Rating: 
Summary: World War Two with magic
Review: I am a fan of Turtledove's formula of alternate scenarios, and this isn't the first time he has written on the theme of societies where magic does the job of technology. I think this worked better in 'The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump' and 'Thessalonica' than it does here. In these other two books Turtledove treated the idea with humour and it worked. In this book he takes the idea altogether too seriously, and it just gets to the point where you are left wondering what difference it makes? This book might as well have been a tale of World War Two, and nothing more has really been added to the story by making it on a different world and using magic instead of technology. What difference does it make if you are flying on a dragon having dogfights and dropping bombs, or flying an aircraft? The only thing that I found interesting about this story was trying to place who was who (eg which state is Russia, which is Germany etc.) and I'm afraid it wasn't all that hard to spot. If you are going to write allegory, it ought to be a bit more subtle than this. There was, for example a small state which fought a war with the alternate 'USSR' and it was a desert nation, but it was pretty obvious that it was supposed to be Finland. There is even a minority people all set up to play the role of the Jews...I've just been rereading Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings' and I think Turtledove would do well to read his comments in the preface about the role of allegory in writing a story, and how he expressly denies trying to parallel it to the war, despite writing much of it during those years. 'Lord of the Rings' works better for it, and if Turtledove is going to write of fictional worlds I wish he would really do that. This was just too close to WWII, and he's already treated the WWII theme pretty thoroughly in his 4 books series of alien invasion.
Rating:
Summary: Decent, but not up to Turtledove's other work
Review: It's huge. It's interesting. It's tough to keep track of all the characters. It's so much like the real World War II you can find the Winter War and the Manhattan Project in it. It's not as good as Guns of the South, Case of the Toxic Spell Dump, or even WorldWar. It's a good buy for Turtledove fans. It would be wise to buy it in paperback, not hardback.
Rating: 
Summary: The best and most interesting fantisy war book ever!!!!!
Review: In this book the author brings out the stratigy and charecter development more than the grusome detiales. Another thing I really like is the wide range of carecters, something you don't see in many books. I can't wait until the next book comes out.[This may not be easy for some people to read because I'm not a very good speller]
Rating: 
Summary: A long, tedious slog of a book that gets better as you read
Review: I'm getting a bit sick of the Turtledove formula. Turtledove likes to generate 20 or 30 point of view characters, put them in the same milieu, and recount their struggles for day to day existence. It worked in the first 3 World War books (which is about all that was required to make that series work), but it doesn't work here. I found myself identifying with nobody in this story, and thus forgetting who was supposed to be whom.... not that I cared. After a while, the parrallels to World War 2 start becoming obvious (as mentioned by another reviewer) and then the book becomes slightly interesting. You have to have patience to get there.
Rating:
Summary: Es ist sehr gut!
Review: Die buch ist toll. Harry Turtledove ist sehr toll. Ich liebe es, und lese es alles ziet! Gut! Gut! Gut! Zieg heil!
Rating:
Summary: This is one of Harry's greatest book!
Review: What do i have to say , this is one of his greatest books,It is well written , And the story moves at a fast pace that is synomasyst with all of Harry's work!!
Rating: 
Summary: A good start
Review: I have read most of Turtledove's work and while it's true that the book is more crowded then most the characters are excellently done. The battle scenes are not as well written as the scenes from Worldwar, or even his Great War books but they are not bad at all. Best of all this book keeps you in suspense and has lots of correlations to World War 2. Keep up the good work Harry!
Rating:
Summary: Not bad, But Not Up to Turtledove's Standards
Review: I love Harry Turtledove, but this book is proof that his phenomenal productivity is taking its toll. Just compare it to his two other hardcover releases this year (!), "The Great War: A Walk in Hell" and "Colonization: Second Contact" and it's obvious that this is the runt of the litter. From page to page it's okay, but it's a draft -- there's little plot unity, with lots of battle scenes that don't really advance the story. I had hoped for a lot of clever and creative magic use, as in the "Toxic Spell Dump" series, but that never really materializes. The one subplot that revolves around magic is marginal to the story. Note to Turtledove: You have a great talent, so don't waste it on second-tier projects. What, you can't send your kids to college on the royalties from all your *other* books? Note to publishers: Pay Turtledove more money so he can put more time into fewer projects!
Rating:
Summary: Multiple story lines are enjoyable.
Review: This is not the easiest book to read. The multiple story lines are sort of a two-edged sword. They do make the story a bit harder to follow. I found myself frequently referring to the list of characters in the beginning of the book. The plus side is that all the characters were interesting, each in his or her own way. There is a certain amount of analogy between this war and our own World War II. There is Algarve as Germany, Unkerlant as Russia, Forthweg as Poland, and so forth. There is even magical research similar to the Manhattan Project. One analogy that isn't there, is I don't see who corresponds to the United States, as a major power that sits out the early part of the war, then play a decisive role in the final outcome. Perhaps that will happen in later volumes. Others have commented about how you cannot really tell who are the good guys, if there are any. I forget who said it, but I remember a quote that said something to the effect that everyone is a hero in their own story. All of the viewpoint characters are convinced that their side is the right one, thought a few are slowly learning otherwise. This story is definitely worth reading, alhough I would like an explanation of a few things here and there. For example, the "eggs" are referred to early on as dragon's eggs, but as many of them as there are, it would seem they would have to be artificially or magically created rather than laid by dragons. All in all, I would say this is a notch below the Worldwar/Colonization series, but still well worth reading. I look forward to future volumes in this series.
Rating: 
Summary: long, boring, pointless and shallow
Review: I am not sure I need to say anything else. Based on his reputation, I picked the book up and waded through it hoping for something - which never materialized. The characterization is shallow and the descriptions are poor. It did not even have the redeeming feature of a creative plot or inventive view of magic as a weapon of war. If you take the two world wars of our century, change the names to protect the guilty (and in this book everyone is guilty) and then make endless references to dragons, behemoths and spells - You have this novel. The true horror resides in the fact that this book is the first half of the story!
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