A review by wah38
The Mirage by Matt Ruff
4.0
Most alt-history novels have a wink for the readers every so often: an important player is vaguely described and then revealed at the end of the chapter to be a historical figure. But this book has so many winks that if it were a person I'd think they were having a seizure. That could be a good or a bad thing depending on what you like.
Beyond that, I don't understand objections to this book that Bin Laden and Saddam are portrayed as evil: as a major character says, evil men are evil men in all universes. The same goes for all the American characters: they are as evil in this book as they are in real life. It's not Ruff's job to write a pro-bin Laden book any more than it would be his job to write a pro-Dick Cheney ("Quail Hunter" as he's hilariously called here) book.
Beyond that, I don't understand objections to this book that Bin Laden and Saddam are portrayed as evil: as a major character says, evil men are evil men in all universes. The same goes for all the American characters: they are as evil in this book as they are in real life. It's not Ruff's job to write a pro-bin Laden book any more than it would be his job to write a pro-Dick Cheney ("Quail Hunter" as he's hilariously called here) book.