Rating: 
Summary: One of his best
Review: This latest relaese in the Colonization Series is very good, and provides great insight into the minds of the characters. It leaves a great cliffhanger at the end, and keeps me wanting more. The only complaint I have is the jumpy style of moving straight from one character's situation to another almost completely different situation. Other than that, the book is well written and the characters lively and enjoyable. Overall, it is a book well worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: FINALLY, a Turtledove book worth of "Worldwar"
Review: If you were enamored with Harry Turtledove's "Worldwar" series but have been dissapointed by his recent alternate history attemps (particularly "Colonization 1"), prepare to be relieved. "Colonization: Down to Earth" is an innovative and fun return to Turtledove's "Worldwar" form. Bringing back the action, discarding some (but not quite all) of the unnecessary sub-plots and leaving some excellent cliff-hangers, "Down to Earth" is a great read. I can't wait for the next two! P.S. Yes, it's sad that Jager was killed between series. But I'm beginning to forgive Mr. Turtledove for that blunder with this recent installment. P.P.S. One gripe. Don't be mislead by the cover. Ol' Nikita and President Kennedy are NOT featured in the novel.
Rating:
Summary: Much better than the first one!
Review: I was a little disappointed with the first book of the Colonization series. The WorldWar series was pretty good but it began to feel like Turtledove was milking it for every page he could get. This book was much better. While it still tends to be a little slower than I would like at times, it had good character development. I still have a few issues with it: 1) The USA is rarely discussed. Motolov and Himler get a lot of time but upper parts of the US government get no time. 2) The race still seems overly ignorant about humans after all these years. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out a lot of the reasons humans or lizards or whatever do at a basic level (such as why there are human "mating pairs"). 3) Time is moving too slow. I started reading this series (WorldWar) back when I was in college. I'm now married with a kid and the stories are no where near the end (I can see at least 4 to 7 more books). I don't know how old Turtledove is but at one book per year, this series could go on for a good decade or more easily. That is, when an author drags out a series as long as Turtledove is, I hope he has a conclusion in mind and doesn't retire or get bored of it before coming to that conclusion. ;)
Rating:
Summary: Not bad but could have been better
Review: Turtledove usually does his history pretty well in all of his books even when it presents an alternate history. Some of his plot twists get pretty strange however. I find it hard to believe that the Ayatollah could have been much of a factor in Iraq as he was in the latest book. This ignores the fact that he led a competing brand of Islam in Iran that wasn't and isn't too popular in Iraq. Also, they wouldn't have liked him because Iranians aren't Arabs as the Iraqi's are. Iranians get pretty angry about making the fact known that they are Persians and not Arabs. The Iraqi's pretty much feel the same way. Also, in the current storyline, where the heck are the Nationalist Chinese? The original history marginalized the Nationalists after they lost the civil war in 1949 but this alternate history makes them out to be just as powerful as the Communists. So where are they? It also seems strange to be missing the Japanese since they played such a big role in the first book series. The plot twist at the end of this seems to imply that they'll play a greater role in the future but how'd did they reach that point anyway? Just a few criticisms of a good book. :)
Rating: 
Summary: "Down To Earth" Out Of This World
Review: Turtledove's latest book is a continuation of the Colonization series (which itself is a continuation of the Worldwar Saga). Anyone just shopping for a book should first order Worldwar: In the Balance, as this is truly the first book in this double series. As for those of us who have happily fallen victim to Turtledove's ingenious alternative history of World War II, Down To Earth continues to make us burn the candle at both ends until we finish this story. Turtledove sets this book about a decade or two since the last book. I found it interesting to become re-aquainted with the characters and see what was happening years after the Race had landed. Down To Earth spends the first 3/4 of the book building towards the climax at the end, only to leave us realizing the real climax will be reached with the next Colonization book. I appreciate that Turtledove does not rush to cram his series into a few chapters, instead choosing to allow each story to develop in its own right. Definately a must read for anyone reading the series.
Rating: 
Summary: I enjoy Turtledove a great deal, but not this one!
Review: I've read most everything that Mr. Turtledove has come up with, and enjoyed most of it a great deal. The original Videssos cycle was fantastic, Guns of the South was great, etc. However, he seems to have developed a penchant for taking great ideas and beating them literally to death by stretching them over several books and dozens of characters. This book is a case in point. During the first 3/4 of the book absolutely nothing of substance happens. Governments change, characters move around, but nothing actually happens to further the plot. The entire series of books could have been easily condensed into 2 books that actually kept a good pace. Similarly, there are so many characters that the ones that we like are never developed enough to take advantage of their potential, and lots of characters that we care nothing for eat into the precious space of those that we do. It's as if Turtledove feels the need to show everything that happens of any significance in this universe by actually placing characters there, rather than conveying the same level of information in a paragraph or two. Thus, people like the Yeagers get short shift and Monique and Lui Han eat up the space. They don't actually do anything of note, just are kind of there. All in all, it's probably worth reading for completeness' sake, but get it at the library or wait for paperback. You do not get ~$20 of value here, unless you only consider the sheer amount of time needed to wade through it. Turtledove is capable of much, much better than this.
Rating:
Summary: Jake's Review
Review: The book is superb. It keeps you interested all the way through. Turtledove keeps you into the book by adding twist,and by looking at the big picture from several diffrent views from members of the Race to a retired WW2 vet with a bum leg.. He keeps it real
Rating: 
Summary: Hurray for REDUNDANT!
Review: I second the man who says this book is redundant. Remember in school when you had to write a 5-page essay, but you knew you could sum up what you had to say in two pages? You'd add in as much filler as you could to get the other three pages typed, right? It's obvious Mr. Turtledove is going for a sixth book in the series. The third Colonization book will clearly end with World War, which will lead to another three books. The dialog in this book is more horrendous as usual and totally extraneous. Here's an out of context sample: Drucker heard his name over the tannoy, "Drucker report to the General's office!" Drucker walked across the compound thinking about how muddy the place was. He walked into the waiting area. "Lt. Drucker reporting." "Have a seat." "Thanks." After a minute the adjutant said to Drucker: "You can go in now." "Thanks," said Drucker. Drucker walked into the general's office. "Lt. Drucker reporting." "Ah, Drucker, have a seat." "Thank you, sir." On and on and on and on and on. And the relationships are beyond cheezy. I've grown weary of this series, but after five books, I have this morbid interest in seeing it through. Simply put, I won't buy these books at retail, that's for sure. It'll be used and auction for here on out!
Rating:
Summary: Holding my breath
Review: Those reviewers who pine over repetitious content of "Down to Earth" lose sight of what makes Harry Turtledove's alternate history books so appealing. While at the beginning of the WorldWar series I was less than enthusiastic about the author giving the aliens the same emotional traits and reactions as humans, by now, in this seventh book of the saga, The Race has really grown on me. In fact, they seem to be growing more and more emotional and socially unstable with every book, which by the way says a lot about how contagious is the corrupting nature of us Big Uglies. The pure historical research done by Dr. Turtledove remains outstanding, as well as his approach to various languages of Earth. Unlike Ben Bova in "Triumph," Turtledove never messes up names and patronimics of real historical characters. Taking the presence of alien invaders for granted, the only thing that seems unreal to me is how easily multilingual are most of the characters in the book. Considering the differences in facial anatomy between the Lizards and the humans, as well as the phonetic basics of the Home language and those used on Earth, it seems highly unlikely that The Race and the Tosevites would have such a relatively easy time conversing and understanding each other. But perhaps this is a complaint out of context, since the flow of the story depends on interspecies interactions to a great degree. Overall, the book is an exciting and entertaining read, and I will impatiently await the next installment.
Rating:
Summary: Not Perfect, but a great read nonetheless
Review: I must say at the outset, that Turtledove's latest installment was good, not perfect, but good. He slowed the pace a bit for character development which is always a good thing. Concerning the political/military situation in the world, Turtledove has set up some scenarios that touch enough modern issues (such as middle eastern tensions) to interest readers that don't have a particular interest in history from the WW2 era and its aftermath, as well as many things that will speak forcefully to anyone that has a great interest in that time period as well. I heartily disagree with one of the reviewers that suggested that the America depicted in this book is a happier place than the one we know from OTL (our time line). The America depicted here seems to be tottering on the edge of becoming a police state... then again, there are many Americans that wouldn't seem to mind this. I look forward to the next installment with great anticipation. So nice to hear from Stirling.
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