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Down to Earth (Colonization, Book 2)

Down to Earth (Colonization, Book 2)

List Price: $7.99
Your Price: $7.19
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Down to Earth
Review: This book may not be the best book, but it is a vital link in the story. Yet Turtledove needs to tie up the results of colonists becoming soldiers and who is shooting as Yaegar. Still with caller ID being worked on in the sixties and Kennedy being mentioned as a running mate for a democrat, it needs work. It is a good book though

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Sorry Guys but I like this book...
Review: Yes I know that things are spaced out a bit, but it just allows for more plot development. After reading some series that start out with 300 pages in 12 point font with the first book and with 30 point type by the forth book,, I'm happy to have more, rather than less to read

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Enjoyable, but slower than it needs to be
Review: I've been enjoying this entire series from the first book, but the last two are a bit more slow-moving than I think they need to be. I too wonder if the author isn't trying to milk the series for all it's worth. The last two books could easily have been combined into one. And who's the idiot designing the covers? This one has Khruschev and JFK featured on the cover. JFK appears NOWHERE in the text and Khruschev is mentioned in passing just once. Surely someone could design a more appropriate cover.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Not Turtledove's best work
Review: Well, it looks like I'm a bit of a lone voice here. I found Down To Earth repetitive and tedious. How many ginger deals between humans and lizards do we need to see? How many unwelcome visits by the Nazi storm trooper to the French history professor do we need to see? How many discussions between Molotov and his advisors do we need to see? How many female lizards in a ginger frenzy do we need to see? How many routine orbital patrols (complete with what is, I suppose, intended to be witty repartee) in spacecraft of the various human powers do we need to see? How many human riots in lizard held territory do we need to see? How many other seemingly endless repetitions of the same scenes over and over and over do we need to see before Turtledove takes mercy on us and figures we got the point? In my opinion we see far too many in this book. It isn't until the last thirty or forty pages that the story is advanced more than microscopically. It looks to me like Turtledove didn't really have a story to tell here but he did have a publisher who was expecting a book. I find myself very disappointed with Turtledove's latest offering. However, disappointment aside, I will read his future installments in this series but I won't rush out and buy the hardcover as soon as it's on sale as I have with past installments.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Different America
Review: I love this series! My brother Paul and myself are both big Turtledove fans. However, I enjoy this series a little more than he does because Paul thinks there isn't enough action (i.e. WAR!). This is true when compared to The Great War or World War series' but the story is still a great one. I won't comment on any of the major plots or charecters in the series because they've been covered enough in other reviews, and I mostly agree with what's been said. What I want to mention is how different America in the 1960's is in the Colonization books. There's no Vietnam, no Beatles (as far as I can tell), no protests, no hippies, no "Camalot", no dead Kennedys, and a REPUBLICAN President. I don't even think Rock and Roll exists! This is a much happier America than the one that was, and I think a better one. It's differently a more peaceful time at any rate. This almost makes me wish there was an alien invasion during WWII!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Another must read for Harry's fans!
Review: Turtledove's newest book in the Worldwar/Colonization saga lives up to the greatness of its predecessors. It is a fun read that will get you very frustrated as you fall behind on work and sleep because you can't put it down.

Same style as usual here. Turtledove has many different storylines interconnecting as he tries to illuminate conditions on the entire planet. I could have done without the sections on Rance Auerbach and Monique Dutourd, mainly because I felt they didn't add much to the story, but that is a minor criticism.

What makes this book particularly unique is the effectiveness with which the author develops the character of Kassquit (the human who was captured by the race and raised as a citizen of said Race). Not to give anything away, but Kassquit does reconsider the decision she made in Second Contact not to have Ttomalss provide her a male for sexual gratification.

The Cold War atmosphere threatens to turn hot as the Nazis have never lost their desire to lay a claim to at least a part of Poland. Chinese Communists are still in rebellion, and Islamic Fundamentalists in Iraq and Israel are giving the race all it could handle and more. This is a wonderful read, but I suggest that those who have not read the Worldwar series and Colonization: Second Contact do so before reading this novel.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A remarkable achievement
Review: It is a remarkable achievement to be able to maintain this reader's interest over a series of, so far, six books (Worldwar 1-4 and Colonization 1 & 2). Aside from some minor errors in details--for example, in Worldwar 4 a character who is in the Army worries that a friend of his might be sent to the brig (brig is a navy word;the correct Army term is stockade)--the interplay between aliens and humans, as well as the philosophy of the aliens is very well thought out. Basically, though, the story of alien monsters (bug-eyed, I might add) attacking Earth and being unprepared for human inventiveness has been done many times before, most notably by Eric Frank Russell.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Reccomended
Review: A wothry continuation of the saga! Lots of surpirese alnog the way and pretty solid writting. Leaves you wanting more.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: More Mammals and Reptiles from the Turtledove
Review: If you're a Turtledove fan, you won't care what I say. If you're anything like me, you probably just buy all his books without reading the reviews. All the same, here goes: This is not a typical Turtledove series. Gone is the non-stop, ultra-violent military action of the "Great War", "World War", and "Darkness" books (all of which are great reads). The world is at peace, but it is not a very comfortable peace. Himmler (who now dominates Western Europe) is plotting against the Race, Molotov is wondering what to do about Himmler, the UK is becoming more and more "Nazified", and even the USA has secrets to hide. Meanwhile, the Lizards are facing savage guerrilla resistance from the Chinese (led by Mao and his Communists) and the Arabs (led by Ayatollah Khomeini). However, despite the change of pace, Turtledove has lost none of his narrative abilities. The characters (both human and suarian) are as amusing and interesting as ever, and the (numerous) plotlines are very enjoyable. There may not be as much action as in some of Turttledove's other books, but the reader is always left wondering what will happen next. This alternate history creates numerous possibilites, and I hope that Turtledove will explore some of them. For example, how about a Cyberpunk story set in an alternate 21st century? What self-respecting Turtledove fan wouldn't kill to see a Lizard in mirrorshades and a leather jacket?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An excellent book
Review: Harry Turtledove writes too much, and sometimes -- as in the case of "Into the Darkness -- it shows. But this must have been the book he was neglecting "Darkness" to work on. The characters grow steadily more interesting, the sociosexual goings-on among the Lizards get more fascinating, and the action keeps going. But, oh, Sam Yeager should have restrained his curiosity! Worth the hardcover price, even to a cheapskate like me.


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