Gunpowder Empire
I’ve been trying to get back into the habit of reading. For the longest time, books have sat on my shelf collecting dust and my memories of great literature slowly fading with time. So, when I saw Gunpowder Empire sitting on a stack of books at this tiny privately-owned bookstore in Merrillville, I decided to pick it up. It looked unique, incredibly interesting, and the little green sticker told me it was three dollars.
Looks interesting, doesn’t it? There’s what looks like ancient Rome, but there’s cannons and explosions and all sorts of exciting-looking things going on. My mind began asking questions, “Is this Rome? Why are there cannons? Did they make cannons? Did people from the future give them cannons? How did this war start? Surely this is an action-packed adventure that you must pick up?”
So, I bought it, and like many books before it, it sat on my shelf. I’m not sure what finally led me to pick it up from the shelf, but I did. And it was an interesting read.
I want to begin by saying that Gunpowder Empire is not a bad book. It is engaging, and the characters are interesting. Harry Turtledove is a good writer, and does an excellent job at characterization and making the reader feel like they’re actually in the story.
Unfortunately, my praises end there. And for those of you who plan on reading the book, you may want to skip the rest of this post, as it will contain some spoilers.
Not too late.
So, the book is set in the future, which was the first shock after seeing the cover, and centers around the Solters family, who are ‘Crosstime Traders.’ Basically, in the future, they have discovered how to visit alternate timelines, and make a living trading goods there, as natural resources are almost gone in the Earth of tomorrow.
So far, so good. The writer did a good job of getting the reader in to the daily routine of the future. His way of telling you about the alternate timelines (a school lecture) was a little cliche, but it gets the point across. Summer vacation comes, and the family packs up and heads to an alternate where the Roman Empire never fell. One of the most powerful empires in the world, though technology hasn’t progressed beyond the late medieval/early renaissance period, meaning, the only real difference between our ancient Rome and this one is that there’s some cannons and muskets.
Once again, the writer does a good job in explaining this new world, and getting the reader into the daily routine of life in Rome. It was a good exposition to the adventure that was sure to follow. And finally, something happened to break the routine, the children of the Solter’s family (17 years old, not REALLY children) get trapped in the alternate without their parents.
It’s getting good, then war breaks out in Rome when another empire attacks. They’re at the gates, shooting cannonballs into the city, then, after a hundred pages or so of this, they leave. That’s it, the attacking army leaves, their parents come to take their kids back to modern Earth, and the story ends happily.
It wasn’t bad, but when I looked at that cover, I expected a lot of action. I expected to be in the streets with those soldiers, riding into battle. I expected to be running through town, dodging collapsing buildings and taking down the enemy. There was none of that, the Solters children were barely involved at all, and the amount of action in the book could barely fit a couple pages.
I won’t discourage others from reading it, just know that when you pick this book up, you’re not reading a tale of war, intrigue and action. You’re reading a story of two kids living in Rome, going on with their lives, despite the occasional cannonball flying through the air.
Zel-kun out.