Black Chamber, by S.
M. Stirling (Ace)
S. M. Stirling has
been writing alternate history for a long time now, and he handles the genre
with ease and panache. This book is no exception; he’s created a perfectly
believable world in which Theodore Roosevelt regains the presidency and is in
office on the brink of World War I. Roosevelt’s enthusiasms have already shaped
much of American culture and institutions, including a flowering of invention and
his top-secret spy-and-assassin agency, the Black Chamber. Posing as an agent
of the Partido Nacional Revolucionario (the resistance movement bent on freeing
Mexico from American domination) Agent Luz O'Malley Aróstegui goes undercover
in Europe to infiltrate the mobilizing German forces. The contrafactual history
and subsequent changes are perhaps the most interesting aspects of the story,
yet all this is but a background for what is essentially a spy thriller
featuring a female James Bond. There’s sex (with and without romance), tension, and page
upon page upon page of exciting action.
This raises my
central concern about The Black Chamber.
Is it a story set in an alternate Europe, as Germany is gearing up for war with
chemical weapons? Does it focus on the unfolding differences that arose from
Theodore Roosevelt’s re-election? Or is it essentially a spy thriller – and one
in which a woman perpetuates the roles of male spy characters in literature –
that could just as easily have taken place in the real world?
The writing is
strong and the action scenes and step-by-step, tension-laden revelations are
skillfully handled. My reservations are two-fold, as above. I had difficulty
with those aspects of Luz that mirrored the most offensively sexist
characteristics in male-dominated spy thrillers. Her internal monologues felt
immature and insecure as well as insensitive. She didn’t seem to have any
genuine relationships until Irish revolutionary and love interest Ciara Whelan came onstage.
Secondly, I found
the long, detailed descriptions of action (such as page after page, step-by-agonizing-step
portrayal of Luz climbing a wall) quickly went from interesting to tedious. Action often came to a screeching halt for long expository passages of technology, history, or geography. But the
biggest problem was that I didn’t find the story hefty enough for its length.
It felt to me like a novella stretched out to a fairly long novel. This is
obviously a personal taste issue, and fans of Stirling (of which there are
many!) will likely see this as a strength and The Black Chamber as a worthy addition to his bibliography.
The usual disclaimer: I received a review copy of this book,
but no one bribed me to say anything about it. Although chocolates might be
nice.
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