Marching Through Georgia

By: S. M. Stirling

Narrated by: David Colacci

The first novel of the rise and fall of the Drakan Empire, an alternative history saga.

In Marching Through Georgia, the Draka begin their conquest of the globe as they fight and best that more obvious horror, the Nazis.

©1988 S. M. Stirling (P)2020 Recorded Books

Alternative dystopian WWII history

S M Stirling’s Marching through Georgia is an alternative history tale with a dystopian orientation. A totalitarian slave owning society, the Draka, is established in South Africa and gradually takes over all of Africa. At the same time, they evolve to few themselves as a master race with aspirations to enslave the entire globe. Most of the story takes during WWII where the Soviet Union has been broken by Hitler. The US, fighting in two theaters, has a tough decision to ally themselves with the Draka to de-feat Hitler who is running roughshod over Europe. The action take place in Georgia (the country) with a crack unit of the unit facing overwhelming odds against superior German forces.

Stirling intersperses the action with generous helpings of backstory both historically dealing with the origins of the Draka as well as personally, dealing with the main characters. Each chapter leads with an excerpt from post-WWII publications, mainly history texts. In addition, there are discussions concerning the philosophical underpinnings of Draka psychology that add insight.

The narration is excellent with solid character distinction. Pacing is even and brisk.

It's a war novel.

I enjoyed the in-universe novels and biographies that filled out the background and points of divergence. I didn't need all the detailed descriptions of weapons and vehicles. Overall, it's not as accessible as the Nantucket series, but I'll probably keep reading.

Normally I dislike fiction but this book was quite enjoyable.

The writing is concise and imaginative. It excels at bringing back elements of victorious neoclassical civilizations. I have already bought the second book.

Story line is good but . . .

The storyline is interesting unfortunately, the narrator performance is stilted, to the point of being boring. Overall, this book would be superb if read by someone with a range for character development and voice. All characters sound the same.

Not Stirling’s best but worthwhile

This is a tale that starts slows and builds. The lack of chapter headings or narrative section breaks make it a bit confusing for an audiobook. Probably not an issue for the written word. Does build but I found myself saying, “Get on with it!” Needs more editing.

Clever idea … just killed by narration

Narration terrible. I couldn’t complete it so I may try it old school and read it.

Couldn’t Finish the Story

I could handle the whole “alternative history” bit, but trying to believe the plethora of advanced technology that the Drakar forces possessed was too much of a stretch. Butterfly bombs, claymore mines, automatic mortars, and shaped charges to name just a few. The author should have steered this story back into the reality what tech was actually available in the 1930-40s.

I keep forgetting his books are slow

The author’s books are not bad, but the pacing is very slow. I read several books by this author a decade or more ago. I forgot that they were generally slow. The narrator definitely does not help. The pacing of the book is likely intentional, but it’s too slow for me.

abysmal racist trash

Awful quality recording and disgusting p*rnographic descriptions of combat and the author's obvious fetishism for apartheid style government.