Bitter Seeds

Bitter Seeds begins the Milkweed Triptych, a genre-bedning series set in an alternate version of WWII, where the Nazi's have created super-soldiers, and Britain responds by turning to warlocks and blood-magic.Sounds interesting right? It blends fantasy, historical fiction and sci-fi in a way that somehow works and feels genuine. The way magic works in the book is absolutely brutal. Warlocks appease vast, unknowable, demon-like entities with sacrifices, from a severed finger to a trainload of civilians. The increasing desperation of the British to combat the super-powered Nazi soldiers leads to some pretty questionable decisions made in the name of the greater good, and the viewpoint characters making those decisions end up, understandably, pretty fucked up. Another interesting point is that one of the viewpoint characters is actually one of the Nazi super-soldiers, with the ability to walk through walls. The brutal training he undertakes at the hands of Nazi scientists is awful, and he makes for an interesting character. Overall, the violence is intense, with bullets flying, mortars falling, demons warping reality and Nazis flying around or setting people on fire with their minds. An illustration from the book would make a pretty sick album cover for a metal band.Read this book if:you like WWII, but think it didn't have enough super-soldiers and demons.