A first impression of The Other Teddy Roosevelts by Mike Resnick

The Other Teddy Roosevelts by Mike Resnick
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Please note: this review is not a complete assessment of the work. I only read half of the book. I do plan on going back and reading the rest. Frankly I’m too excited not too. Though I want to give my impressions on are still fresh in my memory.
I’m not expert on the genre. I’m just a guy that found this book and is enjoying his time with it.
As the title suggests you’re introduced to different Teddy Roosevelts. In this collection of short stories the author Mike Resnick asks questions like what if Roosevelt stop jack the ripper, or battled aliens found in HG Wells war the world’s. At this time I’m in the middle of the story where Roosevelt, after leaving the responsibilities of being the president United States and looking at a life as an Ex-president, decides to ‘civilize the Congo’ and make it into democracy.
To be honest, before I started reading the stories I was unsure how I would take a bunch of stories with no merit to the historical significance or facts surrounding Roosevelt’s life. I was surprised how much these stories leaned on events in Roosevelt’s life. The characters constantly remind you of Roosevelt being the Harvard champion at boxing and that he wrote countless best Sellers on natural subjects such as birds.
I must admit this gets a little daunting after some time. Though it is a great way to remind yourself of what the man actually did. I could see if I was a high Schooler writing a paper on Roosevelt this book would help me remember his real accomplishments.
The imaginative elements are somewhat farfetched. Though, this is a little bit to be expected. We know Teddy Roosevelt did not do these things that the book claims he did. The author is in the writing a biography of the man. He’s just asking simple questions and playing out in the fiction what that might look like and what events might follow.
The writing style reminds me of an action adventure story or pulp novel. There are things happening all the time. It’s a bit cheesy. Luckily for me I like cheese. All in all it adds to the fun. As I stated in the paragraph above, the author is in making some big statement about Roosevelt he’s just interjecting the wonderful character of the man into some of the most beloved an interesting set things he can think of.
If you’re looking for a group of stories that don’t take themselves too serious and you have a sense of humor and I really enjoy this. If you’re young person, whom is interested in science fiction and fantasy or history you might want to give this book a try. I wish I discovered it when I was 15.

UPDATE: I Have finished the book.

From reading the rest of it I still have the same impression of the book that I did when I wrote the review I labeled as my reading observations. The book is a fun read and one I would recommend people picking up if they are into alternative histories or and American history.


View all my reviews