The Peshawar Lancers

Author: S. M. Stirling

S.M. Sterling’s Steampunk/Alternate History/Post-Apocalyptic novel The Peshawar Lancers has a lot of work to do! It tells a story of an Earth devastated by a massive meteor shower during the reign of Queen Victoria and her Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. The Earth begins to recover, with the Industrial Revolution stalled out following the damage, and by 2025 there’s been a serious return with the world now technologically about the level of 1900 in our timeline. The Angrezi Raj, under King John II, is the most powerful in the world, and Aethelstane King leads the Peshawar Lancers who defend the norther border areas. Sterling’s writing is so crisp and fluid in The Peshawar Lancers, folding in influences as far-ranging as H. Beam Piper and Robert E. Howard to Wells and Vonnegut. It’s impressive, action-packed storytelling, but it’s the world that he builds that is so incredible. Playing with the history, as well as extrapolating on the path of human society after a massive geologic event, coupled with the character of Aethelstane King and the adventures he leads his men on, makes this a novel that is one of the finest examples of whatever sub-genre you decide to put it in! Why it’s on the list A wonderful bit of world-building and an incredibly fun story!