Rating: 
Summary: A gate to another world, in a book that goes nowhere
Review: "Conquistador" is S. M. Stirling's finest work of fiction. It's a delicious romp through the alternate history and alternate dimension subgenres of science fiction. Stirling offers an engrossing, spellbinding look at what if Hellenic civilization survived to dominate most of the known world, and that America would not be discovered until 1946 due to travelers from an alternate dimension, namely, ours. To his credit he has two splendid protagonists in California Fish and Game warden Tom Christianson and Adrienne Rolfe, the mysterious heir of a fortune discovered by her grandfather in 1946. But Stirling's other main characters are credible, three-dimensional characters. Unlike some other reviewers I am not going to spoil the plot, but will say that this is one of the best works of its kind that I've come across. Fans of Stirling's earlier work, and those who are admirers of alternative history will find this a superbly crafted tale.
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Summary: poweful alternate history
Review: After receiving a battle-related injury during World War II, John Rolfe recuperates in Oakland, California. John works with a short wave radio when an explosion occurs that opens an entrance into an alternate earth. In this world Europeans never traveled to the equivalent of North America. Thus the continent remains environmentally clean and loaded with natural resources unlike his birth world. Over the years, John and his descendants selects twenty-nine other families to work with him on exporting the riches of "New Virginia" without destroying the beauty of the place.In 2009, law enforcement officials raid a First Side (this world) warehouse in Los Angeles. The company worries that someone smuggled items through the gate, which if not stopped could lead to the industrial and governmental complex learning of New Virginia and raping its pristine landscape. John's granddaughter Adrienne tries to uncover the identity of the traitor while Department of Fish and Game Agent Tom Christiansen works a case that brings him into her sphere. Tom and Adrienne are attracted to one another, but neither trusts the other though they need to team up to stop the destruction of New Virginia. Fans of alternate history will appreciate the depth that S. M. Stirling imbues in his delightful new novel. The rich story line makes readers believers that other dimensions containing different earths exist because the key cast members come across as authentic in their dealings on both planets. Adding fun is that Tom and Adrienne love one another and share so much in common including mistrust and a need to find the Judas-like betrayer before Eden is wrecked. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: Read and Toss
Review: Conquistador is a good book; a book that passed the time, but it is a book that I will NEVER read again. The premise is great, lots of new ideas, but also lots of little implausibilities and wasted potential. My biggest complaint, however, is Stirling's treatment of the Native peoples in his new world. The natives are the servants (a polite word for low paid and exploited slaves) and they are the "bad guys" (shades of 1950's cowboys and indians). I can understand the attitude of the characters that were born in the depression. People raised in a different time had different morals and ethics. The problen is that the protagonist and all of his cronies seem to buy right into the exploitation with only token resistance. Even ignoring the shabby treatment of the natives, the story seemed somewhat lacidasical. Sterling took the easy way out of each confrontation and situation that the characters faced. I found it much too predictable for a science fiction story. Overall, a good beach read. Take it on vacation to read and then toss it as soon as your done. Maybe you'll even get lucky and be able to snap up my copy at the used book store.
Rating:
Summary: A Gateway to Paradise
Review: Conquistador is an intercontinual SF adventure novel. Unlike pure alternate history stories, this novel depicts a connection between two very different timelines. The interdimensional aspect of the plot is much like stories from the 1930s: a man is tinkering with a radio when, suddenly, a silvery curtain appears on his basement wall. Of course, the phenomenon is an interdimensional interface, so he gathers some army buddies and they scout the situation. Later, he and his friends establish homesteads in the new world. The hero of this novel is John Rolfe VI of the Virginia Rolfes. A graduate of VMI, he has served as an infantry officer in the Pacific theater, invaliding out after the Okinawa invasion, and rents a home in Oakland, CA, while looking for a job. When the interworld gate opens in his basement, it connects to the same geographic coordinates in the other timeline, a San Francisco area populated only by Indian tribes untroubled by any European invaders. After determining that the interface is not a time machine, he and his friends establish contact with the natives and promptly start plagues. Later, they make contact with an Asian civilization unknown in their own world and promptly carry smallpox from the Orient to Hawaii. In fact, their contacts with the natives results in a 90% dieoff of the North American population. This novel follows an employee of the California Department of Fish and Game as he tries to track down a poaching ring that is selling the hides and other items from protected species, including a live California Condor. He and his partner are puzzled by the sheer quantity of the items, not to mention the condor being unrelated to any other known bird. Then he sees a live Dodo just before a building falls on him and burns to the ground. During the investigation, he meets a very attractive, and rich, woman who is also investigating the case for her family. Unknown to him, she is a Gate Security Force agent trying to protect the secret of the intercontinual interface. After a couple of fizzled busts, he begins to suspect that she is closer connected to the case than she lets on. Nevertheless, he is very much attracted to her. This novel is much like Piper's Paratime Police novels, but the point of view is a native rather than a paratimer. It describes a modest crosstime intrusion, much like most of Piper's stories. However, it definitely expands on the possible harms such contacts can inflict. The epidemics delineated in the story, however, are quite historical in effect if not cause; the Columbian era in North America saw the native populations almost totally destroyed by common European diseases, most specifically smallpox, but also childhood diseases such as measles and chickenpox. The results were much like the Black plague in Europe, but even more deadly. Recommended for Stirling fans and anyone who enjoys Piper's Paratime stories.
Rating: 
Summary: Good if you irnore certain facts
Review: Doesn't it feel a bit odd that the people of this new world 1. Just happen to find a portal to the new world in the first place in a move that is never explianed
2. Manage to wipe out the vast majority of the Native American population and apparently not have a problem with it
3. Are trying to recreate a society(the south of the late 18th and early 19th cwntury that never really existed in the first place Overall-Ignoring my three basic problems this actually an ok book. I try to read this author all the way through, God knows I try but somehow his books always start strong, than fall off, than get strong agian. I really don't know what my problem is must be my short attention span. Part of my also wants to like this book, but than another part can't stand the charecters. With the possible exception of the 1970s graduate student he was cool and probably the only time I laughed in the entire book.
Rating:
Summary: Good if you irnore certain facts
Review: Doesn't it feel a bit odd that the people of this new world 1. Just happen to find a portal to the new world in the first place in a move that is never explianed
2. Manage to wipe out the vast majority of the Native American population and apparently not have a problem with it
3. Are trying to recreate a society(the south of the late 18th and early 19th cwntury that never really existed in the first place Overall-Ignoring my three basic problems this actually an ok book. I try to read this author all the way through, God knows I try but somehow his books always start strong, than fall off, than get strong agian. I really don't know what my problem is must be my short attention span. Part of my also wants to like this book, but than another part can't stand the charecters. With the possible exception of the 1970s graduate student he was cool and probably the only time I laughed in the entire book.
Rating:
Summary: Great but you left me hanging....
Review: God bless quantum physics and S.M. Stirling's ability to play with its concepts. Conquistador is a good, light read with interesting characters and concepts. Plenty of action too. I just think it should have been about two hundred pages longer. With those extra pages devoted to more in the way of character building and storyline. I would love to see a prequel and some sequels to this work. Having never read anything by Stirling that I didn't like, I must say that this piece came the closest to a three star rating.
Rating: 
Summary: An Average Effort
Review: Having read much of what S.M. Stirling has written, I felt a little let down by this book. The premise of the story is great, John Rolfe VI, a discharged WW2 vet finds a way to cross into an unspoiled parallel California and rule it as his own. Unfortunately, there are former friends seeking to wrest control from him, as after all there are always serpents in any Paradise. There are great moments in the book. I enjoyed the portrayal of different clans descended from Rolfe's unit, and vintage Mosquitoes as an Air Force. The tipping point of Alexander continuing to rule instead of dying in India provides a good point of divergence from our timeline. However, I was left wanting more than the stock ending with an obvious twist in the book. My feeling is that Conqiustador reads more like adventure and mystery in feudal California than the full blown novel of "what if" I had hoped for.
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Summary: Stirling Outdoes Himself
Review: His best work of alternate history yet. In the tradition of the Draka series, characters you wouldn't bring home for dinner build a world you won't want to leave. Not for the humor-impaired or the Politically Correct.
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Summary: What a Wonderful Book
Review: I buy books to be edified and 99.999 percent of them fail. I buy books to be entertained, and 95 percent of them fail. So, when I caught the cable car here in San Francisco down to Border's Books at Union Square and went shopping, I didn't expect much for the $ and 10 books I bought. But this little paperback proved to be quite an entertainment. As a interdimensional-timetravel-sciFi it wasn't much, but then again I didn't expect the writer to actually make me BELIEVE in traveling between worlds. And, the world he took me to I did sort of like. The romantic part wasn't particularly believable, but then again, I didn't want a book that took me through the pains of real-life love. As a thriller it had its right moments of thrill and plot action, and I sincerely appreciated that. I needed the diversion, thank you very much, and the films at the theater looked too intense (re: The Passion, etc.). I finde it hard to discover a thriller that delivers on all levels, and this one seemed to do the job. So I spun away a wonderful Saturday reading this book. I didn't answer the phone (it rang, several times). I didn't do the laundry (save that for another day). I sat on the sofa in my highrise apartment here in San Francisco and looked out over the bay and saw a different world, a world of Mr. Stirling's creation. And, while it wasn't as politically correct as the real world outside my door should really be, the book worked just fine for this fine Saturday. I want to thank the author for a wonderful diversion. Using Somerset Maugham's criteria--that a novel is a success if it is enjoyed--then I would say this book is a wonderful success. And, the greatest measure of success, as far as I am concerned, is to find a author whose books I will buy the moment they appear in hardback. Although I bought this one in paperback, I will certainly look for whatever he has next that comes out in hardcover. That is my signaller of a job well done. Many thanks to the author.
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