Conquistador

It's obvious this author has an active, wonderful imagination. He certainly demonstrates in the volumes of pages of well-researched descriptive writing. However there is a lot of volume here for what ended up being a fairly 'small' scoped tale.

There were no shortage of political complexities and infighting (something the author seems to favour quite a bit) which will be sure to keep your brain wandering away from the story and to things like when you last mowed the lawn. There are lots of lovely descriptions of a land that unfortunately doesn't exist, plenty of conversations, lots of filler, but ultimately, I found myself skimming some pages and flipping pages to spots that were more interesting.

I'm sure many people like to learn in great detail the complexities of harvesting a field; but it certainly wasn't what I expected when I picked up a book that promised an interesting alternate world; not a boring one. I worked very hard to get to the end of this book, and I admit cheating sometimes, and skimming several chapters to where; in the last few pages of the book, a climactic event occurs and then anticlimactic exhaustion follows.

I also enjoy the concept of the 'rainbow tribe' however the very pat lineup of nationalities that represent the 30 are sort of cheesy, along with the stereotypes/archetypes one expects from each heritage; I'm surprised there was no irishman seeking his lucky charms. There was also a predictability to who the 'bad guys' were--I.E. Mafia-like italians, russians and such.

Anway, I can't say this was a bad book.. it started out quite nicely. And the author has shown his worth in Dies the Fire--that's what made me go and buy this book. I give it three stars.

Conquistador is an intercontinual SF adventure novel. Unlike pure alternate history stories, this novel depicts a connection between two very different timelines. The interdimensional aspect of the plot is much like stories from the 1930s: a man is tinkering with a radio when, suddenly, a silvery curtain appears on his basement wall. Of course, the phenomenon is an interdimensional interface, so he gathers some army buddies and they scout the situation. Later, he and his friends establish homesteads in the new world.

The hero of this novel is John Rolfe VI of the Virginia Rolfes. A graduate of VMI, he has served as an infantry officer in the Pacific theater, invaliding out after the Okinawa invasion, and rents a home in Oakland, CA, while looking for a job. When the interworld gate opens in his basement, it connects to the same geographic coordinates in the other timeline, a San Francisco area populated only by Indian tribes untroubled by any European invaders.

After determining that the interface is not a time machine, he and his friends establish contact with the natives and promptly start plagues. Later, they make contact with an Asian civilization unknown in their own world and promptly carry smallpox from the Orient to Hawaii. In fact, their contacts with the natives results in a 90% dieoff of the North American population.

This novel follows an employee of the California Department of Fish and Game as he tries to track down a poaching ring that is selling the hides and other items from protected species, including a live California Condor. He and his partner are puzzled by the sheer quantity of the items, not to mention the condor being unrelated to any other known bird. Then he sees a live Dodo just before a building falls on him and burns to the ground.

During the investigation, he meets a very attractive, and rich, woman who is also investigating the case for her family. Unknown to him, she is a Gate Security Force agent trying to protect the secret of the intercontinual interface. After a couple of fizzled busts, he begins to suspect that she is closer connected to the case than she lets on. Nevertheless, he is very much attracted to her.

This novel is much like Piper's Paratime Police novels, but the point of view is a native rather than a paratimer. It describes a modest crosstime intrusion, much like most of Piper's stories. However, it definitely expands on the possible harms such contacts can inflict. The epidemics delineated in the story, however, are quite historical in effect if not cause; the Columbian era in North America saw the native populations almost totally destroyed by common European diseases, most specifically smallpox, but also childhood diseases such as measles and chickenpox. The results were much like the Black plague in Europe, but even more deadly.

Recommended for Stirling fans and anyone who enjoys Piper's Paratime stories.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Conquistador is simply the best of the any of the Stirling books, a wide current of sticky, thick politically correctness that only slightly disturbs the storyline. I have learned to ignore this political correctness with his books because I enjoy his style and his visions of "alternate history" this California centered story is the least obnoxious. We can assume from the way he writes his insertions of political correctness that it is demanded of him by Penguin Publishing (and his other publishers) there is always something artificial about the textbook way he presents the required prostration.

Conquistador is not only interesting but the inclusion or logistical problems and possible outcomes in a situation like this (small narrow active "gateway") is quite entertaining. His treatment of the effects of infectious biological sickness is thought provoking in this book as well as several series stories.

After receiving a battle-related injury during World War II, John Rolfe recuperates in Oakland, California. John works with a short wave radio when an explosion occurs that opens an entrance into an alternate earth. In this world Europeans never traveled to the equivalent of North America. Thus the continent remains environmentally clean and loaded with natural resources unlike his birth world. Over the years, John and his descendants selects twenty-nine other families to work with him on exporting the riches of "New Virginia" without destroying the beauty of the place.
In 2009, law enforcement officials raid a First Side (this world) warehouse in Los Angeles. The company worries that someone smuggled items through the gate, which if not stopped could lead to the industrial and governmental complex learning of New Virginia and raping its pristine landscape. John's granddaughter Adrienne tries to uncover the identity of the traitor while Department of Fish and Game Agent Tom Christiansen works a case that brings him into her sphere. Tom and Adrienne are attracted to one another, but neither trusts the other though they need to team up to stop the destruction of New Virginia.
Fans of alternate history will appreciate the depth that S. M. Stirling imbues in his delightful new novel. The rich story line makes readers believers that other dimensions containing different earths exist because the key cast members come across as authentic in their dealings on both planets. Adding fun is that Tom and Adrienne love one another and share so much in common including mistrust and a need to find the Judas-like betrayer before Eden is wrecked.
Harriet Klausner

Stirling is undoubtedly a master of the alternate history novel. He does seems to revel in occasionally taking a controversial point of view to tell the story.

For example, his Draka books make Robert Heinlein's early work (not counting Stranger in a Strange Land) look liberal yet his "Island in the Sea of Time" was so extraordinarily politically correct one would guess he was ensconced on the far left.

On yet the third hand, his "Peshawar Lancers" is like reading an Alan Quartermain novel or Edger Rice Burroughs (only a lot better).

This offering - "Conquistador" explores the fascinating premise that an accident in radio building opened a gate to an alternative Earth (In the same geographical area but this being a California that never saw the footprint of a European).

The primary event takes place just after World War II and the story of this discovery and the adventures of the young captain that made it are interwoven with a contemporary story of this alternate world and its shadowy interactions with the world of today (with a plucky female agent on their side and a strong but sensitive law man on ours, the stage is all set for the inevitable (but still fun) romance .

Some people object to the "friends" that the Captain invites to share his world with. Others deplore the seemingly selfish act of keeping a private world to yourself rather then "sharing it" with the official world on our side. Personally, I find it much more realistic to assume that a real person would want to keep a gold mine like that to themselves ;-)

The tension between the agents of these two worlds and the underlying question of the rightness of what they are doing, should raise some interesting questions in the readers mind about the nature of sovereignty and right to ownership of the land.

If you look closely at American history, our own claims to California are particularly shaky, but the questionable acts are comfortably far back in the past.

In summary this was a real page turner and a cracking good read. It's well paced, has fascinating characters, plenty of action, a believable romance and even some thought provoking ideas.

I feel a little funny reviewing this book since I didn't actually finish it (plan to some day) but Conquistador has a lot of what I love and hate about Steve Stirling's writing. The premise is a really interesting one. In 1946 San Francisco an amoral WWII vet stumbles upon a portal to an alternate world where technology is stuck in the bronze ages and America remains undiscovered by the wider world. Rounding up some of his army buddies (and eventually some Nazis, Franco-Algerians, Rhodesian whites, Communist hard liners and other assorted no good types who can't bear to live in our world)and set out to found a new society where they can be top dogs. Stirling has shown before with books like Drakas, the Nantucket Trilogy, and Peshawar Lancers, that he can create really interesting and engaging premises and that he spends a lot of time planning out his worlds. Conquistador is no different and it's interesting to see the world that the antagonists create. There's also a fairly interesting mystery at the heart of the first half of the book when a couple of fish and wildlife cops begin to get wise to what is going on. That said, there are some pacing problems and there are many of the same old Steve Stirling hobby horses that get annoyingly trotted out. Characters are far too competent for example. What annoyed me more however is how Stirlings pet themes and his bad sociology impacted the portrayal of this alternate world. The set up for the alternate world makes it clear that these folks should be evil. The addition over time of a lot of other guys such as Nazi and Communist hardliners (oh and TPTB don't import minorities in order to reduce friction but they'll mix Nazis with Communists?) and white African colonists should make them a pretty unsavory bunch by our standards. These are guys who, from the founder to the more recent immigrants, have a strong experience of hierarchical rule and elite power, a fact which is reflected in the tiered citizenship of their society. Yet in Stirlings world the people are mostly happy and content and the alternate world almost comes across as an ecotoruist utopia of good land management and good living (why a 1946 WWII vet who founded the society explicitly to exploit its natural resources would become a hard core environmentalist is never quite explained). The extermination of the natives is glossed over and treated as an act of the few bad eggs in society (again why an amoral 1946 vet would feel any compunction against sluaghtering the Indians is unexplained) and the clientage of the Indians (another theme of Stirlings work) is treated as a mutually recognized beneficial system. THere are also some characterization problems. THe main character is treated as a pretty upright guy, although one who doesn't always follow the rule book. Yet when a woman from the company he is investigating auspiciously comes forward and asks to work with him he not only lets her but becomes romantically involved, and even after he learns that she is involved in some sort of shady dealings he seriously believes he can continue the relationship.

When California game preserve officer Tom Christiansen comes across a smugglers warehouse that includes a California Condor unrelated to any other Condor, he is suspicious, but dismisses his theories as science fiction dreams. But when he follows up with another raid and finds a long-extinct dodo, he knows that his SF readings haven't been completely in vain. There's something out there and he intends to get to the bottom of it. Unfortunately for Tom, what there is out there is a parallel universe where Columbus never sailed to the new world, but where twentieth century dimension travellers have relaunched the diseases and wars of conquest that parallel the genocide European explorers created in our own universe.
To preserve their secret, the conquistadors of this parallel world abduct Tom and his friend Tully across the dimensional gateway.
Once in the new universe, Tom faces a problem. His abductors have created a pirate kingdom, genocided the native population, and created an almost all white fantasy world of a near-pristine California. Worse, many of the settlers were disgruntled whites fleeing African, Indochinese, and Algerian colonial ventures. Yet, Tom's abductors are the goodguys. A cabal of Africaneers dreaming of a return to South Africa, and of Russians looking to dominate both universes, threatens to overthrow the (mostly American) pirate government. Can Tom justify throwing in his lot with the Americans--especially as he has fallen in love with one of them?
CONQUISTADOR gives a different slant on the parallel universes story. Rather than the single heroic individual (e.g., Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen (see our review)), an entire population migrates. According to the inhabitants, the diseases they introduced were largely involuntary--as was primarilly the case in our own universe. Based on this different approach, CONQUISTADOR is a very different story.
Tom Christiansen's vaguely negative feelings toward what he calls the 'pirate kings' allows the reader to cheer him on through an exciting adventure that makes up the final third of the novel. Careful readers, however, will note that the resolution remains a racist white world that continues to commit genocide against the native peoples. Tom has been coopted (by marrying the princess, of course). Finding an even more definite evil has allowed him to assage any moral guilt.
I also had some problems with the action sequence. First, once Tom's raiding party discovered proof of the conspiracy, why couldn't they have notified the authorities at once, rather than shooting it out with dozens of heavily armed soldiers? Whether Adrienne's final action at the gate is morally justified can certainly be argued.
Author S. M. Stirling has created an intriguing world--a world where ex-soldiers play at hunting, genocide, and cowboys-and-Indians. Perhaps Stirling's message is that even basically good people like Tom can be coopted by evil, as long as they see that they are doing some good. Or perhaps the message is that a feudal militaristic dictatorship would create a world where the environment was preserved (except the people, of course, who were eliminated) and manly men would prevail. It certainly gives the reader pause.

Since discovering Stirling's Draka series, I've been a fan....Those were a guilty read and one that became more depressing as time went on. I found those to be a nightmarish version of AH, one that tho technically strong was WAY too one sided. His more recent works like Dies the Fire, Peshawar Lancers, and Islands in the Sea of Time, all have done much to make him one of my favorite authors.

Conquistador is a story of modern (1946) Americans discovering a means to cross over into an alternate world. An America and world totally unlike the 1946 of our world. It is a world where Alexander the Greek survives to seize most of the world and imprint Greece on it. Christianity and Islam never rise and Europe/China never have a technological revolution.

This discovery allows an American veteran to bring some friends in to settle and exploit a world that was untouched by anyone. A world where the game is thick, water and air pure, and the Indians still in charge. A world that seems like paradise to these hard bitten war veterans...

Quick time several decades forward. This new world (New Virginia) is settled by tens of thousands of 20th century immigrants, some voluntary, some not. The Indians have either been pushed out or have died of disease and semi feudal governing system has been set up. It is a world frozen in small town/frontier America. The secret is kept through copious bribes and use of force as necessary. Onto to this secret stumble a pair of California Game Department agents.

Stirling can and often does build up his characters so they seem human. Most of them succeed in this book though anyone reading his other books sees the Adrienne heroine as a human Draka, likable but familiar. Alluding to a recent war with worldwide terrorism, Stirling is able to paint a world like ours but different in ways that the ACLU would shudder about (intensive spy cams, very intrusive police, ex soldiers with attitudes etc.

The story of the collesion of people of these two worlds and a very imaginable evil from the New Virginia side makes a good read, slow at times but overall a satisfying one. The constant flashbacks allow one to see the evolution of New Virginia and why it is hard men start nations and not softer ones. Stirling points out clearly that the clash of cultures is seldom pretty and often fatal for the weaker ones. His work notes the disease factors and effects on the New World. No amount of good will would have ever had any other effect and he does not waste time trying to twist it around where it could.

He does try to wrap up the whole book too fast but it still ends well and in a matter that leaves it open for a sequel though it is a good stand alone book.

First of all, Stirling is not a technical type of science fiction writer and all of his books skip over those details. For example, "Dies the Fire" doesn't explain why things can still burn, but gunpowder won't. If you want something technical, read any book by Stephen Baxter. If you want to read about skewed alternate history, Stirling and Eric Flint's 1632 series are the books to read.

You'll have to stretch your imagination a bit and accept the vague description of how the vacuum tube radio portal works, but that isn't really the point of this book. A wounded WWII vet John Rolfe discovers an unsettled version of California and he tells a few war buddies about his discovery. As he builds an empire, he also attempts to avoid the pitfalls of what has happened in his own version of America, but he has a few problems with one of his partners.

Steve Stirling has made a name in alternate fiction for his ability to create a totally new society and contrast it with a familiar one.
Here, he suceeds once again in that area. While his characters have definite values, the author is careful to portray them as exactly that; the views of his characters. Thus he is able to cause the reader to engage in a subconcious seesaw of values.
He begins this contrasting early in the book. Who are the bad guys? The ones who destroy valuable seal pelts and other rare animal products rather than be exposed? Or those who would engage in murder to stop them? Later, it gets even more convoluted.
Another clever and entertaining example of 'what-iffing' from a master of the genre.

I read Conquistador while on a five day cruise in the Carib. It made me think alot about parallel worlds where history is different than our own. What Stirling does not totally explain is how the Gate came into being; why the Aztec priests were wearing Grateful Dead t-shirts; and why do the main characters just accept their fate? Some of the supporting characters are a bit cheesey, and some of the names are a bit far fetched, example: the Russian clan are the Batysuhkovs. Why? The litteral translation for that name is little father or a term of endearment from son to father - pretty standard Hollywood-like stuff. A little too simplistic. Also there are some anti-Ukrainian comments made by the "Russians" which are really nasty and offensive to an American of Ukrainian ancestry (myself). Lastly the climax of the book is predictable but the ending is somehow an opening for a sequel. The book is good and can hold your attention. The inside jokes such as libraries in the alternate world having books by scifi authors specializing in such genres and mentionting them by name (including Turteldove)as well as some others keep the book lighthearted. Overall a good book to take on a vacation.

"Conquistador" has a strong start but was ultimately a little disappointing.

The premise is outlined in other reviews, so I won't rehash it here. The first 40% or so moves along nicely. It all takes place on "FirstSide" -- our world -- as Fish and Game Warden Tom Christensen follows an odd trail of evidence. But when the action moves to the alternate 2009 California, things slow up considerably, and many scenes seem to have no purpose. A blow-by-blow description of harvesting wheat? Nope, nothing happens. The finale picks things up nicely, although you may scratch you head at the lack of preparedness evidenced by the decision Tom's beau Adrienne's has to make in the climactic scene.

I'm not going to complain that the alternate 2009 is no utopia -- fast-growing, racist, happy to wipe out the natives, and seemingly interested in bringing in only unpleasant "FirstSide" subcultures and groups. Stirling's logic as to why events played out that way is acceptable. More off-putting at a basic level is the autocratic government. Would a group of ex-GIs who had just fought WW2 build a feudal system if they had blank slate? Most of the US -- especially soldiers -- very much believed that WW2 was a struggle of democracy against tyranny. Would they have turned their backs on those beliefs so quickly? But the original founders of the Gate seemed to have chosen feudalism with no dissent.

Later, the FirstSide detainees just seem to accept the benevolent dictatorship and adapt to their changed circumstances pretty quickly.

There were other problems -- uncomfortable stereotyping that went way beyond an homage to WW2 movies, for instance, an expedition that would have to get pretty lucky to prove that the bad guys were up to something -- and these all happened in the latter part of the book.

I summarize with "disappointing" because of the strong start. After the action set principally FirstSide I thought this would be one of the better books I'll read this year. Then there's the long stretch of flora and fauna descriptions and the problems above. Ultimately it was an OK way to pass the time, but not memorable.

Overall this was pretty entertaining. The idea of starting society over with the advantage of hindsight, current technology and virtually infinite wealth is pretty intriguing. I got a little tired of hearing how big and in shape the main character was and I skipped countless paragraphs describing some plant that grand pappy Hatley mowed down to start his strip mining operation. The book did slow toward the latter third, not leaving much time for the climactic finish, which was a little disappointing, but overall it was a quick entertaining read.

Now to the subject of playing patty-cake with the natives. Several reviewers didn’t like the fact that once again the indigenous peoples were either wiped out or became virtual subjects of the “invaders”. Why does this need to be a feel good story where people act differently that they have for… well… ever? You take some WWII vets, put them in pre-Columbus America and all they know is working hard, taking what they want/need and rebuilding a close proximity to what they thought an ideal America was. Seems pretty realistic to me (sans the magical portal created by a radio).

Having read much of what S.M. Stirling has written, I felt a little let down by this book. The premise of the story is great, John Rolfe VI, a discharged WW2 vet finds a way to cross into an unspoiled parallel California and rule it as his own. Unfortunately, there are former friends seeking to wrest control from him, as after all there are always serpents in any Paradise. There are great moments in the book. I enjoyed the portrayal of different clans descended from Rolfe's unit, and vintage Mosquitoes as an Air Force. The tipping point of Alexander continuing to rule instead of dying in India provides a good point of divergence from our timeline. However, I was left wanting more than the stock ending with an obvious twist in the book. My feeling is that Conqiustador reads more like adventure and mystery in feudal California than the full blown novel of "what if" I had hoped for.

I enjoyed this book. It was different, exciting in most places, and fun to read.

I think that Stirling has a great imagination and, if the previous reviews indicate anything, he makes the reader think.

Many previous reviewers have strong opinions, of one sort or another, about the morality of the scenario/author/characters, but it should be remembered that this is a story. Did you hear what I said? A story. It isn't about the author's opinions or his politics.

Having said that, I will say that Stirling has never let me down, and I enjoy his work immensely.

Well done!

The plot's been summarized in other reviews, and I won't bother duplicating it. Stirling takes an old idea and executes it in an at-least-somewhat original way. He does his usual good extrapolations of well-researched technology; the man is thorough in his worldbuilding and his research, and in this book manages to keep the extensive tech extrapolations to a minimum.

Well-drawn cast of characters, although as usual the antagonists are the more interesting side. I'm waiting for the sequel.

Mr. Stirling is, IMHO, one of best writers of alternate history in the field today. In this novel, he provides a select few in the days after WWII, access to a world untouched by advanced civilization. They set up their own nation, based in what we call California. It's not perfect, I get the impression that Mr. Stirling doesn't believe in Utopias. :-) I have a lot of family in California and am familiar with many of the places mentioned in the novel. The heros are larger than life, but then, that is what makes them heros. The Sluggy Freelance reference was very cool as well.

I love alternate history, so when I read the concept behind this novel, I was very excited. And while the concept delivered, and was well developed, the author's writing style spoiled this book for me, and leads me to think I should avoid his other work.

The main fault I found was that the author forgot the famous dictum of "show don't tell", and instead had his characters constantly expounding on the technical details of every piece of equipment, process or craft that they ran across. The characters were constantly prattling on about how much they happened to know about rifles, armored vehicles, flying a plane, sailing a boat, modern tractor technology, harvesting practices, wine, wildlife, horse breeds, on and on and on and on. I found it very difficult to like the characters, as they came across as smug know-it-alls. It also stretched my suspension of disbelief to think that the main character in particular could have seemingly picked up so much about every single field of human endeavor.

The author obviously did a lot of research, or happens (like the characters) to know an awful lot about just about everything. But rather than that research being subtly reflected in the nuances of the world he created, it was constantly shoved in your face. It often was then pointed at repeatedly, in case you hadn't noticed the first time that they had chosen to modify the location of the grip on this particular model of submachine gun, originally borrowed from the Israeli design. I think I could have gotten past the technical details if the characters hadn't been so pretentious about it all.

In short, I was disappointed. If you are one who would like to catch up on all the books in the alternate history genre, then certainly this is worth the read. It was not poorly done. However, if you're looking for one great read, and the description above sounds irritating to you, keep looking.

Stereotypical characters from racial and religious divides, from the viewpoint of someone who apparently has never been in contact with "the real thing," and carries their own baggage of bigotry with them if this is truly how the author views the peoples of whom he writes. Cliche ridden in all aspects.

This in the first 37 pages i've so far read. If i find any reason to change my mind i'll let you know.

It was an interesting premise, much along the base theme of stargate, the film of which i enjoyed; jump from one world to one far away, one which has a tie-in with the original homeland. In this case "firstside," which is i guess equal in all respects up to a certain past period of time and has since developed along a different path. In stargate's instance it's a matter of light years which separate the two worlds, one being ours, connected to the other by a gate. In conquistador's case firstside is stirling's apparent concept of ours, connected to our counterpart world which is within a parallel universe, the two worlds being connected by a gate. In both instances we have advanced significantly, leaving development on our counterparts far behind.

Certainly not original but a premise, in either case, which allows one's imagination freedom to run in countless directions. So far stirling's imagination seems to be running backwards, to the ideals which permeated the antebellum south and our then conception of the machinations needed to achieve our manifest destiny. Again, only the first 37 pages, and if i change my opinion i'll let you know. I'm pretty sure i didn't buy this one through the store but from a 2nd hand store i've dealt with a few times. The book's been lying around for maybe a year, there were others i chose to read before it, so i really don't recall from which one i bought it.

I gave it a 2 as i do find myself drawn in by the concept, much as i was with stargate, and am unwilling to give up what might be a somewhat entertaining passage of time. Plus i bought it. I always try to get the most use out of my money that i can.

While certainly not great literature, Stirling's "Conquistador" is decent light fiction that makes for an amusing read. There are, however, elements to Stirling's writing style that the reader should be aware of before beginning this book -- elements that can be very annoying and which significantly detract from the quality of the story.

The premise of a gateway into an alternate world where Europeans never colonized North America is a fascinating one, and the author does a good job of introducing the concept in conjunction with what is essentially a murder-mystery in the first third of the book. But once the protagonists have gone through the gateway, into the alternate world which has essentially been colonized by a handful of modern-day outcasts led by a 1950's American, the story loses focus and devolves into mostly an exposition of how "wonderful" (and flawed) the new colonial society is. Unfortunately, the book doesn't regain its plotline focus until the final 50 or so pages, at which point it's likely the reader will have lost most interest in, and sympathy for, the characters.

Unfortunately, much of Stirling's writing in this book is heavily sterotypical. His heroes and heroines are all good looking, highly competent, rugged individualists -- two dimensional in every respect. Worse, he relies heavily on racial cliches for his secondary characters and villains: the Italians are all scheming mafioso, Germans are all militaristic ex-Nazis, Russians are all brutal thugs, Jews are all cagey businessmen who are good with money, native Americans were either "noble savages" (for the northern ones) or faceless hordes (for the southern ones), and so on... Whenever Stirling introduced a new character, there were no surprises: the physical description always gave away what role the character was supposed to fill.

The other annoying aspect to Stirling's work was what appeared to be a thinly veiled political message. The book goes to great lengths to advocate for the superiority of the quasi-feudal/benevolent dictatorship government used by the alternate world colonists, and makes numerous references to how much more "environmentally friendly" this system has been in the alternate reality. Meanwhile, those colonists (and the newly arrived protagonists) who favor a more democratic goverment come across as well-intentioned but misguided crackpots who simply need to be shown the error of their thinking.

Regretably, this is not one of Stirling's better works. When he sticks to being a simple story-teller, his books can be an interesting diversion; in this case, he clearly has an agenda outside the story and it detracts from what might otherwise be an enjoyable read.

More than his other books, this work suffers from some of Stirling's weaker tendencies. Extremely long sections of the book do not move the plot forward or keep the characters or readers much interested in continuing with the story.
Although it bears some similarities to the Island series, this had a lot of interesting potential. Unfortunately, many of Stirling's characters tend to fall along the cliche that no matter how devisive or unrealistic it is, they will eventually say "let's do it!" Not in those words, but his characters make unrealistic emotional changes that interfere with the "suspension of disbelief" needed in a good yarn.

With Conquistador S.M. Stirling maintains and builds on the standard his readers have come to expect from the author of the Draka and Island in the Sea of Time series. Like Stirling's last offering, The Peshawar Lancers, Conquistador is essentially an Alternate History, although partaking also of elements of other genres such as techno-thriller, action-adventure, crime, utopian romance and even Western. It will be of interest therefore not just to diehard SF and AH fans, but to those who enjoy these other genres.
The tale opens in 1946, when John Rolfe VI, wounded WWII combat veteran and scion of an old (by US standards!) if now impoverished Virginian colonial family accidentally creates a mysterious shimmering silver gateway in the cellar of his Oakland, California, house, whilst tinkering with his radio set (a fine vintage 1940s SF plot device this!) A gate which opens on another America, undiscovered by Europeans, through which Rolfe and those he lets in on his secret can go back and forth at will, even if they have no idea how it works.
It is typical of Stirling's impressive historical erudition and worldbuilding skills that he supplies a detailed, convincing allohistorical rationale for this. A timeline in which Alexander the Great did not die young, but went on to found an empire from the Atlantic to the Bay of Bengal. Whilst Poul Anderson in Eutopia built a hi-tech Hellenistic scientific-industrial 20-Century civilization on this premise, Stirling equally convincingly goes the opposite way. His Hellenistic Eurasian empire has stagnated by 1946 at a medieval level, with quarrelsome successor states surrounded by barbarian tribes, and thus has yet to cross the Atlantic. An Appendix describing in some detail the world thus created is a fascinating addendum to Stirling's tale.
Rolfe and his old Army buddies build their own society on the other side of the Gate, financed by its resources, such as unRushed Californian gold, sold on our side. And peopled by assorted disaffected elements seeking a bolt hole, from postwar East European and German refugees, through French and British colonials dispossessed by the end of Empire in Africa to Boer and Russian malcontents today. Whilst the Native American inhabitants are decimated by European diseases accidentally introduced by 20th Century Americans rather than 16th Century Spaniards.
The society John Rolfe and his associates build in their New World is the latest in Stirling's series of thought-provoking fictional alternatives to that of the modern America he inhabits. Like its predecessors, the Domination of the Draka and the societies of the Island series, the socio-political structures are carefully worked out, plausible and interesting. Stirling is clearly fascinated by environmentally-friendly, hierarchical alternative societies. As he has progressed, the dystopian downside of the alternative societies he devises has steadily grown less, to the extent that many will feel that in his latest book it is outweighed by the positive side. Unlike the nightmare slave-state of the Draka, the New Virginia Rolfe builds may well seem to many readers, this reviewer included, a better place to live in many ways than its counterpart on our side of the Gate. Although, as we discover, its inhabitants include villains as evil and ruthless as any.
Then a US Fish and Wildlife Service agent investigating an apparent illegal trade in endangered wildlife products stumbles upon a mystery, One that starts from an inexplicable extra specimen of the extremely rare Californian condor in a blown-up warehouse. That continues via his meeting and becoming involved with Adrienne, the glamorous and talented wild card of the Rolfe family pack. And ends in the secret of her other world, and its own secret enemy within, an enemy that menaces both her world and ours.
En route escaping death at the hands of post-Soviet mafiya hoods, and their Sicilian originals, on the mean streets of our America and at the guns of hostile Indians in a desert canyon of another world's West. Passing from the humdrum offices of US Government bureaucrats to the elegant mansions of the aristocrats of another America, from the polluted urban sprawl of our LA to the small towns, yeoman farms and wildlife-filled wilderness of an alternative California.
S.M. Stirling's latest book managed the not inconsiderable feat of keeping this reader on the edge of his seat whilst making him think. Heartily recommended, both as an exciting, page-turning adventure story and a thought-provoking exploration of historical, social and political alternatives to our own world.

I started out really liking this book - the premise, the setting of Northern CA and the mystery...unfortunately, it lost steam midway through and I felt as though I were reading a travelogue rather than a novel. I actually skipped pages toward the end because I felt like I was reading the action in slow motion. Too descriptive! Less words to keep the plot going at a good pace would have been much better, and could have cut the pages by at least a third if not half.
I have read the T2 books and enjoyed them. I have Dies the Fire and will still give it a chance. One unenjoyable book won't put me off Stirling completely.

I consider Conquistador the very best alternate history/parallel universe novel that I've ever read. Stirling got nearly everything right in this novel. Most importantly, he managed to weave a lot of useful non-fiction into a fictional storyline (in this case natural history, small unit tactics, ecology, small arms, and much more). I can personally attest that this feat is harder than it appears at first glance. (I did something similar in my novel of the near future, "Patriots: Surviving the Coming Colapse.") Most writers that attempt to include non-fiction in a novel fail miserably--often exhibiting a tendedncy to bog down the storyline. But here, S.M. Stirling pulls it off nicely and provides a novel that is informative yet is hard to put down. I highly recommend this book!

Conquistador is a good book; a book that passed the time, but it is a book that I will NEVER read again. The premise is great, lots of new ideas, but also lots of little implausibilities and wasted potential. My biggest complaint, however, is Stirling's treatment of the Native peoples in his new world.
The natives are the servants (a polite word for low paid and exploited slaves) and they are the "bad guys" (shades of 1950's cowboys and indians). I can understand the attitude of the characters that were born in the depression. People raised in a different time had different morals and ethics. The problen is that the protagonist and all of his cronies seem to buy right into the exploitation with only token resistance.
Even ignoring the shabby treatment of the natives, the story seemed somewhat lacidasical. Sterling took the easy way out of each confrontation and situation that the characters faced. I found it much too predictable for a science fiction story.
Overall, a good beach read. Take it on vacation to read and then toss it as soon as your done. Maybe you'll even get lucky and be able to snap up my copy at the used book store.

I loved everything about the Nantucket series, especially the characters. Ditto for "Peshawar Lancers". When I saw this book on sale recently, I decided not to wait a year to read it -- and wasn't disappointed in the slightest.
If you're like me and enjoyed both the Nantucket and Peshawar stories and peoples so far, the same will happen here. Stirling may just be coming into his genius, story-telling wise, as "Conquistador" is a carefully thought-out and written alternate universe novel, an engrossing read. I couldn't put it down and finished it less then twenty-four hours after I bought it.
You'll like the characters and wish you lived in New Virginia by the time you get to the third chapter. Don't miss this one, it's spectacular!

This book was slow in most parts, with better flow towards the the last quarter of the book. It is an intriguing premise,and allows the reader to experience an unspoiled North America with a twist. Unfortunately, the protagonist was way too perfect a human. Running back in High School, hardworking farm boy, Ranger/special ops, perfect shape, knowledge of food, drink and art, swing dancer and latent Nordic beserking prowess (and on and on). I couldn't suspend my disbelief after halfway through the novel since the only thing he was deficient in was falling in love with the "wrong, but all so right" woman. I'd give this book a pass if possible and find something that reads a little more smoother.

I've enjoyed Stirling's other books quite a bit. This one spends way too much time exploring the ecological and political aspects of the alternate universe and way too little time on characterization and plot. The characters are shallow and way too "perfect". Everyone's good looking, smart, and athletic with a good sense of humor. I'm really having to force my way through to the end. I hope Stirling doesn't go the way of Turtledove, but after this I'm not optimistic.

God bless quantum physics and S.M. Stirling's ability to play with its concepts. Conquistador is a good, light read with interesting characters and concepts. Plenty of action too. I just think it should have been about two hundred pages longer. With those extra pages devoted to more in the way of character building and storyline. I would love to see a prequel and some sequels to this work. Having never read anything by Stirling that I didn't like, I must say that this piece came the closest to a three star rating.

Alternate history with a twist: Some dissatisfied WW2 veterans discover an alternate world where the Americas were never settled by Europeans. So they move there permanently, but they keep an elaborate establishment on our world, too, including letter box companies, intelligence agents and goon squads with itchy trigger fingers. Back in the alternate world, the baddies are trying to pull off a coup d'etat; and they are not real choosy about their methods. The book has plenty of romance, skullduggery, combat scenes and buddy bonding. Something for just about every taste.

If you are searching for the western literature masterwork of the century ...... search again. But this book is a very good fun and solid read; well written, well researched and throughly enjoyable. The characters are realistic and well rounded and I have really enjoyed reading this novel. Money well spent and worth reading in hardcover.
I am still hoping for more novels in the Draka Universe (and even some more novels in the Island or Peshawar Universe would be nice). Perhaps Mr. Stirling could clone himself or, at least stop sleeping :).

Most of the on line reviews nearly convinced me to skip this one. However, I really love the author (Island in the Sea of Time+ 2 follow on volumes and Raj Whitehall series were GREAT)..so I tried this one. Surprise... really loved it. Anyone who likes nature, wildlife, environment will LOVE it. Wonderful descriptions of what CA would be like if no white "discovery" of America, and final settlement by only 250,000 people from San Diego to Seattle who are environmentally astute/friendly AND realistic about wildlife etc. Good "thriller" element too.

Another reveiwer called it "well-researched, well-paced, well-told adventure tale" and I guess that's my problem. A bit too glib, stereotypical charcters doing stereotypical things. I haven't finished this but I want more edge, more surprises, not so much paint by numbers

The slick cover tantalizes, the blurbs on the back glow and the premise is pretty cool. But as someone who's enjoyed science fiction for some 25 years, let me tell ya: this book is AWFUL! Clumsy prose, drab characters, wooden dialogue, a sloppy plot that goes nowhere (and takes forever to get there) -- and that's just for starters! How about a gooey nostalgia for a Leave It To Beaver 1950s cultural sensibility, a primary romance devoid of resonant emotions, a shrug over the near-extermination of native peoples, and a celebration of a neo-feudal political arrangement? Ugh. Thoughtless sexism, racism, cultural imperialism... all here. And if you want interesting science or technology or compelling ideas, forget it.

I've lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for a long time, so I at least related to the local references. But I suspect Stirling's endless descriptions will be of scant interest to those who have no familiarity with the area; I found them tiresome after a while. By the way, I like the Bay Area just fine, thanks -- it's a beautiful, diverse, stimulating place to live. The book's subtext that Northern California is somehow morally lost and overrun with unsavory people is plain offensive and bizarre.

Did I mention that I think this is an awful book?!

I saw this novel recomended on an alternate history sight saying it had been given an award. So I picked up a copy at a local book store and TRIED to read it. I could not get past the first few pages, and then tried to find something to get into that might be fun but found it devoid of content. It's like a stale cheap potato chip. Lots of fat. Little flavor. Nothing of any taste.

I can not imagine who could say anything good about this one let alone nominate it for any kind of award of good standing.

It should receive an award. It's as bad as his awful Drakas series. It is a sci-fi devoid of any logic set in alternate history rather than the past but still typically bad of an awful crop of awful writings devoid of any believabity or realistic historical base. And should recieve a rasberry award for being so awful.

I put this book back on the shelf and would advise everyone simply to not bother picking it up.

Alternate History should be written by people who spend more time than a few cursory passes through the library. Unfortunately most alternate histories are of this awful kind.

I would like to see some alternate history written by people who actually know the subject they write about.

This book is not one of them.

Super book could not put it down until finished, I hope there will be more about the subject, of New Virginia. Surely the book has enough potential to have additional stories wrtten, and I for one would really love to read them. I recommend this story and all the others written by Mr. Stirling. Great subjects of what if and alternate history. Larry.

Unfortunately I can't give this a good review. The book has an intriguing premise of going from our world (or, if you pay attention, a world ALMOST the same as ours) into one where Alexander the Great lived to be an old man, and where history unfolded so that by AD 1946 no Europeans had come to the New World. Hey! That IS interesting. So do you get to see the non-Christianized Europe, devoid of a Roman Empire, with temples to Alexander-Zeus looming over the Greco-Buddhist ruins? Well, you hear about it a little. Okay, then do you get to see the shattered post-Aztec city states or the Selang Arsi Tocharian-Persians in East Asia? Well, at least you get to meet a few of those guys.

And that's really it, as far as any what-if traditional areas of focus for alternate histories. To me at least, the question of "How would America look if it were first settled by post-war guys, and not woodsy Enlightenment-era types" isn't very interesting, especially when answered repeatedly with "they would be tougher than us soft moderns", and that's the end of it. But even though not seeing Selang-Arsi was kind of disappointing to me, that's not in itself bad, since Stirling's alternate West Coast really just serves as a tabula rasa so he can explore his real social questions - the morality of colonization and our own ancestry, and the morality of deeply aristocratic societies. Unfortunately he examines both only superficially.

From a writing perspective, the book's pacing was poor. The first 200 or so pages go off reasonably well but the next 300 or so see the main character wandering around New Virginia, looking at things, thinking about things, eating, and talking to people. This could be more tolerable if there were a much clearer and more urgent motivation running underneath the characters' actions, but there's not. I did actually enjoy reading about still-wild small-village California, just not over and over again for 300 pages. I got even more impatient with the two-page meal descriptions. A lot of it seemed like blocks of overwrought natural description dropped into the narrative.

And finally, whenever I turned a new page I found myself involuntarily scanning for blocks of italics, which was how Stirling rendered the protagonist constantly thinking neat little thoughts to himself about whatever he observed. The tone was troubling - he sure didn't seem like a war veteran, trapped in another world and his career ruined, being dragged into another war - and the technique was absolutely beaten to death. There were semicolons everywhere too, sometimes two or three in a row. I fully appreciate the problem faced by every speculative fiction writer, which is how to subtly render a setting for your story so that the action is comprehensible and believable, but not to resort to out-and-out exposition. Unfortunately Stirling very much sticks with exposition.

The last 80 pages finally got to the action. This was good, but magnified a problem that had been bothering me throughout the book - again, the tone. We sometimes see characters' friends killed violently, and the next day the characters are all chipper and making light jokes to other. There are very brief moments when the characters become grim and serious but they always reel back from the edge of believable reactions into more cute clich�s. Indeed, at the climax the characters felt mostly like plot puppets.

One mechanism that I think Stirling was trying to use on the reader was that of the awe-inspiring paradigm shift - i.e., imagine the jaw-dropping moment when you encounter a San Francisco Bay surrounded by wildlife instead of buildings. Typically, readers will encounter a paradigm shift simultaneously with a character, or after a character already has (and hasn't said anything in the narrative to give it away to the reader). Otherwise, you're doing the reader's equivalent of telling the people in a horror movie "don't go down in the basement!". Except at a horror movie, it's kind of funny. Here, you know what they're going to find and what all the clues add up to and it's just not that exciting to plow through for a hundred pages.

I've saved my last criticism for the end of my review since it may become controversial, so I'll begin by making the disclaimer that in no way do I think Stirling is racist. I'll state further that I also think a lot of the other more negative reviews missed some of Stirling's points, for example, about the New Virginians' being willing to napalm the Indians. Do you really think Stirling agrees with that? Or at the very least doesn't find it morally very troublesome? I just wish it had been explored more thoroughly. (Stirling has even given the book a disclaimer on this points for the clinically dense). It's clear that Stirling makes no assumption of uneven intelligence among characters in the book with regard to race (white, black, Indian, Selang-Arsi), and in fact the undoing of many of the "bad guys" in the book was precisely due to their having NOT made this assumption. I could tell that Stirling enjoyed supposing interactions between cultures whose borders do not touch in the real world (Italian-Americans, Russians and Afrikaners) and imagining the outcomes. However, I did get very tired of how EVERYthing was somehow drawn back to each character's culture (including the Norwegian-American protagonist, a Dakota farmboy who somehow felt Viking rage during hand-to-hand combat with a desert native). This is a disease of science fiction/fantasy writers in general - they genuinely LIKE people from different cultures, but tend to tend not to see past this novel culture they value to the individual within it, who can vary wildly from that culture's norms.

If you're an alternative history fan, you might be disappointed because there's very little alternative history. If you're a wild-west Golden Age of science fiction person, this might be more up your alley.

Unfortunately I can't give this a good review. The book has an intriguing premise of going from our world (or, if you pay attention, a world ALMOST the same as ours) into one where Alexander the Great lived to be an old man, and where history unfolded so that by AD 1946 no Europeans had come to the New World. Hey! That IS interesting. So do you get to see the non-Christianized Europe, devoid of a Roman Empire, with temples to Alexander-Zeus looming over the Greco-Buddhist ruins? Well, you hear about it a little. Okay, then do you get to see the shattered post-Aztec city states or the Selang Arsi Tocharian-Persians in East Asia? Well, at least you get to meet a few of those guys.

And that's really it, as far as any what-if traditional areas of focus for alternate histories. To me at least, the question of "How would America look if it were first settled by post-war guys, and not woodsy Enlightenment-era types" isn't very interesting, especially when answered repeatedly with "they would be tougher than us soft moderns", and that's the end of it. But even though not seeing Selang-Arsi was kind of disappointing to me, that's not in itself bad, since Stirling's alternate West Coast really just serves as a tabula rasa so he can explore his real social questions - the morality of colonization and our own ancestry, and the morality of deeply aristocratic societies. Unfortunately he examines both only superficially.

From a writing perspective, the book's pacing was poor. The first 200 or so pages go off reasonably well but the next 300 or so see the main character wandering around New Virginia, looking at things, thinking about things, eating, and talking to people. This could be more tolerable if there were a much clearer and more urgent motivation running underneath the characters' actions, but there's not. I did actually enjoy reading about still-wild small-village California, just not over and over again for 300 pages. I got even more impatient with the two-page meal descriptions. A lot of it seemed like blocks of overwrought natural description dropped into the narrative.

And finally, whenever I turned a new page I found myself involuntarily scanning for blocks of italics, which was how Stirling rendered the protagonist constantly thinking neat little thoughts to himself about whatever he observed. The tone was troubling - he sure didn't seem like a war veteran, trapped in another world and his career ruined, being dragged into another war - and the technique was absolutely beaten to death. There were semicolons everywhere too, sometimes two or three in a row. I fully appreciate the problem faced by every speculative fiction writer, which is how to subtly render a setting for your story so that the action is comprehensible and believable, but not to resort to out-and-out exposition. Unfortunately Stirling very much sticks with exposition.

The last 80 pages finally got to the action. This was good, but magnified a problem that had been bothering me throughout the book - again, the tone. We sometimes see characters' friends killed violently, and the next day the characters are all chipper and making light jokes to other. There are very brief moments when the characters become grim and serious but they always reel back from the edge of believable reactions into more cute clich�s. Indeed, at the climax the characters felt mostly like plot puppets.

One mechanism that I think Stirling was trying to use on the reader was that of the awe-inspiring paradigm shift - i.e., imagine the jaw-dropping moment when you encounter a San Francisco Bay surrounded by wildlife instead of buildings. Typically, readers will encounter a paradigm shift simultaneously with a character, or after a character already has (and hasn't said anything in the narrative to give it away to the reader). Otherwise, you're doing the reader's equivalent of telling the people in a horror movie "don't go down in the basement!". Except at a horror movie, it's kind of funny. Here, you know what they're going to find and what all the clues add up to and it's just not that exciting to plow through for a hundred pages.

I've saved my last criticism for the end of my review since it may become controversial, so I'll begin by making the disclaimer that in no way do I think Stirling is racist. I'll state further that I also think a lot of the other more negative reviews missed some of Stirling's points, for example, about the New Virginians' being willing to napalm the Indians. Do you really think Stirling agrees with that? Or at the very least doesn't find it morally very troublesome? I just wish it had been explored more thoroughly. (Stirling has even given the book a disclaimer on this points for the clinically dense). It's clear that Stirling makes no assumption of uneven intelligence among characters in the book with regard to race (white, black, Indian, Selang-Arsi), and in fact the undoing of many of the "bad guys" in the book was precisely due to their having NOT made this assumption. I could tell that Stirling enjoyed supposing interactions between cultures whose borders do not touch in the real world (Italian-Americans, Russians and Afrikaners) and imagining the outcomes. However, I did get very tired of how EVERYthing was somehow drawn back to each character's culture (including the Norwegian-American protagonist, a Dakota farmboy who somehow felt Viking rage during hand-to-hand combat with a desert native). This is a disease of science fiction/fantasy writers in general - they genuinely LIKE people from different cultures, but tend to tend not to see past this novel culture they value to the individual within it, who can vary wildly from that culture's norms.

If you're an alternative history fan, you might be disappointed because there's very little alternative history. If you're a wild-west Golden Age of science fiction person, this might be more up your alley.

Conquistador began with a really intriguing premise but unfortunately, its creator turned it into a Lifetime movie for men. Stirling seemed abnormally preoccupied with the protagonist -Tom Christiansen- I understand the need for detail but Stirling's intimate descriptions were overkill. It was never just a simple sentence to describe a simple action. e.g. He tapped his finger on the trigger of the Browning, no, Stirling had to say "He tapped a strong, supple index finger on the trigger of the Browning." And when Christiansen was wounded towards the end, he couldn't just describe the body as lifelessly falling to the deck of the Mosquito. Intead, he had to describe it as "220 pounds of strong, hard man falling out of its harness." At times, I had to keep flipping to the cover of the book just to make sure I wasn't reading gay erotica. If you are a straight male and don't enjoy reading the intimately described detail of a Fish & Game Warden and his strong, six pack abs and Army Ranger crap, then do yourself a favor and stay away from this title. It belongs on the scrap heap next to the Harlequin Romance novels.

Really, truly, profoundly awful.
I wasn't expecting The Great Gatsby, but a light pleasant read in decent prose would have been nice. The terrible characterizations and bombastically offensive stereotyping make me wonder what rock the author has been hiding under. Some of this is passed off as the differences between us and our Forties ancestors, but that's just sophistry painting over incompetence.
FYI, I did like the author's Draka books and am a great fan of alternative history. It's not the idea that I'm knocking, only the bad war movie implementation (the Italian, the Jew, the Southerner, etc).

Having only read one of Stirlings books (Now Dies The Fire) this was stunningly disappointing. Premise very cool. Actual outcome? Sucky!! Have we learning nothing from our own history? Here was a chance to not kill the natives off with disease, I knew as soon as one of the characters coughed that the Chumash were doomed and not to be heard from again until the appendix!! What a waste of a fascinating premise. I nearly threw the book across the room, insteal it was merely dropped into the "do not keep" box.

His best work of alternate history yet. In the tradition of the Draka series, characters you wouldn't bring home for dinner build a world you won't want to leave. Not for the humor-impaired or the Politically Correct.

typical of series writers who overrun the original story line Stirling uses alot of filler and re-treading passed books to fill the pages. Sad as this was a great saga but the last 3 installments sadly are lacking.

This book is terrible. The author wastes words describing landscapes when he should be moving the plot along. Additionally, there are at least 3 homophobic remarks. Really not cool or necessary. Skip it.

I made it to page 250 of "Conquistador" before throwing it down in disgust. Stirling deserves congratulations. He's managed to create an alternate history that actually treats American Indians (and all other non-alpha humans) worse than real history has done. He's truly managed to write a book where every single character is motivated by personal greed, hate, greed, revenge, or greed; where there's not one single character who doesn't pepper every second sentence with profane, racist and misogynist epithets; where every last character thinks murder and torture are just fine in pursuit of... well, did I mention greed?

When all characters in a book are morally despicable, without exception, it has to say something about the author. I can only assume that Stirling's writing serves the laudable public purpose of preventing him from spending his time more destructively - such as by blowing up buildings a la Timothy McVeigh. But that doesn't mean I should read them, and neither should you.

Bernie Waugh
Hanover, NH