Fitzpatrick's War [Hardcover]

Theodore Judson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 3, 2004

In the twenty-sixth century the world is a very different place. The United States and Canada are gone, replaced by the socially rigid, authoritarian Confederacy of the Yukon. Also gone is the electronic age-destroyed in the apocalyptic Storm Times that devastated the globe and decimated the world's population in the late twenty-first century. It is now, once again, an age of steam, an age of lighter-than-air craft, an age of feudalism and knighthood, and for some, an age of conquest.

Fitzpatrick's War is the intimate memoir of Sir Robert Bruce, a close companion of Fitzpatrick the Younger, the greatest hero of the Yukons. Yukon History paints Fitzpatrick as a latter-day Alexander the Great, and calls Bruce a lying traitor. Was Robert Bruce a degenerate scoundrel...or the only man to tell his world the truth?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Judson's spectacular first foray into speculative fiction, the Yukons—members of a puritanical agrarian community that rose to power as the electrical systems of 21st-century society were destroyed in the turbulent Storm Times—dominate the world in the 26th century. Spanning what was once Canada and the U.S., the British Isles and Australia, the semifeudal Yukon empire has a near monopoly on nonelectrical technology. Readers have two windows into this unsettling future: Sir Robert Mayfair Bruce, the book's main narrator and protagonist, and Dr. Professor Roland Modesty Van Buren, the historian who presents and annotates the 50th anniversary edition of Bruce's controversial memoirs. These memoirs detail Bruce's involvement in the brutal Four Points War and his relationship with the man who launched it, Isaac Prophet Fitzpatrick, who has been immortalized as a hero of Yukon society. Judson's use of the twin viewpoints allows him to make points about subjects as diverse as history and heroes, academia and ambition, love and shame. Yet like Heinlein, Asimov and other great writers in the genre, Judson never lets his message get in the way of the story, nor does he lapse into preachiness. This terrific SF debut is sure to be a contender for many awards.
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: DAW Hardcover; 1ST edition (August 3, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0756401968
• ISBN-13: 978-0756401962
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #809,561 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, August 18, 2004

By 

Kevin Beckman (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fitzpatrick's War (Hardcover)

If this is Mr. Judson's first work of science fiction, I hope he will publish more. This book is outstanding.

The book is presented as the memoir of Sir Robert Mayfair Bruce, a soldier and engineer from the 25th century. Due to the "Storm Times" of the late 21st century, humanity has been forced back to the age of steam. The most powerful nation on earth is the Yukon Confederacy, which comprises the former United States, Canada, Great Britain, and Australia. In his college days, Bruce befriended an ambitious young man named Isaac Prophet Fitzpatrick, son of the Confederacy's then ruler. An unfortunate "accident" befalls Fitzpatrick's father and the son is made Consul. Fitzpatrick entrusts Bruce with engineering projects that prove most useful in the war he starts.

Judson goes one step further with something that may be unique: Bruce's memoirs have been annotated by a college professor writing in the 26th century, Dr. Roland Modesty Van Buren. In that time, Fitzpatrick is thought of as a hero and Van Buren tries to discredit and refute many of Bruce's assertions in the footnotes. By clever use of these two diametrically opposed narrators, Judson makes critiques of everything from the concept of the history books being written by the winners, to religion, and to ambitious men who want to be Great Men.

I strongly recommend this book.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great future tale of Alexander, September 2, 2008

By 

Peter (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fitzpatrick's War (DAW Book Collectors) (Paperback)

At its core this story is mostly a re-telling of the story of Alexander the Great and his conquest of the world with enough Sci-fi tossed in to move the story along.
However, that being said, its a REALLY good re-telling of the story and brought with it fresh thoughts to the age old question of what is History and what is Truth?
As the Author shows with his choice of portraying this as work of Non-fiction with editors remarks we see that history is flexible and perhaps on this level should challenge us to wonder how much of what we "know" is also truth.
Overall I can see how some might dismiss this story as the actual war is short compared to the overall novel and some parts do go on a bit longer than I would have liked. Additionally the challenge of creating a world devoid of electricity with advanced genetics is a bit far fetched.
Still, I couldn't find myself putting it down for more than a few hours before I wanted to get back into the world the author created, technical flaws or not.
If you are a fan of alternative history or simply a fan of history you should enjoy this book.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lucky Find, November 20, 2004

By 

Scott T. Baba "Karzan" (Bay Area, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fitzpatrick's War (Hardcover)

I actually picked this one up by accident - i was looking for space opera and thought this was, considering it takes place in the 25th century. Unfortunatly i failed to find what i was looking for. Fortunatly what i found was this.

I was going to say something long and informative, i doubt i'd do it justice. I'll say one thing: it's beautifully written. The air of an annotated memoir is so well done that, sometimes, after reading it for a few hours you might look up from the pages and be mildly surprised to find yourself not in a Yukon homestead.

Awesome book.