Rating: 
Summary: Excellent conclusion to the saga.
Review: "Striking the Balance" was very entertaining, if, as all of these books were, a little long-winded. I received all four of the WorldWar books for Christmas and yes, I know it's June, but I finally finished this last volume. I think it was on "Upsetting the Balance's" home page that someone compared Turtledove's books to Rustad's Cold War series debut novel, "The Triumph and the Glory" and I agree that if Turtledove adopts the economy of language and direct but very effective style of Rustad, his forthcoming books will be even better than at present.
Rating: 
Summary: I won't read the next 4 books in this series.
Review: A great backdrop and idea for a book are really wasted in this series because of a few serious flaws. The first is the extreme repetitiveness of dialogue. Characters are thinking the exact same thing through out the whole series. No exaggeration to say that some paragraphs are repeated almost verbatim 10-15 times in this book alone. GET AN EDITOR!! The 2nd major flaw is the shallowness of all characters. I could have wrote the dialogue for half the characters, especially the baseball characters. The WWII backdrop isn't real deep either. The 3rd problem is the authors lack of feeling for suspense. For example, he spends a few of the books building up Jens Larrsen's character - a frustrated nucleur physicist who turns traitor, and then has him shot by US troops in half a page with little fanfare. Ditto for Otto Skorzeny, the other interesting character in the books. Cut out 30 pages of "gee, we didn't think the humans would be so advanced" and put it into the demise of these characters and it would have been better spent. Lastly, the ending was nothing. Just a set up for another series. Most storylines are unfinished. I usually love this type of series, but would only recommend it for throwaway reading.
Rating:
Summary: Great conclusion to the series
Review: An excellent conclusion to the WorldWar series, however Atvar should have gone with Straha's advice. Sterilize the Earth. That would have been the only way to finish any human aggression. Instead of wasting their time attempting to disconnect radio transmissions, they should have sterilized the planet.It's hardly going to be worth anything now. And when they restart the war when the Colonization Fleet arrives, the Tosevites will almost be at their technological level because of captured technology.
Rating: 
Summary: Great first 3 books, disappointing last volume
Review: Couldn't agree more with Perth, Australia, for this volume left me feeling the same way - disappointed. I thought the first 3 volumes were fascinating in imagination and characterization, and very smart and insightful. Having the aliens get addicted to ginger and lose effectiveness, playing upon the human adapability in the face of adversity by foiling the rigid, orderly Race, and having the Lizards start to lose composure and rebel illustrate this point. This is why I thought the ending of the plot was unsatisfying. It seemed to be working to the end where the aliens would lose, not from some hokey sort of heroic stand, but from the resiliency of the "tosevites" and their ability to overcome. It seemed like the plot was working towards the aliens running out of supplies, running into earthly vices and showing a breakdown of their heirarchical values coupled with this rebound by the people of the earth. It was strange and unsatisfying not to see this scenario played out, regardless if Nazi Germany had a big part to play in it.
Rating:
Summary: Thought-provoking though over-ambitious
Review: Excellent entertainment for long-haul flights: holds your interest and stimulates thought without being too dry. I read this without the previous 4. The lateral thinking expands the mind as well as entertains. It is broadly credible, though occasionally far-fetched. Worth reading!
Rating:
Summary: ho-hum climax, one sided, strategy????
Review: first three books 'assumed' a interesting, but fell short, ending. reptile-like alien leaves a limited imagination. may purchase 4th volume at a flea market. other three volumes gets a pushed 4.5 stars (reptileform gotta go. purchase 4th book just to complete series.
Rating: 
Summary: A very intriguing, yet fascinating book for all historians
Review: Harry Turtledove is the master of altering history and making the changes apparent. I would love to read more of his novels. G.L.
Rating:
Summary: Footfall meets your basic World War II novel
Review: Harry Turtledove's Worldwar: Striking the Balance is about Gila Monsters invading Earth. In the 1940s, when we humans are fighting World War II, aliens, four-inch lizards, invade and the Axis and the Allies have to put aside their differences and fight the common enemy. By 1943, (the year in which the second book is set), the war is going badly for we Earthlings. Chicago's in ruins, food's in shorter supply than usual, ( a meal costs over a thousand dollars), things are going all the enemy's way. That is until a nuclear bomb is developed two years ahead of schedule, the jet fighter premieres a year ahead of schedule, and Otto Skorzeny leads his men in the defense of the puppet state of Croatia. Harry Turtledove's storytelling is brilliant. Highly recommended. Sorry, I can't recommend the first and last books of the series.
Rating:
Summary: Repetitive, yes, but a good ending to the series
Review: Having called this a good ending to the series, allow me to elaborate. I was expecting a big blowout. Instead, it kind of petered out, as if it ran out of steam. However, it is more realistic this way - a lot of wars peter out when the combatants are tired of fighting. And it served as a useful setup for the Colonisation series.The major gripe is the same as I've had with the other books in the series - too repetitive! I guess this is useful if you had to wait a year between installments, but surely if you've read all the 3 previous books, you realise by now that the Race has a long history, that they can't mate without female scent pheremones, that Earth is colder than Home, etc. Still, an entertaining end to an entertaining series. I will definitely pick up this alternate history in Colonisation.
Rating:
Summary: Repetitive, yes, but a good ending to the series
Review: Having called this a good ending to the series, allow me to elaborate. I was expecting a big blowout. Instead, it kind of petered out, as if it ran out of steam. However, it is more realistic this way - a lot of wars peter out when the combatants are tired of fighting. And it served as a useful setup for the Colonisation series. The major gripe is the same as I've had with the other books in the series - too repetitive! I guess this is useful if you had to wait a year between installments, but surely if you've read all the 3 previous books, you realise by now that the Race has a long history, that they can't mate without female scent pheremones, that Earth is colder than Home, etc. Still, an entertaining end to an entertaining series. I will definitely pick up this alternate history in Colonisation.
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