Shadows of Annihilation
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4.6 • 16 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
The third novel in a World War I alternate history series where America's greatest weapon against Germany is Black Chamber secret agent Luz O'Malley and technical genius Ciara Whelan. Only they can protect America's best hope of winning the war.
The Great War is at a stalemate, and the only thing stopping Germany from striking America is the threat of the United States using their own Annihilation Gas against them. But America's supply is quickly decaying and the Central Powers know it.
A plant is under construction in the remote highlands of Mexico so that America can make their own supply. President Teddy Roosevelt assigns crack agent Luz O'Malley and her technical genius Ciara Whelan to watch over the plant operating under cover identities.
But German agent Horst von Duckler has escaped from the POW camp in El Paso, and he's heading in the same direction--bent on revenge against Luz, and sabotage that will deprive America of its deterrent and kill tens of thousands.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Stirling continues his stirring alternate WWI series (after Theater of Spies) with an explosive what-if that draws from H.G. Wells's predictions of advanced chemical warfare. In 1917, President Theodore Roosevelt reluctantly orders U.S. forces to retreat from a Europe devastated by horrifying German annihilation gas. Roosevelt is now determined to fight Germany through stealth using Black Chamber operatives, among them Luz O'Malley. O'Malley and her tech-genius partner, Ciara Whelan, travel in disguise to Mexico to protect the U.S. Dakota Project, which is secretly at work developing its own gas weapon. Prussian aristocrat Horst von D ckler, meanwhile, leads a secret mission to destroy the Dakota Project, motivated by his old vendetta against O'Malley. Stirling fleshes out the ensuing game of cat and mouse with a staggering wealth of cultural, military, and linguistic detail that's sure to please historically minded readers but overwhelm more casual fans, and smart political commentary about how both Roosevelt's New Nationalism and America's history affect its present. This fast-paced spy thriller has impressive depth.
