In this chapter, things get weird.
John asks the readers if he should recount his own personal horror, or if he should just stop at the previous chapter. Of course, we know that he is going to continue, and when one considers that if he hadn’t then the book would abruptly end with him and Joy mutilating human remains, I’m actually a little glad. Only slightly, though, as it means that I have more of this book to read.
After the October Revolution is prevented, a long time passes without anything happening. John suddenly starts talking about the late 1920s, as if he and Joy had nothing of importance to do in the first part of the decade, such as, oh I don’t know, promoting democracy? This is not the worst aspect of this novel (that would be the endless sexualization of Joy) but it is certainly in the top five: glossing over any event that does not require gratuitous violence, or allow Joy to show John up. Some readers would probably have enjoyed the book if it were about political intrigue, but instead, it’s just boring, when it isn’t being horrifying.
John says that the late 1920s is when his life begins to fall apart, and ponders whether telling the readers about what happened will help him deal with his “despair”. It will finally become important that John is narrating the story after it is all complete. But first, there’s a line break.
Many of the events we had set in motion in our trips abroad, and by funneling huge amounts of money into peace and democratically oriented groups and parties, were bearing fruit in the 192Os. In this New Universe, the Czar of Russia abdicated on February 25, 1924, and Kerensky became president of the Russian Republic. Social revolutionaries tried a coup in St. Petersburg, but were easily defeated. (page 307)
I know that somebody pointed this out in the comments to the last part, but how in the flying fuck did Rummel mistake a capital O for a zero? It just boggles the mind. At least this is more-or-less absolute proof that what I am reading is the first draft.
Also, according to that paragraph, the tsar did not abdicate until 1924. Considering what the earlier chapters implied, I am now more confused than ever about the time frame of all this. Did Joy not kill Stalin until the twenties or something? When does all this take place? And nice how the communist revolt is easily put down, even though Kerensky is in charge. In real life he was powerless against the revolutionaries. How did our so-called heroes make him an effective enough leader to be able to bring enough people out of poverty to make communism unpalatable, within a span of merely ten years? The book never says; it just assumes that if certain historical figures had died ahead of schedule, that nobody else would try to put their ideas into action. If you ask me, I think he’s lazy and doesn’t want his characters to actually have to work in order to succeed in their goals.
In the next paragraph, Rummel-as-John discusses Turkey, and talks about how the Armenian genocide was easily prevented because the subjects of the Ottoman Empire all spontaneously decided to overthrow the sultan and establish a Western-style democracy, even though there was no war to catalyze this. No explanation is given as to why the revolt happened without the war, even though the people could have revolted at any time in Real Life but did not do so until their country’s crushing military defeat. John even outright states that he and Joy had nothing to do with it. Furthermore, despite the centuries of religious and ethnic conflict, the Turks have no objection to electing a good proportion of Armenians to their new democratic assembly. If it were the case that democratic revolutions automatically lead to the end of racism, then American slavery would have been abolished in 1776 and the Civil Rights Movement would have been unnecessary, not to mention that Britain and France would never have run brutal imperialistic empires in the 1800s. Sadly, this is not so. If Rummel believes it is, then he is incredibly naïve. I’m a better historian than this guy, and I’m not even a history major. What the hell, man?!
Also glossed over is the fact that the Ottoman Empire was not just Turkey. It also included much of the Middle East, but Syria, Lebanon, Palestine-Transjordan and Iraq are not even mentioned, though if the sultan were overthrown one would think that Arabia would try to declare its independence, which could spark a war. Either Rummel assumed that these events would defuse the crises of the Middle East or he is just clueless. I think you know which option I am prepared to believe.
After the potential powder keg that is the Ottoman Empire is dealt with in a single paragraph, the even more volatile magazine of Japan is briefly revisited. We are told that an attempted coup by some military officers is defeated by pure luck, and a liberal Prime Minister single-handedly destroys the power of the oligarchy and institutes civilian control of the military, all without any violent backlash from the privileged class, which history repeatedly shows us has the level of maturity of a toddler. If my suspension of disbelief were still around, this would be the breaking point.
Our protagonists aren’t even doing anything! This is so anticlimactic.
John is getting older, and one night he has to go relieve himself. He notices that Joy is not in bed either, and assumes that she’s doing some work, or playing a computer game that she apparently programmed. I would still like to know how they kept their electronics in working condition for so long. It’s been more than twenty years now. This would be the equivalent of somebody today using an Apple II. Not to mention that John is not worried even though it has been established that Joy cannot be trusted. If I were in his place, alarm bells would be going off in my head.
It turns out that she took the car. Rummel goes to the trouble of pointing out to us that they have both a LaSalle and a Mercedes-Benz.
John goes back to bed and waits for Joy. When she arrives, he asks her how her computer game went, and she answers his question. Now it has been confirmed that Joy is a liar. Of course, John immediately jumps to the conclusion that she is cheating on him, even though it’s far more likely that she’s trying to do what she did with Stalin a second time. I am tired of this stupidity, Rummel.
John stalks his alleged girlfriend for a while. After finding no proof of her cheating with Hands, Dolphy or Sal, he widens his search, for random employees. After seven weeks of this behavior without finding any evidence of infidelity, a rational man would realize he was mistaken. But evidently, John is not a rational man.
Joy is with another man. She is kissing him. She is purring and caressing him. She is making love to him. He has the whole tour of her body. (page 310)
Oh, please.
He has become so paranoid that the next time Joy leaves the house, he searches the entire apartment. He goes so far as to inspect her dress for another man’s semen, even though almost two months have passed without Joy going anywhere. When did Edward Cullen start to possess John Banks?
“It is . . . Jesus Christ!” (page 311)
I would think that Jesus Christ wants nothing to do with this book.
John has a Eureka Moment, rushes to the newspaper office to read their archives, and figures out the reason for Joy’s strange behavior. He even uses profanity in the narration, when he has usually reserved the swearing for the villains. Now, Joy is not cheating on John, and raise your hand if you knew this already, but she is instead doing something so terrible that John is prepared to leave her; he is so angry that he feels only a “hot ball” in his stomach. If he stayed with her after she killed those Mexican teenagers, then I don’t think he is going to have the balls to break up with her now.
When Joy arrives, John asks her how many people she has killed recently.
When she hears this accusation, Joy pretends to cry. John does not care.
Joy doesn’t actually know how many people she killed; she thinks maybe four or five. John yells at her that the true number is eleven, in that year alone. But instead of calling the police, John gets in his car and drives away. Joy is dead to him now.
It is finally dawning on him that Joy is a murderer, and that this is not right.
Joy finds him, and she looks terrible. (Rummel actually describes her as looking like a gypsy; screw political correctness.) Despite her style of clothing and the age she is in, she is not stopped by police. She explains to John that after the incident in Mexico, she would, from time to time, go into the poorer parts of town to see if anybody would attack her. If they did, she would kill them. She thinks she’s like Batman, even though there is the oh-so-slight difference that BATMAN DOES NOT KILL PEOPLE!
This confession angers John so much that he tells her that he wants to end their mission. Perhaps it is for this reason that Joy makes a shallow apology and tries to get them back together.
And with John forcing her to swear that she will not kill any common criminals ever again, the chapter ends.
THIS IS FORESHADOWING.
Tim on 7 August 2013, 10:01 said:
So yeah, the big twist about the time-travelling murderers is that one of them is secretly a murderer.
And then John was a zombie.
Asahel on 7 August 2013, 10:44 said:
Now I feel better about having missed the twist. I was actually looking for one.
swenson on 7 August 2013, 10:58 said:
That’s… the twist? Really?
…
I don’t know if I should feel stupid for missing the possibility that the mass murderer is committing murder, or proud that I didn’t even consider that.
Pryotra on 7 August 2013, 15:46 said:
Why?
Seriously, why?
Nicolas II originally abdicated because it was pretty much the only way that Russia would stay in WWI, from my knowledge. Even if I’m wrong, there’s no reason why he would abdicate by himself with no pressure from anyone else.
No. Just no. Oligarchies have this thing about giving up power. You’re right, that is actually stupider then the Ottoman Empire suddenly deciding to embrace religious tolerance. That’s hard to do.
Ya think?
Also…erm…where’s the Depression? Is he seriously saying that if there was no ebil commies and monarchs, there’d have been no depression at all? At the very least the Dust Bowl would still be there.
Or did everyone being a democracy magically make people not want to farm the midwest?
Fireshark on 7 August 2013, 15:49 said:
I think we’re still in the 20’s, and the Depression didn’t hit in full until 1929. Still, it’s silly that they wouldn’t even discuss it.
swenson on 7 August 2013, 17:10 said:
Don’t worry, the power of CAPITALISM will avert the Great Depression. And because money can control the weather, it will also stop the Dust Bowl from happening. And everything will be just peachy.
Or perhaps they’re going to assassinate the weatherman. Who knows?
Fireshark on 7 August 2013, 19:27 said:
Just wanted to share this little gem from Rummel’s page, in the entry for book 5 of the series:
lilyWhite on 7 August 2013, 19:51 said:
The twist is that Joy killing whoever she wants is treated as a bad thing for once here.
Maria on 7 August 2013, 20:44 said:
Wait, so Joy is actually a serial killer. I mean, she was a murderer before, but “driving out into another part of town at night and killing random people just for kicks,” is serial killer behavior. Her past crimes could be explained as political assassinations, but this is seriously Ted Bundy / Aileen Wuornos territory.
Azure on 7 August 2013, 21:39 said:
UGH. The thing is, this is (sort of) a real-life response to trauma. If a person has been in a situation where they were powerless, they may go out seeking dangerous situations (such as wandering into bad parts of town to get into fights) in order to validate themselves. Not by killing people, of course — like I said, it’s a validation thing.
On the other hand, Joy is just getting into dangerous situations as an excuse for killing people for fun…?
If you’re into YA, a good book that explores this phenomenon is Bruised by Sarah Skilton.
(Kinda off-topic comment, just had to share this.)
goldedge on 8 August 2013, 13:55 said:
John you are such a hypocrite!
Lone Wolf on 11 August 2013, 02:35 said:
I actually like that Joy’s antics finally get her in some real trouble. Honestly, this part of the book isn’t actually that bad, with Joy’s descent portrayed realistically enough. Pity that Rummel decided to continue his series with a heap of yet-another-new-universe-reset-button sequels, getting rid of whatever redeeming qualities the first book had.
Maria on 12 August 2013, 02:43 said:
Is it really a descent if the character’s behavior hasn’t changed?
Lone Wolf on 13 August 2013, 03:39 said:
Well, previously all her assassinations were political and all people killed deserved it, at least, according to Rummel.
swenson on 13 August 2013, 08:28 said:
Lone Wolf on 13 August 2013, 09:18 said:
To be fair, you can hardly blame our heroes for killing Hitler. Mind you, they also, among other things, killed young teenage Zhou Enlai, because Rummel sucks at historical chronology.
Pryotra on 13 August 2013, 11:40 said:
Unless of course, with the changes that they’d already made to the timeline, he was going to go one to write a successful fantasy series rather than commit genocide, but those two never really consider that kind of thing.
Tim on 14 August 2013, 18:06 said:
Yeah, without the First World War and German war reparations I doubt he would have even joined the Nazi party, assuming anyone had actually found reason to form it in the first place. So congrats, you killed someone probably destined to life as a middle-of-the-road landscape painter.
Again, even Terminator 2 has a better grasp of ethics than Rummel.
A Real Libertarian on 15 August 2013, 21:24 said:
Speaking of that why didn’t they kill Lin Biao?
Yes he’s five but do you really think Joy would have any problems with strangling a kindergartener?
My guess is Rudy doesn’t know who Lin Biao is.
goldedge on 18 August 2013, 06:04 said:
Somehow I get the felling that John and Joy wouldn’t be into fantasy literature. and by extension Rummel.
Apep on 18 August 2013, 09:12 said:
Actually, I’m pretty sure that was a reference to The Iron Dream, a sort-of alt-history novel where Hitler immigrates to the US and eventually becomes a very successful (yet still terrible) sci-fi/fantasy writer. The actual story in the book, Lord of the Swastika (yes, just go with it), is supposed to be his last story, written shortly before he died of syphilis. Apparently it’s something like Mein Kampf if it were science fiction.
goldedge on 20 August 2013, 20:48 said:
@Apep and yet The Iron Dream is still a better written book then War and Democide Never Again. (and also The Sword Of Truth by Terry Goodkind)
goldedge on 20 August 2013, 20:52 said:
well in the Tim Burton movies he sort of does.
Libraryseraph on 19 September 2013, 19:46 said:
“It is . . . Jesus Christ!” (page 311)
Last time I checked, Jesus sort of thought adultery was a sin. Just sayin’