"The Rivers of War"
by Eric Flint
by Eric Flint
It's 1814 and the "War of 1812" is moving into its final rounds. In the north, the U.S. and Britain clash near the Canadian border. In the south, a combined U.S. and Cherokee force storms the last big redoubt of Tecumseh's Creeks - and a young Sam Houston makes a name for himself in the battle and draws the attention of Andrew Jackson.
Months later, Houston and a small band of Cherokee arrive in Washington on a mission from Jackson...just in time to watch the British march on the city...
I really enjoyed this book, if for no other reason than it delves a lot, lot more deeply into the events of "The War of 1812" that, say, the average school history book (which usually gets away with bare mentioning the burning of the White House, the writing of the Star Spangled Banner, and the fact that Jackson won the Battle of New Orleans after the war was officially over).
I also liked the characters, which were believably done. Flint managed to avoid any real "villains" or "heros" in the story - the people in it are just that, people. Their actions seem, well, likely ones and even if you wouldn't invite them round for tea (Jackson comes to mind under this category), you find them interesting. To my mind, they're much better written than Flint's 1632 characters.
The basic POD is both simple and gloriously ASB-free (unlike, again fer example, 1632): During the storming of the Creek's "fortress," Houston slips while climbing the barricade and thus does not pick up the, um, nasty groin injury he got on OTL. Since he's not laying around recovering for the next year, he gets involved in the closing events of the war - from the attack on Washington to the Battle of New Orleans. And he gets involved in events that might...assuming a sequel (Uchronia says there will be one)...end up changing the very face of Indian relations in the U.S.
Flint writes in his afterword that the whole point of this timeline is to try and come up with a world where the Trail of Tears doesn't happen and the Cherokee remain a viable - and reservation-free - nation. Since he can't see a way for them to fight and win against the U.S. when it comes to kick them out of South Carolina, he suggests that if instead they moved earlier and on their own terms (including some nice pay-offs from the U.S. government), they might have both the extra time and extra resources to build a state capable of - if not being an equal to the U.S. - at least not being just another bunch of Indians they can roll over.
He might actually have managed this.
Besides, in the sea of published genre books these days where the words "rigorous" and "alternate history" usually don't come within a dozen timelines of one-another, it's refreshing to see one where:
- Absolutely no one in it builds a dirigible, a new "rapid fire" weapon, a steam-tank, or indeed any new (for there and then) technology at all. Heck, they don't even come up with any new military tactics!
- There are no dinosaurs...or magic...or psychic powers...or time travelers.
- The South doesn't win, nor the Nazis, and Rome fell right on schedule. Heck, even Napoleon is still losing.
- And while the Cherokee are moving early, there's no guarantee (at least, in this book) that this will result in a lasting Indian Nation...
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