Rating: 
Summary: Oh god, please let it end.
Review: This series is already long overdue for a conclusion. The last chapter should have been in the middle.All the fuss over the American's being responsible for taking out an invading starship -- one that brings with it the manufacturing and other production capabilities to allow the lizards to maintain a strong position indefinitely -- is utterly absurd. I'll give him one more try. If this next one is not the end, I'm not going to bother.
Rating: 
Summary: Good story, too much filler
Review: I enjoyed this book. I'd really prefer to give it 3.5 stars but when push comes to shove, I'd have to drop to 3 stars rather than go to 4. This book continues the saga of mankind coping with an alien invasion of Earth during the 1960s. The lizards (as we call the aliens) invaded during the height of WW2. The world is now split amongst 4 major powers: The lizards who control the souther hemisphere. The United States (and Canada), USSR, and Germany (though now greatly reduced). The main plot point is how the humans (overall) are going to deal with "the race" (what the lizards call themselves). In this book, this effectively means what the United States is doing since by this point, it is by far the most powerful of the human powers left. The USSR is left just poking the lizards via China and Germany is in ruins. The problem I have with the story is all the filler. Massive amounts of it that is essentially recycled from previous books. Side characters that have no real impact on the story just keep doing the same sort of stuff that they've been doing throughout the series repeating the same lines, repeating the same actions. I've finally gotten to the point where I just skim those subplots. This leaves the book with effectively 100 pages of actual story that's been stretched out to keep things from moving very quickly. Because when one finishes the book, they can step back and say "Not much happened" to the overall arc and now the wait for another year for the next installment. The overall story itself is extremely compelling. That is why I wish Turtledove would get on with it and move things forward faster. Nobody cares about Rance and the various ginger smuggling. The story could (and starts to FINALLY) start having the race finally trying to learn something about humans. 30 years have passed and the race is only now starting to even look into Earth history. Great story, just wish it would move along faster. If you're already reading the series, I highly recommend it. If you're new to the series, save your money and wait until Turtledove finishes it and get the soft covers. Then you can skim past the mind numbing repetition and just read the pertinent plot points.
Rating:
Summary: Aftershocks is So-So
Review: The latest installment of Harry Turteldove's Colonization series was decent but did not live up to its predecessors, especially, Down to Earth. I thought the climax came about half way through the book and the last half was not very exciting. The characters seemed to run around in circles at the end. Plus one character is arrested, gets out of jail, and suddenly is back in jail needing help to get out. Was that a slip or am I just dense? I was amused though to see my hometown play a prominent roll in the book. All in all, not his best book.
Rating: 
Summary: IT ALL COMES TOGETHER
Review: As everyone likes to say Turtledove has done it again. This book was definately the best of the three Colonization books. You finally find out who attacked the colonization fleet. Who lit off the ginger rockets over Austailia.The conclusion of the Goldfarb-Roundbush feud. Goldfarb comes up with a new invention at the Widget Works. Rance and Penny come full circle. Gorpett finally gets to use his extensive knowledge of Big Uglies to the Race's advantage. The Lewis & Clarks true mission. Also a lot of cool teamups between the various characters of the series. All though Turtledove says this is the last of the series there is definately more books that need to be written to bring the series to a just and wholesome conclusion.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Book (but)
Review: This book made a worthy finish to the series. However, I wish more of the loose ends had been wrapped up. It seems as if he couldn't decide if there are going to be more sequels or not. Also, my biggest complaint (and request to the author) is that he has silly little alternate history jokes and references. These really break the flow for me and force me out of thereading experience and back into the real workd - if only for a few seconds. For example, the "------ Commission" or the "useless Byzantine" history.
Rating:
Summary: Colonization: Aftershocks, shockingly good!
Review: I think that this book, the third in the series, is by far the best of the series and this book makes the previous two books better because you can understand why things happened and who did them. I won't go into detail because I don't want to give away a very excting and surprising book. My only problem with this book is not fully closed at the end, but I have a good feeling that Prof. Turtledove is going to write another series in this universe. My guess is that it would take place in the present. I really enjoyed this book and I hope I see more books with The Race in them very soon. Until then I'll be waiting for the American Empire series from my favorite author. I hope you check out this book and enjoy it as much as I do.
Rating:
Summary: A little too open-ended of an ending...
Review: After following the life & times of a very changed world for seven books, I was hoping for a sense of closure that I didn't get from AFTERSHOCKS. That's the only thing I found wrong with the book, though--Turtledove has done his usual masterful job of extrapolating what could have happened from what did, human nature, and the elements of the world that he changed. Also, Turtledove drops waaaaay too many hints over the first half of the book about which nation attacked the colonization fleet with nuclear weapons in DOWN TO EARTH, and mentions how dangerous the knowledge is each time it's mentioned. I got it. I'm sure the other readers got it too. The rest of the book is typically fine Turtledove alternate history. It's interesting to see things like Caller ID or the decades-premature invention of the Furby in a different world, and the usual care has been lavished on all of the different political factions--the USA, the Greater German Reich, the USSR, China, Canada, South Africa and the conflicts between the invasion and colonization fleets. Here's hoping that if there is another sequel series it ends slightly more definitively. Also, it would have been nice to see alien-obsessed British music producer Joe Meek in the series--the Colonization books take place right around the high point of his career and it's not like other real people never appear in the books.
Rating:
Summary: Will there be a sequal?
Review: A very good ending for the second series, but also a very madding ending.Dr. Turtledove has left himself open for a sequel dealing with issues rising from this last book.It is a faster pace book than the first 2 of the series and tries to wrap up a whole series of threads in just one book, thus I have only given it 4 stars instead of 5.A fustrating part is how Sam Yeager keeps coming up smelling like roses, especially after what he pulls in this book.All in all, if you enjoyed the series you will enjoy this book.
Rating:
Summary: phase 2 of the series wraps up
Review: Although the book doesn't indicate one way or the other, I'll take a guess that Aftershocks is the wrap-up of the Colonization books, and that the next book, if there is one, will jump ahead another 15 to 20 years. Why? "Aftershocks" wraps up a lot of the issues, both global and personal, from the preceding two books. The tone of the colonization era is set, with an uneasy balance of continuing conflicts. Even in the turmoil of invasion, life eventually settles out to an equilibrium (if only to lose that equilibrium later on). That's not to say that all the loose ends get tied up in a neat package. Down the road, there will be some fascinating questions: What happens when human technology reaches parity with the Lizards? When and how will Japan's role change? What's the next stage in humanity's corrupting influence on the Race and the Empire? What happens when the "Lewis and Clark" fulfills its mission? What will Mickey and Donald be like when they grow up, and what's next for Kassquit? Anyone who has stayed with the series to this point has a strong interest in the interpersonal side of these books, from diplomacy to the effects on the lives of everyday people to the impact that individuals have on history. Aftershocks delivers superbly on these themes; every subplot and every continuing character evolves in believable but not always predictable paths. There are some surprises (I'll admit that I guessed wrong about the location of the Jews' explosive-metal bomb), but in general, Turtledove handles his foreshadowing well, always observing Chekov's Law. (If there's a gun on the mantle in Act I, it must be fired by Act III. There are lots of guns on the mantle in this series; some of them are new in this book, and some of them are still waiting.) I do have one nit to pick, and it's the reason for a 4-star rating instead of 5. Yes, we do find out what happened with the attack on the colonization fleet (and it's not a huge surprise; the hints are abundant in earlier books). However, I think this is one place where Turtledove has fallen down on his historical research. The prime mover behind the the attack is a historical figure, one whose character and approach to planning large-scale attacks is well-established. Attribution of the attack to this man simply does not ring true for me. First, the scale of the attack was actually too small. This person would not have planned a single, relatively small attack, and we know this from history. (Sorry, no more clues there, but when you find out who it is, study his actual record in World War II.) Second, I think the leader of his not-empire would not have carried out the attack. A country does not start down such a path without without a plan for follow-through. The plan doesn't have to be a good one, but it ought to be there. It's evident that no such plan existed, and though I'm not as familiar with the not-empire leader's personal character, I don't get the impression that he would act precipitously. (Again, this is a historical figure whose public record is well documented.) Such a lack of strategic vision is not unheard of--indeed, it was the primary mistake that the Japanese committed at Pearl Harbor, and it is believable for the man who planned the attack on the colonization fleet. However, it's not believable for his national leader, and no amount of hand-waving about how humans don't plan for the long term can make this issue go away. All of this does not detract significantly from the whole of "Aftershocks"; it is a very satisfying continuation of the series, and it more than answers the questions left pending at the end of "Down to Earth." Get it and read it; you won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: nothing much new
Review: I really looked forward to this one. But it so similar to the last one, very little new major plot work, lots of repeats of small plots. Nothing much happens new , this is like a tv miniseries that is being dragged out. Hope the next is better.
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