Bitter Seeds

Review of Bitter Seeds by Ian TregillisBitter Seeds is a great novel. I was pulled in right away by the beautiful prose and the compelling storyline. I couldn't put it down and read it in three days, wishing I had the time to read it in one. It's an alternate history set during World War II with fascinating characters and gripping action. Here's the blub:* * * * *"It's 1939. The Nazis have supermen, the British have demons, and one perfectly normal man gets caught in between.Raybould Marsh is a British secret agent in the early days of the Second World War, haunted by something strange he saw on a mission during the Spanish Civil War: a German woman with wires going into her head who looked at him as if she knew him.When the Nazis start running missions with people who have unnatural abilities--a woman who can turn invisible, a man who can walk through walls, and the woman Marsh saw in Spain who can use her knowledge of the future to twist the present--Marsh is the man who has to face them. He rallies the secret warlocks of Britain to hold the impending invasion at bay. But magic always exacts a price. Eventually, the sacrifice necessary to defeat the enemy will be as terrible as outright loss would be.Alan Furst meets Alan Moore in the opening of an epic of supernatural alternate history, the tale of a twentieth century like ours and also profoundly different.""A major talent... I can't wait to see more."--George R. R. Martin"Mad English warlocks battling twisted Nazi psychics? Yes please, thank you. Tregillis's debut has a white-knuckle plot, beautiful descriptions, and complex characters-- an unstoppable Vickers of a novel."-Cory Doctorow* * * * *As you can tell, this book has received a lot of attention by major writers and reviewers, and deservedly so. There are many positive reviews online and I agree that this is an exceptional book. I was so impressed with the way Tregillis unfolded the plot, and revealed the characters, of which there are three whose point of view we get to see.Raybould Marsh is a British spy right in the middle of things; William is a British nobleman who was secretly taught to be a warlock by his slightly insane father; and Klaus is one of the German's "supermen" with wraith like abilities. All three add a lot to the novel, and there are quite a few other secondary characters that are quite fascinating as well.The most interesting other character is the sister of Klaus, Gretel, who has also been mutated via diabolical processes and now she can predict the future, and warp it to her will. She's the most powerful of all of the Nazi "supermen," and is on the cover of both the mass market and hard cover editions for good reason. I wish Tregillis would have let us into her mind, but that would be too telling I'm sure, as she knows what's going to happen and would ruin the mystery of what is to come.This is a trilogy called the Milkweed Tryptych, and Bitter Seeds came out in 2010. The sequel, The Coldest War, is coming out in July of 2012, so I/we don't have long to wait now. I feel late to the party, but at least I got there eventually. I'm stoked about reading the sequel, and have just pre-ordered it on Amazon. The cover is awesome and shows one of the "supermen" in great detail. Their abilities are powered by horrific surgery, which connects their brain to special batteries they wear around their waists. The "superman," Klaus was forced into being a Nazi soldier, and he is extremely sympathetic, and his chapters are always interesting.Every chapter was finely crafted, and the big time span gaps between some chapters really added to the coolness of the story. All the chapters have a date on them: month, day and year, which helped a lot. Anyway, this is not a large book, and only spans about 350 pages, but so much was accomplished. It was so impressive how little Tregillis told about what was happening in the actual wider war, but still incorporated a huge story in between the pages, as he focused on the three main characters and their experiences as wider events played around them. They are a huge part of those larger events, but this is not the alternate history of World War II in detail. There are lots of hints, but Tregillis doesn't go into detail much at all. I would have liked more about how certain battles were going and such, but those issues weren't the point of the book.Some of the wider war was actually shown in incredibly written interludes from the point of view of flocks of ravens and crows that feast on the dead after major battles. The interludes from the birds point of view were so awesome. Tregillis has a flare for brilliant description, and his ability to be brief, and yet powerful, is amazing.The book opens with a chapter from the ravens point of view. Here's the first line:Murder on the wind: crows and ravens wheeled beneath a heavy sky, like spots of ink splashed across a leaden canvas.It's a great first line.Bitter Seeds is a little bit X-Men, a little bit James Bond, with a core of brilliant darkness that pulls you in page after page.Highly recommended.Paul GenesseAuthor of the Iron Dragon Series and Editor of the Crimson Pact anthology series

I had previously read "Something More Than Night" and the Alchemy Wars trilogy by the same author so I was eager to dive into some of his other work. He is one of those rare examples of a person with a PhD in science who can actually write good fiction. One of the things I admire about Tregillis's work in general is that he incorporates scientific knowledge in little bits throughout, like Easter eggs for you to catch if you know what you are looking for. But it fits into the context of the story and you are never browbeaten with it. I am a biochemist but have discussed his work with non-scientists and find that they enjoy it, as well. Another thing I admire about his work is how well he takes a critical point or event in history, changes the outcome, and carries it forward, thinking carefully through all the implications worldwide. This was on display in the Alchemy Wars books and I am seeing the seeds of it here, as well. At any rate, basically everything I like about his books was on display here.I would argue that the scenario is the star of the first book. This is a WWII alternate history book, but the line is blurred. There is also magic and there is a science fiction element. So it's a whole lot of speculative fiction rolled into one package, with the line being kind of hard to draw. I am mostly a fantasy reader who occasionally delves into science fiction and I thought it was well done, anyway. (I will admit my knowledge of WWII-era history is spotty. Because I grew up in Independence, MO, we spent an inordinate amount of time on Harry Truman, specifically, in school, sometimes to the exclusion of other things that were going on in the world at the same time. So I know more about the atomic bomb than about the European theater, bombing of London, etc. I bring this up to point out that I might not spot potential inconsistencies that the true military history enthusiast would notice.)I don't want to give too much away but the book synopsis does mention this so I don't really count it as a spoiler: the protagonists are British warlocks and the antagonists are German supermen upon whom vaguely explained medical experiments and surgeries have been done, conferring them with abilities like passing through matter, long-distance communication, becoming invisible, and the like. At least, that is how it feels after reading book one. Both sides do some pretty awful things but of course history is written by the victors. (I also think we sympathize with the British because we are *supposed* to, based on our understanding of history in our own real timeline. There is something being set up at the end of the book that is revealed in book two as well as expanded upon there -- I'm close to being done with that one as well -- that makes you wonder how different the Germans and British really are, especially in this book that doesn't touch much on the horrors of the Holocaust. It's not ignored, it's just not the focus of the story.)For what it's worth, both British and German abilities have appropriate limits and these are explored in a great amount of detail as well as being cleverly pitted against one another. This part was nicely done.This is sort of a common theme in Tregillis's work; you really get involved with both sides of the story, and there's nothing that's 100% right or wrong, and sometimes good people on the *right* side are forced to do things, or choose to do things, that are pretty awful. (For the record, the Germans here are soldiers, basically, not leadership, although a few historical figures do make brief appearances. They are not really in charge of anything and they are victims of medical experimentation that doesn't leave a lot of survivors and this makes them more sympathetic than anyone who could order something like concentration camps to exist or send people to them.)The pace is wonderful. There's a little personal reflection and such, but mostly there is a lot of suspense and action and I did find myself reading long past when I should several times, just to find out what happened next. Whenever that happens, I am inclined to give a pretty good rating to a book.I enjoyed the writing style. I thought it was unobtrusive but I took some German in high school and while it has been a long time, I could piece together enough of the German officers' titles and such to make sense of them, so it didn't break immersion for me.If I had to name a weak point it would be the characters. I don't feel there is a ton of character development in this book. One character, Will, a warlock who is also the younger brother of a Duke, has misgivings about his work (not necessarily feeling that the ends justify the means, and feeling guilty about his part in everything) that begin to manifest in self-destructive behavior towards the end of the book. Another character, Marsh, starts from a low beginning and has a brief rise working for British intelligence. But there is a great cost in his personal life. I don't really feel like he changes a lot, though. He lets entirely natural feelings get the better of him. On the German side, our main POV character is Klaus, one of the individuals on whom experiments have been performed. He strikes me as an immature adolescent trying to please a father figure (the doctor who did the experiments) and vying for attention versus a rival. I think he is a bit older than adolescent, but I would attribute my picture of him to the fact that he had an unnatural childhood without love or affection from a parent. He doesn't change in this book but I think if you stick with the series, you will be more pleased with Klaus in book two. (To be fair, you can't focus on too many characters in one book without diluting things.) I kind of find the characters to be stereotypes in this book, not having quite as much depth as I would like, but more being carried along by external events.And then there is Gretel. She is Klaus's sister and her ability is precognition. She is always a step ahead of everyone and the full implications of some of her actions don't make sense until later on. She is captured by the British at one point and you just wonder why all of this is happening and don't worry, you get an explanation in book two. I still have no idea what her overall motivation is. I hope it is something more than mental illness (that was a problem I had with the antagonist Queen Mab in the Alchemy Wars series). She is not the only antagonist, and there are plenty of other conflicts going on, from a personal level for the characters to the level of international diplomacy. I am reserving judgment on her until the end of the series, when/if we find out her motivation.In short, overall I felt this was a strong book, I just wish there had been a little more character development. (Future volumes do start to remedy this.)

Bitter Seeds is a mixed bag. Yes, the "techno-mage" versus "old school warlock" isn't totally original but it is rarely applied to WW2 alt-history novels, so it has the potential for a lot of fun.It has a great start: a mysterious and macabre orphanage in the Weimar Republic; a man on fire in the Spanish War; a woman with wires in her head at a dock. The author also does a great job of really diving into the alt-history: this isn't "just like the historical WW2 but with a few wizards next to the tanks" that a lot of alt-history seems to cleave to. This takes much more of a "butterfly effect" approach such that by the end of the book, the world looks very, very different. I like that.There are a few missteps along the way, though, that kept me from totally loving this book. Some of them are small quibbles that are easier to overlook. (As others have mentioned: really, England is the only place on Earth with these warlocks? The rest of the British Empire seems curiously absent? Etc.) Those didn't affect my suspension of disbelief too much. I could come up with reasons (even if the author didn't) for why things worked out this way.The characters aren't drawn as well as they might have been. They start out pretty well: Marsh and Will have a lot of potential. But they end up stagnating for most of the book. Liv and Marsh's relationship with her feels rote. The bad guys in Germany, especially Klaus, end up having a much more interesting and developed interior life.The author doesn't do a great job delineating the boundaries of magic. What is allowed and what isn't? The result is that the ending big magic thing leaves you feeling....Well, dang...if warlocks can do THAT...why didn't they do it 300 pages ago?! A bit more rigor or pre-explanation would help avoid this feeling like quite so much of a deus ex machina. But that's something that can be improved in the next installment.The biggest weakness of the book is that the author sets up a villain who is, literally, omniscient. That makes it hard to have much dramatic tension. She sees and knows everything. Every single event in the book unfolds exactly the way she wants it to. She manipulates events on a large, strategic scale (invasions) and on a small scale (a single person being shot). Every other character in the book simply has things happen to them and no ability to deviate from the course she has set.The only sense of "drama" comes from not knowing what her goals are. That ultimately ends up being pretty unsatisfying as a reader.Looking back on it, this feels a lot like a comic book in novel form. The relatively shallowness of the characters. The way powers are ill-defined and seem to allow exactly whatever the plot requires. The mandatory but weak love story/relationship. That's not a bad thing, since I like comic books, but just gives you an idea of what you're getting into.Overall, I still ordered the second book and will continue the series. It provided enough fun to keep me wanting to see how it goes. And if the author fixes some of the weaknesses in the second or third book, it'll be even better.

It's not often a book comes along that is so refreshingly different as Ian Tregillis' Bitter Seeds. Starting with the simple thought of, "What if Superheroes and magic existed in World War 2?", he's created a complex tale that is thought-provoking as it is exciting. Far more than just the classic battle between good and evil, it gets into the nitty-gritty of the realities of war. It shows the blood on everyone's hands and the heavy price, not just of victory, but of simply trying to stay in the fight.Dr. Von Westarp, a Nazi mad scientist, creates genetically-enhanced, battery-powered super-humans who he controls through fear and abuse. Each of his "children" has a unique power including flying, telekinesis, invisibility and pyromancy. Among these new super-humans are Klaus, who has the ability to walk through walls, and his twin sister Gretel, who can foretell the future. It's amazing how Tregillis takes some pretty tame powers and twists them in a beautifully dark way to make each of the super-humans uniquely deadly.Klaus provides our point of view from the Nazi perspective and, instead of portraying him and the others as evil beings, Tregillis shows the very human sides of the super-soldiers. Klaus is just trying to do his best to look after himself and his sister while doing his duty, very much a victim despite what he is asked to do.However, the same cannot be said for Gretel who is a true sociopath. The good doctor thinks she is using her precognitive skills to help the Nazi war machine but it soon becomes apparent she has her own agenda. Klaus knows how dangerous Gretel is but he's loyal to his sister despite how much she scares him (and us).She has a long-term plan and we are only seeing the start of her manipulations. The British, for instance, become aware of the super-humans only because Gretel allows herself to be seen. One cannot count the number of deaths she is responsible for as she begins her mad journey towards who knows what ends. As the world burns, it's terrifying to think of what she aims to create from its ashes and her total emotional detachment from the world around her makes her a truly great villain.On the British side is Raybould Marsh, a secret agent. He's more of your typical James Bond-type, a brawler more than a thinker who just wants to beat the Jerries. He's all hot emotion in contrast to Gretel's ice-cold calculations and, as a result, the most easily manipulated out of everyone. He's also the one with the most to lose as he has a wife and family to protect and he has no super-powers of his own to use. However, he does know someone who does. He recruits his old school friend, William Beauclerk to stem the Nazi advance.Perhaps the most innocent of all the characters, Beauclerk is the aristocratic son of an alcoholic Warlock. Despite Marsh's urgings, he's reluctant initially to get involved because he knows how dangerous using magic can be. In fact, it's not really magic at all. The warlocks borrow power from aliens who live outside time and space called the Eidolons and they want blood in payment for their help.Eventually Beauclerk signs up to help and, at first, it's exciting. He believes he is helping the greater good. But, as the blood price required increases as the British demand more and more help from the Eidolons, Beauclerk descends into drunkenness and drug addiction as a way of numbing his conscience at what he has to do. It's heart-breaking to see such a decent man be put through the ringer and, even when he manages to claw his way back up from the depths of hell, we all know it won't be a long respite.Bitter Seeds is the sort of book that stays with you for a long time after you've finished reading it. On one level it's got everything - big battles, adventure, intrigue, magic, super-humans, spies and demons set against a world at war. But as you go deeper, and really starting thinking about Gretel's plans, it gets very disturbing. Everything happens because she wants it to and has planned it down to the second. Every death, every hard-fought victory is a small step simply towards Gretel achieving her aims.Can people change their fates? Are they masters of their own destinies or are they at the mercy of a higher power with just the illusion of free-will? These are the questions that run through your mind as you turn each page and linger with you afterwards. Bitter Seeds is a dark tale and one well worth exploring.

When I first heard about this book, there was a dearth of information on it, but I took a chance based on the description that Amazon provided. Come on, Nazi's, Mutants, Warlocks, it's like a geek's dream to see all of these genre's coming together.By the time the first chapter came to a close, I was hooked. The characters were engaging and the pace of the book was just right. One of the issues that I could see when writing about these characters, is that it would be so easy to lend too much weight to the precog, and thereby ruining the rest of the book. But I felt that the story expanded just right and can't wait to read the rest of the series.My one criticism, is that there seems to be a lot of German titles in the book ascribing different ranks and divisions in the army, and while I know it lends itself to realism, it got to be distracting at times, as I'd have to flick back to remind myself what a certain word meant. Definitely not a deal breaker, but something that bothered from time to time.I generally read 2 or 3 books at the same time, but I will say that this held my attention the whole time until the end.

British sorcerers versus German supermen in an alternate history WWII: what's not to love? Actually, the premise left me nonplussed initially. Sorcerers v. supermen seems a little like grist for post-role-playing discussions turned story premise for nothing more than the rule of cool. I remain leery of alternate history as a sub-genre, and I'm far more interested in WWI than WWII, to the extent I even care about modern history at all. Absent getting my grubby, little hands on an ARC of The Coldest War (book 2 in Tregillis' Milkweed Triptych), I probably never would have read Bitter Seeds. And that would have been a crying shame, because Tregillis has crafted an incredible story.The premise is simple, treading that well trodden ground of the Germans' WWII-era "scientific" efforts coming to fruition. Dr. von Westarp's experiments on his "children" (he paid well for war orphans in the days after WWI) have produced a handful of supermen (and superwomen) able to harness their "willenskrafte" (literally their will, at its highest level). Each has a power of his or her own--one can fly; one is a human torch; one can make himself insubstantial; and most powerful of all, one can see the future. They're more gods than men, albeit tethered to a WWII-era battery via wires implanted in their skulls. Central to the story are twins Klaus (the aforementioned ghost) and Gretel (the precog).Britain gets its first inkling of the German program when British Intelligence officer Raybould Marsh witnesses a would-be defector burst into flames in the middle of a hotel bar in civil war-torn Spain. Between what Marsh saw and the scraps they are able to piece together, the British decide they need a weapon of their own to counter the German supermen. They fight back by their own supernatural means, not by saying "Wenn ist das Nunnstuck git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!" but by recruiting sorcerers. Enter Marsh's college friend Will, a "warlock" able to summon eldritch abomination Eidolons to pervert the laws of nature (but never to directly kill). The Eidolons demand a high cost, however: human blood, and more of it the greater the task asked of them.Tregillis' premise works for a few reasons. First, Tregillis is a very gifted writer. Much of the prose is hauntingly beautiful, the early introductions of the main characters are really effective, and the story succeeds as spy fiction (this one is tough; I've been disappointed in all the mystery-spec fic I've read). But perhaps more importantly, Tregillis obviously thought very hard about the implications of his changes to history, both to the events of the war and to the human condition. The Germans' secret weapons provide both an explanation for what did happen (it is they would carve a path through the Ardennes) and lead to divergences that change the entire course of the war (intelligence provided by Gretel thwarts the evacuation at Dunkirk). Tregillis thinks seriously about what it would have meant to a desperate Britain for Germany and Britain each to have super-weapons the other side only vaguely understood and for which no effective deterrent existed. One of my primary criticisms of alternate history is its tendency toward utopian thinking, which I find both boring and foolish. I think Tregillis is correct here in his estimation that his changes would lead to very nasty consequences. It makes for a dark world. He also effectively deals with the basic problem of having a character who can see the future by making Gretel completely inscrutable.The biggest stumbling point in Bitter Seeds is that a fair amount of what we're shown doesn't make immediate sense. Compounding the problem, they're presented in such a way I had difficulty deciding whether they were the result of slopping reading, slopping writing, or just foreshadowing. As it turns out, they're the latter, albeit mostly foreshadowing for The Coldest War. I can report now that I've read The Coldest War that those mysteries are explained there, albeit sometimes rather obliquely. If I treated it as a standalone novel I couldn't give Bitter Seeds 5 stars, but it deserves them taken in conjunction with its sequel.

It's late 1920, and "orphaned" children are finding themselves at the Children's Home for Human Enlightenment, nestled in the German countryside, under the care of Herr Doktor von Westarp. The good doctor isn't there to help these unfortunates, though. His purpose is of a more diabolical sort. Gruesome experiments are being performed on innocent children and people in the upper echelons of the Nazi party are taking notice. As adults, they will be supermen, and the world won't know what hit them. Meanwhile, in England, a clever young orphan is being groomed to be a spy.In 1939 Raybould Marsh is in Spain when he confronts a man who seems to have information about Dr. von Westarp's children, but before he can questions him further, the man spontaneously combusts. As he prepares to leave Spain, he sees a woman with wires coming from her head that seems to recognize him. He's managed to rescue a valise that contains a film reel, and upon returning to England, turns the film over to Stephenson, the man who raised him and taught him how to be a successful spy for MI6. When the film is reconstructed, what's on it is terrifying, and a new mission is formed, called Milkweed. Under Milkweed, Marsh and his oldest and dearest friend, Will, a warlock, must track down these supermen and stop them before the Nazi's destroy their country, and everything they love. Will must use his power to call on the Eidelons, beings of infinite time and space, to help them reshape the future, but their power comes at a price: a blood price. Eventually, these beings won't be content with a few drops of blood, and the consequences are terrifying, even as they manage to hold back the German hordes.Bitter Seeds uses the backdrop of WWII as a setting for a sprawling battle of good, evil, and grey. The narrative goes back and forth between the Reichsbehorde (the supermen) and the English spies and warlocks that are determined to wipe them off the map. There is the telekinetic brute, Kemmler, who is simpleminded and controlled by another man wielding a leash attached to a collar around his neck; Klaus, who can dematerialize and move through solid objects; Reinhardt, who can set fire to anything (and anyone) with his mind; Heike, who can go completely invisible; and Gretel, Klaus's sister, who is a precog. As terrifying as this group is, Gretel is the scariest of them all. Her sociopathic tendencies are evident from the beginning, and even Klaus grows concerned that she cannot be controlled. Klaus is the most even tempered of the group, and he's the focal point of the group. The secret to their powers is a battery pack attached to various wires that are attached to their skulls. Makes for a creepy picture, yes? Creepy is definitely one word for it. Clever and, of course, powerful, they're a force to be reckoned with, but they are definitely not limitless because of their dependence on the batteries. It's this dependence that Milkweed hopes to exploit. Unfortunately, this mission takes its toll on Marsh, his young family, and his friendship with Will. Terrible sacrifices are made for the good of the whole and death becomes only one more step to victory. As scary as the supermen are, you can't help but pity them. Taken as children and programmed as killing machines, they are only a mechanism, mere cogs, in the huge machine that is Nazi Germany. They can be pitied, but never underestimated, however. Marsh and Co. have to martial enormous resources to fight this threat, because the price for not fighting is much too great. The action scenes are thrilling, the characters fascinating, and even if you're not usually a fan of alternate history, fantasy and espionage fans will find much to like. Ian Tregillis is definitely a talent to watch, and I'll look forward to reading the 2nd book in the series, The Coldest War!

It is often said that a story can only have one big "lie." But every rule must have exceptions. In his first novel, Bitter Seeds, Ian Tregillis successfully pits one big lie against another: the outcome of an alternate World War 2 is to be decided by the struggle between the British warlocks and the Nazi supermen.During the Spanish Civil War, a British secret agent Raybould Marsh is sent to Spain to meet a Nazi defector. But the latter spontaneously erupts into flames, burning to death, and the top-secret documents and film that he has not had time to properly deliver are severely damaged. Later, Marsh meets a young German woman in a harbor, who seems to know him-and she has wires sticking out of her head.As it turns out, the Germans secretly deployed a team of supermen, using Spain as their training ground. One can fly, another superman can make things burst into flames, one superwoman can turn invisible. An imbecile on a leash can smash things by telekinesis. In order to oppose this, the British turn to a secretive cabal of warlocks.At first, they think that the German supermen use the same magic in another guise. But they soon discover this is not the case. The supermen are the so-called "Doctor von Westarp's children"-the very few that have miraculously lived through the "good doctor's" experiments. Although the "willenkrafte" (willpower) they use is ill-defined, this comes across as a species of science. Whereas the warlocks use magic-another the book's many polarities.This magic is powerful, but it is not without a price. Indeed, everyone must pay a price in the story, the von-Westarp's children and the British alike. For the warlocks, this takes the form of "blood price." The Eidolons, the demon-like beings, hate humans with passion and would like nothing better than to erase the humanity entirely from existence. The more the warlocks ask of them, the higher is the price-in blood, at first; but then, in lives. In many lives.There is a point in the story when neither side is sympathetic; thankfully, it's brief. The slide down the "getting worse before it begins getting better" slope is handled masterfully. The character development arc of another POV character, William Beauclerk, is especially poignant.Will (interestingly, usually referred to by his nickname in the story, whereas Marsh is called by his last name) is a liaison between the British secret service and the warlocks, and a beginning warlock in his own right. The story begins with him as a witty and gregarious teetotaler, easy to like. Toward the end, the Eidolons' demands of mass killings of his own people drive him almost to the brink of ruin.On the other side, the Nazi too have likable characters. The third POV in the book belongs to Klaus, one of the supermen. He is a half-Gipsy, and therefore not very much liked by the Nazi (although tolerated for his usefulness). His particular skill is the ability to become incorporeal, going unscathed through walls or through a hail of bullets, even stopping a victim's heart by bare hands.Yet it is his sister Gretel who is the story's most memorable characters. She is enigma. A girl who can predict future (it is her that Marsh had met in Spain). A lover of poetry and eccentric pursuits, Gretel has the trickster's humor, though with dark edge. But she is insane and has motives of her own, not necessarily coinciding with the goals of the Nazi leadership. As a reader, I wanted nothing more than to find out what she's up to. But, just as it opens with Klaus and Gretel in the prologue, heading toward an unknown future in the von Westarp's mansion, the book closes with them heading toward a very different unknown (though not to her!) future in the next book of the Milkweed triptych-the one I don't intend to miss.

Seconda guerra mondiale.La Germania ha ormai conquistato l'Europa continentale, e sta guardando oltre la Manica verso l'Inghilterra.Una storia nota, certo, ma un dottore pazzo dopo anni di esperimenti è riuscito a creare dei supersoldati, ottenuti grazie alla scienza (e a un'assoluta mancanza di morale) e in grado di compiere imprese straordinarie. I primi esemplari di una nuova schiera di soldati che assicureranno la predominanza del Reich su tutto il mondo.Un soldato britannico dei servizi segreti incappa nelle prove di questo progetto, e la cosa causerà la nascita del progetto Milkweed, destinato a opporsi ai supersoldati tedeschi.Ma senza sapere di preciso come funzioni questa scienza segreta tedesca, come difendersi da avversari inarrestabili? La soluzione arriva dal passato, e alla tecnologia mostruosa dei nazisti l'Inghilterra opporrà la determinazione gelida dei suoi stregoni segreti.Ma la magia funziona in maniera molto particolare, e il prezzo da pagare per fronteggiare i tedeschi è mostruoso.La storia fila via benissimo, intrecciando perfettamente realtà storica e eventi fittizi, spiegando come si sia arrivati a certe situazioni proprio grazie a questo scontro tra le armi segrete dei due eserciti. Fino alla conclusione, che apre totalmente nuovi scenari.Interessante la scienza dei superuomini, e molto intrigante la fonte della magia britannica.Mi sono piaciuti i protagonisti, da entrambe le parti, anche se Gretel mi ha un po' destabilizzato visto che un potere assoluto come il suo mette in discussione ogni decisione presa nel libro e ogni possibile sviluppo: come fermare una persona in grado di poter prevedere ogni mossa e di prendere per tempo le opportune contromisure?Avevo aspettative molto alte per questo libro e sono state soddisfatte, non è cosa da poco.

Bitter seeds is an alternate history retelling of World War II, in which the Germans have scientifically engineered supersoldiers with incredible abilities. One can make himself invisible, pass through walls and avoid bullets, one is a human torch able to produce fire at will and others have superstrength and precognition. These special soldiers are orphans and test subjects the result of decades-spanning science experiments by a deranged Nazi scientist. The process by these supersoldiers are created is left shadowy throughout, a barbaric upbringing during which many perished.The English answer is a group of characters whose abilities exist under the basic framework and knowledge of society, Warlocks, blood magic practitioners. Warlocks speak an ancient language called Enochian, a primal language that is used along with various forms of sacrifice, to communicate with the Eidolons, beings that exist outside of reality. The Warlocks negotiate with the Eidolons and they in turn aid them in the war effort but each bargain struck is at a terrible cost, a cost of blood.The story’s apparent villain, although only because she is one of the re-engineered Germans is Gretel, whose superpower is an ability to see the future. She is a character whose motives are always in doubt, and whose foreknowledge is pivotal as the plot progresses. She is also an apparent sociopath who plays both sides with little or no concern for the lives lost, its a game to her and she has her own agenda. A fascinating and mysterious character, even at the end of the book we have no idea what she's up to.The two main protagonists are Brits Raybould Marsh, a secret agent, and William Beauclerk, a friend of Marsh and unbeknownst to him a warlock. When Marsh discovers the Germans’ secret weapons, he turns to his old friend for help. Will is the more interesting of the two characters the only warlock who seems to have any reservations for what they do, expressing constant remorse and eventually succumbing to drugs and alcohol, the only way he can cope with what they have done. Marsh to suffers horrific loss and treads a painful journey, his coping mechanism is to throw himself into the war effort but I thought him slightly inaccessible as a character.Seems a touch unpatriotic but for me the most compelling of the novel's characters were Gretel and her brother Klaus, whose understanding and conscience slowly emerge through the book and yet we realize Gretel is as much a mystery to him as to us.Bitter seeds is an original take on this period of history, the opposing factions are not so easily tied into the good versus evil formula, in fact in this respect the waters are not clear but somewhat murky.Certainly an enjoyable read, some good ideas and I shall definitely continue with the series.

Like the second book better. Really like the author, Ian Tregillis, though. Can't wait to read more of his work.

Der MI6-Spion Raybould Marsh hat 1939 im vom Bürgerkrieg gezeichneten Spanien eine seltsame Begegnung mit einer verstörenden Frau, aus deren Kopf Kabel kommen und die ihn zu kennen scheint, obwohl er sie zuvor noch nie gesehen hat. Marsh ahnt es noch nicht, aber die Deutschen haben nach jahrelangen, grausamen Experimenten Menschen mit übernatürlichen Fähigkeiten erschaffen. Diese germanischen Übermenschen sollen die Deutschen nun zum Sieg führen und Großbritannien hat bald unter nicht enden wollenden Angriffen zu leiden. In seiner Verzweiflung wendet sich Marsh an seinen alten Schulfreund Will Beauclerk, der von seinem Großvater zu einem Magier ausgebildet wurde. Zögerlich verspricht Will seine Hilfe, er ist jedoch nicht glücklich darüber. Denn jede Magie hat einen hohen Preis, der schnell weiter und weiter ansteigt und die Briten Kopf und Kragen kosten könnte.Wer in BITTER SEEDS wildes Schlachtengetümmel und nonstop Action erwartet, wird vermutlich herb enttäuscht werden. Obwohl vor allem die deutschen Übermenschen ihre Fähigkeiten mehrmals einsetzen und auch die britischen Magier öfter im Einsatz sind, stehen die Charaktere des Romans und deren Entwicklung eindeutig im Vordergrund. Es wird auch kaum auf historische Details des Zweiten Weltkriegs eingegangen, Ian Tregillis nützt diesen Zeitabschnitt nur als Kulisse und baut seine eigene Alternate History auf. Wer also großen Wert auf historische Genauigkeit legt, sollte hier ebenfalls vorsichtig sein.In BITTER SEEDS gibt es drei Hauptfiguren: Marsh, Will und Klaus. Marsh ist völlig auf das Ziel, die Deutschen unschädlich zu machen, fokussiert und er ist ein Mann der Tat. Will, der mir persönlich am besten gefällt, ist so ziemlich das genaue Gegenteil des dynamischen Marsh. Er weiß genau, was alles auf dem Spiel steht, wenn sie sich zu sehr auf die Magie verlassen. Er hat seiner Vergangenheit nicht grundlos den Rücken gekehrt und er wird von Zweifeln und Skrupeln geplagt. Klaus ist einer der deutschen Übermenschen. Er hat die Fähigkeit, sich selbst körperlos zu machen, und er ist davon überzeugt, dass der deutsche Weg der richtige ist. Alle drei Figuren sind vielschichtig gezeichnet, haben nachvollziehbare Motive, Gefühle und Gedanken und entwickeln sich im Verlauf der Handlung kontinuierlich weiter und ich bin schon sehr gespannt, wie Klaus' und Wills Geschichte in den Nachfolgebänden fortgesetzt wird.Natürlich gibt es auch noch zahlreiche Nebenfiguren in BITTER SEEDS. Neben den weiteren Übermenschen spielt vor allem Gretel, Klaus' Zwillingsschwester, eine sehr bedeutende Rolle. Sie hat die Fähigkeit, in die Zukunft zu blicken, und es wird schnell klar, dass sie die Kriegsereignisse und die Menschen rund um sie herum auf beunruhigende Art und Weise manipulieren kann. Gretel finde ich sehr faszinierend, schade ist nur, dass sie von Ian Tregillis nur so sparsam im Roman eingesetzt wurde. Ich hoffe, dass sie in den nächsten Büchern etwas mehr zum Einsatz kommt.Die Handlung, Stimmung und die Schauplätze von BITTER SEEDS haben mir gut gefallen. Ian Tregillis bedient sich einer sehr schönen und bildhaften Sprache und seine Beschreibungen der Handlungsorte in Deutschland und England haben mich sehr angesprochen. Auch die Handlung hat mich im Großen und Ganzen überzeugt, ich hätte mir nur gewünscht, Tregillis hätte uns etwas tiefere Einblicke in die Erschaffung der Übermenschen gewährt.Alles in allem hat mir BITTER SEEDS gut gefallen. Die Charaktere und die Handlung konnten mich überzeugen und mir haben auch die übernatürlichen Elemente sehr gut gefallen. Wer in BITTER SEEDS einen historisch genauen Roman erwartet, kann nur enttäuscht werden. Wer Alternate History und Fantasy mit starker Charakterorientierung mag, wird schon eher seine Freude an dem Roman haben. Der Nachfolgeband THE COLDEST WAR ist bereits erschienen. Empfehlenswert!

The book is definitely captivating and good to read.I cannot speak much about the artistic value, since I have no taste, but it was certainlyeasy to read.The genre has been established a while ago but this implementation is worth praising.I liked the way the characters were shown and developed, real and round people, notstock stick-figures.Various points of view just add to the story and are not confusing in this case.The story line starst time-line compatible to us and then it diverges, interesting to seethe differences and I think they are well thought-out (USA not joining the war, radar destroyed)The mood is definitely grimm and tragic, differently so than in history but appropriately so, considering thefacts.It is really interesting and partially horrifyingto see and think about the moral choices presented to those people,especially on the UK side. As to the Nazi superhumans, you can think how cool it would be to be one or tohave your country defended by some, but would you be able to have to sacrifice hundreds of children to deathand torture, to achieve it? Would you want to be go through torture from the young years, to be the one survivorfrom dozends, to achieve superpowers? That is a very good quandary, considering that the superheroes frommany (most) other books come into their powers very easily, preferably from the start (similar sacrifice wasvisible in the Wiedźmin - Witcher books)The motif of the clairvoyant psychopath is new for me and one that is really unnerving.I really like the book, now am reading the second one and hope the last will come out soon.