History YMMV / Victoria

* ValuesResonance: By contrast, at least some segments of the Alt-Right have enjoyed the book precisely because much of it resonates with their values. Make of that what you will.

* CrazyAwesome: The Northern Confederation and its allies. Due to their out-there reactionary ideology, they will not accept modern technology like computers and drones, but fight with light infantry and [[SchizoTech a hodgepodge of equipment from every era from World War I to the Gulf War]], as well as insane WeirdScience Dieselpunkish tech their own mad scientists dream up. They also use [[BlingOfWar outlandish military uniforms]] of every description derived from every country and era from the Napoleonic Wars onward, with doughboys fighting right next to dragoons with plumed helmets and neo-Prussians in Pickelhauben. Their craziness also ''works'', since the weird tactics they implement [[ConfusionFu are never anticipated]] by their enemies, and their massively schizoid tech mix is just about CrazyEnoughToWork versus enemies optimized for modern high-tech warfare.

* ValuesResonance: By contrast, at least some segments of the Alt-Right have enjoyed the book precisely because much of it resonates with their values.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: Somewhat surprisingly, the Nazis. After being treated to a CharacterFilibuster by Kraft on the matter of why not only Nazism, but any and all ideologies ever invented are always evil and dysfunctional and will cause the states that believe in the to fail, Hauptsturmfuehrer Halsing [[ArmorPiercingQuestion asks]] him whether this also applies to his own ideology of Retroculture. Kraft then argues that [[InsistentTerminology Retroculture of course is not an ideology, merely the practical application of basic common sense]], but proves unable to convince Halsing of this view. While the author evidently expects the audience to agree with Kraft, his argument can easily come across as the weaker one.

* ValuesResonance: By contrast, at least some segments of the Alt-Right have enjoyed the book precisely because much of it resonates with their values. As [[https://voxday.blogspot.com/2014/11/victoria-novel-of-4th-generation-war.html Vox Day]] puts it, for example:
-->And let's face it, no book that begins with the burning of a female Episcopalian bishop at the stake is uninteresting. That's what made me read it in the first place.

The series:
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Naturally, as a period piece there is a lot of this. Victoria is distrusted by even her uncle as a female monarch who is felt to need a man's supervision. Lord Melbourne, though a liberal and progressive for his time, refers to the Chartist petition for universal suffrage, among other "radical" reforms, as impossible (all are taken for granted now). Even Victoria scoffs at the idea of women having the right to vote. All TruthInTelevision, of course.

* BrokenBase: People tend to either love the book for it's unflinching nature and presentation of conservative values and grassroots tactics, or despise it for it's frothing insanity and open racism, misogyny, sheer spite etc. With very little ground in between. The latter group of audience will also peel and roast it's delivery of said values and tactics.

* ValuesDissonance: Naturally, as a period piece there is a lot of this. Victoria is distrusted by even her uncle as a female monarch who is felt to need a man's supervision. Lord Melbourne, though a liberal and progressive for his time, refers to the Chartist petition for universal suffrage, among other "radical" reforms, as impossible (all are now taken for granted). Even Victoria scoffs at the idea of women having the right to vote. All TruthInTelevision, of course.

* WhatAnIdiot: The feds consider a planned blockade, bombing and ground campaign that would almost certainly work. Then they reject that plan because Kateesha Mowukuu, the Secretary of Defense, wants to send in an 'elite' division of half-trained, undisciplined gangbangers to handle the job alone. Everyone else concedes the point on grounds of racial sensitivity, to predictable results.

* DesignatedHero: Some readers have this reaction to the story. The actions the Christian Marines, Rumford, and Kraft undertake would make them villains in many other works: condoning slavery and indentured servitude, evicting minorities, massacres of political opponents, tarring and feathering a judge, nuking Atlanta, racism and homophobia galore, to name a few examples.

* MarySuetopia: The Confederation may be considered this by some readers. They have the most advanced science of all nations in spite of being a mainly agrarian economy, the people enthusiastically embrace the leaders' neo-reactionary ideology which solves most social problems and makes life much better for everyone, and all their enemies are either corrupt, incompetent, AxCrazy or any two or three of these at once. Also, they are backed by a [[UsefulNotes/ImperialRussia crusading Czar]].

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Some readers have felt that, rather than being a paragon of Americanism and Western Civilization, the Confederation is itself a slightly sinister authoritarian regime. The same applies to the individual characters, such as Kraft and Rumford himself.

* ValuesDissonance: Some readers, especially but not only those of strongly liberal persuasions, have been known to take issue with POV character Rumford's political vision and the way he and his allies go about executing it. This applies both to the means they consider justified in the struggle to rebuild America and implement Retroculture, as well as the general desirability of Retroculture itself.

* UnfortunateImplications: Too many to count, and rarely implied so much as stated outright, But the mass deportation of Puerto Ricans stands out in mind, and also the default assumption that good, intelligent people are always with the Victorians.

* CrazyAwesome: Lots and lots, as the post-apocalyptic landscape of the FallenStatesOfAmerica selects for really tough guys while also not minding that they're way too crazy to be even moderately functional in a society that works normally. In fact, in crazyland, craziness ''works''.
** The Northern Confederation is this, through its combination of, er, ''out-there'' reactionary ideology and very effective military action. Their tactics work not in spite of, but ''because of'' the fact that they refuse on principle to use "modern" technology, but will accept only a massively cool [[SchizoTech mixture]] of 1930s technology and [[SuperScience whacky sci-fi technology]].
** Czarist Russia even more so. Most briefly summarized: They use monarchism and traditionalist Christianity to lead a great crusade against the oppression of liberalism and democracy, and it ''works'' as propaganda.
** General von Braun's ''Landwehr'' militia might also qualify, depending on your point of view. Essentially, they're [[PuttingOnTheReich Nazi fanboys]] who play the most stereotypically evil [[TheThemeParkVersion "Hollywood Nazi"]] role imaginable, but this also means that in an age of chaos and disaster, they keep a functioning chain of command, strong ideology and suitable ruthlessness for the new climate. They manage to build up one of the more powerful and efficient successor states, and while [[spoiler: they're abruptly defeated by other factions before they can threaten the Confederation]], they're the only enemies Rumford feels compelled to grant any sort of [[WorthyOpponent grudging respect.]]
** The Deep Greens prove an aversion, because their craziness ultimately causes their state to fail. But before it does, it's their fanatical religious ideology that allows them to take over, [[DystopianEdict outlaw unlicensed breathing]] and install their high council as [[AGodAmI Living Gods]].
** Similarly, Azania ''looks'' like this at first: a high-tech Amazonian matriarchy that abolishes men and seems to somehow make it work. However, their utopia is then ruthlessly deconstructed, showing how and why it really ''can't'' work, and finally crushed by its enemies with extreme prejudice.

* DesignatedHero: Some readers have this reaction to the story. The actions the Christian Marines, Rumford, and Kraft undertake would make them villains in many other works: condoning slavery and indentured servitude, evicting minorities, massacres of political opponents, tarring and feathering a judge, nuking Atlanta, racism and homophobia galore, to name a few examples. However, in the story such actions are justified (at least by [[IDidWhatIHadToDo the protagonists themselves]]) as necessary in the extreme state of emergency they're operating in.

* ValuesResonance: By contrast, at least some segments of the Alt-Right have enjoyed the book precisely because much of it resonates with their right-of-center values. As [[https://voxday.blogspot.com/2014/11/victoria-novel-of-4th-generation-war.html Vox Day]] puts it, for example:

* DesignatedHero: Yes, Rumford and the Christian Marines are supposed to be the good guys, even when they massacre a roomful of intellectuals whilst singing.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Disrupting the remembrance of the dead is a big deal, and the incident does not reflect favorably on Rumford. To say nothing of everything that follows.

* UnfortunateImplications: Too many to count, and rarely implied so much as stated outright, But the mass deportation of Puerto Ricans stands out in mind, and also the default assumption that good, intelligent people are always with the Victorians.

* CompleteMonster: William Kraft and John Rumford gleefully lead massacres of obvious strawmen, nuke Atlanta, commit genocide against the Puerto Rican and Muslim population of America, burn heretics at the stake, and sell out their country to newly Tsarist Russia and the Chinese. [[MoralDissonance These are our heroes]].

* BrokenBase: People tend to either love the book for it's unflinching nature and presentation of conservative values and grassroots tactics, or despise it for it's frothing insanity and open racism, misogyny, sheer spite etc. With very little ground in between. The latter group of audience will also peel and roast it's delivery of said value sand tactics.

* BrokenBase: People tend to either love the book for it's unflinching nature and presentation of conservative values and grassroots tactics, or despise it for it's frothing insanity and open racism, misogyny, sheer spite etc. With very little ground in between.