Review: 1919: The Romanov Rising

By Kratman, Ezell and Watson

Some time back, we reviewed The Romanov Rescue, by Thomas Kratman, Kacey Ezell and Justin Watson. The premise was relatively straightforward: a German General repents unleashing Lenin and Communism on Tsarist Russia, and devises a plan to send Russian POWs back to Russia in order to save their homeland from this new barbarism.

But the success of the mission isn’t the end of the story. It’s barely the beginning.

Story

SPOILERS FOR THE ROMANOV RESCUE

Now that Tatiana Romanov is the Tsarina of all the Russias (and the two dozen titles that come with it) the battle against the Bolshevik bastards has barely begun. Enemy forces are closing in on their little stronghold. Word War One is still ongoing. And there other duties for the surviving Romanovs to attend to—forming external alliances. Much of this book is what Victor Davis Hanson would call the ripples of battle, or what Rod Serling called pulling on the threads in the tapestry of history. Because when the Romanovs are saved, the face of history is going to change, and not just in Russia.

The first mission is to save yet another Romanov, “Aunt Ella” who became a nun after becoming widowed by Red assassin years earlier. But being cloistered saves no one from the damned commies, and the Romanov forces have to fight through Bolsheviks, take a city and hold it against the enemy.

Meanwhile, on the Western front, we follow two men attached to MacArthur as they are sent into the field, and get hijacked into the action. We aren’t shown how they tie in with the main storyline until the very end … but a reader thinking ahead can probably predict where they’re going to fit in with the grand scheme of things.

Finally, with Tatiana on the throne, there are two spare princesses, Anastasia and Maria. Since King George V is a relative (Queen Victory had enough offspring that the major royalty in Europe were all related), he has offered the Romanovs sanctuary in England. To go east would be to go through two warzones, both German and Bolshevik. The only option is to go through the United States. That in itself is an adventure.

This book is quite a fun read. There is plenty of history and military porn. You don’t necessarily need to know all of the players going in, but if you do, it’s entertaining. On the American front, our point of view characters end up dealing with MacArthur, Patton, Wild Bill Donovan and Father Duffy of the Fighting 69th and fighting in the Argonne. When we follow two of the Romanov sisters through America, they fall in with a prominent American family. And following the Romanov forces just picks up from the first novel like we didn’t take a breath.

All the little touches here are entertaining. Dealing with MacArthur, and writing the first meeting between him and Patton, is amusing, especially considering their histories and personalities. No one here is portrayed as stupid, be it throwaway bit players, or even among the antagonists—perhaps inexperienced, evil, lazy and / or sadistic, but not necessarily stupid. One of my favorite parts include the casual and random encounter with visiting American businessmen.

Of course, Romanov Rising covers a lot of genres: alternate history, military action, military comedy, some romance thrown in, and enough political manipulation to make George RR Martin look like even more of a poser. Some of the ripples of battle are spelled out, and others aren’t. If you expect to get a blow-by-blow of what changed, in some sort of Bernard Cornwell afterword, you’re not going to get it. If you don’t know the history, just sit back and enjoy the ride. If you do, you’re going to get a collection of little Easter eggs throughout.

Since this is a novel with Tom Kratman attached, there is training involved. Not as much as the first one. This one focuses more on artillery, and how to train when you can’t spare the ammo for live fire exercises.

It also highlights just how the Romanov forces have even a chance of survival—the Bolsheviks may be numerous, but they were also inexperienced, and there was no firm control over the country at this point. It helps that Russia is insanely large. There is a lot of emphasis on outmaneuvering and outthinking a numerically superior force. In Romanov Rescue, they had to create a SpecOps handbook for rescue operations. In Romanov Rising, it’s time to invent early insurgency tactics… which, in part, includes breaking their morale, and recruiting from the disaffected. (If anything, the Bolsheviks knew how to make enemies and influence people.) And sometimes, the only defense is a good offensive ambush.

One criticism I will give this book is mild whiplash. The first 40% of the book is a nonstop rush of the Tsarina’s forces to fend off Bolshevik attack. Then we cut to the American forces on the Western front for a long stretch. In the final third, the tone switches again to Anastasia in America. It feels like three separate novellas covering concurrent events. The only reason this is disorienting is that The Romanov Rescue had one tone, going to one conclusion. 1919: The Romanov Rising has three distinct tones. And there are other sides to the conflict only introduced late in the novel.

I will note that (in real life) there was an Allied Expeditionary Force to Archangel in 1918 that has only gotten a brief mention, and I’m wondering if it’s going to be touched on more in the next book. And yes, I’m looking forward to the next book.

Characters

There are many characters here. Exceedingly many. We are not at the levels of War and Peace, where you hope a named character dies so you know longer have to track the patronymics, but there are moments.

All of the historical figures are well drawn and fleshed out as human beings, not just NPCs in the narrative. It’s the little details. Having the only person in the room noticing Anastasia’s bodyguard being the former New York Cop … Theodore Roosevelt. Or having MacArthur meet Patton. Or Marie Curie’s daughter introducing the latest technology—portably X-ray machines.

Tsarina Tatiana is a fun character on multiple levels. We see her in more of her royal regalia — which is cobbled together from military kit, setting the tone perfectly. And seeing how she’s dragged into the action is innovative and amusing. It’s mostly because she reads English … and the artillery instruction manuals are written in English. Hilarity ensues. She’s also highly pragmatic, and it effects everything around her, largely in a positive fashion.

On the American front, we have Hank Thornton and Sigi Abramovich. Hank is a big burly Texan and Sigi is a short Jewish nerd, and both of these poor bastards are attached to MacArthur. Watching their progression is fun, if only to watch them get sucked down the rabbit hole by events, and their subsequent learning curves.

As for the Bolsheviks … it helps that in the real world, they are as close as one gets to mustache-twirling evil for the sake of being evil. Remember, these are the same people who thought it was a good idea to model their hierarchy like the French Terror.

Then there’s dealing with Woodrow Wilson—who is also such a cartoonishly vile human being, he doesn’t need much to flesh out his nonsense.

World

The team of writers do a great job developing the world of 1919, from Russia and America, to Bolshevik nonsense … including some sequences among the Red army that looks like a comedy routine that makes sense in a “so stupid it must be real” sort of way.

One of the Reds stopped them and asked “Password, comrades!”

“We don’t know it,” Mokrenko admitted, bluffing. “Ninth Company, don’t you know, comrade, and you know what our leadership is like. I was hoping to find out the password at headquarters, but I’m not sure where headquarters is.”

The Red shrugged, resignedly. “Yeah. I’m not surprised.… To tell the truth, comrades, I was hoping you would know [the password].”

It gets funnier when later, you read that the man in charge deliberately hid his tent at night so he could sleep through the night. These and other things happen WHEN YOU KILL OFF THE ACTUAL MILITARY COMMANDERS.

During Anastasia’s trip through America, there are some interesting cultural observations on American values that rarely get spelled out. No, the United States doesn’t have royalty, but we do value those who labor—even the millionaires who put in the work.

Politics

There are no modern politics here, unless you think the Bolsheviks were the heroes, in which case, there’s not much I can do for you.

Much of the politics in the novel boil down to chess. “If X-person does Y-move, how does Z respond” sort of thing.

Content warning.

This is a Kratman novel, so there is torture.

There is also rape—largely off screen, and just mentioned. This author isn’t some pervert that must highlight every last detail, we’re not in Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Also, there are some colorful executions with bayonets and makeshift crucifixion.

Who is this for?

For fans of alternate history who want to see a truly world-changing counterfactual. This isn’t some Harry Turtledove where he has the South win the Civil War for the ninth time. This is about something.

Why Buy It?

Learn a little history while rewriting it, all while enjoying a taught action thriller with some political intrigue thrown in.