From: Mats Ohrman <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 1 May 89 03:37:55 +0200

Path: liuida!sunic!kth!mcvax!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!att!cbnewsj!ecl
From: [email-masked] (Evelyn C. Leeper)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf-lovers,rec.arts.books
Subject: GRAY VICTORY by Robert Skimin
Keywords: alternate history, Ciil War
Message-ID: <[email-masked]>
Date: 26 Apr 89 17:28:47 GMT
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
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Xref: liuida rec.arts.sf-lovers:20438 rec.arts.books:1064

			GRAY VICTORY by Robert Skimin
	 St. Martin's Press, 1989 (1988c), ISBN 0-312-91375-3, $4.95.
		      A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper

     This is half Civil War buff's novel masquerading as an alternate
history novel, half actual alternate history.  That is to say, about two
hundred pages are devoted to the alternate history aspect and about two
hundred pages to an in-depth analysis of the battle of Gettysburg, why it
turned out the way it did, what might have made it different.  Yes, in this
alternate history it is NOT Gettysburg that is the turning point that lets
the South win the Civil War, but a change in a later event in history: Davis
did not send Hood to defend Atlanta, but left Johnston there instead.  So
Atlanta held out, Lincoln was defeated in 1864, and the rest was alternate
history.

     This is being marketed as historical fiction ("An Epic Saga, A
Passionate Struggle--and a South That Never Fell..."), so naturally there's
a fair amount of sex and related shenanigans.  All this leaves less time for
the most interesting part of the book--the plot to assassinate the
Confederate leaders and bring about a slave uprising.  Towards the end I
found myself skimming (no pun on the author's name intended) the long
descriptions of Gettysburg being given as evidence at the inquiry into
possible incompetence or treason on the part of J. E. B. ("Jeb") Stuart, and
concentrating on the uprising plot.  This did keep me interested, with vivid
characters and a well-maintained level of tension.  Unlike REMEMBER
GETTYSBURG!, which in my opinion had nothing to offer a person who was not a
Civil War buff, this novel would be of interest to the average science
fiction reader.  (Well, probably more to American science fiction readers
than those in other parts of the world.)  It's just a pity that there is so
much battle detail, especially since I suspect the Civil War buffs will find
the uprising part of little interest.  Still, if Skimin can sell to two
different audiences and keep both reasonably satisfied, he's much better off
financially if not artistically.

Evelyn C. Leeper   |   +1 201-957-2070   |   att!mtgzy!ecl or [email-masked]
					Copyright 1989 Evelyn C. Leeper