Alternate History Online reviews WOLF HUNT

A.J. Nolte has posted his review of WOLF HUNT over at the AHWU Blog. Thanks, A.J.!

When you think of alternate history, two time periods jump immediately to mind: the American Civil War and World War 2. By far, these two conflicts are the most frequently re-imagined periods in alternate history, with many novels, anthologies and scholarly essays dedicated to them. Among these alternate histories, many posit the idea of modern, or even slightly near-future military elements going back in time to change the course of the war. Harry Turtledove's Guns of the South and John Birmingham's Axis of Time trilogy are only two of the more well-known examples. With Wolf Hunt, Sebastian Breit appears to be embarking on a project similar in scope to Birmingham's well-known trilogy. So when I read Breit's novel, I was looking for it, ultimately, to do one thing: distinguish itself from every other World War 2 alternate history ever written.

At this, I would have to say Wolf Hunt was modestly successful. The premise is a bit too reminiscent of the Axis of Time trilogy for total uniqueness; an allied, U.S.-led force is on its way to perform a humanitarian intervention, when it is pulled back in time to World War 2. After an extremely devastating bout of blue on blue violence which feels just a bit contrived, the up-timers set about trying to change the course of the war, to the detriment of the Nazis. Beyond these similarities, however, many of the differences actually favor Breit's novel over Birmingham's. For one thing, and this is the true hook of Wolf Hunt, over half the modern task force is German. This also makes the eventual blue on blue violence somewhat more explicable than Birmingham's "oops, we just ran into the down-timer U.S. navy" plot device in Axis of Time.

 Read the rest here.