I haven't read many alt-history novels for the contest because I'm competing in that category myself, but I had to take a peek at TNP because it was giving off major GL vibes, and I love my GL.

The opening of the book is absolutely brutal, both the plot and the way it's written. I've never thought of myself as someone who gets queasy from fiction, but the way some medical details are described in the book made me reconsider that, and that's quite an achievement.

It doesn't take long for the story to introduce the GL. The main character, Shion, initially sees Chizuru like a puppy who wets the floor, but quickly leaves that impression behind as she falls madly in love. If I have a small criticism of this, it seems like she does a complete 180 on Chizuru a bit too fast, but there's a story that needs to be told and a lot of flirting to fit in along the way.

The first part of the story establishes a lot of the details of this timeline, and they're mostly well thought out and compelling. Then, after some flirting, around the start of the second half, it kicks into high gear and almost gives off a Wolfenstein feeling, except instead of fighting Mecha-Hitler at the end, it's a bunch of Nazi gene cultists. An interesting concept, to be sure.

Obviously, reading about Nazis is none too comfortable, but it's handled well here, especially at the end where it breaks the strongman aura around Hitler and Tojo boy showing them to be weak cowards.

If there were a few niggling things preventing me from giving this story that fifth star, it would be:

- The quick turnaround in Shion's feelings for Chizuru
- Some chapters near the middle where there's a lot of dialogue that's really just exposition
- A lack of a satisfying counterpunch against the Nazis. They only really fight against the cult, despite having a seeming opportunity to take advantage of the situation to score big for the rebellion.

But the ending is all fluffy GL goodness, the setting is great, and it's an honest-to-goodness alt-history novel, and if you're into those things, this is definitely worth a read.