The Wages of Sin

The blurb on the cover says "a terrifying tale set in a nineteenth century England ravaged by HIV." IT IS NOT. But once, as a reader, you adjust to the fact that the people at the publisher who decide what to put on the cover to draw sales aren't concerned with what the book is actually about, then......more

Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for letting me read this book in advance of publication. Harry Turtledove always makes me see a new perspective, and in Wages of Sin, he does that in spades. We’ve all done it. Imagine a world where one single difference could have a massive impact o......more

Great! As usual, a great read - but this time Turtledove makes the everyday life of people in the weird world he’s created into an exciting adventure in itself. That’s not easy!......more

E-book received by way of Edelweiss, thank you! It's a Turtledove alternate history, which is to say that I cannot fault the research and I cared very much for the characters as I read. The plain and chilling premise--what if HIV (known as the Wasting) manifested itself as early as the 16th century--......more

I’m enough of a fan of the alternate history genre that I’ll read new releases from the genre even without any hope of enjoying it. I’ve mentioned elsewhere just how tedious the umpteenth iteration of “What if Hitler won?” is and so I do look forward to the “odd” point of departure. I don’t look for......more