Rating: 
Summary: Building toward a climax
Review: I love the whole idea of Turtledove's WorldWar and Colonization series. My main complaint with the (now 6) books so far is his propensity for repetition. With each new book, is it really necessary to rehash all that has gone before? The Lizard characters complain about the unpredictability and unexpected technical advances of the Tosevites (humans) ad nauseum. Even human characters are not immune to Turtledove's reiteration. However, "Down to Earth" finally gets past a lot of that and cranks up the action. "Second Contact" served to reintroduce the characters from the "WorldWar" series and lay the groundwork for new characters arriving with the Lizard colonization fleet. There's a lot of groundwork, but by midway through DTE the reader knows that something's going to happen, and by the end of the book, the story is at Full Steam Ahead. Overall, a good read, and an enjoyable speculation about an alien-inhabited 1960s. I only hope that "Aftershock" maintains the pace of the story and drives to an explosive-metal bomb of a conclusion. There are certainly enough loose ends and hanging threads to believe the climax to be worth the wait.
Rating: 
Summary: Glued to it for two Days
Review: very good read as always with his books with great developement of the cast. Was at page 501 on the first day and had dreams all night. This with me means great book....I will have to wait for awile to get the next one but keep up the good writing Harry :)
Rating: 
Summary: Colonization: Down to Earth
Review: Do not bother wasting your time on this series. The initial three books related to the interruption of WWII were excellent and deserve a better follow up than the Colonization series. The Colonization series has no action and repeats the same thoughts and ideas of the characters over and over again. They are so boring that I am tempted to never read a Turdledove novel again. Tried to rate it as zero stars but that option was not available.
Rating: 
Summary: A bit dissapointed...
Review: I had very high hopes for the Colonization series,but the story line seems to be dragging! I generally enjoyed the arrival of the lizards and the introduction of several new lizard faces such as Nesseref the female shuttle pilot. Unfortunatly the action present in the Worldwar series is sadly lacking here...I am getting a little bored with Moishe Russie and the role of the Zionists,since their impact on the story line seems to me as rather thin. The treatment of the Deutsche as being terminally stupid and militaraly lacking in ability to see strategic outcomes is bizzare. The introduction of Dr. Walter Dornberger is about all that keeps me turning pages (in the hope that we'll get a little more action). The Lewis and Clark space probe is good,and I hope that we can start seeing this series conclude with a bit more excitement. Turtledove is a very gifted writer and I believe that he is capable of trimming out a few of the less intersting characters to keep up a better paced story in the future. I really liked Rance Auerbach as a cavalry officer in the Worldwar series but as a broken down ginger peddler he loses a lot of credibility. Overall--too much emphasis on character development and not enough action taken to resolve the story into a final outcome. Just barely a 3 star. Could have been MUCH better.
Rating:
Summary: Colonization: Only If You're A Turtledove Fan.
Review: The second novel of Harry Turtledove's 'Colonization' series, 'Down to Earth,' is better than 'Second Contact,' but only just. The four major powers, America, the Soviet Union, the German Reich, and the alien Lizards still eye each other with distrust across a planet and in outer space. Like most Turtledove novels the interesting plot is often times negated by the scope of the overall story. It's far too long and there are just too many characters to keep straight to make this one of the author's better novels, (think 'Guns of the South.') Also, too often the alternate history story is sacrificed for the sake of it's science fiction aspects. There are a few moments where Turtledove gives us some food for thought: Power struggles in Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, America with something to hide, and a stunning climax that hopefully will lead to some interesting situations in the next volume. Here's hoping that Turtledove will start writing more straight alternate history novels with fewer characters, (once again, think 'Guns of the South.')
Rating:
Summary: Still a good series, but might be losing steam (SPOILERS)
Review: I purchased the 4 books of the WorldWar series about 2 months ago and read them all through. I thought it showed a fascinating look at humanity's first contact during World War Two. I was excited to get the first book of the Colonization series, and while the story was good, it seemed to be lacking in comparison of the WorldWar series. I still had hope for Down to Earth, but it seems Turtledove is running out of steam. Good Points: 1. The whole thing with the ginger is good. It could have strong reprocussions for the Race. 2. The characters, like Molotov and Yeager, are good. Sometimes one-dimensional, but mostly fleshed out well. 3. Drucker having to question what the Nazis are doing, once he learns his wife's heritage. 4. the introduction of Mickey and Donald, the captured Race babies. Bad Points: 1. How long are will the Race keep complaining about the fact humans adapt quickly? Enough already! 2. Where are the moon bases or bases on Mars? If the Race is letting humans build space stations, why not bases on the Moon? 3. I'm getting tired of Kassquit. She is just too boring, trying to decide between the Race or humanity. I hope the next book has some battles in space, more of Mickey and Donald, and more on the Japanese (they played a bigger role in the first series, and now they seem to be forgotten).
Rating:
Summary: Turtledove's Bias is misintepreted
Review: One of the leading reviews claimed that Turtledove was biased against Jews, presenting them as "collaborators" and thus traitors to humanity. I agree with th reviewer thatTurtledove concentrates overmuch on Zionists and Palestine- their high profile is indeed not commensurate with thier actual influence on world events. I don't think Turtledove intends to present Jews in a negative light, however. Jew side with the Lizards only because the Lizards saved them from their human oppressors, the Nazis, and still act as a firewall between them and Arabs and Poles. Where Turtledove fails is in his examination, or lack therof, of relations between subordinate groups that are normally hostile to each other, like arabs and jews, and how thier relations would change under Lizard rule. Arabs and Poles are pretty much invisible except as supporting charachters. Another interesting element Turtledove could explore is conflict between the Colonization fleet and Home. If cultural change wrought upon the Lizard colonists is immense, as it has been, due to thier contact with Tosevites and the intrdocution of Ginger- disrupting their mating cycles, then one would expect "culture shock" when the colonists confront the home world. One thing I love about the series is the logical way that Trutledove extrapolates some basic biological differences (especially mating patterns) into socio-technical differences. It is well done. All in all, I hope the story speeds up a bit- this volume was a little slow.
Rating:
Summary: Author's Bias Shows Too Clearly -- Is it getting Stale?
Review: After reading the WWII series and both Colonization books, Dr. Turtledove's biases are becoming an impediment to the flow of the narrative. The amount of time spent on describing the activities of the Jewish and Zionist characters is out of all proportion to their actual impact on the events so far. Further, his portrayal of them as collaborators with the aliens, and thus traitors to humankind, fails to make them particularly admirable -- and may well play into the preconceived notions of many readers. Secondly, Turtledove bias leads him to portray the Deutsche as one-dimensional and exceedingly stupid Eric von Stroheim stereotypes. Twenty years after peace we still see only such idiots leading the German State as Himmler and Kaltenbrunner. To have allowed Himmler and Kaltenbrunner to lead Germany down the path set in the narrative without preciptating a 20th of July action and the likely end of Nazism is a major weakness -- particularly given the fate of Berlin in the first series. So also is the author's failure to allow a generally more liberal development of the major national protagonists. Can one really believe that intervention by and a world war against the aliens would not have brought major change to both the deutsche and russkie NotEmpires? It may be that the war would have strengthened those regimes; but 20 years of peace should have resulted in some interesting development. Vietnam and Iran provide evidence of changes wrought by time and the absence of external pressure. Only Cuba and North Korea remain in a timewarp. However, the death of North Korea's Maximum Leader has resulted in a slight thaw and when Cuba's Maximum Leader is gone we may fairly expect major changes. There continues to be tiresome emphasis on the comings and goings of fairly mundane and low-level human actors. I fail to see the point of wasting so much ink on the exploits of a couple of ginger-runners or the sexual awakening of a couple of teenagers, for example. Still, this is one of the more imaginative yarns I've read in years and I buy and read everything Turtledove has published. I just feel things are getting stale. He's into a new fantasy series revisiting the Civil War and is in Book 2 of another fantasy series revisiting the Second World War. I just hope he doesn't rigidly follow events as they happened in both real-time historical tableaux. I'd like to see him go back to Videssos or the Misplaced Legion, both which I thought were more interesting series than the current series. His real strength is in the Roman and Byzantine Empire periods. While I could not have written these novels and admire Turtledove for his enormous talent, I feel three stars is fair for this outing.
Rating:
Summary: I'm afraid he is starting to churn them out
Review: I'm starting to think that Harry Turtledove is beginning to churn them out. He is writing four series's at the same time and this series doesn't seem as appealing as they used to be. Even the last book had the new plot twist of the alien colonization fleet with female aliens joining their conquest fleet. Now it seems old hat. Also the introduction of famous people in history seems to be lacking more lately. Sure we hear about the same leaders but they are not as interesting. Maybe that is because the leaders during WWII seem more compelling than the people after the war. Kennedy and Krushchev are on the cover but I can't remember them in the book. If they are, they were not at the same level of leadership. Neither lead their country in the 1960's. These books really develop average characters but the links to historical figures seem to be getting less. Not bad just not as good as the past books and without the aliens it would not be worth it. I will read the next volume to see how it stands.
Rating:
Summary: Watch the Spoilers, please
Review: I had no idea any more books existed other than the 4 in the Worldwar series.. I came here today on a whim, and was floored to see two new titles in this utterly fantastic series. It is saddening, however, that some feel the need to ruin my experience with the new books by posting plot spoilers in the review section. Shame on you! Shame!
| 
