Black Chamber

By: S. M. Stirling

Narrated by: Todd McLaren

Length: 16 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

The first novel in a brand-new alternate history series where Teddy Roosevelt is president for a second time right before WWI breaks out, and on his side is the Black Chamber, a secret spy network watching America's back. 

In 1912, just months before the election, President Taft dies suddenly, and Teddy Roosevelt wastes no time in grabbing power as he wins another term as president. By force of will, he ushers the US into a new, progressive era with the help of the Black Chamber, the mysterious spy organization watching his back. 

Luz O'Malley - a brilliant, deadly, and young Cuban Irish American agent of the Black Chamber - heads to Germany. She's on a luxury airship swarming with agents of every power on earth as well as conspirators from the Mexican Revolutionary Party and the sinister underground of the reborn Ku Klux Klan, yet none knows her true identity. Her anonymity will be essential as she strives to gain the secrets of Project Loki, an alarming German plan that Roosevelt fears will drag the US into a world war. To gather this intelligence, Luz will have to deceive the handsome yet ruthless Baron Horst von Duckler. She, along with naive Irish American Ciara Whelan, has to get this vital information back to the US - or millions of lives will be lost.

©2018 S. M. Stirling (P)2018 Recorded Books

GrayGhost

An alright book to listen to. It was a bit slow at the beginning, but it had a good ending.

Fun but credulity-straining

I've been enjoying Stirling's Emberverse series for years, and with that apparently drawing to a close, I've been looking forward to his next project. BLACK CHAMBER is a self-contained alternate history tale, but I would not be surprised to learn it was the first of a new series. S.M. Stirling knows how to craft a believable counterfactual setting and appealing characters, and combine them to tell a great story--which this most certainly is. But compelling alternate history requires, first, a plausible point of departure from the recorded sequence of events, and second, a consistent unfolding of events from the point of divergence. This book has the first element. That President Taft, who was notoriously obese, might have died of a heart attack in the Spring of 1912, is perfectly plausible, as is the notion that Teddy Roosevelt would then have won the nomination and the presidency. Subsequent divergences in the timeline of BLACK CHAMBER, however, do not always flow cleanly from this point of departure. In particular, while some of the technological developments on display in the alternate 1916 are reasonable extrapolations, others strain the bounds of credulity.

Stirling is fond of inserting words, phrases, quotations, and even short dialogues in languages other than English. Readers who know those languages must sometimes be prepared to pardon his lapses. This book is replete with German and Spanish, both of which I know. Having listened to the book rather than read it, however, I have trouble assessing the author's due diligence, for the simple reason that narrator Todd McLaren is almost entirely incomprehensible in both languages. Oddly, his German is less incomprehensible than his Spanish, which sounds like nothing so much as a cross between Italian and Martian. This is a shame, because McLaren is a very capable narrator in other respects, and because unmangled, the Spanish and German would have added color and nuance, rather than cringe and confusion.

well done alt history

beginning of new alt-history; good to hear McClaren read; meitculous details create reality. Recommend it.

a new old world

I've been a long time fan of the Emberverse and sighed when I heard he was writing a historical novel but was instead drawn into a detailed and stark what if of the time around WWI with a heroine of James Bonds caliber. Every word drips with meaning and you can tell he cared about this novel and with an author of Mr. Sterling's talent, this shines. If you are on the fence, get it.

Stirling set the start for an intriguing new world

America under the rule of Teddy Roosevelt with a more authoritarian executive heads into WW1.
Where will this lead??

Could not get into this story line!

I loved The Change Series and Could not let go of Todd McLaren’s voice as characters not in the book. I tried so hard. It just did not work for me. Yet I love both author and narrator.

Standard Stirling

Good story by SM Stirling, very similar in detail, world building, and research as on his previous novels. For the narration, a bit torn; the narrator's normal voice is great, and he does great (or good enough for me!) German accents, but I found his attempt to shift to female character voices was lacking. Very grating, to be honest, which is particularly bad when the lead and another main character are both women! on the whole, would recommend if you've enjoyed his previous novels.

Maybe a clunky start to a series?

Interesting premise but a little too expository. More action and character, less details about weapons and machinery.

A wonderful story as only S. M. Stirling can tell

This is a wonderful alt history/spy story. S.M. Stirling already has a deserved reputation for world building but he's also done a great job telling a spy story. The alternate version of the first two decades of the 20th century that he builds is complete and compelling. The characters, especially Luz and Ciara, are extraordinary yet believable. I cannot wait for the next book!

Typical pretentious Stirling... still a good read

SM Stirling always loves to show off his research and love of strong, iconoclastic women and "Black Chamber" is no exception. Still, the premise of a more muscular WWI-era United States under TR versus Wilson is irresistible. Stirling does not address the dangers of an authoritarian, expansionist US government in this book, but he at least hints that it may be considered in subsequent installments. McLaren is passable as a reader, though his female voices sound a bit breathy and silly, especially for the characters.