Upsetting the Balance (Worldwar Series, Volume 3)

Rating:
Summary: Poor way to wrap up epic story
Review: I was quite disappointed with Turtledove's concluding volume of the WorldWar: series. Oh, he sorta wrapped up the story line, and he killed off a few more of the less sympathetic characters, but the book didn't read like the earlier three - it seemed he was in a rush to get out the "last" volume and move on. Is the story finally over? I doubt it. Ol' Harry didn't wrap it THAT well - there is room for a lot more of these stories.

Rating:
Summary: Draws from the present to re-create the past
Review: In my opinion, this volume of the series did live up to its predecessors. I have enjoyed them very much and cannot wait for the next volume. It really piques the curiosity of those who study history...especially WW-II. I find it to be very enlightening as to just how far we have come in only 50 years...since, as far as I can tell, the Lizards have the same basic force level and technology, and face the same irritating problems, that the U.S. military has at the present time.

Rating:
Summary: Good but repetitive
Review: Lizards invade earth during WW II - installment 3. A good storyline and backdrop, but the author repeats himself an awful lot. For example, in the first book the Lizards are suprised at how technologically advanced the humans are. In the 3rd book, there are still pages and pages of various lizards lamenting the same thing in almost the same words. Character development stopped somewhere in the 2nd book also. 1,200 pages into this series, the baseball player characters still relate everything back to playing minor league ball, almost verbatim in some spots. Could have edited the first three books into one or two faster, better books.

Rating:
Summary: Fleetlord Atvar needs help, so does Turtledove
Review: OK. The Tosevites are hard to subdue. I get the point. I got the point 1500 pages ago. This series appealed to me mainly because of my interest in WWII, but I think I'll stick to mainstream novels like "The Triumph and the Glory" or histories like "The Victors" or films like "Saving Private Ryan".

Rating:
Summary: Morale problems among the invaders
Review: The ginger addiction is spreading among their troops. Ironically, the stuff has some medical benefit when a member of an alien tank crew gives his wounded commander part of his personal stash as a stimulant so he'll make it as far as the nearest field hospital. A disaffected ship's captain leads an unsuccessful mutiny against the fleet admiral and ends up turning himself over to the Earth authorities to evade arrest. Earth technology evolves too fast for the aliens to keep track of--they remain centuries ahead of us but the pure fact that we keep making improvements keeps them off balance. And it's not like we're advancing in everything--the uneasy alliances among Earth nations remain uneasy due to nationalism in the ranks. The big victories here are all one-person ones. Like a Chinese woman who was mated to an American man by the aliens as an experiment. In the previous book, she loses the guy in a raid. Now the alien scientists take her baby away from her. So she joins communist guerillas to get even. After all, in her country, the Reds are the ones doing the real fighting back. But an Earth scientist whose wife marries someone else while he's MIA continues to get more and more bitter about it. More and more each day, he flirts with the idea of defecting to the aliens to get even (I think the Harold Lauder character from Stephen King's "The Stand" might be an influence here). This series continues to get more and more interesting after a fairly weak start in the first volume.

Rating:
Summary: Slow start, but ended with a BANG! (several, actually)...
Review: The Worldwar series is definitely getting better. There are actually some great twists and turns popping up all over the story which really kept my interest. I was a little disappointed at first, but around the 150th page it started picking up. I especially liked the parts with Jager (ol' Skorzeny at it again...) and Atvar (the Fleetlord finally became interesting). I didn't like the Jens Larsenn stuff. I mean, they were chilling, but I always liked Jens and it was tough to see him break down like that. Upsetting the Balance had a couple problems though, but what book doesn't? First off, the inclusion of the three "VIPs" in Couch, Missouri was unneccessary. It seemed like a cheesy walk-on in a sitcom. And how did Mussolini get into the U.S.A.? Did I miss something in an earlier book? Secondly, the number of nukes set off was, like, whoa... 12 bombs in rapid succession? And, skimming through book #4, I saw even more detonations! If there isn't any serious repercussions in the Colonization series, then I'll be a Lizard's uncle. Anyway, this was perhaps the best book in the series so far and I'm looking forward to the next books. Right now, though, it's time to start the Great War series.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Standalone
Review: This is the only book I've read in this series and loved it. I am wary though to buy the last book because of others' comments but I thought this one was magic with it's imagery. As a stand-alone, almost perfect, I didn't miss anything by not reading the previouse volumes. Problem is it didn't finish the story.

Rating:
Summary: superb ,i hope to soon buy all the other books in the series
Review: this is truly a masterpiece. the first
alternatehistory book i've read. now i know
what i have been miising. turtldove creates
an imaginative saga with likely outcomes
i loved every minute of it. he truly knows
how to portray the historical figures
for an example when hitler makes an outraged
speech after an alien atom bomb lands in
germany i could almost see hitler screaming at
me ,turtledove captured him that good. well i
included one spoiler i wont let you
see anymore,bye ,it was so good i was able
to read it as a stand alone novel i
borrowed it from a friend,must read!


Rating:
Summary: Superb!!
Review: This series was great because not only did it have an action packed storyline the writter used real life characters and weponary, and Harry should that though all adversity and hatred Hummanity will band together despite there differences to stop a greater evil. I can't wait till his next series, i hope it comes soon!!

Rating:
Summary: Very good alternate history
Review: Turtledove realistically portrays the chaos and upheaval of WWII, as well as, the ingenuity and determination of the people of Earth. It is interesting how he depicts the reluctant coalition of formerly bitter enemies who must now work together to defeat a common foe bent on the domination of humanity