Bitter Seeds

This is the first book in a trilogy set in the beginnings of World War II. But in this alternate history the Germans have Dr. Von Westarp's surgically-enhanced super soldiers. These are people that have various unusual abilities like telekinesis, invisibility, precognition, pyrokinesis, and being able to become insubstantial (like moving through solid matter). Most of them are seriously flawed people, though. And, on the English side, there's a shadowy group of warlocks with the ability to control demons. Both sides pay a steep price for these advantages. In the middle of it all is English agent Raybould Marsh, he's a tough character – a little prone to hot-headedness. Fantastic premise, no? But I was a little underwhelmed by its execution. There really wasn't a character that I was enjoying all that much except for maybe the German super soldier Klaus. Also it was both interesting and off-putting to find the so-called good guys (the English) getting involved in some really reprehensible plots. They would do things that would make you root against them. You couldn't easily say, “that guy, there, he's a good guy.” I was not interested enough to continue to the next book.