Alternate Endings: A Short Story Anthology of Historical What Ifs by Virginia Crow

Alternate Endings: A Short Story Anthology of Historical What Ifs Reviews

• 
  Christine Cazeneuve

  Wonderful
  
  A whole lot of fun in an anthology of short stories. The authors write with such imagination and absolutely know their subject matter. This was a great find and I highly recommend it!
• 
  Lisa Gentry

  Historical Twists
  
  This is a very scholarly collection of longish short stories that require the reader to have a good historical background of each "what if" scenario. I particularly enjoyed the Tudor ones. That said, the most prescient of all is Abigail Adams' story, "Remember the Ladies." I wanted to weep reading that one. Instead of "what if", all I could think was "if only" for my daughters and granddaughters. This is a clever endeavor.
• 
  Virginia Crow

  Eight historical writers were challenged to ask the greatest question of their genre: What If?
  
  The results are varied in content but equally captivating. This book will take you back into the past, before projecting you forward to a time which might have existed if only one thing was changed. It's a study of how strange it is that one moment - one decision - can dictates the years which follow.
  
  Once you've read this book, you will always be wondering what might have happened; how different the world would be. What then..? What if..?
• 
  Maya Ch

  Brilliant storylines
  
  With one streak of the quill another history unveiled. I thoroughly enjoyed these alternatives. Characters are kept within their respective flaws and strength in entirely different reality, such fun to compare.
• 
  Ann Thomas

  These stories are so well written that I had to keep reminding myself they're fiction. A great exercise in 'What if?' and great entertainment
• 
  Andrea Stoeckel

  Absolutely gorgeous
  
  I am a Tudorphile from long ago. Because of that I quickly got lost in the English history in this fascinating book of "what ifs". The stories from authors other than those are pretty good, but give me "the Henrys", Elizabeth and Mary and I'm golden.
  
  An FYI: These stories are *not* to be taken as true history. Each author got to speculate what might have happened if...
  
  I loved it. Highly Recommended 5/5
• 
  Julia

  The concept of this book was great and inspired me to buy it ($0.99 on Kindle). Unfortunately, for the most part the writing wasn't up to it. I was never drawn to the characters and found the payoffs to be low.
  
  What if Caesar never conquered Gaul - this was a description of how that might have happened, but I couldn't follow it very well since I don't know the actual history of this period.
  
  What if King John didn't die in the Wash in 1216 - this was more of his character development and a lot of battles, but ultimately didn't seem to change history when he did die in the story.
  
  What if Robert of Gloucester hadn't declared support for Maud but instead promised to serve as regent for her son Henry - I liked this one the best, but ultimately it would still be Henry II coming to the throne and it didn't show how Henry might have developed differently without the Maud/Stephen wars.
  
  What if Arthur Tudor didn't die young and had children with Katherine of Aragon - this is a good premise, but it didn't develop beyond Katherine describing that they had children including an heir to the throne and how that foiled Henry's plan to become king.
  
  What if Mary Tudor had married an Englishman instead of Phillip of France - I don't remember much about this story except that her husband was also Catholic and she still didn't have children.
  
  What if Joseph Warren didn't die in Concord in 1775 - I didn't know about Warren prior to reading this story so would be interested to learn more. The writing felt more like a history book than like fiction.
  
  What if Abigail Adams led a suffrage movement during the Continental Congress - great premise. This story is how she might have done it, but not what might have changed in history as the result of women (white only!) in the U.S. having the vote in the 19th century
  
  What if Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were able to escape and live in exile after the French Revolution - told by one of their daughters. Not clear whether this would have changed history, since the story still has Napoleon coming to power.
  
  The ebook does not have a linkable table of contents. The story names and authors are listed on a Contents page at the beginning, but there is no way to jump to each story.
• 
  Helen Robare

  Back in 8th grade, (many, many, many, moons ago) we had to write an essay on any subject we wanted but it had to be at least 2 pages long. I chose to write a "what if Mary, Queen of Scots..." had done something. (Sorry, but I can't remember the entire title of the essay). So, when I saw this book and that it had a story "what if" story about MQOS, I just had to buy it. I was not disappointed in the book or in the story!
  
  Disclaimer: I didn't read two stories in the book because I am not interested in those times in history. But I did read all the others. They span from Ancient Rome up to the American Revolutionary War. All the stories were good to great. I especially enjoyed the stories: Long Live the King, Princess of Spain, Tudors With a Twist, and Remember the Ladies. The other stories were readable but nothing I will remember for very long (I think). :)
  
  I will say that if the authors of the book decide to write another book like this one, I will be one of the first to buy it!
• 
  Carol

  Like any anthology there were stories I liked and a few I didn't care for.