Andreas's review of The Domination (original) (raw)

• Home
• My Books
• Browse ▾
  • Recommendations
  • Choice Awards
  • Genres
  • Giveaways
  • New Releases
  • Lists
  • Explore
  • News & Interviews
  • Art
  • Biography
  • Business
  • Children's
  • Christian
  • Classics
  • Comics
  • Cookbooks
  • Ebooks
  • Fantasy
  • Fiction
  • Graphic Novels
  • Historical Fiction
  • History
  • Horror
  • Memoir
  • Music
  • Mystery
  • Nonfiction
  • Poetry
  • Psychology
  • Romance
  • Science
  • Science Fiction
  • Self Help
  • Sports
  • Thriller
  • Travel
  • Young Adult
  • More Genres

Discover new books on Goodreads

Meet your next favorite book

Andreas's Reviews > The Domination

The Domination
by

The series consists of four novels, though the first three are now published in one omnibus entitled The Domination.

* Marching through Georgia
* Under the Yoke
* The Stone Dogs
* Drakon

The series can really shake you up. It is set in an alternate history in which the Crown Colony of the Cape (what later became modern day South Africa) becomes a powerful nation. This “Domination of the Draka” is utterly elitist and wishes to subjugate all other races to the white master race. It is also fiercely expansionist. At the time of our own timeline’s Second World War, the Domination drives a wedge between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany by invading through the Caucasus. The Domination then proceeds to conquer all of Europe and Asia (except for India), adding these territories to its African holdings. These events are detailed in the first book. The second book is about a spy expedition into Draka territory by the “Alliance for Freedom”, basically what is left of the free world (America and India). It is not quite as good as the rest of the series, and on rereading I have skipped over it completely as it is not essential to the story. The third book is about the final showdown between the two powers. The Alliance is more powerful in technology and the physical sciences, while the Domination, mostly thanks to a scruple free approach to human experiments (they’re just serfs, after all) is very advanced in genetics and bioengineering. The Draka win the war, and the “free” humans mount a last-ditch escape for a precious few to a nearby solar system.

Drakon is a change of pace. In a Draka future, the master race experiments with portals into alternate timelines. A Draka (daughter of the protagonists from The Stone Dogs) is stranded in one of these timelines (our own) and attempts to subjugate it to her will. This novel is much smaller in scope than the other three, but it remains a great read.

The scary thing about the Draka books is that you can easily find yourself rooting for “the bad guys”. These aren’t Hitler’s Nazis. The Draka want an ordered society and a life which does not use up the Earth’s resources without replenishing them. They do not see their use of “serfs” as immoral and they are not given to pettiness. Only ruthlessness. So apart from spinning a great yarn, Stirling is trying to tell us that many would choose the Draka way of life if they had the chance (well, the chance to be Draka). The Draka create an earthly paradise after their victory, and the average standard of living and intelligence of ALL men, including serfs, actually improves after the Draka victory. The series is controversial in this manner and really makes you think about some big issues. It is also a great military science fiction read.

http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=285

Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read_The Domination_.

Sign In »

Reading Progress

Comments

No comments have been added yet.

Add a reference:

Search for a book to add a reference

add: link cover

Welcome back. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account.