Ben Jeapes new book, The New World Order, is one of those rousing, entertaining science fiction romps that also manages to make some intriguing philosophical points along the way. Written primarily with older teens in mind, this alternate history merges the bloody history of 17th century England with a tale of alien invasion and a conflicted father-son relationship, giving readers an often sparkling mixture of masterful alien generals, Oliver Cromwell, Cavaliers, machine guns, floating airships, and multiple layers of religious warfare.

Set against the height of the battle between King Charles I and Cromwell's Puritan Roundheads, this tale interposes the presence of another force as well: the alien Holekhors. On a pretty spring day, Parliamentary soldiers bring a fellow named John Donder to the captain in charge of the siege of a Royalist stronghold. Donder gets a firsthand glimpse as a new regiment of troops reinforces the attackers; the leader of this new force orders the attack of the fort. Intriguingly, however, the new troops have amazing new weapons - not the typical muskets of the day but sophisticated repeating rifles that threaten the Royalist position.

In the midst of the resulting battle, Donder manages to slip away. He's amazed at the presence of these new weapons - amazed primarily because he can't fathom how such weapons came to England before the impending invasion force. You see, while Donder may look like a typical English peasant, he is something far more dangerous, far more threatening to both sides in England's civil war. He is actually Dhon Do, the powerful general responsible for many of his Empire's prior military successes, and he has been charged with successfully establishing the Holekhor colony on this new world.

Jeapes uses many of the standard devices of this type of alternate history - for example, a "gate" of sorts between worlds that allows the Holekhor access to Earth, and allows them to easily transport troops and supplies back and forth. Dhon Do, as it turns out, has been to Earth before, years previously, as part of an information-gathering expedition gone wrong. His companions all died and he lost his memory; during this period he met a lovely woman and became a baptized Christian. Then he remembered his duty and reluctantly returned to his world, only in the end to be given the assignment of subjugating Earth.