Rating: 
Summary: A More Than Workmanlike Job
Review: Without giving too much away to people who have not read this book, I may say that it succeeds in credibly resolving a major dilemma left by the previous book--what happens when the contents of Sam Yeager's insurance policy become known to the Race. Along the way, we are treated to a Warren Commission with a membership that LBJ never dreamed of, a cameo appearance by Mikhail Gorbachov and the revelation that Straha's American driver is none other than G. Gordon Liddy. Dr. Turtledove continues to maintain the same level of arch good humor that characterized the previous two volumes of this series. Apart from minor errors in military aspects of this book--in US service, lieutenant colonels are customaritly addressed as "colonel" and in the German army, the promotion from full colonel to major general is only one grade, not two; the German army does not have a brigadier general rank--my only problem with this series is that it promises to stretch on so long as to exhaust the authpr's patience or powers of invention. I hope that does not happen.
Rating: 
Summary: A mediocre rush job
Review: While I reading this book I was not sure that it was a conclusion of a trilogy or the third of four books. Having read it I am still not sure. The loose threads have pretty much been sown up but there no real plot or final resolution. It left me wanting more but I am not sure there anywhere a fourth book can go really. The ending I find painfully predictable. The book had a feel of a rush job, like resolving the mystery of the Lewis and Clark on the last page as an aside in a conversation! Please! How anticlimatic! What happened to building the tension? I felt like I eating thin soup. Again I got the feeling that Turtledove wanted to finish this book so he could move to other things. In a couple places in the last few chapters the writing style and grammar are awkward as if even teh prrofreader was geeting tired. The reason I gave it three stars and not lower is that the series is a great premise and if you loved the series you should read it, but wait for the paperback.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent! Hard SF at it's very best.
Review: Ever since his first WorldWar book, Turtledove has kept SF fans around the world spellbound with his alternate historical epic of reactionary imperialist alien invaders and the cunning humans whose job it is to defeat them- or learn to live with them. It is now the 1960s, some twenty years since the first round of fighting came to an end. The USA, the USSR, the Third Reich, and other developed nations remain independent, but Africa, Asia, South America, and Australia lie under the "Lizard" yoke. As time passes, the new generation comes to take the aliens more and more for granted. Both races work hard to adapt to the new world order. But the aliens came to conquer the Earthlings, not to sign treaties with them. The Earthlings, meanwhile, are struggling to fill in the technological gap, turning out increasingly effective instruments of war. The United States reaches out into space, eager to take some of the "high ground" for themselves. And what they do once they get there may well exceed the worst nightmares of either species. And yet, there may be some hope for peace. Every year, the two races are forced to interact more and more. Slowly but surely, inter-species friendships bloom. Psychologists and sociologists from both sides struggle to understand eachother. In many parts of the occupied world, humans come to coexest peacefully with their alien overlords. Then, suddenly, everything changes. With Sam Yeager's deadly secret revealed at last, the world is brought once again to the brink of war. Even as Germans and Frenchmen struggle to hold their nations together, the rest of the world threatens to erupt. Today, a war could bring only two possible outcomes: it will leave the whole world under the dominion of the Lizards, or render it useless to both races... This final installment of the Colonization series is another five-star performance from the Master of Alternate History. As events unfold at an increasingly rapid pace, Turtledove keeps the suspense rate admirably high. As vast webs of violence, intrigue, and deceit spread to every corner of the civilized world, the reader is often left in doubt as to whether a character will live to see the next page. As in all of his best works, Turtledove manages to tie science, history, technology, romance, intrigue, action, and humor into a single, successful whole. The year is still young, but this is likely to be my choice for best SF novel of 2001.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing Addition to a Fantastic Series!!!!
Review: Colonization:Aftershocks was the best one yet out of all of them by a long shot. The ending is very surprising, especially when you find out who's gunning for Sam Yeager, and the fate of our planet. Fans of Turltledove will love this latest novel on the Race from space!!!
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: Good enough, but becoming old
Review: If you have made it all the way to this seventh book you are probably aware of Turtledove's writing style. It can become tedious with constant and useless repetitions about the Earth being too cold for the Lizards, ginger being a drug the lizards like, and Jews being mad at the Nazis. After the first couple of chapters you will become sick of it...but it has been like that since the first book.
Luckily this redundance is overshadowed by an intersting plot that develops the changing human (and Lizard) societies. Thus ginger smuggling becomes an important part of the book, but it becomes rather tedious toward the end.
Since the book is very redundant, lots of lines can be skipped, making the reading faster and enjoying the actual plot and not just fluffing. It is pleasant enough and has enough intrigue to keep one reading and if you have read all the other books of the series, you should definetly give Aftershocks a try. Bewarned though that Turtledove's writing has not changed and the story is starting to become old even if it remains intersting.
Rating:
Summary: Believable
Review: Which is about the highest praise alternative history can get, I believe. Turtledove creates an alternate universe that seems completely real. If aliens had invaded in WWII, this is what we would be presented with, in the 40s and the 60s. By using very personal characters, with famous, infamous, and unknown historical personages. Turtledove makes excellent use of his strong background in history. He has a creative writing style that pulls the reader in, with many unexpected results, and few flat characters. Those that are, are flat for a reason- lizards culturally evolve slowly.
There are some weaknesses in Turtledove's writing style as well. He has the same flaw as Tolkein- weak female characters. Perhaps it is a result of his gender, but I began to realize that the only involved females he imagined were those of an alien race, or those who were raised by an alien race- thus not truly human females. He seems to skip over getting in the minds of women, as he does so well with men, which results in somewhat half of the story being told.
The other major flaw is Turtledove's treatment of Christianity. It is sad that he merely apes this inaccuracy which is so typical of the science fiction genre. In the future, if religion exists at all, it is certainly not the Christian religion- or if so, a pale imitation of it. This flaw is most prevalent in this latest work of the series, where Turtledove speaks of the Muslims and Jews to a great extent, and how they follow what the believe, but the Christians are not willing to die for their beliefs, nor commit to worshipping one God. This is a grave departure from historical (or present) reality, where over half of the Christians in the world live in the 2/3rds world, the largest religion in the world is Christianity, and more have died for their Christian faith in the 20th century than the previous 19 combined.
Despite these two blemishes, it is a very enjoyable work. If one has read through the entire series till now, you definitely want to complete it. If not, you want to read the other books before coming to this one. Though the book is understandable on it's own, it doesn't make as much sense by itself. It is a fitting near-ending (2nd to the last), where most storylines are resolved, but the biggest and largest only hinted at till the end of the book, to be finally resolved later in the 21st century.
Rating: 
Summary: Ugh, finally it's over
Review: When it started, this was a pretty good series. But every book has gone downhill, and this one is no exception. Aside from the stale characters, the repetitive situations, and the ENDLESS blabbering about minor plot points, my biggest problem has always been the central character: Sam Yeager. He is not supposed to be an anti-hero or a farcical character, yet he is the most loathsome central hero I've ever seen. Stupid, vain, dishonest, treasonous...and every third thought has to do with baseball. Enough! After 5,387 references to minor league baseball, I never want to watch the game again. If his wife-stealing and betrayals are the mark of a true hero, I wonder about Harry Turtledove.
Anyway, this book is dull, dull, dull. At least in the fifth one, there were 5 pages of war after 450 pages of talking. This one doesn't even give you a pay-off. Turtledove is a fading star; judging by the huge quantity and low quality of his works past the mid-90s, I'm not even sure he is writing his own stuff anymore.
My suggestion: Don't bother. Read something exciting and somewhat plausible, like "Cryptonomicon".
Rating:
Summary: Please, put the series out of its misery!
Review: One would think that Turtledove (or the publishing house) would know when enough is enough but no, it just goes on and on until it teeters on its own bulk. I'm not sure where this "V"-like story came from (probably "V") but it was a good idea at the time. By now, though, the writing is past sloppy - it is sterile, totally predictable, almost as if he penned the work while in the doctor's waiting room or stopped at a red light. The idea of deep writing or a sense of wonder or a challenge to the reader (besides getting throught the thing) is laughable. Once again, it is the utterly impossible and improbable - two distinct features of Turtledove's works - that make for such a poor "conclusion". The first problem is one present from the start: A race capable of crossing interstellar space has to choose sides in WWII in order to gain a foothold. The scientific advance of such aliens would be so dramatic as to render our technology obsolete, PARTICULARLY at WWII levels. The second feature is one of my pet peeves - despite a complete change in circumstances the same leaders emerge with the same qualities. There is Hitler, Mao, Stalin, Churchill, Roosevelt, etc...all doing the things they did in the "real" world. And that race of lizards - what gives? They have to be part of a space opera, "Dumb and Dumber". Why should any alien race feel psychologically close to one group of humans over another and why should they require any help? In the end it is just a big mess but never fear - a sequel to the sequel to the sequel will be out soon.
Rating:
Summary: Ginger...It's All About the Ginger
Review: I just finished reading this book and I am assuming another installment is on the way. I hope there is, because I just can't wait to see who gets into the ginger smuggling business next time - the herb, not the girl on 'Gilligan's Island'. That seems to be the common thread through the last few books and its getting tiresome. Yes, it is interesting to see its effects on the Lizards but it seems that every other chapter deals with who is smuggling it, and how the Race is going to catch them before they all die in a frenzy of ginger induced mating. Oh, and there is a small matter of the nuclear war between the evil Third Reich and the Race, but the Nazi's asked for it you know, so don't feel sorry for them... Most of the war for the reader is spent on a Lizard ship with Jonathan Yeager as he introduces Kassquit to the joy of sex - like we didn't see that coming during his first visit. I would have liked to seen Molotov (my personal fav)do the wild thing with Kassquit, since neither one of them ever show emotion. And I like the Russie family but enough is enough, 'gevalt' as they would say. The Americans are out in the asteroid belt doing all sorts of secret things that are much more interesting than how many ingrown toenails Dr.Russie treats, but they are treated like a minor side story. Turtledove reaveals the true mission of the 'Lewis and Clark' on the last page and just leaves you hanging. If you have read the other books you have to read this one, especially if you like Penny and Rance, as they have assumed importance in this novel all out of proportion of when they were introduced, and most of it is tiring. Oh, yeah - Sam Yeager is a traitor, no matter what his mealy-mouth excuses were....
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