The Peshawar Lancers

I am a great fan of S.M. Stirling, whose Nantucket and Change series are enormous fun for devotees of time travel and/or alternate history. In The Peshawar Lancers he is at his best, with a rousing adventure tale set in the Raj as Kipling would have imagined it under the particular circumstances of the Stirling-provided history. You see, there was a catastrophic series of meteor strikes, known as The Fall, in 1878 through much of the northern hemisphere. Their impacts would be in the hundreds of megatons, and along with the subsequent tsunamis the devastation was enormous. The loss of infrastructure and the severe winters caused by the resulting cloud cover effectively destroyed organized agruculture above the equator, leading "Saint" Disraeli to organize the Exodus of most of the survivors from the British Isles to more viable parts of the Empire. Fast forward to 2025 in the Raj as it might have become. Stirling's story begins with a young captain of the Peshawar Lancers detaching from his unit to allow his wounds to recover at home. Things seem little changed from the 1870's, at first. As events unfold, we learn of certain technologies that would qualify this as "steampunk", notably the enormous dirigibles that the transplanted Crown uses for long-distance transport. The "Great Game" is very much at the heart of the action, with a Russian master spy conniving to recreate chaos. But these Russians have been turned by starvation brought about by The Fall into cannibals and death-worshippers. The action rocks along through the cities and plains of the subcontinent, with romance and the occult liberally mixed in. I found this all to be great fun, but also found myself occasionally stopping to marvel at Mr. Stirling's ability to capture the tone and texture of a story set entirely in South Asia. His other books showed his wide-ranging interests but were set in America or the Bronze Age, details of which few readers could find room to quibble with; but how does a writer venture with confidence into such an alien setting as India? And he takes his pseudo-history very seriously, indeed. There are no less than five appendices attached to his novel, describing The Fall and various other "facts" that were considered too dry for his story but in his own mind were essential background. At bottom, this was a thrilling adventure tale, a steampunk Kipling, but one that Mr. Stirling clearly loved in the telling. I loved it in the reading, and was sorry when it ended.

I'm a fan of alternate history books and this is one of the best. It's set in the near future but depends heavily on an alternate 19th century in which the Northern Hemisphere has been devastated by a comet or asteroid strike and the dominant power in the world is now the British Empire transplanted to India. Technology has developed more slowly, society has hardly developed at all, and geo-political intrigue swirls among Russia, Dai-Nippon, France-outre-Mer, and the Empire. There are touches of speculation about parallel universes and alternate time strands, too. The characters are based on familiar stereotypes but have been given their own individual quirks. Though not complex, they are engaging and memeorable. The book assumes a continuing racialism in the Empire that I didn't read as advocacy but a part of the plot line; however, some might find it disturbing. The ingenious plot catches the reader up in the action and keeps the pages turning. Some of it is predictable, but part of the pleasure of the book is its unique take on the action/adventure genre, which just IS predictable. The author's meticulously detailed descriptions provide a vividly realized setting in a believable alternate India. He has gone to some trouble to think out linguistic, social, religious, economic, and military implications of a destroyed Europe and relocated Western civilization - for those who get confused in the beginning of the book, feel free to turn to the appendices to orient yourself, though I didn't read them until I finished. A good read which I highly recommend - and yes, the title is a bit inaccurate, but nevertheless serves as a nice tag for the book's premise and plot.

In The Peshawar Lancers S. M.Stirling writes an exciting adventure story set in an alternate history in which a comet strikes the Earth in the year 1878. The impact and the ensuing severe cooling of the climate caused by the dust and water vapor thrust into the atmosphere causes the death by starvation of most of the inhabitants of the Northern hemisphere and the collapse of civilization. By the time of the setting of the story, 2025, the world has almost reached the level of technology it possessed before the Fall. The British Empire has survived, based around its former colonial possessions, especially India. The Empire has even recolonized the British Isles. The French established themselves in Algeria and the Japanese have conquered China. The Russians have also survived after turning to Devil worship and sacred cannibalism of their subject peoples. The rest of Europe and most of North America is still inhabited by savage cannibals. In this world, Athelstane King is a captain of the Peshawar Lancers. Along with his aide, the Sikh Narayan Singh, his sister Cassandra, a mysterious Russian seeress Yasmini, and the Royal Family, King finds himself trying to foil a Russian conspiracy against his family with the fate of the Empire, and the survival of humanity at stake. The Peshawar Lancers is, as I have said, an exciting adventure story, a little like Kipling’s best. S. M. Sterling presents an immensely imaginative background for the adventure with the details that makes the society come to life. The characters are, perhaps, somewhat two dimensional with the villain, the Russian Ignatieff, being really, villainous, but they are likeable and their actions and motives are realistic. The plot moves along nicely with the right amount of suspense and action. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the Peshawar Lancers and I hope the author might be persuaded to write more stories set in that world.

Brilliant alternate history book from the British Raj .. swashbuckling, pacy and with an excellent plot. Reminiscent of Kim

Splendido esempio di libro di fantascienza e storia alternativa, avvincente pieno di avventura ma anche con una storia molto interessante, che spero avranno uno ma numerosi seguiti.

This is a very readable tale of daring heroes, of beautiful and gutsy heroines determined to foil the dastardly plots of abominable and traitorous baddies - believe me you wouldn't want to invite them home for dinner. I was sorry to reach the last page. As my old English teacher would have said: "Excellent yarn, Stirling. Have several house points and let me know when you write another one".

Die Welt, wie sie hätte sein können - Alternativweltenbeschreibungen sind ein faszinierender Zweig der Science Fiction, in denen es zwischen völlig veränderten Szenarien bis hin zu nur leicht verschobenen Fastrealitäten alles gibt. Bei "The Peshawar Lancers" haben wir es eher mit dem letzteren zu tun - keine große Fantastik, keine abstrusen Ideen, sondern nur die Vorstellung, was passiert wäre, wenn die Weltuhr im Jahre 1878 praktisch angehalten und jeder Fortschritt seitdem extrem verlangsamt worden wäre. Zugegebenermaßen voller Klischees, vom tapferen selbstlosen Kavalleristen über den listenreichen afghanischen Kämpfer bis hin zum bedingungslos bösen russischen Teufelsanbeter ist alles an Rollen vorhanden, was das Abenteuerromanherz begehrt - die Klischees sind so geschickt und mit viel Charme verarbeitet, dass einen die Vorhersagbarkeit praktisch nicht stört. Der Hauptreiz liegt natürlich in der Beschreibung der Alternativwelt, und die ist äußerst gelungen - die Assimilierung der britischen Oberschicht in ihrer neuen einzigen Heimat Indien ist durch und durch glaubwürdig und spannend. Sprachlich auf hohem Niveau geschrieben, muss der Leser oft mitdenken, denn eine Einführung oder ein Glossar gibt es nicht, und die von der neuen Staatssprache Hindi durchsetzten Dialoge sind gerade für deutsche Leser nicht allzu leicht geraten. Der Schluss ist für meinen Geschmack etwas lang geworden; bis man dorthin gelangt wird man aber bestens unterhalten. Viel Action und, was noch mehr wert ist, die Schilderung einer sehr glaubwürdigen Alternativwelt lassen einen das Buch kaum aus der Hand legen. Ein Appendix klärt schließlich am Ende über die Prämissen der Alternativwelt auf; das Taschenbuch ist eng bis an die Seitengrenzen bedruckt und dadurch eher unangenehm lesbar - mehr Weißraum bitte das nächste mal! Pseudohistorik, Science Fiction, Steam Punk, Alternate History - wie man es auch nennen mag, beste Unterhaltung auf hohem Niveau.

After massive cometary impacts in the late 1800s that had made life in the Northern Hemisphere effectively impossible most of the British upper classes and military had been evacuated to British India. Now, more than a hundred years later, India is the centre of a new Empire holding the subcontinent, Australasia, the coastal areas of North America and even the old Home Islands of the British Isles. However, as ever, the Raj's greatest threat lies to the North in the shape of the Czar of all the Russias with his Seat at fabled Sammerkand. A Czar who worshipped, not Christianity, but the foul Tchernobog who demanded that his followers eat human flesh in remembrance of the time they spent under the Dark. Although still calling themselves English, and appearing as such on the surface, the rulers of India retain few of their ancestors' ways and have become greatly Indianised in the time spent as the rulers of the vast subcontinent. As Athelstane King and his sister make their way through the twisted threads that make up the attempt of a Russian agent to destroy the ruling dynasty, we get to look at the strange civilisation that is still being formed in this new empire, for just as the Indians had their effects on their foreign rulers, those rulers had had their own effect on those they ruled. _The Peshawar Lancers_ is a great book however you look at it - a brilliant adventure story in the old Imperial style of derring do and great world building, making a truly alien world appear real.