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Gunpowder Empire (Crosstime Traffic Book One) by Harry Turtledove
01/03/2004 . Source: Sue Davies 
pub: TOR. 288 page hardback. Price: $24.95 (US), $34.95 (CAN). ISBN: 0-765-30693-X. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out website: www.tor.com
'If things had been different and the Black Death hadn't put paid to the Holy Roman Empire, then the chances are we would have all been speaking Latin.
Happily for us, the trade routes utilised by the black rats saw the decline and fall of Rome and the opportunity for other Empires to rise. In a new book by Harry Turtledove aimed at teenage readers, the possibility of an alternate history is seriously considered.
In one reality, the Roman Empire thrives and has settled at a very low level of technology with only the addition of gunpowder to spice it up. In another, the Nazis won the war and created another more hideous empire. And so on, ad infinitum.
There are as many worlds as there are twists in history. Jeremy Solter's world is the future, pretty much, of our world. We have discovered it is possible to travel into parallel worlds using a new form of crosstime technology. Jeremy's parents work for the Corporation Crosstime Traffic that has exploited these new trade routes to supplement our world of depleted resources.
The basic set-up is that all the worlds are accessible. Some worlds have already been isolated due to the unforeseen consequence of bringing back unknown diseases for which there is no cure. Other worlds are just too awful and dangerous to visit. For Jeremy, holidays don't mean a trip to Ibiza but perhaps two weeks in a market town on the edge of the Empire, near Romania.
This vacation is not supposed to be any different. Jeremy and his sister, Amanda, join their parents. They are well versed in the language and the customs: nothing can go wrong. Then their Mum goes down with appendicitis. She will die if she stays in a world with no surgeons or anaesthetics. Jeremy's parents leave the children hoping to return in a few days but the link to their own world is suddenly severed.
Jeremy and Amanda must fend for themselves and avoid detection. They have to deal with the locals, face the prospect of staying there forever and, worse than that, a war has started and the town is under siege. If you think there is already too much choice in the supermarket, imagine a world where there is no limit to the products and variety available if you are willing to pay the price.
Truly, this is a land of plenty and Jeremy's family enjoy the challenge of living in a different world. What they do notice is their own conflicting morality and attitudes that sometimes weigh heavily upon them.
Amanda finds she cannot be friends with a slave girl as it offends the morals of her other acquaintances. But how can she square her twenty-first century conscience and live in the Roman world? Worst still how would she survive, if she really was stranded for good? Jeremy finds out first hand how bloody war can be and contemplates his own chances of survival if he had to help defend the town from a marauding army.
This book is a fascinating look at what might have been. Turtledove uses a minimal Science Fiction contrivance to look at attitudes to slavery, trading with a third world country and even the role of women in the ancient and modern world.
It deals with some heavy subjects in a light and enjoyable way. No doubt he will gain yet more fans for his adult books. A thoroughly enjoyable read, 'Gunpowder Empire' no doubt sets up a series.
There is, after all, a lot of scope for yet more variations on the Crosstime worlds. I look forward to the next instalment.
Sue Davies
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