The Coldest War (The Milkweed Triptych) [Hardcover]

Ian Tregillis (Author)

Book Description

Release date: July 17, 2012 | Series: The Milkweed Triptych (Book 2)

In Ian Tregillis' The Coldest War, a precarious balance of power maintains the peace between Britain and the USSR. For decades, Britain's warlocks have been all that stands between the British Empire and the Soviet Union—a vast domain stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the shores of the English Channel. Now each wizard's death is another blow to Britain's national security.

Meanwhile, a brother and sister escape from a top-secret facility deep behind the Iron Curtain. Once subjects of a twisted Nazi experiment to imbue ordinary people with superhuman abilities, then prisoners of war in the immense Soviet research effort to reverse-engineer the Nazi technology, they head for England. 

Because that's where former spy Raybould Marsh lives. And Gretel, the mad seer, has plans for him.

As Marsh is once again drawn into the world of Milkweed, he discovers that Britain's darkest acts didn't end with the war. And while he strives to protect queen and country, he is forced to confront his own willingness to accept victory at any cost.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for Bitter Seeds

“A major talent.”  —George R. R. Martin

“Exciting and intense… The clash of magic and (mad) science meshes perfectly with the tumultuous setting.”  —Publishers Weekly

“A white-knuckle plot, beautiful descriptions, and complex characters—an unstoppable Vickers of a novel.”  —Cory Doctorow

“Bitter Seeds may rival Naomi Novik’s Tales of Temeraire as a sustained historical fantasy.”
—Booklist

About the Author

IAN TREGILLIS lives near Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he works as a physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; First Edition edition (July 17, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765321513
• ISBN-13: 978-0765321510
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #133,264 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Bitter Fruit of War July 17, 2012

By Hank Peace

Format:Hardcover

The Coldest War is book 2 in alternate history series The Milkweed Triptych, and the sequel to Bitter Seeds. If you've come here to decide whether to read Bitter Seeds--do it!--I'll still be here when you get back. If you've come here to decide whether The Coldest War builds on the potential of Bitter Seeds, then my recommendation remains unqualified. Bitter Seeds is the type of book that relies on its sequel to reach its full potential; The Coldest War explains the mysteries that left Bitter Seeds incomplete. The two biggest differences between Bitter Seeds and The Coldest War is that the latter is quite as bleak, and we never see inside the heads of the Soviets. Spoilers for Bitter Seeds (and minor spoilers for The Coldest War) abound ahead.

The Coldest War begins 20 years after the events in Bitter Seeds. History has now diverged considerably from our own. Britain's gamble to end the war was successful, but at the cost of a Soviet continental Europe. With America trapped in an endless Depression (but with Nixon as president; the first rule of alternate history is: Nixon is always president), the Cold War pits a very overmatched Britain against an even large USSR.

The protagonists from Bitter Seeds are back, albeit worse for the wear. Klaus and Gretel are war prisoners of the Soviets. Marsh is a cuckolded husband reduced to working as a gardener. Only Will, of all characters, is doing reasonably well. But the past haunts him as well. But events pull Marsh and Will back into Milkweed's orbit, and Gretel takes it upon herself to change the game.

Jumping forward 20 years between novels is extremely difficult to pull off, which is probably why we see so few authors even try it. That's too bad. There are things you can't explore without that kind of time frame. Thankfully, Tregillis nails it. He manages to convey the full weight of what the passage of time has meant to each character (except Gretel, of course, who remains inscrutable).

Tregillis respects his reader. A simple throwaway line is made about "the camps," noting that the British have only a vague notion of them because the Soviets saw no need to publicize them and themselves found them useful. No more is needed to give a chill to a reader familiar with German and Soviet history. Things remain intrigue and suspense heavy, with occasional bursts of shocking action. The climax left me floored, if a bit worried about what it means for the final book in the trilogy (there is quite literally nothing more I can say without it being a huge spoiler).

Disclosure: I won an ARC of The Coldest War through First Reads.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars GRIM AND FASCINATING WITH A MIND-BLOWING ENDING July 30, 2012

By Paul Genesse

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Review of The Coldest War, (Book two in the Milkweek Tryptich) by Ian Tregillis

(No big spoilers, except for a few minor ones that regard the set-up)

I just finished The Coldest War, book two of three in the Milkweed Tryptich cycle by Ian Tregillis. I devoured it.

I read book one, Bitter Seeds (now out in mass market paperback by the way) in about three days and the same applies to book two. I would have read faster if I'd had the time.

I'm so blown away right now from finishing this fantastic novel. Mr. Tregillis has created a brilliant book, and I concur with the blurb from Game of Thrones author, George R.R. Martin blurb, "A major talent," indeed.

The ending was so awesome, and redeems the grim nature of this book. More on that later . . .

The same characters from book one are back, and it's about twenty years after the end of an alternate history World War II, and is now 1963, the height of the Cold War. The Soviet Union appears to have all of Europe, even France.

The alternate history is fascinating, but that is not the point of the book. This is a character novel and focuses very tightly on the protagonists, so we get three main point of view characters. There is very little detail given about the wildly divergent world so different from what happened after World War II in our world, but the details we do get are tantalizing, especially for history buffs.

Raybould Marsh, the British super-spy, is now a broken down middle-aged man with a terrible home-life and he's working as a gardener after getting fired from all his other jobs. His journey is incredibly bleak and sad, the most depressing of all the storylines. He should have listened to his warlock friend, William from book one, but he didn't, and Raybould and his wife, Liv, had another child. BIG MISTAKE.

William Beauclerk is also back, he was the warlock in Bitter Seeds who helped the British Empire fend off the Nazis who had super-human warriors. British warlocks negotiate with the eidolons (think demons) and accomplish feats of magic that boggle the mind, but the cost is high. Think . . . a blood price, and/or the souls of unborn children. William is no longer doing what he did before and has recovered from some of the horror of what he had to do during World War II, and he has the happiest life of all the characters. However, Will is still traveling down a very dark and dangerous road that is leading him toward a terrible confrontation.

Klaus, the former Nazi superman warrior is also back, but he is a pale reflection of who he was before, when he was at the peak of his power. After twenty years in a Soviet research camp he is incredibly broken and his storyline is so sad and very often quite poignant. I felt so bad for him, as he has been abused his entire life.

Raybould, William, and Klaus are the three main point of view characters, although there is one other with minor scenes, Reinhardt, another former Nazi superwarrior.

The most fascinating character is still Gretel, who is the sister of Klaus. She has the power of precognition and is so devious and brilliant. Tregillis gives us a look into her thoughts at the end of the book, which is worth all the dreary sadness of what went before. All the groundwork Tregillis did in book one (and two) paid off big time at the end. Wow, standing ovation.

Gretel can manipulate the time-line and might just be in charge of the future, but can she change it, or just delay things with her actions? You'll have to read this book to find out.

***Look for the short story available on Kindle, about Gretel that precedes this trilogy, "What Dr. Gottlieb Saw," and learn more about her as a teenager. It's a great short story and worth the 99 cents, and you don't need a Kindle to read it. You can read it on your browser while you're on Amazon.com. Read it after you've read Bitter Seeds, not before, as it kind of gives things away.

Overall, The Coldest War had a lot of tension, brilliant, razor sharp prose, and some pretty amazing action. There were so many great chapter endings and twisted moments. Tregillis is a master of the complicated and awesome plot, and I'm stunned at the foreshadowing he did in book one, which came out in book two. It's a must, in my opinion to read these books in order, as the sequel builds on book one big time. There is some recap about what happened in book one (thankfully), but I think readers would be a little lost had they not read Bitter Seeds.

Strangely, as I read Coldest War, I felt like the book was too perfect sometimes, meaning: "How the heck did Tregillis pull this off and make this book so great?!" It just felt like there was nothing wrong, and that bugged me a little. I kept thinking, "I'm going to see a chink in the armor here somewhere," but it never materialized.

The only real negative of this book was that it was so dark and depressing that some people will find it hard to take, but as long as readers get to the ending, it will all be okay. My feeling that the book was too depressing was erased with the fantastic ending of course. I'm not going to spoil it here, but suffice it to say that it will leave you floored and wanting book three, Necessary Evil (April 2013) really bad.

So, yes, the book was harsh and depressing most of the time, but Tregillis kept the tension up so much that no matter the sadness I felt for the characters, I could still face reading on about them, as I wanted to find out what was going to happen. That is the mark of great writing.

I'm just so impressed with this series and feel like Tregillis succeeded big time. I have no doubt that book three will be a triumphant conclusion to a great series.

Five Stars, Highly Recommended

Paul Genesse, Author of the Iron Dragon Series and Editor of The Crimson Pact anthology series

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Dark times, grim characters... July 21, 2012

By N. Boer

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I read Bitter Seeds first, and, unusually, I actually enjoyed this (the sequel) more - I would still recommend first reading Bitter Seeds to get to know the characters as young and likable (as opposed to the bitter middle-aged men they become here) - but you could potentially just start reading this book, the background is filled in pretty thoroughly.

Plot: 20 years after Britain manages to win WWII with the (morally highly questionable) help of highly unpleasant omnipotent beings in alliance with the USSR (conventional means having failed in the face of engineered Nazi super-men/women), the Cold War is about to turn hot as the USSR (controlling all of continental Europe) prepares to unleash their own super-heroes.

Pros:
1. Fascinating alternative history of the Cold War - amateur consumers of WWII and Cold War history and fiction will definitely find enough to sink their teeth into. At the same time, the historical detail isn't unnecessarily belaboured or over-stressed: you won't have to wade through pages of non-plot-related background or attempt to spot obscure historical references.

2. Great protagonists. Which does not mean they're likable - anything but. Bitter, scarred, angry middle-aged men do not make the most attractive characters - yet Tregillis's genius lies in making us care about them regardless.

3. Excellent writing - unobtrusive narrative style; dark, brooding tone.

Cons:
1. If you're a real history buff, you may be bothered by the paucity of details in the description of this alternative world. Interesting possibilities are hinted at (in Africa, for example, or the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere (succesfully achieved)), but Tregillis is interested in telling the story of his characters, not fleshing out this world.

2. Female characters (mostly just love-interests and secretaries) are two-dimensional, stereotyped and uninteresting. Gretel, the pre-cog, is different in that she both plays a pivotal role and is actually an interesting character.

I found The Coldest War to be highly enjoyable plot-driven entertainment with enough moral questioning to not feel like you're reading fluff.