Alternate history has always been one of my favorite science fiction genres. "What if?" is one of life's eternal questions. What if I'd done something different? What if things had turned out differently? Everyone's asked that at some point in their life. When writers play "What if?" they tend to go big. "What if the Nazis won World War II?" is probably the all time champion subject for writers, but there are hundreds or thousands of alternate history stories out there that explore changes both large and small. I've read one story that asked the burning question, "What if Dwight D. Eisenhower had pursued a career as a swing clarinetist instead of joining the military?" It made more sense than you'd think. My point is, alternate history is an interesting genre that allows infinite possibilities for storytelling.
Despite that, there aren't very many young adult authors who write alternate histories. So I was happy to come across Thirteenth Child by Patricia Wrede. The "What if?"is a big one, what if magic was real? That's actually a very common theme these days among writers for children, teens and adults. I've lost track of all the series where the world is just like ours except it's got vampires. Or witches. Or wizards. Or sorcerers. Or werewolves. Or angels. Or demons. Or dragons. Or anthropomorphic toasters. Or superheroes, of course, can't forget the superheroes. The point is, the basic premise of "Our world, but with magic" is not exactly unexplored in modern fiction.
Most of those settings annoy me, though, because they do it wrong. The authors aren't interested in exploring the effects the existence of magic would have on society. They just want Hot Vampires Kick Butt (tm), or more likely Hot Vampires Angst Over Love (tm), so that's what they write. They set their stories in a world exactly like our own because they can't be bothered to think about what the world would look like if vampires or demons or whatever had been around since the dawn of civilization. That's not proper alternate history, and it vexes me. It vexes me so.
Thirteenth Child is a proper alternate history. The basic premise, as I said, is "Our world, but with magic." From the very beginning, though, you see and hear about the changes that magic hath wrought on human history. The story starts in 1850 or so, but it's not our 1850. It's set in America, but not our America. The country is actually called Columbia, which makes sense, but the continent its settlers came from is Avrupa, not Europe. The Civil War has already been fought and won by the Union, and the Aphrikan slaves set free. A lot of second-rate alternate histories limit themselves to this sort of playing with names and dates and details, but when handled well they can form a solid basis for a truly worthwhile yarn, and that's what they do here.
Our heroine is Eff Rothmer. We first meet her when she's five years old, and hated by her aunts, uncles and cousins because she is her parents unlucky thirteenth child. Her twin brother Lan is only a few minutes younger than her, but he's the darling of his family's eye because he's the seventh son of a seventh son and guaranteed to be supremely lucky, magically powerful and destined for greatness. You'd think this would be a recipe for a horrible case of sibling rivalry, but Lan and Eff are devoted to each other and always have each other's backs. Their relationship, even when apart, is a major theme of this book and the two sequels.
Eff is constantly blamed for everything that goes wrong. Not by her immediate family, who love and protect her, but by her extended family who live nearby. It gets to be so bad that Eff's parents move their brood out west, to the frontier, and this is where the meat of the story begins and most of the big historical changes become apparent. For one thing, the frontier is defined by what we call the Mississippi River. There are a number of settlements to the west of the river, but they're under constant threat from the natural and magical beasts that dominate the western half of the continent. From mammoths to saber cats, from swarm weasels to steam dragons, life west of the river is a dangerous affair. That explains why there's apparently no human presence beyond those few settlements. Native Americans never achieved a foothold in the New World, and the Lewis and Clark expedition disappeared without a trace. In our world the Oregon Trail was well-established by 1850, but in this world very few humans have even seen the Rockies, and none have reached them and returned to tell the tale.
That doesn't become important to Eff and Lan until much later, though. Much of this first book is taken up by their childhood and teen years, and it reads like a particularly interesting historical fiction coming of age story. The unfamiliar historical details and magic form a natural part of the story rather than overshadowing it as they do in too many books of this sort. Which is not to say there isn't plenty of magic, because there is. From their early magical accidents up through their formal mystical training in high school, the understanding and use of magic play a huge part in both Eff's and Lan's lives. It's only when they receive extra-curricular training in Aphrikan magic that Eff really starts to come into her own and begins to understand her true power. The subtleties of Aphrikan magic fit Eff better than the ordered and logical Avrupan styles most white settlers use, and her use and integration of both traditions is a major theme of the trilogy.
I've probably bored the socks off anyone who's made it this far, but let me assure you that the book is much more than a dry study of magical theory and execution. It's also a darn good adventure story. After graduating Eff and Lan join an expedition to help settlements on the dangerous western side of the river, and only their unique powers and abilities allow them to face a thoroughly novel and fascinating threat to the settlers' way of life.
To make a long post short (too late!) this book has it all. Magical alternate history, check. Actually puts some thought into said history, check. Interesting characters, check. Absolutely fascinating magical powers and styles, check. Cool monsters, check. And the absolute best part is that there are two sequels which are each at least as good as the first! What are you waiting for? Go! Read! The first book is
Thirteenth Child, the second is
Across the Great Barrier, and the third is
The Far West.
