Rating: 
Summary: A whole lot better...
Review: After a rather disappointing In the Balance, I was a little wary about starting Titling the Balance. But, thankfully, this second installment in the World War series was a whole lot better. The story and characters have already been set up, so we got into a lot more action. The story got really exciting in the end, what with the Jager/Skorzeny/Drefsab stuff at the end and the stunning conclusion in Russia. I surely wasn't expecting what happened to Bobby Fiore-- that took me by surprise, but it gave me the sense that nobody was invulnerable against the Lizards. Still, like all books, this one had its problems. One of the major ones was the Jens/Sam/Barbara stuff. First of all, in nearly every scene with Sam and Barbara, they're naked and in bed together. That got old real quick, considering I hate this Sam guy. Jens is my favorite character and he certainly gets a kick in the-- as the book eloquently puts it-- nuts. I agree with a fellow reviewer that Jens was treated as a jerk here in this book, while Sam was goodie-two-shoes. Sam's a punk. And so's Barbara, who had no faith in her husband and concluded he was dead and moved on way too quickly. Whatever Harry Turtledove was trying to do here, he didn't do a good job of making the readers sympathize with Barbara and Sam. Instead it felt... disturbing. Nonetheless, that was the only problem I had with this otherwise exciting novel.
Rating: 
Summary: An intriguing book which captivates the reader
Review: After beginning this book I could not put it down. The suspense that had been building throughout the series was coming to a magnificent climax. The allies and the aliens were destroying city after city, and both sides were getting desperate. The use of actual historic personalitites in alternate-history roles draws mild humor into the book. Where else but in this series could you find aliens addicted ginger? Turtledove paints a fantastic picture that produces a feeling of reality in the reader. After reading this novel I had to reread the series to appreciate the magnitude of the conflict that the author created. This book is a grand close to a truly fantastic alternate-history series.
Rating:
Summary: Worldwar: Tilting the Balance
Review: An excellent sequel The fact that The Race isn't these unstopable monsters from the stars in an interesting difference from most books where aliens try to take over Earth. It's interesting to find how humans and our planet create difficulties for them
Rating:
Summary: Despite some sorehead reviewers below, this book ROCKS!
Review: As I said in my review of "In the Balance", I picked the first book up in April, and have read not only it but all FOUR of its sequals (something like 3,000 pages) in the past two months. That's really saying something too, because I work about 12-16 hours a day. Maybe some of the earlier reviewers didn't realize this was part of a tetralogy when they picked it up. That could throw you off. . . In any case, while I agree that the Sam and Barbara thing is slightly weak (though by no means unbelieveable, and by weak I'm referring to the characters' actions, not to the author's writing), the fact is that this beautifully develops the first book, and comes to the best cliff-hanger conclusion of the whole series. I can't imagine why some of these guys are dissing it, and I EASILY give it five stars. This whole series is a Turtledove home run, and it's sequal-tetralogy is shaping up to be even better. Buy it now.
Rating:
Summary: Despite some sorehead reviewers below, this book ROCKS!
Review: As I said in my review of "In the Balance", I picked the first book up in April, and have read not only it but all FOUR of its sequals (something like 3,000 pages) in the past two months. That's really saying something too, because I work about 12-16 hours a day. Maybe some of the earlier reviewers didn't realize this was part of a tetralogy when they picked it up. That could throw you off. . . In any case, while I agree that the Sam and Barbara thing is slightly weak (though by no means unbelieveable, and by weak I'm referring to the characters' actions, not to the author's writing), the fact is that this beautifully develops the first book, and comes to the best cliff-hanger conclusion of the whole series. I can't imagine why some of these guys are dissing it, and I EASILY give it five stars. This whole series is a Turtledove home run, and it's sequal-tetralogy is shaping up to be even better. Buy it now.
Rating:
Summary: Can you imagine that it is better than the 1st book?
Review: As with the previous novels, Turtledove shows his talent for getting inside the minds of very different characters. If you are even consering not buying this, it is probable that you haven't read the previous bood, because they are addictive page-turners. Buy all the books in the series and enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Masochistic Losers from Space II
Review: First, the good news. I found Book Two of the Worldwar series readable (though a tad drawn-out); the saga is developing nicely, the ongoing tussle between alien invader and Allied-Axis resistance well depicted, especially in the last pages. However, halfway through, it suddenly occurred to me that the Lizards must be either masochists or have some kind of deep-seated deathwish. Why do I hold this opinion? Think about it. You command an invasion force from a distant star system. Your primitive, pre-Sputnik adversaries are crawling about at the bottom of a steep gravity well. Literally, you hold all the high ground. Then why waste valuable soldiers, pilots and hardware at all? WHY NOT SIMPLY DROP HEAVY ROCKS ON TOSEV 3 FROM ORBIT? All right, that's a bit of a simplification. But the solar system is littered with ample ammunition for your purposes. With big chunks of meteoric iron and rock you can flatten the largest cities, with no need for nukes; with smaller chunks you can pulverize factories, farms, airstrips and railroad stations. Operating from space, you are in effect fighting a three-dimensional war against two-dimensional opponents, able to strike easily at any point on the globe. And yet here are our spacefaring Lizard enemies floundering in the cold mud, harrassed by our tanks and infantry, stretched to their very limits. What's wrong with this picture?
Rating: 
Summary: A very enjoyable book, including logical science fiction.
Review: I bought the first book of the saga supposing that I would find a story similar to The Guns of the South. That is, I thought that WWII would be won by the Nazis, in my original view, a much more interesting story than one featuring a invasion from an unknown planet. My initial disappointment, however, was more than compensated for by a nice, enjoyable story, that although pure science fiction, it perfectly makes sense. Maybe the second part is somewhat boring compared with the first book, but it still deserves to be read. To find out how Turtledove will manage to solve the saga continues to be a good reason to read the third and the fourth books.
Rating:
Summary: Still interesting
Review: I liked the first book so much that I hurried out to by the second installment in the series. Now that I am two books into the series, I am somewhat disappointed in emphasis Turtledove puts on average human characters that do not have a birds-eye view of the political situation. He attempts to show us progress by repeatedly using Atvar (the alien fleet commander) as a sounding board by which to reveal the political situation to the reader. It doesn't seem as though we get enough of this from the human point of view, however. I'd like to see what is going on in the White House and in British Parliament. I'd like to know what the great historical figures think about the situation. The closest we get to such points of view are narratives about Molotov or occasional glimpses of FDR or Hitler that are far too short. One subplot that had me on the edge of my seat was the Jens storyline. I felt a great deal of sympathy for Jens and was earily suspicious about the fate he would receive. Without revealing the plot, I would just like to say that I wish I could have seen more reaction from Barbara, who seems rather callous in regard to Jen's situation. Why has she reacted (or rather not reacted) this way? I would like to see some more depth of character from all involved in this plotline. All in all, this book is still worth reading, despite a few disappointments. The knowledge that Turtledove brings to his writings is certainly rare and I still like the attention he pays to various historical details, many of which were likely to be lost on me. That I recognized many such details only indicates that there must have been many more.
Rating:
Summary: Still interesting
Review: I liked the first book so much that I hurried out to by the second installment in the series. Now that I am two books into the series, I am somewhat disappointed in emphasis Turtledove puts on average human characters that do not have a birds-eye view of the political situation. He attempts to show us progress by repeatedly using Atvar (the alien fleet commander) as a sounding board by which to reveal the political situation to the reader. It doesn't seem as though we get enough of this from the human point of view, however. I'd like to see what is going on in the White House and in British Parliament. I'd like to know what the great historical figures think about the situation. The closest we get to such points of view are narratives about Molotov or occasional glimpses of FDR or Hitler that are far too short. One subplot that had me on the edge of my seat was the Jens storyline. I felt a great deal of sympathy for Jens and was earily suspicious about the fate he would receive. Without revealing the plot, I would just like to say that I wish I could have seen more reaction from Barbara, who seems rather callous in regard to Jen's situation. Why has she reacted (or rather not reacted) this way? I would like to see some more depth of character from all involved in this plotline. All in all, this book is still worth reading, despite a few disappointments. The knowledge that Turtledove brings to his writings is certainly rare and I still like the attention he pays to various historical details, many of which were likely to be lost on me. That I recognized many such details only indicates that there must have been many more.
|
