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Summary: Many different people fend off an alien invasion during WWII
Review: Take World War II, add an alien invasion and massive occupation, through in Hitler with the Atomic Bomb.
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Summary: A pretty decent finale after a shaky start
Review: The first book of this series ("In the Balance") struck me more as a prelude, and perhaps shouldn't have taken up a whole book. Succeeding volumes have tightened up the story and brough into more importance characters and mini-plots that seemed to be more in the way of digressions when alluded to in the first book. The aliens have computer technology, while the closest most Earthmen can even come to the word "computer" is the word "calculator". There's laser technology, and with it comes CD-roms and DVDs. They have cruise missiles which can fly down a street and go around a corner to hit a specific building when we, half a century later, haven't gotten quite that far with such missiles. But the big lessons here are that it's a big mistake for a superpower to assume too much about their scentific superiority and its ability to prevail no matter what. The "what" in this case is guerilla warfare--it works. Period. In the real world, both my country and the Soviet Union learned that the hard way--us in Vietnam and the Soviets in Afghanistan. And in this story, it's how us primitives on Earth make what was supposed to have been a walkover invasion by the aliens a long drawn-out agony. They end up having to make choices and concessions. Like keeping a human baby as an experimental subject when her Chinese mother joins Chairman Mao's revolution and they ain't gonna cool it unless she gets the kid back. So the military types tell the science wonks that keeping the kid ain't worth the grief. That's how guerilla warfare works the best--as time goes on, the invader finds it less and less worth it to hang on as a matter of ego. More and more in this series, the planet Earth is becoming the alien invaders' Vietnam or Afghanistan.
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Summary: Great Concept Blah Payoff (Can we say repetitive?)
Review: The first book of this series was incredibly gripping. The entire concept was just incredible and as a WWII history buff, it was engrossing to see the effects the Race's invasion had on world history. But as the books went on I was prepared for a slap bang finish, even though the seeds for a negotiated truce were being in sown by the second book and I picked up on it hoping it wasn't true. Movies like ID4 and War of the Worlds accustomed me to anticipate the big climatic battle that would seal the fate of the war. What we got was a VERY SLOW build up in the last book to an extremely BLAH ENDING. It makes absoulutely perfect sense that it should have ended the way it did, but it made all the breakneck action and suspense (EXCELLENT renditions of battles) lead up to a bunch of stodgy politicians sitting around a table dividing up the world. I sense a sequel coming up. Too many loose ends were left hanging. If so, then maybe it can redeem this blah entry in an otherwise excellent series. The other reviews aptly pointed out the endless repition in the novel, I won't belabor the point. I will say that there is only soooo many times a reader can be told the background of different characters, within the same volume. It would be understandable within each volume to have a brief blurb on each character, but PLEASE...the biographies took up half the chapters sometimes. Trust in the readers who have stuck through this series for four volumes to remember the details.
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Summary: entertaining but flawed
Review: The many characters & different points of view are well done & the characters are quite believable. Also the technical detail such as weapons is well researched. However a lot of the book is repetitious and you'll heard the storey about someone who was a minor-league ball player every 100 pages or so thru out all volumes. I guess it's space filler. Also the author obviously got tired in the forth (this) volume & wrapped it up with too little care & very little action. It's too bad that they can't re-write books as this one has some good basics but flawed execution.
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Summary: Great book
Review: The only book in this series I didn't like that much was the first one.As for this one, why is everyone complaining that the ending is bad? Just because it's not your typical hollwywood ending where we triumph over the aliens an blah blah blah George Lucas style, all of a sudden it's bad? The great thing about this series, and this book especially, is that it is REALISTIC. This is a series about what would HAPPEN, not what we would like to happen. Even though we WOULD like to fight to the last man, the typical glorious ending for the underdog who triumphs, it will never be that way. For all of those who read it and were dissappointed by how the world turns out when the war is finally over, all I have to say is; "Hey, Turtledove has the PhD, all you've got to work with is what Hollywood gave you...now shut up ." Email me if you dissagree ;)
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Summary: how not to end a series
Review: The other three books in this series were very enjoyable. This was an end of series book - mandated. The author certainly didn't seem to want the series to end. There's a feeling throughout the book that this war is coming to an end. Gone are the stirring battle stories, the characters now familiar and the Race war weary. Since much of the book is written from the Race's perspective, the reader gets war-weary too. As for peace, it's withdraw from the US and Soviet Union and bits of Nazi Germany - they have nukes and war with the British (forgetting breaking of Enigma and the first computer) and Japanese who don't. Perhaps the Race would like to receive some more nerve agents like those that kicked them out of Britain? The end just doesn't ring true. The only scene of withdrawal is in the USA. The last action is preventing Germany exploding a bomb in Breslau. Most of the British Empire has exchanged ruler, with Eden portrayed as nearly in tears. Does Turtledove have something against the British? Most of the rest of the world is in lizard hands. This book gave no indication that the war to drive the Invaders from Space off Earth, would continue nor how or if the colonisation fleet would be dealt with twenty years on.
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Summary: Interesting,sexy,violent portrayal of interracial relations
Review: The Race verses a World at war,WWll Earth that is. What a concept,I sure hope he writes a 5th part to it! Too many loose ends yet to be tied.
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Summary: A WONDERFUL CONCLUSION TO AN EXCITING SERIES
Review: The worldwar series comes to a highly entertaining conclusion in this final installment. After years of arduous fighting, the tenacious Tosevites (humans) are able to broker an uneasy truce with the alien invaders. Turtledove's portrayal of human beings surpassing the most overwhelming odds is inspiring indeed. I look forward to reading the second phase of this series (comprised of three books) which will take place when the alien colonization fleet arrives (in the 1960s).
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Summary: a good read
Review: This book is a pretty good piece of writing. Turtledove's style is not very literary, but good for a work of fiction. The story gets you involved, and the many threads seem to coincidentally (sometimes almost too much so) work themselves together. Turtledove's penchant for steamy scenes also annoyed me a little. It seems that many science fiction writers are perverted that way. Not to give the ending away, but it was somewhat disappointing to the patriotic earthling that I am.
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Summary: Be Prepared for a Long Haul
Review: This initial offering of Turtledove's first WWII alternative history tetrology (amazingly, there is more than one) is, regrettably, the best that will be offered. Alternatingly fascinating and draggy, the four books could easily have been condensed into two. This first installment presents intriguing premises, e.g. what if extraterrestrial invaders came to Earth expecting the late middle ages, only to find a technological global war in progress? What if they could not find a way to use their superior technology to vanquish the combined armies of Earth without ruining the environment for their upcoming colonization fleet (see next tetrology)? The reptilian invaders owe a great debt to Niven and Pournelle's pachyderms (Footfall) in their persistent inability to understand the complexities of human behavior. Unfortunately, these premises are often poorly realized and insufficient to carry even one book, let alone four.
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