Faction Paradox: Warlords of Utopia [Paperback]

Lance Parkin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 12, 2004

Rome never fell. Hitler won. Now they are at war. Marcus Americanius Scriptor's memoirs of the war between every parallel universe where Rome never fell, and every parallel universe where Hitler won the Second World War, have long been regarded as the definitive account of that turbulent time.Scriptor's life story, from his early life among the housesteads of an obscure province to his role in the ultimate confrontation with Nazism, was intimately connected with the major political and social developments of his time. His highly personal record of events was praised even in his own lifetime for its honesty and intimacy, as well for capturing the scale of a war that consumed thousands of worlds.This exciting new translation of a classic work of military history is accessible to new readers and existing students of the War alike.This is the third original Faction Paradox novel.

Editorial Reviews

Review

[Faction Paradox is] in equal parts enraging and enlightening, fascinating and frustrating, infuriating and intriguing, marvellously epic and maddeningly elusive. -- Enlightenment

About the Author

LANCE PARKIN has written a fair few novels, was a storyline writer on UK soap Emmerdale for a couple of years, wrote a biography of Alan Moore and writes "Miranda," a creator-owned science fiction comic. Current projects include the last of the BBC Books' regular Eighth Doctor adventures, "The Gallifrey Chronicles," which features an evil talking mule.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Mad Norwegian Press (November 12, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0972595961
• ISBN-13: 978-0972595964
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,327,907 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lance gone wild., January 7, 2006

By 

Christopher Schumacher (Chicago, Illinois) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Faction Paradox: Warlords of Utopia (Paperback)

The Faction Paradox books pose a question to readers: what would * write, if we took all the safety catches off?
Lance Parkin produces the definitive version of both the "What if Hitler had won?" and the "What if Rome never fell?" storyline, and then some.
This book sounds horribly complicated from the back cover, but the prose is fluid and crystal clear, easing the transition into what could have been quite a mess.
You haven't read a book like this before. The simple fact is that alternate history books and stories tend to restrict themselves to a single alternate reality--or at least one reality at a time. In this book Lance Parkin strides around the many possibilities of inter-reality commerce and warfare with such confidence and raw ability that the sires of the Golden Age of Science Fiction would be proud.
The book is extremely well thought-out and executed. It's a pity that so few people will read it because of its status as a franchise novel.
This book can be read by anyone, even and especially those who have no idea what Faction Paradox is.

4.0 out of 5 stars Rome never fell, Hilter won, and now they're at war, July 23, 2011

By 

Kid Kyoto (United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Faction Paradox: Warlords of Utopia (Paperback)

Warlords of Utopia is one of those books where either the back cover blurb is going to hook or you it won't.

Rome never fell. Hilter won. Now they're at war.

It promises a lot and delivers even more.

Warlords is the story of Marcus Americanius Scriptor a nobleman on a world where Rome never fell. Author Lance Parkin spends some time explaining Marcus' world of Roma I before Marcus finds an alien artifact that transports him to another parallel world Roma II. Well if there can be 2 Romes, why not more? Soon there is trade and travel among hundreds of parallel Romes, each one slightly different.

But eventually Marcus cannot travel further, there seem to be no more Romes. Pushing himself he manages to travel through this barrier and discovers a world where Rome fell 1500 years ago and civilization is threatened by a Germanic warlord by the name of Hitler. And then the fun begins...

This is high concept at its best, thousands of Roman and Nazi worlds in interdimensional war, thousands of variations on history and technology, all wrapped up in a tight short story with an engaging narrator.

There are problems of course, but minor ones. Since this part of a larger series the mechanics of dimensional travel are not explained, the characters who provide Marcus with his artifact and later give the two civilizations their interdimensional abilities are barely developed and come off as more of a deus ex machina. 'So OK, now we have flying ships that can sail the dimensions, OK'. But Parkin does a good job of quickly filling us in and it didn't bother me too much. It's interdimensional travel if you the writer says this is how it works I'm fine.

More annoying was the inconsistent Roman technology. Roma I is a world of mile-high towers and cities with 100 million citizens and slaves. But a world without electricity, radio, firearms or aircraft. All the Romes basically have what we would call Clockwork Punk technology, think of it as Leonardo DiVinci's inventions actually working. I can see why Parkin did this, to make Roman tech distinct from the Nazis, but it bugged me. I may not know how interdimensional travel works but I know how real world technology does and mile high cities based on ancient technology just didn't work for me.

But these are quibbles. This is a fun book with a lot of mad ideas and I recommend it to any fan of alternate history.