![]() It turns out that we’re in an alternate timeline in which England has been annexed by the French, the result of Britain’s decisive loss in the Napoleonic Wars decades before. ![]() We begin in Victorian England, retro-futuristic, full of familiar soot and smoke, but showing some key differences: Two of its major cities are “Londres” and “Pont du Cam,” and the former’s rail network is called the “Métro,” with a suspicious accent hovering over the e. ![]() (Minor spoilers follow, so first I’ll spoil this review - effusive praise, with the occasional quibble.) Fans of such stories will be richly entertained by the lavish world-building and breakneck plotting of Natasha Pulley’s “The Kingdoms,” and it’s best to approach the book knowing as little as possible, in order to experience the reveal of its setting along with its amnesiac protagonist. ![]() Dick’s “The Man in the High Castle” or William Gibson and Bruce Sterling’s “The Difference Engine”) can give enterprising writers the chance to work in both genres at once. Speculative fiction and historical fiction are closer cousins than one might think, and alternate-history novels (such as Philip K. ![]()
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