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    Black Chamber
    Black Chamber
    Black Chamber
    Audiobook16 hours

    Black Chamber

    Written by S.M. Stirling

    Narrated by Todd McLaren

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    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 United States 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 know 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 U.S. 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 U.S.-or millions of lives will be lost.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateJul 3, 2018
    ISBN9781501963773
    Black Chamber
    Author

    S.M. Stirling

    A well-regarded author of alternate history science-fiction novels, S.M. Stirling has written more than twenty-five books, including acclaimed collaborations with Anne McCaffrey, Jerry Pournelle, and David Drake. His most recent novels are T2: Infiltrator, The Peshawar Lancers, and the Island in the Sea of Time trilogy.

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    Reviews for Black Chamber

    3.5/5

    30 ratings6 reviews

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    • 3/5
      I love the alternate history premise. But I feel the premise is hurt by the story telling. The author spends a lot of time with characters merely talking about their home life. I like character development as much as the next, but there's a couple hours with nothing happening but dialogue.

      Also, you'd think the audio producers would have used a female narrator for this project in that it's first person point of view from a woman's perspective?
    • 2/5
      Too much divergence in too short a time to be plausible
    • 3/5
      I had high hopes for Black Chamber - an alternate history set in World War I where Theodore Roosevelt has president. The idea alone had me excited. And Luz - the main protagonist - was a character I could get behind. A bi-sexual secret agent that could give James Bond and Jason Bourne a run for their money. Luz is smart, very skilled, quite dangerous, and - like Bond - gets the girl in the end. Luz makes a great character and she is the only reason I give this book a 3 star rating. My biggest problem with Black Chamber is the complete let down at the most climactic point in the story. While deep undercover, as the Germans are at the verge of succeeding in their plot to keep the United States out of the war, Stirling cuts to events after the climax. The plot has been stopped, Luz has succeeded - BUT WE NEVER KNOW HOW IT WAS DONE. The most important part of the entire novel is left out, gone. There aren't even any little details or crumbs left for the reader to pick up on. We don't know what happened. We don't know what sort of tricks or plan was made. It was as if we went to a commercial break and came back with everything all neatly tied up in a bow. I feel like Stirling just gave up, had written the story to a point and either didn't care how it was to end, or had written himself into a corner he couldn't get out of so he just skipped ahead and hoped that waving his hands around would make you forget that you don't know how the plot was foiled. Up until the end this was a fun book, with a great character, but the way the book ends just ruined it for me.
    • 4/5
      Teddy Roosevelt is elected president in this alternate world history. Early pages can be a slog as we work with the author's (demonstrating his linguistic erudition) constant and annoying insertion of bon mots in multiple languages. But hang in there for this imaginative story; Germany's version of a sneak attack with nerve gas, no less. Our heroine Luz O'Malley Arostegui makes James Bond seem trifling wimp. Perhaps, he could be a descendant but read on to find out how that might be unlikely. Trained in multiple martial arts, deadly with a knife and pitiless with a Thompson she leaves bodies wherever she passes by.A good yarn and hopefully the start of an interesting series, after all, Horst may still be alive and dangerous.
    • 5/5
      This book begins what I hope will be a long series of adventure in an alternate Great War with spies and advanced weapons and a thrill a minute. I was worried that with the "Change" series drawing to a close I would have no reason to look for the next S. M. Sterling release. I found the entire novel a non-stop thrill, with justified and detailed suspenseful segments that led to terrific and well described action. This was just the thing for end of summer distraction from our current political reality!
    • 3/5
      The first installment of a new series, Black Chamber is an alternative history novel of the period just prior to America's entry into World War 1. In this timeline, Teddy Roosevelt is president, and has set America on his "Progressive" path. The book is the story of a secret agent, Luz, who is sent undercover to discover what Germany is planning. She discovers a plan for Germany to employ a truly deadly secret weapon against the United States. I really enjoy some of Stirling's books. The "Island in the Sea of Time" series and the "Change" series are some of my favorite alternative history books. Stirling has set up the beginning of another intriguing series with this book. However, there were some parts of the book that I had issues with. For one, the pacing of the book was sometimes challenging, and somewhat disappointing. For example, Stirling goes on and on for 12 pages describing the hero climbing a wall, while seeming to rush through more important parts. A second issue was that the premise of the beginning of Roosevelt's presidency were missing. For example, Stirling several times refers to a war with Mexico, and the rise of the "Black Chamber" spy agency, but he never tells the reader what happened. Perhaps he will explain in subsequent books, but it would have added greatly to the story if he had done it in the first. All in all, I found this to be a fun read. I honestly had a hard time putting it down. And I am looking forward to the next book.