tale, as well as to better develop the characters. My biggest concern about the story is that Khalid and Dawud are essentially just along for the ride, having almost no impact (other than in one place late in the story) on the outcome of events. That felt like a let down to me as I like seeing characters having more of an impact in the outcome of the story.

Overall, if you enjoy alternate history, and if you are a fan of Turtledove's work, then this is an enjoyable book and worth the time to read. Other readers may get more out of how the characters interact with the story than I did, but I did enjoy both Khalid and Dawud and their partnership felt real. ( )

In the 11th century, the influential Muslim theologian al-Ghazali wrote The Incoherence of the Philosophers; one of the arguments claimed is that everything happens though God’s will and thus the study of so-called “natural laws” is useless and possibly blasphemous (I note the actual arguments in al-Ghazalis’s work are much more nuanced than that). About two hundred years later, St. Thomas Aquinas wrote Summa Theologica; again the work is nuanced but one take-away is the idea that the study of “natural law” is theologically valid. It’s been argued that al-Ghazali put an end to Islamic scientific work and Thomas Aquinas inspired the development of science in the West. In Through Darkest Europe, popular alternate history writer Harry Turtledove turns the ancient writers around; what if al-Ghazali had proposed the study of natural phenomena as a valid religious exercise while Aquinas had condemned it? Forward 800 years or so and Islamic culture is scientific, diverse, tolerant and dominates the world while Europe is pathetically backward, crippled by religion. That’s the premise of Through Darkest Europe, with “investigators” (their exact roles not spelled out but apparently similar to State Department agents / police officers) Khalid al-Zarzisi and partner Dawud ibn Musa sent to Italy to try and stop a wave of terrorist attacks perpetrated by “Aquinists”. Typical Turtledove; easy reading, modestly thought-provoking, now and then a little humor. Turtledove’s sex scenes are getting better – not much better, but better. ( )

Sort of dull for a Turtledove alternate history. And the title implies a tour, which this is not really. Two officers Tunis police are sent to Italy to see what they can do about Christian Aquinists terrorists. Reversing the Christian and Muslim approaches to modernization could produce something more interesting, but just changing the labels and locations doesn't do it and giving the main characters a vague mandate and leaving the two overt advisors to decide their own missions isn't satisfying. ( )

The civilised world has been rocked by a sudden surge of terrorism. Extremism has proliferated even in the countries in the shores of the Mediterranean, which are meant to be that bit more sophisticated than their hinterlands. Suicide bombers spread terror in the streets of previously buzzing cities. Ashen-faced religious leaders condemn horrific acts committed in the name of their faith. Sound familiar? But this isn’t the world as we know it. Harry Turtledove takes us into an alternate reality in which Islam, not Christianity, became the dominant religion of the world in the medieval period. Now, progressive, modern and comfortable Muslim nations look warily at their Christian neighbours, and two brilliant investigators are dispatched to the dangerous streets of Italy in an effort to nip the terrorist threat of the Aquinists in the bud...

For the full review, please see my blog:
https://theidlewoman.net/2018/10/19/through-darkest-europe-harry-turtledove/ ( )