Reviews and Comments

An interesting alternate history based on the premise that Isaac Newton's experiments in alchemy had borne as much fruit as his investigation of physics.

The book roughly consists of two parallel stories: that of Benjamin Franklin in the New World and England, and of a woman named Adrienne in France. Their stories are told in alternating chapters.

Newton's discoveries have opened the door to a whole slew of new inventions, most important of which is called an "aetherscreiber". The basic idea is that two attuned crystals can copy each other's vibrations even if they are literally on the other side of the world - making one-on-one communication possible worldwide. However, they only work in pairs: each screiber can only be attuned to one other, so mass media is not yet possible.
Nonetheless, it is through these ingenuous alchemical devices that the two storylines are linked together, as people in both storylines exchange secretive communications.
But Newton's alchemy can also be used for destruction - Louis XIV, the Sun King, seeks to have it used to develop a weapon in his war against England.
Worse yet, there are other creatures than humans around, and the alchemical process that makes aetherschreibers possible also brings humanity in contact with them. We learn only a little of these mysterious beings, but enough to realize that they do not look kindly upon humankind...

Keyes understands how to end each chapter on a cliffhanger. Perhaps he understands it a little too well, because it feels disappointing to be given a cliffhanger and then have the next chapter continue the other storyline. Still, it is enough to make one keep reading.

My main complaint about the book is that it has a few too many famous people. A meeting between the young Benjamin Franklin and Blackbeard strains its credibility. Similarly, an important side character turns out to be the grandson of d'Artagnan - one can taste how dearly Keyes would have liked to have the historical d'Artagnan in the story. Since the real d'Artagnan had long died before the book starts, Keyes settles for his grandson.

That said, it is a good adventure story with good worldbuilding. Rather than simply having a 1700's world with magic, Keyes has created an alternative 1700's where the new inventions are firmly rooted in alternative science. He even goes so far as to explain how several of these devices work, showing he's given serious thought to the workings of Newton's alchemical science.

It is clearly the start of a series; the opening salvo of a much longer battle. When the book ends, the world is aflame. And the book's epilogue is another cliffhanger.

All in all I found it a good read. Recommended for the lovers of clockpunk, fantastical alternate histories, and adventure stories in general.

"The Realmgate Wars" is a promotional novel, or rather a promotional anthology, for Games Workshop's "Age of Sigmar" tabletop game. The "Age of Sigmar" game was launched in 2015 as the successor to the earlier "WarHammer Fantasy Battle" game. With the new game, there was a new setting, that needed new stories. "The Realmgate Wars" ties the new game to the old one. The world from "WarHammer Fantasy Battle" was physically destroyed, and from its ashes, new worlds arose.

The new worlds had a time of happiness, then had a series of major wars. Those wars ended with most realms being overrun by the forces of Chaos - the archetypical bad guys of the book. Only Azyr, the domain of the warlike god Sigmar, remained unsullied. Sigmar closed the gates of Azyr, and started working on a new army - the Stormcast Eternals. He reincarnated the bravest warriors, trained them rigorously, and then in the first story sets them loose upon the worlds. This is the moment that the titular "Age of Sigmar" begins; all stories and games are set in the time after the god Sigmar unleashes his new elite warriors.

In itself, that premise isn't bad: we have conflict, we have a bunch of heroes, and we literally have entire worlds to explore. Yet, the book disastrously fails to use its potential.

The problem is that there is no characterization, and no character development. All Stormcast Eternals are essentially the same - brave goody two-shoes with at best a hint of darker or deeper emotions. If the name "clone wars" hadn't already been taken by another franchise, it would have been a more appropriate title than "the Realmgate wars".

The titular realmgates themselves are portals: they allow transportation between the different worlds. This naturally makes them strategically important, and the battles mostly revolve around capturing these portals.

Unfortunately, the book has little else than battles. It has almost 900 pages, and barely one without people trading blows. A well-written fight can be interesting, but 900 pages telling us how someone slung their hammer, cracked an enemy head, then dodged a blow, and so on... it gets tedious.

It's a pity, because it could have been so much better. For example, there's the story of Tornus the Redeemed, who is a champion of Chaos but eventually defects to the Stormcasts. He gets occassional paragraphs about his past, that explain to us why he makes this traitorous decision. (If you defect to the good guys, you're still a traitor, just one who chose Team Good). But these paragraphs get buried under seemingly endless descriptions of combat. Nor, for that matter, is there any consequence to this change of allegiance. One would expect the forces of Chaos to hold a deep hatred of the man who switched sides, but instead, it's never mentioned anymore. Not even in a "we don't talk about Tornus" attitude - no, the whole thing is entirely forgotten. Everybody is far too busy doing battle to have personal developments - even grudges against other characters.

Unless you enjoy long descriptions of battles and single combats, this book is not recommended.