The Only Thing To Fear

What would've happened if Nazi Germany, Japan, and Italy had won World War II? And what if their experiments led to the development of humans with superpowers. These are the questions author Caroline Tung Richmond attempts to answer in the novel The Only Thing to Fear. In this hypothetical setting, Germany, ruled by Adolf Hitler's great grandson, controls most of the United States, which is where the main character, Zara, and her Uncle Red live. Zara wants to join the rebel Alliance, but her Uncle Red refuses to let her because he’s afraid she’ll be killed like her mother. Zara, who is considered a Mischling or "mixed blood" due to her father being Japanese, is bullied at the private school where she and some of the other non-Aryan teens are forced to work. One Aryan student, however, is kind to her: Bastian, a handsome student whose father is a powerful military officer. She's unsure whether she can trust him when he gets her alone and asks how he can join the Alliance, especially since she's harboring a secret so powerful that it could turn the tide of the rebellion. Readers who like their historical fiction full of action and some science fiction (such as Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan series) may very well enjoy The Only Thing to Fear.