Rating: 
Summary: History loses out to fantasy
Review: Our museum docents book group decided that this book sounded perfect for those interested in history of writing, metal working, development of commerce and arithmetic. Unfortunately the characters put down their stylus or bellows just as another character arrived to chat so Harry Turtledove did not need to describe any of these interesting facets of everyday life in ancient times.Heavy portentious repetitious language weighed down the narrative in an apparent attempt to sound authentic. Cardboard characters moved through the story with no real development and the ending was obvious - man gets girl. Stick to fantasy, Harry.
Rating:
Summary: Yawn
Review: The first Harry Turtledove I've read (maybe the last) - I kept waiting for something to happen, but the story just peters out. If you cut out the re-iterations of each phrase in praise of the gods by each person and each echo of the other person's greeting, the book would be half its size. Sadly disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: Good enough to stop boredom.
Review: There wasn't enough big-scale battles in this book. This is a personal requirement for me. I also wish this novel was set in the Iron Age not Bronze Age. And by the way, how could anyone be so stupid as to place their godly powers into a single item then neglect to guard it?
Rating: 
Summary: No flash No fire No fun
Review: This book is a total waste of a reader's most valued comodity: time. Don't bother. This author is way out of his league.
Rating:
Summary: Do men really need gods?
Review: This book is the story of man liberating himself from the tyranny of religion, told metaphorically in the form of Sharur and the men of the city of Gibil seeking to escape from the tyranny of their (literally) resident god. While this book does use Mesopotamia as a sort of prototype, it strays very far from the historical Mesopotamia, and tells the reader nothing about that land. The book though, is well written, and quite interesting.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Book
Review: This book triumphantly delves into the common science fiction aspiration of a single idea overcoming tremendous odds. Turtledove's story is a good one, and i recommend it to readers interested in this genre.
Rating:
Summary: Before the Bicameral Mind
Review: This is a fantastic book. I was overjoyed to discover that Turtledove took the trouble to imagine the hypotheses of Julian Jaynes, a psychologist who suggested that once, men really did hear the gods speak to them. Jaynes suggested that humans have evolved significantly over the last 8 to 15 thousand years, primarily in terms of the integration of their cerebral hemispheres. In earlier times, when poor integration was more common, most people could hear the words spoken by their gods; really their own learned rules and beliefs spoken compellingly and very hard for them not to listen to because it was actually the things they themselves were conciously thinking. Jaynes said that the only people today who hear such things are called schizophrenics. Be that as it may, Turtledove's book makes this come alive in ancient Mesopotamia. Besides all that, this book is an excellent story!
Rating:
Summary: No flash No fire No fun
Review: This is a fun book to keep you entertained and in another magical world for awhile, where God's exist and men struggle for freedom, while others obey unquestioningly. I likened this book to our own struggle from Big Brother, and the analogies are endless in that respect. The characters are at times funny, at times mystical, yet altogether likeable. A very pleasant journey into a very magical land. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: A magical mystery tour....
Review: This is a fun book to keep you entertained and in another magical world for awhile, where God's exist and men struggle for freedom, while others obey unquestioningly. I likened this book to our own struggle from Big Brother, and the analogies are endless in that respect. The characters are at times funny, at times mystical, yet altogether likeable. A very pleasant journey into a very magical land. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Terrific! Highly inventive!
Review: This is one of the most creative and entertaining worlds I've seen outside of hard SF. This is the best Turtledove book I've read to date.
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