Jaws of Darkness (World at War, Book 5) [Hardcover]

Harry Turtledove (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2003 | Series: Turtledove, Harry

Harry Turtledove's masterful story of a magical world's cataclysmic war-which began with Into the Darkness, Darkness Descending, Through the Darkness, and Rulers of the Darkness-continues in this, the fifth volume of the series. The grand conflict for control of the continent of Derlavai rages on, in a battle with all the drama and terror of the Second World War-only the bullets are beams of magical fire, the tanks and submarines are great lumbering beasts, and the fighters and bombers are dragons raining fire upon their targets.

Yet hope may be dawning at last. The terrible onslaught of the conquering forces of Algarve-who power their battle magics with the life energy of their murdered victims-begins to founder as it runs into Habbakuk: a sorcerous ship of ice used by embattled nations of Lagoas and Kuusamo to ferry their deadly dragons across the seas to strike at the very heart of Algarvian power.

But though the tide has begun to turn, the conflict is far from over. The widely disdained Kaunians still struggle desperately to escape as the Algarvians kill them by the thousands-for life energy, but also simply for the crime of being Kaunian. And as the deaths of innocent civilians on both sides continue to feed the flames of war, those who have struggled to survive and preserve their freedom have only their passions to see them through. . . .

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The absorbing, character-centered fifth volume (after 2002's Rulers of the Darkness) in Turtledove's fantasy saga paralleling WWII ranks as the strongest yet in the series. WWII buffs will of course enjoy watching the equivalents of the Manhattan Project, D-Day, the great Russian offensives of 1944, the appearance of German secret weapons and the withdrawal of Romania from the Axis. And the author continues to handle the action, both magical and martial, as deftly as ever. But the heart of the volume is the characters who face predicaments and ethical challenges that are personal yet universal. Ealstan and his Kaunian wife, Vanai, are any young couple trying to love, give their child a safe, sane and reasonably sanitary life and get a good night's sleep-but in the midst of war and genocide. When the Kuusaman mage Pekka confronts her passion for the Lagoan sorcerer Fernao, she ends up hip-deep in problems that would roil a suburban pharmaceutical warehouse, let alone a sorcerous research center at war. Countess Krasta bears an illegitimate child after her brother, Skarnu, returns to a liberated Valmiera, and only the possibility that its father is a member of the local resistance keeps her from suffering the usual fate of female collaborators. Long but ultimately compelling, this book augurs well for the last volume and underscores Turtledove's astonishingly fertile imagination.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The massive fifth volume of Turtledove's Darkness saga will once again absorb the series' faithful following and be hard for newcomers to deal with. Fans will be moved that Ealstan and Vanai are finally parents, though at just about the time that a Forthwegian uprising makes their adopted hometown, Eoforwic, a battle zone. The Kuusaman mage Pekka and the Lagoan sorcerer Fernao finally become lovers in the midst of their progress toward making their superpotent, energy-releasing magic available to all. Meanwhile, Pekka's husband has found his own comforts aboard the ensorcelled, dragon-carrying iceberg Habbakuk (that name is a test for readers who fancy themselves World War II cognoscenti) and participates in the joint Kuusaman-Lagoan invasion of mainland Derlavai. Under Marshal Rather and a seasoned cadre of now-expert officers, the Unkerlanters advance in overwhelming strength, so that one suspects Ealstan's collaborationist cousin, Sidroc, isn't going to last much longer. Nor is the Algarvian major, Spinello, what with Vanai and Ealstan deciding that vengeance on him will be theirs--and soon. Turtledove is turning World War II upside down, much as he did the Civil War in two other series. But Darkness is more ambitious and dramatic, features more historic detail and well-developed characters, and has a darker tone. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 576 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (April 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765304171
• ISBN-13: 978-0765304179
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #894,663 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Harry Turtledove is the award-winning author of the alternate-history works The Man with the Iron Heart; The Guns of the South; How Few Remain (winner of the Sidewise Award for Best Novel); the Worldwar saga: In the Balance, Tilting the Balance, Upsetting the Balance, and Striking the Balance; the Colonization books: Second Contact, Down to Earth, and Aftershocks; the Great War epics: American Front, Walk in Hell, and Breakthroughs; the American Empire novels: Blood & Iron, The Center Cannot Hold, and Victorious Opposition; and the Settling Accounts series: Return Engagement, Drive to the East, The Grapple, and In at the Death. Turtledove is married to fellow novelist Laura Frankos. They have three daughters: Alison, Rachel, and Rebecca.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars On Into "1944"..., April 26, 2003

By 

Carl Malmstrom (Monument, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Jaws of Darkness (World at War, Book 5) (Hardcover)

Harry Turtledove's "Darkness" series - originally supposed to be a four-book series - is now in its fifth book. However, given that there's less than a year's worth of World-War-II-as-Fantasy left to tell, he probably will not suffer much further from Robert Jordan's Syndrome...

This book takes us through most of 1944, from the aftermath of the massive tank battle at Kursk (Durrwangen in the series) and the retaking of the Ukraine (Grelz) by the Soviets (Unkerlanters), through a possible late version of Guadalcanal or an early version of Iwo Jima (on Becehsely), the Warsaw (Eoforwic) Uprising, Omaha Beach and the liberation of Paris (Balvi), the crumbling of [German] forces in Belgium and the Netherlands (the withdrawal from Valmiera) to the Soviet armistice with Finland (Zuwayzi) and the flip-flop of Romania & Bulgaria (Yanina - which to this point in the series had been playing the role of Italy).

As before, the majority of Turtledove's attention goes to the Soviet-[German] (Unkerlanter-Algarvian) conflict with Western Europe playing a smaller role and the Pacific War (save the Manhattan Project) being given only casual attention. While Turtledove certainly deserves credit for bringing the half of the European War attention that we in America so often fail to give it, it would have been nice to see him give the Pacific War its due as well. As always, he highlights the evils of war in general and how it affects the footsoldier and the villager every bit as much as the general and the minister. His characters are reasonably three-dimensional in terms of their perspectives even if he never lets you forget the "funny hats" - identifying characteristics - of the characters (possibly a necessity given the size of the cast of characters he has to work with here).

As with his other "Darkness" novels, I enjoyed this one. I do hope he wraps up the story in the next book, though (which has been tentatively titled "Out of the Darkness" for some time now and will probably see the light of day in 2004). Harry Turtledove's series are always interesting and I'm glad to have read them, but it would be nice to actually see him find an ending for at least one of his series at some point.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hell Begins To Steam, June 13, 2003

By 

Arthur W. Jordin (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jaws of Darkness (World at War, Book 5) (Hardcover)

Jaws of Darkness (2003) is the fifth novel in the World At War fantasy series, following Rulers of the Darkness. In the previous volume, Leudast and his men have captured the so-called King Raniero trying to escape from Herborn. Vanai's pregnancy makes her disguise cantrip wear off too soon and she is captured by Algarvian constables. Gyongyos comes up with their own variant of the life force magic. Garivald and Obilot escape from the Unkerlant inspectors.

In this novel, the Algarvians are hard pressed in the south within the Duchy of Grelz and in the north near the Forthwegian border. The Kuusamans and Logoans are pushing back the Gyongyosians in the islands and harassing the Algarvians in Valmiera with dragons from their iceships. The Kuusaman theoretical sorcerers, together with the Logoan Fernao, are beginning to teach other sorcerers how to use the new forms of magic. Garivald gets impressed into the Unkerlantian army and learns to read and write.

Personal relationships become even more complicated, with Vanai having her baby and Krasta becoming pregnant by either Colonel Lurcanio or Viscount Valnu. Leino and Pekka both yield to temptation and let the future take care of itself. Foreign Minister Hajjaj of Zuwayza acquires an unexpected romantic interest in his own household. Leudast finds himself becoming romantically involved with a peasant girl and learns to use his connections to his advantage.

This series is an allegory of the World Wars. Most reviewers assume that it mirrors World War II, but certain aspects are more like World War I. However, the geopolitical environment in this series does not mirror the govermental status of nation states within the 20th century. Where are the representive democracies or the authoritarian states? Absolute monarchies in the analogs of Russia and Germany suggests WWI. However, none of the other monarchies, with the possible exception of Kuusamo, appear to be constitutional governments (either written or unwritten). Such conditions have have not occurred in the real world since the Magna Carta and most surely not since the Declaration of Independence.

Again, this series has a simplified background, avoiding the complex interplay of politics within councils, parliaments, or legislatures and leaving the real decision making in the hands of the monarchs. This allows the author to present his lessons with minimal distractions. Although the author does not preach these lessons, he does have the characters expression some very good points. In other words, he makes the reader think without being intrusive or boring.

An editorial reviewer mentioned Habukkak as a test of WWII knowledge. It is a trick question, for Habakkuk is not an alias. Search the web under ice+ships.

Recommended for Turtledove fans and anyone else who enjoys speculative fiction with a strong historical and moral component.

-Arthur W. Jordin

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fantasy World War II Continues...., May 28, 2003

By 

Nathaniel H. Biggs "The History Guy" (Long Valley, NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jaws of Darkness (World at War, Book 5) (Hardcover)

Alternative History master Harry Turtledove is back with the fifth installment of his "World at War" series. Turtledove's fantasy world is one that parallels our own - both the people and nations as well as the events of the war in which they find themselves. This book roughly parallels the events of late 1943 in 1944. The tide has turned against the "Germans," they are being forced out of "Russia" and the mainland has been invaded by the "British" and "Americans." The little people and how they are effected by the war continue to be Turtledove's main focus - individual soliders, relatives on the homefront, the persecuted "Jews", etc.

All of the characters that you have grown attached to over the last four books are back in this one. Since this is the fifth book in the series we finally get to see some of Turtledove's long arcing plot lines begin to come to an end. Ealston finally learns, accidently, the truth about Vanai before he met her; the "Manhattan" project is beginning to be used in battle and some of the other characters are beginning to meet other characters. The end of the war is in sight and Turtledove looks like he will probably be concluding this series in another book, maybe two. Turtledove's portrayal of the life of soldiers of combat remains vivid and realistic.

The same problems are back for this book as well. I have been waiting five books for Turtledove to change something about this war - something that would make it different than World War Two. I have finally given up on that idea. The events of Turtldove's world are only meant to parrallel our own, the author is not out to offer any insights or explain how things could have been different. If Turtledove had taken that route, I think the series could have been so much better. Turtledove's characters remain somewhat wooden and one-dimensional - if I hear about how naive Krasta is one more time or about her going shopping I may scream.

If you have stuck it out this long with this series, you obviously reading these books because you enjoy them. If you didn't like the books you would have stopped reading after the first one. The fifth book will not disappoint, it lives up to its partners in the series. Just make sure you read the first four before you read this one.