Alpha and Omega is a bit of a departure for Harry Turtledove in that it is not alternate history: it is, instead, a look at what it would be like if [X]-millenarianism became a thing (prefix carefully not specified). As in, Third Temple rebuilding and red heifers and just how literally* Christians should take the Book of Revelation. There’s a lot of people who will find the book to be rank heresy, of course, but the folks likely to be most upset are hard-shelled secularists: Turtledove does his very best to keep from using the standard lazy slams at various faith traditions, and in a lot of ways his fundamentalist Christian viewpoint character is the most open-minded of the bunch**. Even if his eventual conclusions lead right back to the ‘rank heresy’ thing (a result admittedly shared by every other viewpoint character in this book).
Not gonna lie: this ain’t gonna be everybody’s cup of tea, here. But Alpha and Omega is an odd but sincere book about a very tricky topic that engenders strong responses, so keep that in mind if you buy it.
Moe Lane
*Well, it’s in the Bible, so of course we should take it seriously.
**He’s easily the most morally admirable.
Added to the list.
.
I freely admit a love for Christian eschatology.
Oh, it’s got that. Jewish eschatology, too. A decent amount of Muslim, and there probably should have been more.