DRAKAS! [Mass Market Paperback]

It is my fervent hope that Stirling continues to write about these intruiging people.

In "Drakas!," several authors take their turn telling stories in S.M. Stirling's world. Stirling has arranged these stories in chronological order, starting with stories that take place shortly after the American Civil War. The first story concerns Custer and is written by William Sanders. The story features an additional twist in which Custer chose not to attack the Indians at Little Big Horn and goes on to meet his fate in the Draka Domination.

My favorite alternative history author, Harry Turtledove, wrote a compelling story for the collection. His story is set in the modern era where the Draka finally turn their attention to the United States after conquering the rest of the world. In my opinion, Turtledove's story ranks as one of the better stories in the collection and it offers humanity its best hope in the Draka timeline. Another established and well known alternative history author, David Drake, writes a particularly gruesome story of a much worse World War II, which is not for the faint of heart.

An author I am not familiar with by the name of Roland Green wrote a compelling story. In his story, a couple of Draka officers consult with the Japanese in their war with Russia in the early 1900's. Their particular area of specialty is in the area of dirigibles. The story has compelled to me find other works by Green.

While I enjoyed Stirling's original trilogy well enough, I enjoyed some of the stories in this collection even more. Part of the reason is that many of them were written in a style that is more accessible than that employed by Stirling.

Once the stories have worked their way through the equivalent of our timeline, the collection shifts focus to several stories that "cross" timelines. Some of these are enjoyable, while others are incredibly vague. A few of them are simply repetitive and don't offer anything new to the series. In my opinion, this was the weaker part of the collection.

I recommend Drakas! to any fan of alternative history. Be careful though, as with Stirling's original works, the stories can be very graphic in terms of violence, human enslavement, and to some degree sexually. Some knowledge of the original trilogy helps, but the uninitiated will have not have to difficult a time catching up. At the very least, you may come away with a few new authors to check out.

A decent book overall, but knowing what the other books were about, I probably won't read 'Drakas!' again.