Well, it was high time that I should read a work of alternate history that did not come from a website or have the words Harry Turtledove printed in large, friendly letters on the cover. What should I pick though? I wondered. Through cursory research (fine, picking from a book series whose covers didn’t feature ridiculous comic book style action scenes - so what if I judge a book by its cover? - Sue me!), I came across a book with that most daunting of PODs, a stillborn Protestant Reformation. Unsurprisingly, the thought of seeing a united Christendom chanting the Te Deum and kissing the Holy Father’s big toe filled me with such glee that I had to buy a copy at once.
The Alteration by Kingsley Amis (1976) has many things going for it. It is a good, solid book from an actually respected writer who was willing to experiment with the genre at the time when it was in disrepute. However, it should be stressed right now that the good Sir Kingsley did not write an alternate history novel out of the goodness of his heart. No, no, this is a work of satire, masquerading as alternate history.
This is an important distinction, because to judge the novel based on its use of alternate history... well, it stinks. Sir Kingsley clearly demonstrates that he is aware of the existence of the butterfly theory, and uses it as needed for setting and background, but this is still a world to which a healthy dusting of DDT has been applied. Despite the POD being Martin Luther reconciling with the Church and becoming Pope, there is still a Heinrich Himmler and an Edgar Allan Poe and a cold war between Christian Europe and the Ottoman Empire that has somehow lasted 500 years. The world has also been trapped in the glorious amber of feudalism and theocracy for that same time. All life being under the benevolent gaze of His Holiness as everyone from the lowliest peasant to the mightiest sovereign seeks to do his bidding or else. Not really a work that would have survived first contact with a bunch of teenage edgelords.
But enough of that. Time to judge it as the satire it is.
Basic summary goes like this: Main character Hubert is an 11 year old boy with possibly the most angelic voice to gift the world in a generation. Pope decrees that such a voice must never be allowed to crack, so an “Alteration” to the little dangly things between his legs is required. Thus ensues Master Hubert’s lovely little voyage of self-discovery of the nature of love and procreation as advised by his boarding schoolmates, older brother, utterly pious and close-minded father, the beautiful daughter of the Ambassador from New England (the only Protestant nation on earth - founded by Benedict Arnold in 1776 and possessing roughly the same borders as the Eastern US) and a veritable gaggle of priests. We are also treated to a nice little inter-clerical fight that serves a good world-building purpose, and a romantic tryst between Hubert’s mother and the family priest that tries to make clear that not all Catholic priests are running around with scissors and a manic gleam in their eyes.
Make no mistake though, the Catholic Church is the Bad Guy here. The world is unambiguously a dystopia, where science is literally a dirty word, where electricity is banned under a Papal bull (to the point where diesel engines have to be used instead of the petrol engine and its satanic spark plugs), censorship is pervasive, and no one can imagine a life outside the benevolent stares of the Inquisition (nicely represented by Fathers Himmler and Beria) without having most immoral and nerve-wracking thoughts. And the New English look like wonderful saints in comparison, despite the apartheid-style treatment of Native Americans. To top it all off is that most benevolent Prince of Hell on Earth, whose plan to stop the mathalusian pressures that threaten to destroy Europe (no birth control) involves a lot of nukes being shot back and forth with the Ottomans! And who is this Vicar of Antichrist? “A mid-fifties, homely-looking Yorkshireman with a friendly face.”
And I thought Agent Lavender slandered him good.
To get back on track here, the story is actually superbly done. Each character feels complete and human (except for His Holiness Definitely-Not-The-PM), and the reader finds himself feeling truly sympathetic with Hubert throughout. There is a well-fleshed out world and a twist ending that I never saw coming. The only flaws I see are the glaringly obvious selective use of butterflies, a bit too clunky with some of the exposition, and Hubert feeling a bit too old for a boy of 11.
Overall, I give it an 8/10.
The Alteration by Kingsley Amis (1976) has many things going for it. It is a good, solid book from an actually respected writer who was willing to experiment with the genre at the time when it was in disrepute. However, it should be stressed right now that the good Sir Kingsley did not write an alternate history novel out of the goodness of his heart. No, no, this is a work of satire, masquerading as alternate history.
This is an important distinction, because to judge the novel based on its use of alternate history... well, it stinks. Sir Kingsley clearly demonstrates that he is aware of the existence of the butterfly theory, and uses it as needed for setting and background, but this is still a world to which a healthy dusting of DDT has been applied. Despite the POD being Martin Luther reconciling with the Church and becoming Pope, there is still a Heinrich Himmler and an Edgar Allan Poe and a cold war between Christian Europe and the Ottoman Empire that has somehow lasted 500 years. The world has also been trapped in the glorious amber of feudalism and theocracy for that same time. All life being under the benevolent gaze of His Holiness as everyone from the lowliest peasant to the mightiest sovereign seeks to do his bidding or else. Not really a work that would have survived first contact with a bunch of teenage edgelords.
But enough of that. Time to judge it as the satire it is.
Basic summary goes like this: Main character Hubert is an 11 year old boy with possibly the most angelic voice to gift the world in a generation. Pope decrees that such a voice must never be allowed to crack, so an “Alteration” to the little dangly things between his legs is required. Thus ensues Master Hubert’s lovely little voyage of self-discovery of the nature of love and procreation as advised by his boarding schoolmates, older brother, utterly pious and close-minded father, the beautiful daughter of the Ambassador from New England (the only Protestant nation on earth - founded by Benedict Arnold in 1776 and possessing roughly the same borders as the Eastern US) and a veritable gaggle of priests. We are also treated to a nice little inter-clerical fight that serves a good world-building purpose, and a romantic tryst between Hubert’s mother and the family priest that tries to make clear that not all Catholic priests are running around with scissors and a manic gleam in their eyes.
Make no mistake though, the Catholic Church is the Bad Guy here. The world is unambiguously a dystopia, where science is literally a dirty word, where electricity is banned under a Papal bull (to the point where diesel engines have to be used instead of the petrol engine and its satanic spark plugs), censorship is pervasive, and no one can imagine a life outside the benevolent stares of the Inquisition (nicely represented by Fathers Himmler and Beria) without having most immoral and nerve-wracking thoughts. And the New English look like wonderful saints in comparison, despite the apartheid-style treatment of Native Americans. To top it all off is that most benevolent Prince of Hell on Earth, whose plan to stop the mathalusian pressures that threaten to destroy Europe (no birth control) involves a lot of nukes being shot back and forth with the Ottomans! And who is this Vicar of Antichrist? “A mid-fifties, homely-looking Yorkshireman with a friendly face.”
And I thought Agent Lavender slandered him good.
To get back on track here, the story is actually superbly done. Each character feels complete and human (except for His Holiness Definitely-Not-The-PM), and the reader finds himself feeling truly sympathetic with Hubert throughout. There is a well-fleshed out world and a twist ending that I never saw coming. The only flaws I see are the glaringly obvious selective use of butterflies, a bit too clunky with some of the exposition, and Hubert feeling a bit too old for a boy of 11.
Overall, I give it an 8/10.