Abouts Books

By Sunil Tanna

Under the Yoke is the second novel in S. M. Stirling's Draka series, set a few years after the events in Marching Through Georgia. Like the first book, Under the Yoke is presented as if we are supposed to take it seriously; there's a map at the start, faux quotations from fictional books and letters before each chapter, and an appendix containing historical notes at the back.

The basic plot is that the Domination of Draka has now over-run the whole of mainland Europe (in fact, all of Europe except for the United Kingdom), as well most of Asia, and are now busily (and brutally) enjoying the fruits of conquest, and enslaving everybody that they can get their hands on. The USA did nothing to try to prevent this situation arising (they never bothered to try to invade/liberate France, Spain or Scandinavia, for example, before the Draka could get there), and is now limited to sending covert aid to the hopelessly outgunned resistance forces in Europe.

The novel itself is basically a spy/adventure story, but we also get a better insight into the dystopic Draka society thrown in too, as well as flash backs of events from the recent Eurasian War (the analog of World War II). There is a lot of brutality also in the novel, and I think some readers will find reading the book unpleasant a a result.

Like the other Draka novels, I would say that there are some questions you could legitimately raise about plausibility. For example, apart from whether the situation could arise in the first place (see my comments in the review of Marching Through Georgia), how come a few million Draka are able to enslave and reorganize the whole of Europe and

China? Yes it's true that the Germans were able to occupy vast areas with armies that were comparatively small as compared to the native populations of those areas - but for the most part, apart from persecuted minorities such as Jews or Roma, they left most of the inhabitants alone... the Draka on the other hand are trying to restructure the whole of society, round everybody up and put them into camps or compounds, and turn everyone into slaves to boot.

Criticisms aside, I think this book (along with the other first two Draka novels, Marching Through Georgia, and The Stone Dogs) is worth reading. Some people might view this book as a bridge between Marching Through Georgia and The Stone Dogs. While it's true it does fufill that role (for example, by filling in many background details), this book can also stand on its own merits; there's a tightly written story, and a plethora of interesting details about the timeline.

By S. Tanna. First published at http://www.alternatehistorybooks.com/p1_books_under_the_yoke.php. For more alternate history books, please visit http://www.alternatehistorybooks.com/