Product Description
The climactic volume of Turtledove's saga of world war in a world where magic works arry Turtledove's rousing saga of a fantastic world at war, which began in Into the Darkness and continued through several successful volumes, draws to its climactic conclusion in Out of the Darkness. As the Derlavaian War rages into its last and greatest battles, allied nations maneuver for positions against each other in a postwar world. But before that time can come, the forces of Algarve, Unkerlant, and their allies must clash for the final time, countering army with army and battle magic with ever-more-powerful battle magic. In the midst of it all, the people the war has battered and reshaped must struggle to face their greatest individual challenges, as loves are shattered and found, terrible crimes avenged and some journeys ended forever. And the end of the war may not bring peace. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Impressive conclusion to a mediocre series
This book makes a complete-feeling conclusion to the World At War saga.No loose ends, and very little story left to tell, Turtledove succeeds in closing this very long and complex series in a way that satisfies the reader.In order to do that however, this book was by necessity one of the longest of the series, and nearly the entire thing read like a conclusion.Throughout, you get the sense that Turtledove was trying to wrap things up as neatly and as efficiently (which Swemmel would have appreciated) as possible.No new plot elements were developed, nothing too unexpected happened, and the end of the series was accomplished without any hitches.In fact, this entire book was very predictable, with just about everything happening almost exactly like you'd expect it would, which is only exacerbated by this being a mirror-history to our own.Actually, in an effort to close out this series in a reasonable amount of space, Turtledove killed off a couple of characters that we had been following since the beginning right at the start of this book, all in all an effective strategy.

If you've enjoyed the rest of this series, this book should please you also.The general tone is similar and events sort of plod along their predetermined paths towards the predictable conclusion.Turtledove's writing in this book contains two noticeable differences from the rest of the series, one positive, one negative.On the positive side, the descriptions and character dialogue seem less repetitive here, something that all of the other books suffered greatly from.He finally stops (almost) pounding it into your head that Algarvians wear kilts and Forthwegians like mushrooms.Negatively, Turtledove seems to have become completely obsessed with sex while writing this one, even more so than in the previous books, and the constant references to it and descriptions of it here become distracting.One thing that having so many POV characters caused however, was that Turtledove had to spend a very large part of the book wrapping things up and telling the 'happily-ever-after' for each character.In effect, there was a separate conclusion for each character, and it seemed like the book could have closed just fine after any of the last 20 or so sections.

I would hesitate to recommend this series to anyone, especially considering how long it turned out to be.The main feeling I got from this one was "I'm Finally Done!!!", after finishing it.Nothing too memorable or inspirational here, overall a 3.8-star series. ((Into the Darkness 4-stars, Darkness Descending 5-stars, Through the Darkness 4-stars, Rulers of the Darkness 3-stars, Jaws of Darkness 4-stars, Out of the Darkness 3-stars)).

Final instalment of Turtledove's WW2 Epic

"Out of the Darkness" is the sixth and final part of Harry Turtledove's reworking of the World War Two story set on a planet where people use magic instead of technology.

Dragon riders replace aircraft, Behemoths replace tanks, East and West have been transposed, Eurasia has been moved to the Southern hemisphere so that the Finns look like Zulus and the Saraha Desert becomes "the land of the Ice people." And all the names have been changed. But otherwise this is not alternative history at all.

By chance I read Anthony Beevor's "Stalingrad" shortly after reading the earlier voume ("Through the Darkness") in this series which included the events corresponding to that battle, and the same author's "Berlin" just before reading this one. Again and again I found myself recognising thereal events on which Turtledove bases the disasters and atrocities in the "Darkness" books.

When reading the earlier books in this series I thought Turtledove's aim was to do was write an account of great evil and how some people were sucked into it, others fought against it, others just tried to live through it, changing some of the details so the reader could leave some of the emotional baggage behind. By the time I reached this book, my mind was instantly translating everything back to real-world equivalents - Algarve as Germany, Kaunians as Jews, Swemmel as Stalin, etc - but the book still has power to make the reader think. As one character explained in the previous book, nobody is the villain in his own story.

It is also a gripping story, not because the reader is in any doubt about what will happen overall, but because you want to know what will happen to the many viewpoint characters, most of whom are fictional creations caught up in real events.

In fact, Turtledove takes one noticeable liberty with history in this book, which I won't spoil by giving it away here, but anyone who wants to explore the point further after they've read this book might also be interested in Barbara Delaplace's short story "No Other Choice" which is included in the collection "Alternate Presidents."

The "Darkness" series is best read in the correct sequence -"Into the Darkness", "Darkness Descending", "Through the Darkness", "Rulers of the Darkness", "Jaws of Darkness" and finally "Out of the Darkness". The mood is as black as the titles indicate, but the series is a very exciting read.

The End?
Turteldove's 6 books series of war (almost 4000 pages of it) finally comes to an end. an enjoyable series that does require a pretty heavy investment from the reader. I think we got to know a lot of the characters along the way. Though I was disappointed with a the fairly pointless introduction of a couple of new POV characters for the final book. Because it does parallel our own world so closely it did make the last book rather predictable, personally I would ahve preferred it if the whole series had been built around a different but still detailed history. My only other quibble has been the increase in frankly embarrassing sex scenes.

Anyway the door is left open for a Cold War style series set in the same world.

Excelent take on WW II
(Note that's I'm reviewing the entire series.)

We have a version of Germany that unifies with a version of Austria, only several other nations do not wait to be provoked further, they declare war right away. (Equivalents of Poland, France, Netherlands, and Denmark?)

The version of the UK sits out until in a reverse Dunkurg, the small islands are taken over.

The equivalent of Germany and the USSR divide Poland and wipe it off the map, and then the other powers on the land mass fall to Germany. In the mean time, This equivelent to Germany has been sending out literature painting blondes in a very bad light [who is this version had an empire 1000 years ago.] And they wait for those countries to fall before rounding up the local blondes in their empire and pass a law making red hair dye illegal for blondes to wear as well.

The equivalents of the USSR and Germany then decide to sneak attack each other on the very same day. Only the equivalent of Germans is much better trained. However the winter is Ukerlant's best ally, and so the life energy of blondes is expended to break a stalemate, but it doesn't take long for Ukerlant to use peasents life energy the same way. The eye witness accounts of historical Germans seeing the towers of the Kerlim match up this fictional account. The equivalent of the US joined the war and is obviously working on a version of the MP. They've been fighting this realities version of Japan for a while though.

Later in the series, the historical story of two sharp shooters going after each other (USSR & German) is retold, but with the twist of them both killing each other in this novel.

And the equailvent of Italy gets the equivlent of Germany side tracked just like histroically. (Only in Tundra instead of the Desert)

I'm not sure how to place this country where people wear nothing between their Sandels and Top Hats other than Jewerly, only that I probably wouldn't be able to get any work done at all in such a place.

Later on this version of allies start scoring victories, and an exiled character finds himself treated as a big rat by his ex wife.

A historic Japense inovation that didn't work for them is used quite successfully and was given the same name in this novel only as a combo equivalent to US & UK product. (Combination of a submarine and air craft carrier.) It works better in this book because it's holds more than four Dragons/planes.

In this novel, we see the equivlent of Germany on it's last legs and the equivlent as the equivlent to the USSR completes taking Ukraine back + taking Austria and Poland while the equivlents to the US/UK land in one of these nations and the German equivlent pulls out of the other but then finds US/UK landing troops there to go at them from there as well.

At the wars end we see what is obviously going to be their equivlent to our Cold war going so far as to match diviving Germany into two occuplied countries with figure head puppets, while the equivlent of Tokyo is hit with the equivalent of a nuclear bomb after failing to surrender seeing a demonstartion.

I think the immedate future looks much brighter for the citizens of this version of the US & UK than any place else in this novel.

Yes, Darkness still covers those countries the equivlent of the USSR rules (both directly and indirectly) and even one of the countries on the US/UK side is one large prision.

War is over, darkness remains
Harry Turtledove's magical allegory of World War Two concludes with Out of the Darkness, and much like in the real world, when the war ends, peace doesn't necessarily begin.

Algarve has been crushed and occupied. King Mezentio is shot down at the request of one of his fighters. In the far west, Gyongvar has been obliterated by a magical weapon of mass destruction. Unkerlant has taken Forthweg and installed its own puppet king.

As the war winds down, characters are also trying to pick up the pieces of their lives. Some of them have happy endings, others do not. Garivald finds himself in a mercury mine with Oraste and Ceorl after leaving the war. Bembo loses his girlfriend. Pekka and Fearno get married. Ealstan comes home to his family.

Readers will wonder what happens next in the fantasy world. Will Kuusamo and Unkerlant face down in a Cold War of their own? Will Algarve return to power, or will the Kaunian people ever be free?

History buffs and fantasy fans alike will enjoy the saga. It remains to be seen if Turtledove will revive it for the next generation, like the Return Engagement or Colonization series. ... Read more

Product Description
In 1942 Hitler led the world's most savage military machine. Stalin ruled Russia while America was just beginning to show its strength in World War II. Then, in Harry Turtledove's brilliantly imagined Worldwar saga, an alien assault changed everything. Nuclear destruction engulfed major cities, and the invaders claimed half the planet before an uneasy peace could be achieved.

A spectacular tale of tyranny and freedom, destruction and hope, Colonization takes us into the tumultuous 1960s, as the reptilian Race ponders its uneasy future. But now a new, even deadlier war threatens. Though the clamoring tribes of Earth play dangerous games of diplomacy, the ultimate power broker will be the Race itself. For the colonists have one option no human can ignore. With a vast, ancient empire already in place, the Race has the power to annihilate every living being on planet Earth . . .

Amazon.com Review
Colonization: Down to Earth marks part two of part two of Harry Turtledove's epic alternate history in which WWII gets interrupted--and violently abridged--by a hostile alien invasion. With some of the same characters introduced in the four-volume Worldwar series and Colonization: Second Contact, the story arc continues through the 1960s, as the Lizards (along with their second fleet, composed not of soldiers but of colonists) continue to grapple with their not-quite-subdued conquest, Tosev 3 (a.k.a. earth). And Turtledove's alt-'60s are not--to say the least--about peace, love, and understanding.

Now the reptilian ETs must face off against three world superpowers in an uneasy truce: the United States; Molotov's SSSR; and the psychotic, nuke-wielding Nazis under Himmler. Elsewhere, the U.K. flirts with fascism, Red China (commanded by none other than Chairman Mao) wages a bloody resistance against its scaly oppressors, and the Arab world does likewise under the guidance of Ayatollah Khomeini. As ever with Turtledove, plot takes precedence over characterizations, but his suspenseful twists and turns don't disappoint. And while Down to Earth proves a bit less martial than its predecessors, the action still satisfies--if nothing else, the bang-up finale is worth the wait. --Paul Hughes ... Read more

Customer Reviews (69)

Turtledove revels in the chance to wander off rambling about nothing
As I complained in the review of the first book, this book continues more of the same... constant nagging, needless repetition.Every time a subject is brought up, Turtledove essentially copies and pastes a little description of it every single time it comes up, padding a 200-300 page story into one DOUBLE the size.

The overall summary of this book is that nothing happens, until Heinrich Himmler dies, and Germany decides to invade Poland and attack the Lizards, then gets defeated in a war lasting less than 50 pages.

That's it.It would be badly stretching it to fill 300 pages with that story, and Turtledove's editor is either nonexistent or not doing his job, as Turtledove gets away with the same crap he did in the first book of this miserable series.

Minor storylines creep along at a sluggish pace, while major events happen almost immediately and by the next chapter, either everyone knows about it, or it's three weeks into the past.

By the end of the book, inevitable war opens up between Nazi Germany and the Race, and Turtledove is clearly not interested in it, as he rushes it with a greater speed than he did even in individual battles in the Worldwar tetraology.One moment, Johannes Drucker has been given clearance to fly to space to fight the Lizards, and the next chapter it's a month later and he's stuck in space without orders and growing a beard.

The war goes from the opening shots on Poland, followed by multiple nuclear bombs exploded on cities of the Reich and cities of the Race, followed by Germany's practical destruction, followed by Germany's surrender, all in a matter of 50 pages or less, or even less than that.All I remember is I spent half a month trudging along this book, then breezed past the war within two hours.


Turtledove showed me with the Worldwar tetraology that despite his flaws in pacing, literature, and psychology, he is a tremendous storyteller who could keep me interested in a storyline that ultimately, upon retrospect, was downright dull and ended nonsensically.And yet he made it work.

He's not staggering here... he's fallen on his ass and yet keeps moving.As much as I love the characters and storyline here, I would much rather wait until he comes up with great ideas for stories than to have him rush out and churn 1200 pages of nothing in text form.


By the way, the covers are always misleading, but in this edition it is just completely and blatantly false: John Kennedy is not in this book at all and never even mentioned, and Khruschev is not the Russian Premier, and while he was mentioned in the previous book, he is not in this book at all either.

More mature and well written
I have been a fan of Turtledove ever since i read the first novel in this series.
Since then i have gone through all the 3 original and 2 colonization books.
This book shows the increasing maturity of The Race, the friction between the conquest fleet and the colonization fleet, the troubles that Ginger bring, plus it has a neat 3-in-1 scenario: A mystery novel (who shot Sam Yeager), a romance story (Auberach and Penny), and a military one (the destruction of the Greater German Reich.
Somce may criticize turtledove's incessant words like "eye turrets bowed down in respect of the emperor who was light years away..." but i find that reinforcing.
Turtledove aims to show that even Tosevite 3 had changed the Race's habits a lot, it still has not changed something they cherish: their respect for their emperor.
Although the war part where the council of 8 is explosive-metal-bombed to oblivion is short, it avoid the repetitiveness of the previous war series, and hence is effective.
In a span of one month, i have read almost 5 of his novels in this series which is remarkable for my standards.
This series is sooo addictive like ginger.
Good work Mr.Turtledove.

Turtledove collapses into filler and redundancy, where is his editor???
This book was my awakening to the fact that the turtledove whose novels I had enjoyed (misplaced legion series, tales of the fox, toxic spell dump, guns of the south, even krispos) is gone, and has been replaced by an author publishing a few THOUSAND pages of novel a year, full of filler, repetitive background comments (if anyone can text-search these books, would be interesting to get a full count of repeated exposition for each character), and glacial plot movement.

A chronological review of his bibliography shows he may be working on 3 or more series at once, and as others have noted much of the novel seems like an effort to get page-count up.The tight, forward-moving plots of his older novels are gone, apparently forever.At times his prose reads like a rambling stream of conscious, to such a degree I wonder if he is dictating rather than typing.

After reading this novel, and reading reviews confirming my gut feel, I have decided to not buy anything he publishes from 2000 on.Reviews of his subsequent, and even recent novels, seem to vindicate this view.

Still Entertaining
This is the 6th book in this Marathon series, and the longest so far of the bunch.While this book is certainly entertaining, it is getting harder and harder to get really excited about the characters and subplots, as there is too much repetition and review of old situations and characters (they are just getting older now, and/or changed locations).

Like some of the earlier books from this series, this one "ends with a bang" - but I'm not going to go into detail, as it could spoil the ending.

Still, Turtledove comes up with just enough variety in characters and plot situations, that I kept turning the pages; for example, we start to see pets, livestock, and vegetation from "The Home Planet" start to take hold on Earth; and we start to see certainhuman "Independent Not-Empires" expand their space programs to the point that they can start exploring and exploiting the Asteroid Belt.

I plan on continuing this marathon series to the finish line, and I give this particular book 3.5 stars, rounded down to 3.

Well Done.
I waited with baited breath to see what would next turn up.And I was not disappointed- there are enough twists at the end of the book to satisfy any fan of O'Henry.Some are predictable, some are not.It is enjoyable reading.

Turtledove can be long-winded at times, and deserves occasional skimming, but he keeps that to a minimum in this book.Every book seems to have repeated information that gets kind of old, such as the original probe's vision of the inhabitants of Earth 800 years ago- but perhaps that is necessary for the reader who picks Book 6 off the bookstore shelf at random.

He manages to continue to follow the characters, and keep the myriad of characters clear.Some of the stories are more boring than others.There are times when the sex scenes are gratuitous and too detailed to be helpful.It is unfortunate to see how Rance and Penny have been reduced to drug dealers, when they had such a wonderful relationship 20 years ago.Perhaps that disappointment and lack of character continuity from the original integrity of those characters makes their story rather dull- it would be nice for Turtledove to drop them off the storyboard.

Perhaps the greatest part of the story is how well Turtledove shows the cultures interacting.We gain great depths of knowledge into the beliefs and practices of the mythical lizard culture, as well as a greater understanding of human culture, from the helpful outside-observer, godlike position of the lizards.Turtledove goes further to show changes in cultures, as humans and lizards impact each other.And as always, he uses his extensive knowledge of history to accurately predict the "what-if" impact on various societies. ... Read more

Product Description
From Harry Turtledove, the master of alternate history, comes After the Downfall, a novel of magic, epic warfare, and desperate choices. 1945: Russian troops have entered Berlin, and are engaged in a violent orgy of robbery, rape, and revenge. Wehrmacht officer Hasso Pemsel, a career soldier on the losing end of the greatest war in history, flees from a sniper's bullet, finding himself hurled into a mysterious, fantastic world of wizards, dragons, and unicorns. There he allies himself with the blond-haired, blue-eyed Lenelli, and Velona, their goddess in human form, offering them his knowledge of warfare and weaponry in their genocidal struggle against a race of diminutive, swarthy barbarians known as Grenye. But soon, the savagery of the Lenelli begins to eat at Hasso Pemsel's soul, causing him to question everything he has long believed about race and Reich, right and wrong, Ubermenschen and Untermenschen. Hasso Pemsel will learn the difference between following orders... and following his conscience. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

After the Downfall
I only read the first few pages but hope the rest of the book is not as those pages. The hero rescues a beatiful women and to express her gratitude she performs all kinds of sex on the filthy -smelly WW2 German. Just from the Berlin '45 battle and in combat for a very long time. Come on get real . I hope the rest of the book is not as stupid as the opening.

After reading most of the book I find it has improved a bit to two stars. I find the the main character Hasso Pemsel is a Nazi and anti -Semitic.the question I have
is the authur of the book the same? This is the first Turtledove book I have read.

I hope Hasso gets knoeked off at books end but somehow I doubt it .

Fantasy Romania
As other reviewers have mentioned, this book is interesting because a Wehrmacht officer from oour world becomes aware of his prejudices by visiting another world.The funny thing to me about the book is that Bucovin and Suceava are place names in Romania!The Grenye characters have names whose Romanian meanings sometimes fit the characterization (Drepteaza) and sometimes have little or nothing to do with the personality at all (Zgomot!Gunoiul!Otset! and others). I was interested in the story of how our hero dealt with his challenges, and didn't want to go to sleep until I had finished reading it. If you get the paperback edition, it is certainly worth the money, or if the hard cover is on sale.At full price?This is not the sort of literature that one feels compelled to re-read, in terms of sword and sorcery novels. Dar ma bucur c'am citit-o.

The only thing good about this book is the cover art!

As a long time fan of Turtledove (Starting with "The guns of the south") I looked forward to this book. After dragging myself though about 75% of the book I put it in the trash were it belongs. What was Turtledove thinking? Sell more books and forget about his fans or his reputation? After reading this excuse of a novel I will think long and hard about purchasing another Turtledove book - you should too!

A German by any other name...
Hasso Pemsel was a Captain in Nazi Germany when the Soviets marched into Berlin.Backed into a museum and under Soviet fire, Hasso stumbled upon an omphalos stone reported to be a portal to another world.Out of options, Hasso sat on the stone and found himself in a swamp with a beautiful blonde woman chased by swarthy dark men.Hasso stepped in, rescued the maiden, and discovered that he truly was in a new world.The blonde woman, Velona, was apparently the avatar of a goddess of the Lenello, a race of tall, blonde "Supermen" just like Hasso.For Velona, Hasso brought his military strategy to the Lenello, perpetually at war with the "racially inferior" Grenye, the swarthy, dark men chasing Velona.
Dual world fantasy has been done before.Harry Turtledove did this in 1987's /The Misplaced Legion/.The major difference between /The Misplaced Legion/ and /After the Downfall/, besides Turtledove's choice of cultures to examine, is that over the course of /After the Downfall/ Hasso Pemsel examines his racial beliefs towards the Jewish people, as seen through the lens of Lenello and Grenye.
/After the Downfall/ is a strong alternate history novel.Fans of serious dual world fantasy and fans of Harry Turtledove's earlier work will find much to enjoy here.

Reviewed by Joe Sherry

Crossing Into Another World
After the Downfall (2008) is a standalone fantasy novel.In another world, the Lenelli came from the sea two centuries ago and pushed back the native Grenye.The Grenye could work metals such as copper, brass and bronze, but were only then beginning to work iron.But the Lenelli had steel swords, armor, and some could work magic.

Over the centuries, the Grenye have learned from the Lenelli.They have copied as much of the technology -- and even the architecture -- as they can.Yet the Grenye still cannot work magic.For some reason, however, the Lenelli eastward advance has been stopped in the Grenye state of Bucovin.

In this novel, the Wehrmacht trying to hold back the Red Army from the remains of Berlin. Captain Hasso Pemsel and the survivors of his company are fighting in the ruins of the Old Museum.Inside he finds an old rock labeled as the Omphalos Stone, which is reputed to be a joining place between this world and others.He sits on it and disappears from this world.

Velona is a Lenelli woman who is the earthly avatar of a Goddess.The first time Hasso sees her, she is being chased by three Grenye who are less tired than Velona.Hasso shoots the pursuing Grenye with his Schmeisser.After expressing her appreciation, Velona takes him to the nearest Lenelli castle.

Aderno is a Lenelli wizard.He comes to the castle in response to Velona's message and soon learns that Hasso also has the potential of being a wizard.He also quickly finds out that Hasso is not lying, despite the improbability of his story.

Bottero is King of the local Lenelli.Brought before the king, Hasso is asked if he will swear fealty to Bottero.Hasso thinks about it and then agrees.

In this story, Hasso becomes Velona's lover.He also gets some firsthand experience with the Goddess and learns not to ridicule the idea of deities and avatars.Velona is very passionate in bed and elsewhere.Yet she occasionally has to take part in rites where she and the King rut in public.Hasso is rather peeved at the whole idea.

Hasso contributes several new concepts to the upcoming invasion of the eastern lands that remain in Grenye hands.He starts with operational security, but finds the Lenelli to be rather slow in understanding the principles.Later, he provides some innovative cavalry tactics.

Unfortunately, the Bucovinan learn fast and improvise a counter to the new tactics.They win the next battle and Hasso becomes a casualty.Luckily for him, the Grenye warriors who clean up the battlefield have orders to take him prisoner and he ends up in a Bucovinan dungeon.

This tale follows the gradual change in mental attitudes of a Wehrmacht officer in a strange situation.The similarities and differences of his old world and the new one bring him to some conclusions that would not have been appreciated in Nazi Germany.He begins to see the humanity in all people.

Hasso finds himself in the role of the inferior.Among the Lenelli, he is much shorter than most and he talks funny.Among the Grenye, he is much taller than anyone else and he talks funny.Being on the receiving side of despite and distrust does change one's thinking.

Much of the time, however, Hasso is learning a new language.About the time that he is beginning to be proficient in Lenelli, he is captured and must learn Bucovinan.He does find that the better he speaks a language, the more respect he gets.

The story is interesting enough, but the attitude changes give an extra bit of satisfaction to the reader.Still, Hasso is a soldier and is often involved in war or preparation for war.Conflict runs throughout the book.Read and enjoy!

Recommended for Turtledove fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of armed combat, technology transfer, and romantic entanglements.

-Arthur W. Jordin ... Read more

Product Description
Since the Roman legion had been mysteriously transported to this world of magic, tribune Marcus Scaurus had served the rulers of war-torn Videssos well. He had been largely responsible for ousting the Pretender and putting Thorish Gavras on the throne. That, of course, made him a hero.
Rome or Videssos, however, Fortune was a fickle goddess.
Now he and the legion were returning in triumph to Videssos the city after defeating a well-entrenched army of rebel mercenaries. But Marcus, betrayed by the one closest to him, was returning to be seized, dragged before the Emperor, and questioned under truth-drug like a traitor.
Of the court, only Alypia Gavra stuck by him -- but consorting with the Emperor's niece was dangerous. It could lead to exile -- or death!
Yet Alypia was attractive. And Marcus was lonely . . .
... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Not really that good!
I have struggled to keep reading this series.I find that there are a lot of words that really don't go anywhere.How long do I need to read this before SOMETHING is done along the main storyline??Yeah, the romans are great warriors in this new world even though they don't use MAGIC OR CAVALRY.I want to believe!!I enjoy the roman experience.The reason I started this series is because of the HBO series ROME.That is probably the underlying reason why I don't really care for it....To high expectations!

much more satisfying than the previous two books
"The Legion of Videssos" is the third book in the four volume Videssos Cycle.The original premise of the series takes a Roman Legion and magically transported the Legion, plus a Celt, into a completely alien world and into the Empire of Videssos.While the world is populated by humans, it is also a world in which magic truly works.This third book has taken the leader of the Legion, Marcus Scaurus and into the employ of the Empire as a mercenary captain.His legionnaires are accepted as some of the finest warriors around and the Roman tactics are new to Videssos.After installing Thorisin Gavras on the throne of Videssos at the end of "An Emperor for the Legion", and spending a winter sorting out the Empire's tax laws, Marcus Scaurus is sent back out into the field.

The Count Drax was once a mercenary leader just like Marcus, but when Drax found himself on the edge of the Empire having won battles for Videssos, Drax found himself in command of a goodly large chunk of the Empire.Rather than hold his position as a captain, Drax founded his own kingdom.Marcus and the Legion is on the march to capture Drax and reclaim that land for Videssos.Meanwhile, the Celt Viridovix the Celt and Gorgidas the Greek physician have left Marcus' service and are now on their own finding a new way on this strange planet.While Marcus is focused on Drax, he knows and Thorisin Gavras knows that their true enemy is the wizard Avshar, evil leader of a band of Yezda nomads.

For those readers who know of the history of the Byzantium Empire, the Videssos Cycle echoes some (or much) of that history.Videssos, I understand, is this world's Byzantium.Readers with this sort of background will likely get a much deeper reading of this series.I do not know how much actual history fits in with these fictional stories or what that history may be, so I can only enjoy the books on its own terms as it tells a story.Out of the first three books of the Videssos Cycle, "The Legion of Videssos" is the best.It focuses more on Marcus than on the overall Legion, which is a strength.It also alternates sections and sometimes chapters between Marcus, Viridovis, and Gorgidas.The characterization of these men are much stronger here than in the first two books.While it would help to have read books one and two, I do recommend this book (and series) to any who find the idea of this book interesting.I have found that it is worth the time to make it this far in the series and "The Legion of Videssos" has left me more satisfied than the other two books.

-Joe Sherry

Great Book
Swords and scorcery and roman legions all mixed up in one! This is definitely one hard to put down book!

Five Stars is Not Enough
Harry Turtledove has said that his life was shaped and molded by reading "Lest Darkness Fall" by L. Sprague De Camp. To my mind this firstseries by the master of alternate history is a time travel book basedloosely upon that previous classic. Elements of one of Caesar's legions aretransported forward in time to the Byzantine Empire. Only it's not theByzantine Empire, it's the Videssos Empire in another universe where magicworks. Aside from that, it's the Byzantine Empire written by a Byzantinehistorian. Aside from just surviving, the hero must prevent his newhomeland from being overrun by barbarians "Lest Darkness Fall".For this reason I consider this the best time travel series to a fictitiousuniverse ever written, as well as the best series about a Roman Legion. Itis a must read for anyone interested in the Roman Empire, the ByzantineEmpire, or time travel.

One of the many things which make this seriesinteresting is that the heroes are from Caesar's Rome. Rome is youngenergetic vibrant and, most of all, expanding at this time. They aretransported to the Byzantine/Videssos Empire while it is in a period ofdecline. (If it were the real Byzantine Empire, it would be the finaldecline, but we can still hope for a revival of the Videssos Empire.) Thedecadence brought by a thousand years of Empire is sharply contrasted withthe vibrant patriotism of our heroes who remain unknowing that this is thedestiny of their empire too.

This isn't just a military book where thelegion moves from battle to battle. This is a much more realistic andcomplete world where the hero is thrust into the middle of court politics,and has to fight to overcome the shear inertia of the Empire's slidetowards collapse. The hero spends more time facing corruption, politicalintrigue, distrustful monarchs, intolerant monks, and tax collectors thanhe does facing mounted cavalry units.

I don't want to repeat theexcellent review about the warfare in this series written by Robert, 12 MAR99, under "The Misplaced Legion" (Videssos Cycle, Book 1). Iwould like to add though, that this is not a series about a general. Thisis not a David Drake/S.M. Sterling series about Belisarius. As Robertpoints out, the hero of this series stands in the middle of the battles,and seldom knows more of what's going on than immediately to his left andright. The battles themselves are mostly standup fights where two sideshack at each other. This is really much more realistic though. Mostbattles, especially in the Roman era, were fought this way. Even thoughnowadays it seems like every book we read is about Belisarius, brilliantgenerals with innovative battlefield ideas come along only once in athousand years or so. Most battles are fought without them.

"TheMisplaced Legion" (Videssos Cycle, Book 1) is followed by "AnEmperor for the Legion" (The Videssos Cycle Book, 2), "The Legionof Videssos" (Videssos Cycle, Book 3), and "Swords of theLegion" (Videssos Cycle, Book 4). There are two prequel series aboutVidessos. The first is the Tale of Krispos series, beginning with"Krispos Rising." This is actually a two book story, which isexcellent, and a third follow on novel which is very good. The otherprequel, The Time of Troubles series, begins with "The StolenThrone". This series is entertaining, but not really as good as thefirst two series.

Although there are ten other books about Videssos,there can never be enough. And there are only four books about theMisplaced Legion. There needs to be a sequel series not another prequel.Perhaps "Legion of Videssos: Next Generation" where Marcus's son,born and raised in Videssos, can become Emperor, with Dad and his Legionhelping out of course. This could lead to a new golden age for Videssos,and maybe even . . .

Third book in series just as good as the first two.
The summary says is al ... Read more

Product Description
Harry Turtledove–the master of alternate history–has recast the tumultuous twentieth century and created an epic that is powerful, bold, and as convincing as it is provocative. In Drive to the East he continues his saga of warfare that has divided a nation and now threatens the entire world.

In 1914, the First World War ignited a brutal conflict in North America, with the United States finally defeating the Confederate States. In 1917, The Great War ended and an era of simmering hatred began, fueled by the despotism of a few and the sacrifice of many. Now it’s 1942. The USA and CSA are locked in a tangle of jagged, blood-soaked battle lines, modern weaponry, desperate strategies, and the kind of violence that only the damned could conjure up–for their enemies and themselves.

In Richmond, Confederate president and dictator Jake Featherston is shocked by what his own aircraft have done in Philadelphia–killing U.S. president Al Smith in a barrage of bombs. Featherston presses ahead with a secret plan carried out on the dusty plains of Texas, where a so-called detention camp hides a far more evil purpose.

As the untested U.S. vice president takes over for Smith, the United States face a furious thrust by the Confederate army, pressing inexorably into Pennsylvania. But with the industrial heartland under siege, Canada in revolt, and U.S. naval ships fighting against the Japanese in the Sandwich Islands, the most dangerous place in the world may be overlooked.


From the Hardcover edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (60)

Part 9 in a Series
One thing about fiction is, the more interesting a story is, the more likely you'll forgive the flaws it has.In Asimov's Foundation, for instance, between each novella he allows way too little time to elapse for the sort of sweeping changes that take place between installments; but who would complain?It's a masterpiece!

The inverse is also true: uninteresting stories make flaws more apparent.So it is with this book.I really enjoyed TL-191 up to this point.Problems I harp on here were always apparent, but I guess the stories of previous books let me overlook them.

No longer.

For instance, it's here that I became annoyed with the cigarette talk.During the Great War, US characters would OCCASIONALLY mention that the quality of tobacco products had gone down since they stopped trading with the CS.Used sparingly, this added texture to the story.Now, though, you hear it brought up so many times I suspect this book was sponsored by a consortium of southern tobacco growers.

The story is simple.The title tells you almost all you need to know.At first the main fighting is in Virginia, where the US is led by Daniel MacArthur.He's another Custer, a tactical one-trick pony; but unlike Custer, his one skill is never needed, so instead he's just an idiot.Really, a very static character, considering that he's one of only a handful of commanders in this war who has his own backstory, as opposed to a name Turtledove just made up.

Dowling commands a corps and undermines MacArthur, who wrecks the army at Fredericksburg.This is another flaw of SA: The campaigns copy the American Civil War, whether that makes sense or not.Also, the war is played like a football game: one side calls plays and everyone on the field reacts to those plays.You score or you don't, but when it's over it's the other side's turn.They talk about how, if one army becomes able to run two major operations at the same time, the other will be helpless to keep up.

Well in the Great War, I believe the two sides fought on seven fronts simultaneously, plus the US's major war in Canada and secondary fronts for both sides all over the place.Even the Civil War was a two front war.Why can they suddenly not walk and chew gum at the same time?

Featherston uses his possession for a drive to the east.He gets to Pittsburgh and wrecks the place.His generals tell him to move on and he says, No, we need to hold Pittsburgh forever!Yep, Stalingrad.Morrell started the campaign commanding armored columns but somehow turned into field commander.Just the same, he rushes directly to the front lines, no matter how many responsibilities he neglects in the rear.

The Mormons, who rose up again, offer a negotiated peace with Smith's successor, Gray Man.Gray Man is on board but then Robert Taft finds out and throws a hissy-fit at the Plot Convenience Committee meeting.Flora joins him and an unlikely friendship is born.(One of the few strengths of this book and the next one is Taft's character--very convincing, and very unlike the real Taft, who was an isolationist, not a hawk.)In Flora's last scene FDR tells her what we've known all year, he's building an A-bomb.So is Featherston; he called that physicist from the last book back and changed his mind.

In a rare burst of tactical sense, the US opens a series of secondary fronts to keep Featherston from reinforcing his main column.One is in West Texas, where Dowling got transferred.He commands the 11th Army--he has nine men and a bottle rocket, and six of the nine need to guard his supply lines.His opponent is in an equally sad state and they have a pillow fight.Pinkard is running a huge death camp there, and Hip Rodriguez joins him.Scipio gets arrested for being black, but Cincinnatus and his father go north after his mother dies of Alzheimer's.Sam commands his own ship in the Pacific, where Japan almost takes Hawaii but gets pushed back.(Days of Infamy had come out the year before--that, by the way, is too boring for me to review.)Moss languishes in prison camp till a lucky break lets him escape.

Mary McTerrorist gets executed for blowing up the train in the last book.I didn't miss her; she was a terrible character.But she's replaced by Michael Pound, who can't show us anything half a dozen others weren't already.I was initially glad the tiresome Rosenfeld story was being dropped, but then a revolt starts in Canada.Why did Turtledove shut down coverage of Canada right when a POV would have had something interesting to report for the first time in years?

The characters on the front lines all become repetitive and redundant.If I hadn't been used to thinking of each one as an individual, they all would have run together for me, Hitler's War style.O'Dull was the most annoying.His scenes tell us nothing and are extremely formulaic.When he was in Riviere du Loup he was an interesting, likable character.No more!

Nathan Bedford Forrest III--Featherston made him chief of staff despite his pedigree because they saw eye to eye or something.No, it's because Turtledove finds Forrest fascinating and writes for him whenever possible: Guns of the South, Sentry Peak; he even wrote Fort Pillow just to play with his favorite general.Can't say I blame him; he makes all his versions of Forrest interesting.

Anyway, Forrest asks Potter if he's losing confidence in Featherston's leadership.(Recall Potter was anti-Freedomite all through the interwar years and intended to assassinate Featherston in 1936.)Potter says he might be and that they should talk further after they see how Pittsburgh plays out.This is exciting!!Can't wait to see how it plays out in The Grapple, huh?

Featherston's Folly
This is the second volume of Turtledove's SETTLING ACCOUNTS tetralogy, and the ninth book in the eleven-book series that began with How Few Remain.

This book picks up where Return Engagement (Settling Accounts, Book 1) left off - in early January, 1942.The Confederate forces are still bogged down at Lake Erie after cutting the USA in half, causing the USA to ship most of their war supplies across the rails in occupied Canada.Confederate Brigadier General Clarence Potter is put in charge of a force of saboteurs posing as United States soldiers who'll wreak havoc behind the Northern lines, similar to the way the Wehrmacht used English-speaking troops dressed as Americans to sow confusion among Allied troops during the Battle of the Bulge December 16, 1944 to January 25, 1945 in actual history.

Turtledove always throws in little variations of actual historical figures.In one chapter some U.S. Army soldiers mention "Confederate Connie", a silky-voiced woman featured in daily propaganda broadcasts coming out of the CSA.This is easily a reference to "Tokyo Rose" from our real timeline.Also, Turtledove tells of many United States POW's held at Andersonville in Georgia - the site of an actual Confederate prisoner of war camp during the War Between the States.In Turtledove's book, an escape tunnel is caved in by a tremendous thunderstorm in the summer of 1942.In actual history, Union inmates attempted to dig at least eighty tunnels, nearly all of which were exposed by informants.(The few successful escape attempts from Andersonville in the 1860's were made by men on work details outside the prison's walls.)

In later chapters, after a tornado wrecks the fence at Andersonville, U.S. Army Air Force Major Jonathon Moss escapes with another inmate, an infantry Captain from New York.They link up with a group of guerrillas fighting for their very survival against Featherston's Freedom Party.As they approach Plains, Georgia, I immediately thought, "He wouldn't".But Turtledove did. During the firefight, a young C.S. Navy officer home on leave named "Jimmy" hears the call of his mother "Miss Lillian" to gather some of the townsfolk to resist the raiders.Moss quickly targets him as one of the leaders and gives him an inglorious end.(In reality, James Earl Carter, Jr. graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1946; never having served during WWII.He resigned his commission as a Lieutenant in 1953 after the death of his father.)

Meanwhile, C.S. Brigadier General Clarence Potter and Confederate Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest, III (in reality a U.S. World War II brigadier general in the Army Air Force lost in action over Germany) plot to assassinate President Jake Featherston, similar to German Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg leading the attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler on July 20, 1944.

Turtledove also credits the Confederates with coming up with the "Popping Paula" land mine, a twist on the Wehrmacht's S-mine (Schrapnellmine in German), also known as the Bouncing Betty.(Two versions were produced, designated by the year of their first production: the SMi-35 and SMi-44.)

Confederate Lieutenant Colonel Tom Colleton meets his end in one of the last C.S. pockets of resistance in Pittsburgh, PA in early 1943.Featherston's dream of beating the North in his ill-conceived war will continue to be crushed in the next volume of this series, The Grapple (Settling Accounts, Book 3).

Turtledove Scores Again!!!!!!
I have read every Turtledove bookI can get my hands on. He is the master of alternate history.

The way he weaves actual historical figures into his tales makes his story all the more fascinating.

Imagine the South winning the Civil War and both World Wars being fought in North America.Turtledove uses his fertile imagination to do just that.

The Settling Accounts series takes the reader into a world struggle pitting the USA and Germany against the CSA, Britain and France; with a Pacific Theater against Japan thrown in. A Mormon revolt in Utah and Canadians uprising against the hated Yankee conquerers, just adds spice.
Drive to the East is the second book of this account.

Turtledove ties all his stories together by using characters introduced in his previous tales, as they continued with their lives after "The Great War (WW1)". For those who haven't read the previous series, the author gives just enough background to make the reader comfortable about the events in the characters past.

All in all the book is just a great read. I would recommend it to all those readers who enjoy alternate history, and to anyone who would enjoy a different slant on history.

I can hardly wait to get my hands on book 4 to see who wins!!!!

Book 2 Drive to the East
Another awesome sequel to the first book by Harry Turtledove "settling accounts return engagement. Great story in recreating a different outcome for World War II.

A Great Read !!!
I find this book a truly great read. The story line is good, and the outcome is believeable. I just hope Turtledove continues in this trend, and shows the U.S.A. how they get their just deserts from the Confederacy as they continue to beat the hell out of them. ... Read more

Product Description
Magic and Destruction--On a World Scale

Imagine the drama and terror of the Second World War--only the bullets are beams of magical fire, the tanks are great lumbering beasts, and fighters and bombers are dragons raining fire upon their targets. Welcome to the world of the Derlavaian War, a world which is slowly but surely being conquered, mile by bloody mile, by the forces of the Algarvian empire...forces whose most terrible battle magics are powered by the slaughter of an innocent people. In this, the fourth volume of the series which began with Into the Darkness, the war for the continent of Derlavai builds toward its crescendo as the mages of Kuusamo, aided by their former rivals from Lagoas, work desperately to create a newer form of magic that will change the course of the war. But this is really a story of ordinary people--on all sides of the conflict--forced by fate to rise to their heroic limits...or sink to the level of their darker natures.
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Customer Reviews (14)

The overly-long story continues to plod along..
The World at War series continues to plod along here, with more of the same as we got from the previous couple of books.Familiar characters dealing with familiar situations take up the entirety of this fourth book in the overly-long series, as Turtledove fails to introduce anything very new to the lagging story.While the overall plot does progress here, it is very slow and nearly every character seems caught up in some sort of Groundhog Day-like repetitive cycle to the point where you feel like you've read it all before.All that being said, if you've enjoyed the first three books, you'll want to press through this one if for no other reason than to learn the fate of these well-developed (by now) characters.

One good thing is that Turtledove has cut back on his overly-repetitive descriptions of characters, places, and customs.While there is still plenty of frustrating writing quality issues like bad puns, not-quite-clever witticisms, heavy-handed plays on words, and just-plain-stupid metaphors, you at least get a break from the maddening reminders of how camel meat tastes bad or roofs leak in Zuwayzi.So, you might still cringe when you read that "His voice was powerful and smooth, like strong tea with milk.", but you do get a break from being reminded that Gyongosians don't eat goat every 50 pages.

Overall, an improvement in the writing quality, but a loss of excitement in the majority of the story content.

Episode 4 of a fantasy World War II
The fourth volume of Turtledove's six-part parallel history of the second world war in a world where technology uses magic instead of engineering.

Most of the books of the series covers about a year of the war's history: in terms of equivalent time this one is the shortest, corresponding roughly to late Spring, Summer and Autumn 1943. It starts immediately after the Algarvian surrender at Sulingen (e.g. the German sixth army's surrender at Stalingrad) and the main thrust of the book describes the attack on the Durrwangen (Kursk) salient.

This series of novels all have "Darkness" in the title but they are sometimes referred to as the "Derlavi" series, that being the name given in the stories to the huge continent which is historically equivalent to Eurasia. I have also seen it described as the "World at War" series.

The full series is:

Into the Darkness
Darkness Descending
Through the Darkness
Rulers of the Darkness
Jaws of Darkness
Out of the Darkness

Most alternative history books are "what if" stories which begin with a situation exactly as in our real history, change one detail, and depict how things might have gone on from there. Turtledove's "Darkness" series, and a similar series he wrote about the American Civil war, beginning with "Sentry Peak" are quite different.

These novels describe how real events in our own world might have seemed to the people taking part in them. However, by mixing up details like North and South, skin colour, hair colour, etc, the author makes it easier for the reader to put aside the strong opinions which everyone holds about events like World War II. This helps you to identify with all the characters sufficiently, not to approve of what they did, but enough to begin to understand why they might have acted that way. As one person says in the following book, nobody is a villain in his own story.

Sometimes the parallels between the fantasy world of these book are impishly amusing, for instance that the role taken in our world by Finland is played by an hot equatorial country whose inhabitants are more like Zulus than Finns. The North African desert becomes the "Land of the Ice People". Sometimes the irony is a lot more biting - for instance the "Kaunians" corresponding to the Jews are tall, fair skinned, and blonde.

Both the strategic outline of the war and many local details of the books have been inspired by actual events. There are no major surprises in the main historical sequence of the story, although in a few places it has been simplified, and one or two of the countries and events in the story do not have a single precise analogue.

"Sibiu", for instance, is an island nation in roughly the equivalent geographic location to Britain. However, in terms of the events of the war the country in these stories whose history corresponds most closely to Britain is not Sibiu but "Lagoas". For the first three books, the history of Sibiu, which was conquered by the Algarvians early in the war, matched most closely what happened in the real world to Holland and Norway. Comments in this book about wars between Lagoas and Sibiu two or three hundred years earlier match the Anglo Dutch wars of the 17th and 18th centuries so precisely as to suggest that Sibiu is Holland.

However, from this book onward Sibiu has no precise real world analogue, though the events which happen to characters from Sibiu bear some similarity to real events in many parts of occupied europe as the Nazis were driven back.

The main exitement in the books come from the uncertainty about what will happen to the large cast of "viewpoint characters," the vast majority of whom are fictional, but who seem real enough to make you care about what happens to them and thereby make the books compulsive reading.

Turtledove is firm enough to allow the occasional sympathetic character to get killed so that the reader cannot take anything for granted. For example, one of the principal heroes of the series up to now who had survived great dangers is killed in tragically ironic circumstances in this book.

These novels may also inspire the reader to pick up a work of real history and find out which of these stories are based on fact. If you read Anthony Beevor's "Stalingrad" and "Berlin" or Simon Jenkins' "Armageddon" after reading the "Darkness" series you will find that many of them are, to such an extent that Turtledove is really writing a novelised parallel history rather than out-and-out fiction.

Highly Recommended.

Who rules the darkness now?
Harry Turtledove's fantasy adaptation of World War II reaches a pinnacle with Rulers of the Darkness. As two massive forces collide, fallout from the chaos affects everyone involved.

Algarve (Germany) fails at its third attempt against Unkerlant (Russia), and stubbornly refuses to give up what it gained. But its influence is slowly slipping, as they are pushed from the Duchy of Grelz, an allegorical Ukraine. And with the aid of a new secret weapon, the Lagoan/ Kuusamon (British/ American) alliance throws Algarve from the island nation of Sibiu (Denmark.) Meanwhile in Forthweg (Poland), more trouble is brewing for Algarve.

Ealstan discovers a secret about his new boss, Istvan is struggling to keep his own. Sidroc discovers he likes soldering, as long as he's winning and there's plenty to rape and pillage. Talsu is released from prison to play a dangerous cloak and dagger game.

The characters make the story more interesting than the action. I feel strongly for Vanai and Ealstan, I respect Hajjaj, great pity for Cornelu, and watch with interest in what Pekka and Fearno are up to. I want to watch Krasta to see what stupid thing she'll do next. I am a little bored with Garivald and Skranu though.

Was it my imagination, or is Turtledove letting up on his reduntant character descriptions? If so, that's good!

The story is still going strong. Looking forward to reading Jaws of Darkness.

Magic, Destruction, War!
Rulers of the Darkness is the book for you if you like fantasy and/or action books. The setting takes place in Derlavi and its bordering islands. This book contains many character's points of view so it is your opinion whether certain people are evil or certain people are good. There are way too many characters in this book, so I can't really tell you them all. Instead, I will tell you two of my four favorites. Pekka is a Kuusamin mage helping on a project to make a very powerful magic to turn the tides of the war. Fernau is working with Pekka and he likes her a lot but Pekka is married.

I think this is an awesome book. Harry Turtledove is my favorite writer and I have only read one of his books! I recommend this book to good readers and people who like fantasy and/or action books.

Hell Like a Roiling Stream
Rulers of Darkness (2002) is the fourth novel in the World At War fantasy series, following Through the Darkness.In the previous volume, the Unkerlant trap the Argarvians within Suligen and cut off an escaping column.Major Spinello is flown out of Suligen with a chest wound.Outside Suligen, Leudast saves a man in the penal battalion and shares food with him.Within Suligen, a behemoth drops an egg on Transone.

In Kuusamo, Pekka, Ilmarinen, Siuntio, and Fernao blow a great hole in the ground with the new sorcery and produce a clump of green grass amidst the snow.In far western Unkerlant, Istvan and his men scavenge felt boots off Unkerlanter corpses.In Zuwayza,Hajjaj learns about the new magic development from the Algarvian ambassador.In Forthweg, Vanai goes to the public bathhouse and finds Algarvians enjoying the public nudity.In Lagoas, Cornelu gets a new uniform coat, but finds Balio's cafe burnt to the ground.

In this novel, Leudast's unit leaves retaken Suligen and heads north to the next hot spot.There, near Durrwangen, Sidroc and the Plegmund's Brigade are trying to hold back the Unkerlanter assault and are rescued by counterattacking Algarvians.In Trapani, Major Spinello is released from the hospital and assigned a regiment in Eoforwic.In Unkerlant, Marshall Rathar, despite his words of caution, is ordered to attack and keep attacking.

In Valmiera, Skarnu has escaped to Ventspils but the red heads are close on his trail.In Kuusamo, Pekka and Fernao speculate that they are producing energy by twisting time with the new sorcery.In Jelgava, Talsu is interrogated by local constables who want names, but don't care whose they are.In Forthweg, many walls are beginning to bear the word "Suligen".Elsewhere in Forthweg, Bembo and his partner arrest Vanai's grandfather.In Grelz, Sadoc tries to hide footprints in the snow and makes them luminescent instead.In Valmiera, Krasta is beginning to think about the Algarvians loosing the war and not liking her thoughts.

This series is an allegory of the World Wars.However, many of the details are deliberately scrambled.For example, the names for these nation states seem to have been taken from cities in various parts of the world:Kaunas, Valmiera and Jelgava are Latvian cities, Siaulia is Lithuanian, Algarve is Portuguese, Bari is Italian, Yanina is Greek, Gyongyos is Hungarian, Kuusamo is Finnish, Sibiu is Romanian, and Zuwayza is Jordanian.Lagoas means lakes in Portuguese and there are several towns and cities in Brazil and elsewhere that include Lagoas in their name.

The geography in this series includes only a small number of nation states as compared to the real world.Everybody agrees that these states represent one or more of the real world countries as constituted after WWI:Algarve represents Germany, Unkerlant is the core states of the Soviet Union, Gyongyos is Japan, Zuwayza is Finland, Forthweg is Poland, Lagoas is England, Yanina is Italy, Kuusamo is the USA, Ortah is Switzerland, and the Land of the Ice People is North Africa.Less certainly, the Duchy of Bari is Austria (and probably the Sudeten and Czechoslovakia), the Duchy of Grelz is the Ukraine (including Galicia), and Obuda Island is the Philippines.Jelgava and Valmiera would seem to be France and Greece, but not necessarily in that order.Others have asserted that Sibiu is Norway, although the Low Lands -- Belgium and Holland -- seem to be a better fit.Siaulia is a complete mystery to me.

Regardless of the correctness of these associations, several important countries are missing.These seems to be no equivalent of Spain and its Civil War, which was a significant training and testing ground for the Nazis.Moreover, the Balkans and the successor states to the Ottoman Empire are never mentioned and China and other Asian mainland countries are conspicuous by their absence.Once again, the background has been simplified to remove distractions.

Recommended for Turtledove fans and anyone else who enjoys speculative fiction with a strong historical and moral component.

-Arthur W. Jordin ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (23)

Vivid and well-done account
Clearly, if you are looking for a suspense-filled tale, you have come to the wrong place, because this is an imaginative re-creation of historical events - and we know how it turns out! So the pleasure of the book comes in simply immersing oneself in the writing - the characters, the atmosphere.You can reflect on the personality Turtledove gives Varus, to explain why he was so blindsided by Arminius - it was partly because he reminded him of his son. Appreciate the conflicts within the German camp - those who saw advantage in becoming part of the Empire, and those whose pride forbade it.

There are a few wink-and-nods to the future - well, the overall one, of course, about the difficulties faced by regular forces fighting guerrillas - and a place where a cavalryman wishes he had some way to hold his feet in place so he could be more active in the saddle - but he doesn't invest the stirrup, that came later. It has been listed as one of the inventions that fundamentally changed warfare.

I enjoyed this tale a lot.

Ok for Historical Fiction
Let me start by saying, I am a fan of Harry Turtledove, and I am a fan of Historical Fiction. This one is well drawn and interesting.
Unfortunately Harry likes for his characters to 'preach' and he can sometimes beat you over the head... repeatedly with a point of view.
All that being said, this was a fun read, though not his best work.

Did Turtledove use a ghost writer?
I've read three of Turtledove's books so far, and am currently reading a fourth. Every book is excellent, with the exception of this one.It seems the editing stage was entirely skipped: the author repeats himself over and over again, the dialogue seems jarringly out of place, and the whole story could have been concisely told in about 100 pages. Skip this one, but don't let it dissuade you from picking up one of his other books.

Give me Back my Legions!
This book was for me a page turner, I'm a 70 year old woman. and this was exciting for me.I was almost through writing a research paper on the Battle at Teutoburg Forest, when I received this book.I had a review of the book included in my paper, even though it was fictional, but he was wonderful at putting everything together in a cohesive way.I'm so glad I bought this book. Would love for him to write more on some of the other battles, Alesia.

Give me back 3 hours
I have read most of Harry Turtledove's previous books but this one is terrible.
I only wish I could recover the time wasted reading it, I was bored the entire time I was reading and kept hoping it would get better. Never did. ... Read more

Product Description
New York Times bestselling author Harry Turtledove has intrigued readers with such thought-provoking "what if..." scenarios as a conquered Elizabethan England in Ruled Britannia and a Japanese occupation of Hawaii in Days of Infamy and End of the Beginning. Now, in the first of a brand-new trilogy, he rewrites the history of the world with the existence of an eighth continent...

Atlantis lies between Europe and the East Coast of Terranova. For many years, this land of opportunity lured dreamers from around the globe with its natural resources, offering a new beginning for those willing to brave the wonders of the unexplored land. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (31)

Pedestrian
This is an alternate history novel about the discovery and colonization of Atlantis. Unfortunately, the Atlantis the author invisions isn't that exciting or that different from America so the author takes few risks in writing this piece. There is some different flora and fauna, and some larger-sized stuff (such as giant birds, lizards, slugs etc), but nothing that was truly unique or interesting. Also, Atlantis had no people, so the colonists pretty much settle and begin carving their own little niches into the wilderness.

The story is broken up into three parts. The first part, the initial discovery, was the most interesting. The second part, a pirate story, was less so, and the final act, involving a war between the colonists was less interesting. Time moves quite quickly between each segment, and so characters you become attached to in previous segments are long dead in the next segments.

My main objection is that Atlantean history is dull. The Atlantean settlers seem to be too modern. With the exception of Father John, religion doesn't play a large part of the lives of the settlers. There isn't a lot of flavor or feel for the time period, as all the characters talk and act modern, and things such as clothing, day-to-day life and women's lives aren't discussed.

Overall, this was an okay, but not great.I didn't enjoy the characters as much as previous Turtledove books, and I felt the plot was just sort of pedestrian and uninspired.

Dull
The word "Atlantis" in the title intrigued me.No, I don't believe that there was an Atlantis, so I don't believe the myths.Yet I find them entertaining.Unlike this book.
The settlers may as well have settled on Newfoundland or the Canary Islands or Maine.There is no real reason for their being on Atlantis.Nothing happens other than the warring factions in Europe become warring factions in Atlantis.
And I found the writing dull, dry, and uninspired.The characters were (to me) uninteresting.I didn't have any connection with them, and I didn't care what happened to them.
This was my first exposure to Turtledove and "alternative history."And it will no doubt be my last.

Alternate settlement of a continent story
What if an unknown continent was between North America and England? What else would you call it? This is not an off-world plot, but a more realistic history novel of what might have been. I always enjoy Turtledove's characters; they really show how life at that time was lived in lots of detail. Settlers from a few other groups plant colonies and create their own histories in much the same way that North America was tamed. In this first of a series you get the main families and how they interacted, reminding me of John Jakes novels with lots of characters and exciting situations. You know that sons will be friends, some will be soldiers,and confilcts between colonies will happen,but it is the details that make the story. This episode takes you from first settlement through a Revolution with England. Yes, I'll read the next one; I'm hooked.

Surely He Can't Screw This One Up?
As I write this the end of 2009 is in sight.During this year Turtledove has written some good short stories--I enjoyed "The House That George Built," and "We Haven't Got There Yet" was a sheer delight.I haven't gotten around to Give Me Back My Legions! but the excerpts I've seen suggest it's solid.

But I have read two of three 2009 novels Turtledove has released to date, and they were AWFUL!A tree died in vain to print my copy of Hitler's War, a plodding, meandering novel that involves characters who can hardly be considered characters telling a story that can hardly be considered a story.And then there's The Golden Shrine, which was so bad I was actually offended that it had been written.

There remains Liberating Atlantis, the last book of the Atlantis trilogy.Atlantis began as a short story that came out in 2005 that I never bothered tracking down.Another came out in 2006 and I didn't look for that either; maybe some day.Both stories are set in the United States of Atlantis, a political entity which controls the entirety of a large island in the middle of the Atlantic.If you look at the map on the cover of this book, you'll see that this island is roughly what you would get if you were to flood everything between the Mississippi and the Appalachians, break off what was left east of the mountains, plus Quebec and Florida, push the whole thing a few hundred miles to the east, and send the various Caribbean islands along for the ride; but then, basing your understanding of details on Turtledove's cover art has always been a fool's game.

Anyway, in 2007 he wrote Opening Atlantis.In 2008 it was United States of Atlantis, and next month Liberating Atlantis will complete the trilogy.I've appreciated the December release dates; both of the first two books are tied up with Christmas memories in my mind.But I also enjoyed each of them in their own right.It's been a good story so far, but I'm a little leery; based on the last two Turtledove novels, he seems to be in such a rut that he can screw up anything.

But anyway, I'm going to review the existing Atlantis books while I wait for the finale.

Opening Atlantis is not really a novel, it's a collection of three novellas.The first begins in 1453 (this is established during an argument, a rather surreal scene on which the entire Atlantis saga hinges--a nice touch).Edward Radcliffe is an English fisherman; recall that in the fifteenth century cod was a staple of diets throughout Western Europe, and it existed in such abundance on the open ocean, which sailors were comfortable sailing for the first time, that it was making fortunes and restructuring the economies of all the countries with Atlantic coasts.

He puts in in Brittany and meets a local fellow cod fisherman, who, having appealed to Radcliffe to resolve the dispute over what year it was, gives him a drumstick from a truly massive bird.His interest peaked, Radcliffe agrees to the Breton's offer of showing him where it came in exchange for a third of his next catch.The Breton shows Radcliffe Atlantis, and on getting back to England Radcliffe can't get the idea of settling there out of his head.He especially wants to rid himself of the tyrannical English lords, who ignore the welfare of the common people in favor of fighting among themselves to determine whether York or Lancaster will rule the kingdom.

So he, Radcliffe, packs up his family and a bunch of his neighbors and sets off for Atlantis.He gets there and establishes the settlement of New Hastings.More and more people join him and soon he's got a thriving fronteir town.His antisocial son Richard sets up a second town further inland.Another English settlement, Freetown, is set up to his south, and the Bretons set up a town for themselves south of that.Eventually the Basques set up a town south of THAT.

The various settlers begin exploring their island or continent or whatever it is, both overland and sailing all around its coast.Before long the Basques discover Terranova, which we would know as the rest of North America, far to the west of Atlantis.They start taking slaves from among the indigenous population.

Radcliffe's sons discover a cove on the west coast of Atlantis that would make for the world's best harbor once they can establish a town over that way.They dub the spot Avalon and begin planning its settlement.

Then Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, a nobleman who had run afoul of the king and been exiled, washes up in New Hastings with enough soldiers to set himself up as lord of the place.Neither he nor his party contribute anything to the local economy, but they demand respect and take a beautiful young lady who'd grown up in town as Warwick's consort.Finally Warwick imposes a tax so he can afford to buy wine from the Breton settlement.Old Man Edward refuses to pay and Warwick's soldiers kill him after a bit of a scuffle breaks out.The Atlanteans rise up in rebellion against Warwick.The majority do, anyway; some are on his side.Using archery and the tiny armament of Old Man Radcliffe's ship, which son Henry has inherited (and had been captaining for quite some time), the villagers defeat the tyrant.I was very gratified; Turtledove successfully wrote Warwick, so much so that he became among the most despicable villains in Turtledovean canon, one of those fiends who's just begging to be horribly killed and who keeps you reading because you can't wait to see him get his just deserts.

Then the second novella is set two centuries later.Atlantis has become rather more fully integrated into the British Empire (well, the English parts have, anyway; the Breton parts are now French colonies, the Basque regions Spanish.Atlantis has no indigenous inhabitants, just a species of giant geese who are given the brilliantly creative name of "honker."Africans and Terranovans are brought to Atlantis as slaves to work the plantations in the French and Spanish regions.)Avalon is crawling with pirates, and a number of pirate fleets operate out of its wonderful harbor.One is led by one of Radcliffe's descendants.Another Radcliffe (his branch spells it Radcliff, actually) is one of many merchants who is fed up with losing cargoes to the Avalonian pirates.Radcliff is approached by a British admiral and the governor of Nieuw Haarlem.(The Dutch came too late to the game to set up colonies in Atlantis, but there's plenty of room for them in Terranova, which is proving to be richer imperial pickings anyway.)The three agree to pool various ships each has in his junk drawer to create an armada with which to attack the pirates once and for all.Radcliff demands to be in overall command, which makes sense because he's the only one of the three who is not an official of a national government, he obviously understands naval warfare--in which he's never participated and which he probably hasn't studied to any great extent--better than an admiral of the Royal Navy, and as we all know the British fleet has a long, proud tradition of turning its fleets over to civilians and amateurs.

Radcliffe (the spelling difference is convenient for summarizing this novella) convinces his fellow pirates to band together--no easy feat, since they don't trust each other.They suspect he's making a play to dominate them and he appeases them by refusing to accept the admiralty.When all the grudges have cancelled each other out, the only eligible commander left standing is some pissant who wasn't even important enough to invite to the meeting, so now both fleets are led by the least capable candidates.Radcliffe uses this "admiral" as a weak figurehead through whom to give orders, and by the end of the campaign he's given up the pretense altogether.

They fight, fight fight fight, fight fight fight fight fight, and in the end the pirates are defeated.It's a pretty good read if you're into swash-buckling adventure, but if I were Turtledove I'd worry it's going to look a little dated once the current pirate craze wears off.

The third and longest novella is set in the mid-18th century; after the first novella ended Turtledove got extremely skittish about giving us any dates.This novella takes place during part of the Seven Years' War, but we're never sure which part.The narrative only covers about a year or so, and when it's over, the war is over all across the world.So either the Seven Years' War is now the One Year's War thanks to butterfly effects in an entirely self-contained secondary front, or colonies that share land borders of belligerent nations just sat around chilling for years on end of a world war, then suddenly decided to go at it.

Anyway, the novella opens with Victor Radcliff, the latest in a long line of POV characters descended from Old Man Radcliffe, and Roland Kersauzon, whose ancestor showed Old Man Edward how to get to Atlantis.Both the British and French colonies receive orders to start fighting each other, and somehow the two descendants of their colonies' founders suddenly become field commanders.They raise militias and fight a series of border skirmishes.Then the British send a force of regulars.The British regulars get drawn into an ambush; but kudos to Turtledove for not advancing the stereotype of incompetent 18th century parade ground pansies getting shot to bits by backwood rednecks who played them for fools all along.The French militia does defeat the redcoats, but not before taking huge numbers of casualties.Armies wouldn't've learned to form solid walls of musketry volleys if it didn't make sense much of the time.

Braddock, who had commanded the redcoats and all the British forces, is killed, and his next in command, "Charlie" (Cornwallis, by the end of the story), is junior to . . . a man who has no formal rank within the British regulars at all . . . but Radcliff doesn't want his regulars so the two start operating in loose coordination at times, altogether independently at others.They run up and down northern Atlantis, fighting the French, who eventually get their own regulars, who eventually get similarly neutered.Radcliff sails around to the border regions between French and Spanish Atlantis and stirs up slave rebellions, along the way acquiring an African sidekick named Blaise.Fight, fight fight fight, fight fight fight fight fight and eventually the French are holed up in the walled city of Nouveau Redon.Cornwallis brags that his engineers will get the British in, but the fortifications are so strong they can't even make a dent.Fortunately, the history of fortification is the history of capitulation, and the British stumble upon the source of the spring that provides the city with its only supply of drinking water.They cut it off and Kersauzon realizes he has no option but to attack immediately.He loses.He dies.The end.

This last story sets up United States of Atlantis very neatly, and from the spoilers I've seen for Liberating Atlantis I'd say it will flow into that one too.It's something of a disconnect from the first novella, though, as highlighted by the last few paragraphs, in which Victor brags to Blaise that soon all of Atlantis will be British and Blaise, unimpressed, asks what that will mean for the little people.Victor has no answer; it had never occurred to him.Edward Radcliffe's reason for settling Atlantis has been turned on its ear, and his original motivations are not even an afterthought.

It's never really explained how the Atlanteans go from rebelling against and killing their lords to putting up with them with nothing but the occasional undermining of military rank structure and frequent boasts about how independent-minded they are.Worse still, though, is the way the history of exploration and colonialism just became an OTL redux.Western Europe takes what it wants, its colonies fight among themselves, and people from other continents get screwed.There's a scene in the last novella where Victor Radcliff expounds upon the concept of exoticism and Blaise reminds him that, in Africa, African culture is seen as "all right;" and in Europe, European culture is seen as "all right;" and in Terranova, Terranovan culture is seen as "all right."He points out that Atlantis has no indigenous inhabitants, so there's no reason one extracontinental culture should be more "all right" than any other.It's a poignant scene, and it nicely encapsulates my biggest problem with the book.The promotional material had suggested that Atlantis was a place where people from all continents came to reinvent themselves.Maybe I read too much into that promotional material, and I can't fault Turtledove for choosing a publisher that hired misleading promoters; but in the first novella, the protagonists all seem ready to ditch their old country traditions and experiment with radically new social systems.Long before Warwick shows up, the governor of the other English settlement invites Radcliffe to join him in attacking the Breton settlement, because Atlantis must be English, by God!Radcliffe replies that if his counterpart attempts it New Hastings will go to war on the Breton side.The end of nationalism and the power of kings seems to be at hand!Granted, fledgling colonies do tend to regress toward the mean as they become more established and seek out dealings with other political entities, usually when their economies become efficient enough to start producing surplus goods and they need markets for trade.The pirate story suggests this is the process Atlantis is undegoing, but I think Turtledove could have found a lot of creative new ways to push that earlier theme through the centuries.Instead he retreated from it and gave us the same old seventeenth- and eighteenth-century history with a shiny new cover.

Still in all, it's a good book.If nothing else, all three stories contributed pleasantly to the whiling away of a few cold winter nights.

Unfulfilled potential
The original concepty was very cool and had a lot of potential. Unfortuantly, Turtledove does not deliver.

Essentially, OA is a series of 3 novellas superficially tied together and set in "Atlantis" (which is just the U.S. east coast in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean). There are so many ways to develop the whole "Atlantis" theme but, sadly, the author explores none of them. The book might was well just be set in colonial America.

Also, there is no real plot to speak of (or plots, since OA is really three stories). The stories are uninspired and uninteresting; the characters tend to be cliche and flat. Very disappointing and not worth your time or money.

Not recommended. ... Read more

Product Description
Now Turtledove returns to the story of a World War in a world where magic works, with this moving second volume. Algarvian soldiers corral Kaunians to send them west, towards Unkerlant, to work camps. The Kaunians left behind are worried about what the work camps might mean, but are assauged by Algarvian lies.

In Kuusamo, scholars race to find the relation between the laws of similarity and contagion. Rumors abound about the Algarvian work camps, rumors most cannot believe as true. But the mages know, for they can feel the loss of life in their very souls.

Turtledove's cast of characters takes on its own life as the reader sees the war from all sides and understands how the death and destruction benefits no one, not even the victors.
Amazon.com Review
In recent years, Harry Turtledove has specialized in alternate-history novels in which World War II, say, is grimly complicated by the arrival of invading alien reptiloids; the fantasy sequence that started with Into the Darkness and continues with Darkness Descendingis a powerful demonstration that it is human malice, not military technology, that we have to fear. Broadly speaking, the sequence replays World War II with magical fantasy empires in place of the participants we know; there are analogies between the fiercely militarist kingdom of Algarve and the Third Reich, just as the dangerous paranoid who rules the rival empire of Unkerlant has much in common with Joseph Stalin. There is a Manhattan project making military use of the underlying rules of magic, a particularly vicious version of the Holocaust, and a large cast of vividly realized viewpoint characters--Unkerlant's principal general, an Algarvian dragon pilot, various confused civilians--caught in the wheels of history. Turtledove provides some worryingly thoughtful material here about power and its consequences; his bleak use of stock fantasy images in a developed military contex--screaming unicorns caught in firestorms--is coarse-grained but unforgettable. --Roz Kaveney, Amazon.co.uk ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Darkness Descending
HArry Turtledove is a master of his craft. Keeping so many personalities alive and in constant motion, thru a story encompassing SIX VOLUMES (!!!) is more than impressive.

The tides of war wax and wane, and the characters are swept along their separate paths
With the setting and character introductions out of the way, Turtledove is able to jump right into the action with this second installment in the World at War series.This one picks up where Into the Darkness leaves off, with the invasion of Unkerlandt and Algarve in full swing and ... there is far too much in this massive plot for me to put down here.Lets just say that a lot happens, as the fortunes of war sway one way then another, and major events unfold that will determine the direction of the entire series.Each character is following their own separate journey, largely being dictated by world events out of their hands.

DARKNESS DESCENDING, while long, eases the frantic-seeming pace of INTO THE DARKNESS where the point of view character changed practically every other page.The same style of switching characters (and situations) frequently was used here, but not in such a confusing and jarring way as it was in that first book.And, I was glad to see that Turtledove stuck with the same POV character lineup for this second volume, helping the reader feel more comfortable with names and situations through familiarity.Really helped give this book a more smooth feel.

I see some of the other reviewers here have criticized Turtledove's seeming lack of ability to portray emotion (particularly with Vanai and her terrible circumstances).While I agree to some extent, I think its just his style of writing that leaves much of the emotion up the the readers' imagination.. Obviously its a BIG DEAL for Ealstan to leave his parents house, but you wouldn't know it just by reading Turtledove's description of the event.While you know Talsu hates seeing the Victory Arch torn down, you just have to imagine it for yourself to get the emotional intensity.Maybe its that Turtledove thinks a little bit goes further than it does, or maybe he thinks its better for the reader to just put himself in the characters position to get the emotion. Either way, his characters do come off as wooden when their emotional reactions to major events are either glossed over or ignored.If you can expect it (like you should if you've read Turtledove before) you can get past it without it taking too much from the story, but if you need to have the emotions explained this book won't be your favorite.

Overall though, I was very pleased with the way the story progressed in DARKNESS DESCENDING.Each of the characters are going through major changes, and none of the story seems like filler.Hopefully Turtledove can keep it up in Through the Darkness.Recommended!

this is the last turtledove series i'll read.
And that's because his writing style has become very old and boring. Sure, the first few turtledove books you read are very fun and good, but as you read more and more of his books you will come to realize that he really isn't as great a writer as you thought he was. As I struggled to finish this book I kept getting annoyed at how the characters all say things in almost the exact same way. Everyone talks the same, whether they be Unkerlanter, Algarvian, or Jelgavan, it doesn't make a hell lot of difference. The way everyone speaks, if not the exact words they use, are all the same.

Algarve (Germany) has invaded the enormous kingdom of Unkerlant (Russia) and is on its way to taking Cottbus, the capital, when the horrid Unkerlant winter slows the Algarve war machine down and then forces the invaders back. The Unkerlantsrs have learned that by using snow shoes on their Behemoths (giant rhino like creatures that act like tanks) they can achieve greater mobility than their Algarvian counterparts. Because of this, now Unkerlant has its first real hope of the whole war.

Turtledove does a great job, as usual, of portraying the war and the hardships the soldiers go though, but fails miserably when it comes to the civilians and those left on the home front. He tries to be ambitions and have a lot of dramatic stories going at the same time without realizing that the more ambitious he tries to be with every character, the less ambitious be ends up being with EVERY character.For instance, he tries to go for a heartbreaking drama with one character being forced to give away her body to an occupying soldier in order to keep her grandpa alive, but the way he writes it you'd think this was no big deal. Turtledove is very good at writing about war, but when it comes to drama he is so absurdly bad it's not even worth talking about. He is unable to gain any sort of sympathy for his characters, which is a shame because he had a lot of potential in this story.

People new to Turtledove will be enchanted by the worlds he creates and his unique style of writing, but the more of his books you read the more you realize he really isn't that great of a writer, certainly not up to par with some of the great writers we have today.He tries hard to improve; I can tell he does, but he doesn't seem able to do it. If you read this review, please leave a comment.

Re-read value; very low.

Episode II of a fantasy World War Two

"Darkness Descending" is the second part of Harry Turtledove's reworking of the World War Two story set on a planet where technology is based on magic rather than machines.

Dragon riders replace aircraft, Behemoths replace tanks, East and West have been transposed, Eurasia has been moved to the Southern hemisphere so that Scandinavia becomes equatorial, and names and superficial national characteristics have all been changed. But this is real history, not alternative history. Again and again the terrible events of the book are based on real historical incidents.

Some of the changes to racial characteristics are impishly amusing, such as the fact that the people who correspond to the Finns live in an equatorial climate and look like Zulus, while the Saraha Desert becomes "the land of the Ice people," the Gyongyosian people who correspond to the Japanese are physically large, and the Kuusamans who correspond to Americans have epicanthic folds.

Other changes are rather more biting - the "Kaunians" who correspond to Jews are tall, blue-eyed, and blonde.

What Turtledove appears to be trying to do with this series is to study how different people responded to a time of great evil. Some people were sucked into taking part in that evil, some fought against it, others just tried to live through it. The changes to the names and characteristics of the participants seem to be intended to give the reader an opportunity to leave behind some of our emotional baggage about the holocaust so that we can try, not to justify the wrongs which people did in terrible times, but to understand how it could have happened.

All but two or three of the characters in the first few books books are fictional - Hitler is King Mezentio of Algarve, Stalin is King Swemmel of Unkerlant, and Marshal Rathar gradually morphs into Zhukov. This actually makes the story more exiting, as the characters are presented well enough that you care about them: we all know how World War II turned out but the readers has no such certainty about the fate of the fictional characters.

The six books of the series each corresponds very roughly indeed to about a year's real historical events. The second book, "Darkness Descending", covers events corresponding to those between the opening phases of Operation Barbarossa, Hitler's attack on Russia in 1941, to just before the launch in May 1942 of Operation Blue, Hitler's drive on the Caucasian oilfields.

The series is best read in the correct sequence. All the books of this series have the word "Darkness" in the title, but the publishers refer to it as the "Derlavi" series, this being the name given in the books for the great continent which corresponds to Eurasia. The full sequence of books in their correct order is:

"Into the Darkness"
"Darkness Descending"
"Through the Darkness"
"Rulers of the Darkness"
"Jaws of Darkness"
"Out of the Darkness".

Bottom line: the mood is as black as the titles indicate, but the series is a very exciting read.

Turtledove's Legacy
Turtledove shocked me with his first book Into the Darkness. He gave the characters such real virtues, and it made them believable. For example, Garivald was a simple farm worker who was married in a village with his family and they struggled through it because of the rule of King Swemmel and his followers; Count Sabrino a dragonflier who commands a unit of fliers for the kingdom of Algarve; Traku and his work as a tailor; and many other characters. And Harry Turtledove continues his way of writing in his next book, Darkness Descending. The war between Algarve and Unkerlant continues through the fierce winter in Unkerlant. Unkerlant takes advantage of the weather and drives back Algarve who was within a day's way from Cottbus, the capital of Unkerlant. As this happens, Mr. Turtledove writes the events of the many different characters as they go through the same events of the war. He gives such amazing detail, like the time that the Algarve soldiers were retreating, he tell about how the environment looked, what it smelled liked, this and more through the eyes of a soldier. Mr. Turtledove even gives detailed understanding of what the character's feeling. The way he writes makes want to sit down and read his long books. I don't really enjoy reading because some authors don't write in a way that grabs my attention, Harry Turtledove, however, has got my attention. In short, I enjoyed his second book just like I enjoyed the first and I hope to enjoy the third. ... Read more

Product Description
The year is 1915, and the world is convulsing. Though the Confederacy has defeated its northern enemy twice, this time the United States has allied with the Kaiser. In the South, the freed slaves, fueled by Marxist rhetoric and the bitterness of a racist nation, take up the weapons of the Red rebellion. Despite these advantages, the United States remains pinned between Canada and the Confederate States of America, so the bloody conflict continues and grows. Both presidents--Theodore Roosevelt of the Union and staunch Confederate Woodrow Wilson--are stubbornly determined to lead their nations to victory, at any cost. . .Amazon.com Review
Harry Turtledove marches on through history with The GreatWar: Walk in Hell. In his alternate timeline, the ConfederateStates of America won the Civil War, aided by Britain and France. Inthe 1880s (How FewRemain), Americans fought again after the CSA acquired partsof Mexico--and the CSA won again. When WWI begins with ArchdukeFerdinand's assassination in 1914 (The Great War: AmericanFront), the 34-state USA under Teddy Roosevelt allies withImperial Germany and Austria against Britain, France, Russia, Japan,Canada, and Woodrow Wilson's CSA. Trenches divide Canada, fiercefighting rages from Tennessee and Kentucky into Pennsylvania, a Mormonuprising against the USA consumes Utah, and a black socialistrebellion distracts the CSA, where slavery has ended but blacks stillawait full citizenship.

Walk in Hell takes us from fall,1915, through 1916. Soldiers, sailors, and airmen continue the fight,but much happens behind the lines too. Turtledove's characters includeJewish immigrants who are socialist and antiwar, a widow running acoffee house in CSA-occupied Washington, D.C., who passes informationto the USA, and two Canadian farmers living under U.S. occupation inQuebec and Manitoba. He vividly conveys the human side of war. WhenJoe Hammerschmitt gets a shoulder wound in the Virginia trenches:

... pain warred with exultation on his long, thinface. Exultation won. 'Got me a hometowner, looks like,' he saidhappily. Half the men up there with him made sympathetic noises; theother half looked frankly jealous. Hammerschmitt was going to be outof the firing line for weeks, maybe months, to come, and they stillrisked not just death but horrible mutilation everyday.

Some find Turtledove's cast too large, thestory's action too slow. Others complain that Walk in Hell istoo similar to his Worldwar series. Alternate history buffs, however,will marvel at his mastery of detail, enjoy following his logic as hepursues military and social developments onward in time, and find ithard to wait for the next in the series. --Nona Vero ... Read more

Customer Reviews (80)

Good series, but tires you if you continue
My review is the same for all books of the series.Decent story, a little slow, but also one of the most annoying series becuase he repeats things over and over. Examples are that southern tobacco is way better that northern and northern smokes taste terrible. Also,this black guy was former butler who worked for this white rich lady and was taught to talk like an educated white man and details about his time there. Many more things like this, so just about anytime a soldier smokes in these books( about 100 times) you have to hear about the tobacco, etc. Each character has something told about them over and over and over and over and over, see how annoying that is. These irritating things are just minor pains right now, it continues though and is very tiring to read.

Part 3 in a Series
So here TL-191 sort of begins to bog down, but even so interesting plot and character developments are seen.The book really exists as a bridge to get us from American Front, where a lot happens, to Breakthroughs, where a lot happens.

The black socialist uprising in the CSA gets squashed pretty early on in the book and it's back to the main show.That show is a stalemate, which is why the book bogs down.But each side is trying new things: The US invents the tank (they call it the barrel) and achieve temporary breakthroughs until the Rebs borrow the British model.The CS starts putting black men into the Army to reduce the extent to which they're outnumbered.This infuriates Jake Featherston, which will have important ramifications later on.

Character threads are a bit faster-paced and more dynamic.Jeff Pinkard gets drafted, and his wife starts sleeping around while he's at the front.Flora runs for Congress, beginning her transformation from the bomb-throwing Marxist radical she had been to the pro-system slightly-left-of-center politician we'll get to know.Nellie gets brought into the US spy ring in occupied Washington, only to learn it's run by Bill Reach, a particularly unsavory customer from her prostitution days.(I think she just hates him for buying what she was selling.She hated Edna's father, too, even though he took the word of this woman who slept with a dozen men a night that he was the father of her child.He married her, took her out of the brothel, gave her money to start her own business, and even had the courtesy to die before long so she could live her life without him.Maybe Schleiffen should've run her down in How Few Remain after all.)The Navy makes George Enos become a real sailor.At one point he (NOT SAM CARSTEN!) smuggles guns to the IRA.At another point his ship blows up and he's feared dead for a second time.He comes back and tells Sylvia he was saved by having an affair with a barmaid.Since this is 90s Turtledove, part of the plot must be driven by otherwise gratuitous sex scenes. (Though at least that didn't turn out to be the point of the entire series, as it did in The Golden Shrine.)Dowling watches Custer develop a barrel fetish.Cincy continues doing subversive for everyone and his brother.Scipio tries to get out of the subversion business and start fresh but Cassius and Anne Colleton are both hunting him, and each other, down.Lucien Galtier gets part of his farm taken by the US Army to build a field hospital, but some smart occupation policy allows the US to ingratiate itself to his family.No such luck for Arthur McGregor, whose son is executed for being foolish and beginning the long, tedious McGregor Terrorist Saga.Paul Mantarakis is KIA and is replaced with a bigot.(Well all the white characters are bigots, but McSweeney is worse than any US character and just as bad as the Confederates, though he hates along national and especially religious lines rather than racial.)Jake Featherston assumes command of the battery after young Stuart commits suicide by US Army to salve his depression at having prevented the Red Uprising from being nipped in the bud by covering Pompey after Featherston tipped off Intelligence about him.Stuart's father punishes Featherston by blighting his career and keeping him a NCO even though he's doing an officer's job.The fury Featherston feels will eventually shake the world.

Throughout the book the tone is consistently grim, making the title appropriate.As I said the book doesn't tell much of a story, but as the middle book of a trilogy it provides a good bridge from the action of American Front to the action of Breakthroughs.This was also the book that was published the year I started the series, so I had the experience of reading two books one after another, in which interesting things happened, jumping right into the next book, and then having to wait all year for the conclusion.Unfortunate timing, and I was in for a long year.

A great page-turner
This is the second volume of Turtledove's Great War trilogy, and the third book in the eleven-book series that began with How Few Remain.It starts in late 1915/early 1916 as the third War Between the States drags on.The cast of characters introduced in American Front (The Great War, Book 1) are all back, and WALK IN HELL picks up exactly where AMERICAN FRONT left off.

In this fictitious timeline, Turtledove has allowed George Armstrong Custer to live on as an old war horse, and in this book he's pushing 80 years of age and still serving in the U.S. Army as a general.There's a great pun in chapter two that refers to "Custer's Last Stand" that pretty much writes itself.Later on, Turtledove borrows a famous line from "Gone With the Wind" when a Confederate major investigating the Socialist uprising in the South rebukes a young artillery captain with a famous last name.

Since the first War of Secession in this timeline ended with a Confederate victory in late 1862, the actual Union siege at Petersburg, VA (June 15, 1864 -- April 2, 1865) never happened.In WALK IN HELL, Turtledove uses the Battle of the Crater fought on July 30, 1864 as a template for a mine explosion underneath the U.S. lines in Utah in early 1916.It helps to have an interest in U.S. history when you tackle this series - if only to show just how much work Turtledove put into the fictitious situations he's created here.

This is an entertaining installment in the series, and the ending leaves a nice cliffhanger leading into the next book, The Great War: Breakthroughs.It's a good idea to read this series from the beginning, because otherwise you won't be able to follow the characters' storylines or know what the heck's going on.

Succeeds at What it Attempts.
The scope is large: the entire theater of World War I on North American soil. This scale is typical Turtledove. The story here is more vast than a few carefully crafted characters could contain. As a novel reader, one is tempted to wish for a tighter focus. One may want to delve deeper into the tender psyches of several of the more interesting characters, such as Jonathan Moss the flying Ace, or Jake Featherston the artillery Sergeant, or Anne Colleton the Mistress of pillaged Mosslands Plantation, but the theater of WWI in America requires a broad cross-section of humanity; and as such, necessarily, we must be content with the briefest snippets of each character's adventure as part of the grander scheme of the entire drama. So, going beyond the perceived missing characterization, this novel succeeds at what it attempts. It purports to be an alternate history novel of WWI fought right here in America. Reading A Walk in Hell gives one a great feel for the war that never was. The mindsets of the principles are ably represented. The people may be shallow but they are realistic portrayals of early twentieth century people. We get to experience the war from the point of view of people on, and behind, many lines of battle, and on both sides of the conflict. The theme here is that people, though from many a varied background, are very much alike. The reader can empathize with most of the characters.

The entire affair has an air of plausibility due largely to the fact that Turtledove never deviates far from actual historical events. The war in Europe continues as before, and the technological advancements of the weapons of war progress at a pace coinciding with those of the real war. We see the first use of tanks to breakthrough the stalemate of trench warfare, and airplane advances promise to alter the war's outcome as planes become more than just aerial reconnaissance devices.

The characters, while necessarily stereotypes, are consistent with the period, with there racial biases, and vengeful tendencies toward the enemy. Our personal contemporary experiences, with the persistent prevailing animosity between the North and the South, lend credibility to the feelings the characters express toward such political antagonists as depicted in this book, the U.S. and the C.S.A., who have fought not just one civil war, but now are engaged in their third period of hot aggression.

A consistent theme throughout all of Turtledove's Great War books, and The Guns of the South for that matter, is unjustified racial discrimination. More often are whites depicted as people of dubious substance than are blacks. Turtledove does a commendable job of giving reasons for this discrimination in the minds of the white characters, both North and South, and some characters are seen to grow in their empathy for the plight of the Black man.

The experienced Turtledove reader will be immediately engaged in the scope of this novel, enjoying the shifting perspective between the various character vignettes that comprise the structure of the book. Turtledove unfolds his story chronologically even thought told through the eyes of many diverse characters. This chronological structure helps the reader keep track of the grand progress of the war throughout the novel despite following the action through many characters on many different fronts. This diffusion of focus can be unsettling unless one grasps the broader panorama of the world Turtledove is trying to convey. Once that broad panorama is understood the experience of letting it unveil before you is quite enjoyable.

This is a very plot driven novel despite the diffuse focus on many different characters, the plot being the slow plodding of a war. This book is recommended to those who can hold a complicated story firm in their heads while gaining only glimpses of the lives of characters.

The NEVER Ending Story or Deja Vu all over again!- Part 2
"Walk in Hell" is the second book of Harry Turtledove's "The Great War" trilogy. To recap where we are in this series: the trilogy is an outgrowth of a single book: "How Few Remain". And, the only character that "remained" from that book to move into the trilogy was General Custer. This book wrought the Great War trilogy: 1) American Front, 2) Walk in Hell, and 3) Breakthroughs. This second book solidifies what has become a truly never ending story of nasty Southerners, displaced Mexicans, incompetent Northern officers and feisty Canadians reappear who NEVER die! As with the first book, by the end of this one you will wish that the carnage had been more complete - you pray for the invention of the atomic bomb to end all of civilization but there are no more volumes to go.
It you are like me and want to make sure that you start at the beginning of an author's work and read through to the end, no matter how many volumes, this second volume is almost guaranteed to stifle your reading desires. I have read the entire trilogy and will review the last volume also, but I'll give you my bottom line here so you don't have to drive through all three of my reviews. Take this trilogy to the beach, mountains or lake and if you have a vacation of rain where you have to be indoors, this trilogy will fill those hours. If you don't finish the trilogy during your vacation, PLEASE leave them for the next humans to inhabit that vacation space.
This volume begins with George Enos and after 484 pages there is no resolution of this minor character's Confederate prison camp experience. Don't get me wrong, all the character story lines - and there are dozens to keep straight - are interesting. They just NEVER end. War is a study of death, destruction and tragedy. By the end of this second of the trilogy you are hoping for a few of these characters - especially the saccharine ones -been an untimely demise. I was drawn to the third volume because I really wanted them to meet their ends. ... Read more

Product Description
Rhavas was a good, holy, and pious man - and the cousin of the Avtokrator. He would probably have become ecumenical patriarch of the Empire in the capital, Videssos the city...if his world had not suddenly and tragically fallen apart when the Empire of Videssos erupted into civil war and the Khamonh barbarians swarmed over the borders. As the home he loved was brutally sacked, Rhavas had to flee for his life, then make his way through lands swarming with fierce nomads and with soldiers loyal both to his cousin and to the rebel. He may never see Videssos the city again, let alone preside in its High Temple. He has always followed Phos, the god of light and goodness, Videssos' god, and despised evil rival Skotos. Those who fall off the Bridge of the Separator during judgment in the afterlife tumble down to Skotos' ice forevermore. But when evil seems to have swallowed the whole world, what is a cleric who reverences logic as well as goodness sup- posed to believe? It's a harder question than Rhavas wishes it were. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Being a diehard fan of "The Videssos Cycle" I wanted to like this much more
When I first read Harry Turtledove's "Videssos Cycle" in 1987 when it hit the shelves, I became an instant fan of his.I sought out other material, like "Agent of Byzantium" (a collection of short stories about an alternate history of the Byzantine Empire where Islam was never founded, and Mohammed became a Christian saint).Turtledove's material from this period is almost all extremely good.I really can't say that for anything he's done in recent years.While I enjoy his early stuff as much as ever, his recent material seems flat and uninspired by comparison.This book, unfortunately, is no exception.While it doesn't suffer from Turtledove's most glaring flaw -- endless, endless repetition of the same points -- it does suffer from one almost as glaring, and actually far worse from a storytelling point of view: taking the easy way, the lazy way, out of a dilemma in telling the story.He did that in another book of his I reviewed on amazon ("Curious Notions").In it, he builds up the main character to be an especially bright teenager.But in a couple of places, in order to move the story forward, he has to make that character do inexplicably stupid things, otherwise the character won't ever get into trouble in the first place, and there'd be no dramatic, suspenseful story to tell.Turtledove didn't seem to try very hard to come up with a clever, more believable way to drop his main character in the soup.Something similar happens here.The main character, Rhavas (who was Avshar in "The Videssos Cycle" -- by then an eight century old lich) is prelate of one of the largest and most important cities of the Videssian Empire.As a cleric, who has studied theology and almost nothing else his whole life, he has almost no skills at all other than those of a scholar.He's not the peerless swordsman, archer, and sorcerer he would become by the time of "The Videssos Cycle," he's still just a scholar/cleric.Now Turtledove has placed him in the Empire's northernmost large city, in a position to live through the sack of that city by savage, bloodthirsty nomads, so that he can see the horrors and atrocities that will shake his faith, and convince him that evil is stronger than good, and that Skotos (Videssos' Satan-like evil deity), is stronger than Phos (Videssos' version of God or Yahweh).The problem comes in how to get this very unwarriorlike man, with no combat skills of any kind, nor any skill in magic either, safely through a land overrun with murderous barbarians, and back down south to the Imperial capital of Videssos (the city itself that is, as opposed to the whole Empire, which shares the name), so that he can be condemned as a heretic by a synod of his fellow clerics.

The challenge for the writer is a considerable one.Rhavas has to come face to face with numerous blood-chilling horrors in order to credibly shake his faith and make him conclude that evil is stronger.But at the same time, how can he get so close to all these dangers and survive, when he lacks the warrior's or sorcerer's skills to fight or magic his way past the danger?Unfortunately, it's a challenge the Turtledove meets very poorly in this book.He simply gives Rhavas the ability to kill almost anyone, instantly, simply by pointing at that individual and saying "curse you."That's all it takes, and Rhavas' target keels over dead on the spot.In fact, in one scene, he doesn't even have to point or say the words; he just wills it to happen, and happen it does.In another, he almost idly curses a man who is not even present, and that man falls down dead as well.And still worse, on three occasions, he curses entire cities, and each time, the city so cursed is immediately struck by a devastating earthquake.Readers familiar with the three other series set in the world of Videssos will see the problem at once: nowhere, absolutely nowhere, in any of the other series did Rhavas/Avshar ever once display any ability like this.He could kill with magic, but he had to cast elaborate spells, some of which required considerable preparation beforehand, and it seemed to drain him a little -- he couldn't do it over and over, whereas here, he can kill as often as he likes, it seems, literally as easy speaking.Also, his warrior's skills were formidable in the other books, but why would he ever have needed to acquire them in the first place if he had the ability to kill instantly with just a word or even a thought?And as for the ability to flatten entire cities in a moment, merely by calling out a few words, where did that power go?Why couldn't he ever do it again?It certainly would be a useful ability for an evil sorcerer bent on the conquest of his former homeland.This seriously hurts the book, because it gives the character so much power, you don't feel like there's anything that really threatens him, and because it creates such a glaring continuity error with Turtledove's other books set in this same world.

As for the rest of the book, it's decent, but not especially great.Others have pointed out, quite correctly, that even before he succumbs to evil, Rhavas is not a very likable man.He's the kind of priest who is stern and unforgiving in his rectitude, always looking down on those who fail to live up to the same high, ascetic standards by which he abides.He's cold and quick to judge, and his one, overriding characteristic is a stiff, unbending nature, that disdains compromise.That probably makes it more believable that such a man could throw himself with equally unbending devotion to evil, once he's decided evil is stronger, but it makes him far less sympathetic as a character, so you don't feel much at his transformation.

All in all, this is a decent book, and those who like Turtledove's books about Videssos will probably enjoy another visit to that world, but where once I wished for as many more books about Videssos as the author could write, I now find myself wishing, given the quality of the author's more recent work, that he would leave well enough alone.

A tough challenge, partly successful
Bridge of the Separator (hereinafter "Bridge"), the back story of the character Avshar of the original Videssos series, is a story Videssos fans have been waiting for.(I quickly bought the first copy I saw.)The more-or-less immortal, anagram-loving villian, known over the centuries as Avshar, Harvas Black-Robe, and Rhavas, is so compelling and larger-than-life a character that a full telling of his back story is likely to be hard to bring off satisfyingly.
That's the challenge Harry Turtledove set for himself.He got the job done, telling the story competently and consistently with the hints and historical perspectives given in the Videssos, Krispos and Time of Troubles series, but I think it ultimately didn't catch lightning in a bottle.
Anyone who hasn't read the other Videssos books should not start with this one.The original four-volume Videssos series, telling the story of the Empire of Videssos at a late point in its history, and from the viewpoint of a group of outsiders, provides the best way to grasp the premise.Afterward, the reader is prepared to understand and identify with the settings and characters in the subsequently written, chronologically earlier, Krispos and Time of Troubles series.
The Empire of Videssos is an epic fantasy analog of the Byzantine (medieval East Roman) Empire, whose capital, Videssos the City, corresponds with Constantinople.The map of the Empire corresponds with an east-west reversed map of the Mediterranean basin and the Middle East: Makuran/Yezd corresponds with Persia, Vaspurakan corresponds with Armenia, the Land of the Thousand Cities straddling the Tib and Tutub rivers corresponds with the Fertile Crescent, the eponymous "Cattle Crossing" corresponds with the Bosphorus strait, etc., etc.
Likewise, the chronological setting of the Videssos series corresponds with the era of the Battle of Manzikert, with the Princess Alypia corresponding with the Byzantine princess/historian Anna Comnena.A few centuries earlier, the peasant/emperor Krispos corresponds with the Byzantine Emperor Basil I.Before that, the Videssian Time of Troubles pits the emperor Maniakes against his predecessor Genesios in a war against Makuran, as Byzantine emperor Heraclius succeeded the murderous emperor Phocas and fought a costly, sanguinary war with Persia.
(As you can see, I know just enough Byzantine history (i) to be intrigued by the Videssos premise, and (ii) to get myself into trouble trying to draw analogies.I regret any misstatements of Byzantine history or poorly thought-out analogies that may be in any of the foregoing.)
But before all that, there was Rhavas the prelate of Skopentzana, a city in territory formerly Videssian, but torn from the Empire in a massive invasion by Khamorth nomads from the trackless steppes to the north and (in Videssian geography) west.The three series mention Skopentzana and Rhavas, and hint without much detail that the invasion caused Rhavas to forsake the good god Phos, in favor of the evil Skotos.
It's tempting to think Skopentzana might have corresponded with Rome.I see no other candidate in the three series for an analogy with the western empire and the city of Rome.But, I can't quite make myself believe it: as related here, Skopentzana was never an imperial capital, and was always thought of as a distant outpost.Maybe the back story of the Rome-equivalent is a story Turtledove has yet to tell.Then again, perhaps the intent is that Skopentzana represents Kiev, with its proximity to the Viking-like Haloga people.
Bridge relates how Rhavas witnessed the sack of Skopentzana, fled, and gradually made his way back to Videssos the city.He witnessed horrors that Phos seemed powerless to stop, and gradually discovered an ability to kill by mere thought, seemingly inspired by Skotos.Rhavas is thoughtful about, and at first troubled by, these revelations.His gradual corruption makes for an effective psychological evolution.
What doesn't quite satisfy me is that Rhavas never considers that, while Phos and the forces of good might be overmatched, nevertheless standing up for the good, even in the face of defeat and martyrdom, is the more moral and logical position.(That would've been an interesting take on Norse fatalism.)Instead, Rhavas decides to worship and emulate the evil Skotos, not merely acquiescing to, but embracing a bit too easily, the works of evil that had appalled him.
At the synod, Rhavas argues to the rest of the Videssian clergy that Skotos is more powerful than Phos, and consequently more worthy of worship.Again, Turtledove set himself a difficult task, to describe a synod whose written proceedings would horrify Videssian clerics centuries later.Yes, it's well told, but it didn't quite blow me away, the way I had wanted.
In summary, I'd recommend Bridge of the Separator to any Videssos fan, as an important piece of the Empire's narrative history.To those new to Videssos, I'd recommend starting with the original Videssos series, featuring the Misplaced Legion of Roman soldiers.For myself, I want to reread Bridge, and see if the impact of the story is greater with repeated reading.
By the way, in case Mr. Turtledove reads this, I'd also love to see the back story of how Scaurus' and Viridovix's swords were created.Is there a tie-in between the Druids and Videssian sorcery?

Not quite what I was expecting
This was only my second book written by Turtledove that I have read. I randomly picked this book up at my local library after having read After the Downfall.I didn't realize it was part of a series at the time.It took me a while to get going with the book, probably 60 pages or so.I thought about not finishing it, but was actually trying to figure out where this book was going to go.After the initial investment I finally started getting into the book and the mid section I couldn't put it down.I think the one short coming is the begining seemed slow and it took a while to become interested in the main character

I wish this "lost tale" had stayed lost
There are many things wrong with this book in spite of all the time an old "Lost Legion"fan like me may spend trying to like it.I wanted to love this book I really did butusual problems with Turtledove's recent writing make certain flaws all the more glaring.The main character in spite of being completely unlikable has to be constantly told how "correct" "right" or "just" his point of view is at least in the beginning anyway.Characters are introduced just so when the main character thinks "I said it, that really needed to be said" a disposable extra can also say "well most holy sir I may not like what you said but it needed to be said."Another thing I have not yet bothered to calculate the number of times "most holy sir" or later "not so holy sir" were used but it was a lot.

I will say that when Rhavas finally does go evil things get a lot more interesting to bad all he ever gets around to doing is a one-two slaughter punch of mages and defenseless farm families although the earthquakes were cool.

Overall-We have known who the bad guy was ever since the last of the Lost Legion series oh so many years ago why tell us this story now?It makes no sense.

When the central character is obnoxious and boring, the novel doesn't work
I'm a Harry Turtledove fan, and am willing to overlook a lot of flaws in his writing if the basic idea is fun or intriguing. But a novel with a one-dimensionally insufferable character whose transformation makes him one-dimensionally selfish violent and cruel just won't work magic. The religious system (Zoroasterian or Manichee) where 2 one-dimensional gods battle it out could have been treated imaginatively, but this never got off the ground either. ... Read more

Product Description
Is it the war to end all wars--or war without end? What began as a conflict in Europe, when Germany unleashed a lightning assault on its enemies, soon spreads to North America, as a long-simmering hatred between two independent nations explodes in bloody combat. Twice in fifty years the Confederate States of America had humiliated their northern neighbor. Now revenge may at last be at hand.

Into this vast, seething cauldron plunges a new generation of weaponry changing the shape of war and the balance of power. While the Confederate States are distracted by an insurgency of African Americans who dream of establishing their own socialist republic, the United States are free to bring their military and industrial might directly to bear--and to unleash the most horrific armored assault the world has ever seen. Victory is at hand. But at a price that may be worse than war itself . . .
... Read more

Customer Reviews (67)

Good series, but tires you if you continue
My review is the same for all books of the series.Decent story, a little slow, but also one of the most annoying series becuase he repeats things over and over. Examples are that southern tobacco is way better that northern and northern smokes taste terrible. Also,this black guy was former butler who worked for this white rich lady and was taught to talk like an educated white man and details about his time there. Many more things like this, so just about anytime a soldier smokes in these books( about 100 times) you have to hear about the tobacco, etc. Each character has something told about them over and over and over and over and over, see how annoying that is. These irritating things are just minor pains right now, it continues though and is very tiring to read.

Part 4 in a Series
Now here's where TL-191 pays off!I loved this book.

The US and CS have been at war for two years and change.As of the beginning of the book it's still a stalemate, but it's getting harder and harder for the CS to keep up.This is because, unlike in the first two rounds of their multigenerational grudge match, the US has stayed in the field long enough to bring the advantages its size gives it to bear, and the US is now winning a war of attrition.The Confeds are slowly but surely falling back as the front moves deeper into their territory.(Same story in the US invasions of Canada--Canada is getting less British help as the situation in Europe grows more desperate for the Entente, with Russia dropping out of the fight, French soldiers mutinying, the Irish rising up against the British, and German innovation benefiting from partnership with the US.)The war is still dragging on, but the stalemate is clearly over.

Then the US begins its last major offensive.Custer, who's been a stupid blowhard to this point, realizes he can use massed armored columns to force breakthroughs in the Confed line (hence the title).He finds in Irving Morrell, happy to get back into the field after time spent on the General Staff and lead the armored assault, a man after his own heart.Success in Tennessee leads to the once-forbidden tactics being employed elsewhere, and the Confed position becomes untenable.The Rebs get pushed back on every front and also get forced out of the US.(Washington is retaken after weeks of heavy US bombardment--of course, when victory is in sight the first thing you do is slaughter your own citizens--and Nellie kills Bill Reach, who is trying to rape her while she forages for supplies.Oh, and the bombardment begins at the very minute Edna Semphroch was about to marry a Rebel officer--she'd been literally sleeping with the enemy.)Then a counterattack into northern Virginia is launched.It's about to link up with the offensive in western Virginia the US had been pushing all along, and at this point the Rebels raise the white flag--much to the fury of Featherston, who'd been writing his "memoirs" ie complaining about how much he hated everyone (foreshadowing his Hitleresque fate) and Roger Kimball, who ignores orders to surrender and torpedoes the ship on which George Enos is serving.The heretofore lucky George won't come back from this one, folks.McSweeney also gets killed, thankfully--He was so tiresome.

After the Rebs go down (France had already fallen) it's just a fight against the British Empire.The US creates an independent Quebecois government and all the Central Powers governments extend it diplomatic recognition, including the also newly independent nations of Ireland and Poland.(The Pope seems to be pleased at three new Catholic countries being liberated from Protestant and Orthodox empires, as evidenced by his rewarding Pascal Talon for collaborating with the US by making him a bishop of a newly created diocese.)Here's one thing I liked about the war in this series: It's a diplomatic as well as a military conflict.Both sides actively recruit new allies throughout.By contrast, in the real World War I Germany and Austria-Hungary managed to add only Turkey and Bulgaria to the fold.

This diplomatic conflict also means there's a war in South America.Argentina has long been an Entente country, and toward the end its grain shipments to the British Isles are the only things letting Britain continue the fight against the Central Powers.So the CP recruit Brazil into the fight and a US, Brazilian, and Chilean armada is about to fight an Anglo-Argentine one in the South Atlantic when Britain surrenders.

So the US finally has its vengeance.A Versailles-esque peace is imposed on the CS.The US isn't in position to force such things on Britain, but it does get to occupy Canada, Bermuda, and the Bahamas.Wonderful scenes of characters celebrating the long-awaited victory.(Nellie gets a medal for her contributions to the spy ring.Since Emily Pinkard is not a US citizen and is beyond Philadelphia's jurisdiction, Edna gets the Sleeparound Sue Award.Nothing for Hal Jacobs, who really was heroic, but that will be rectified later.)The reader shares in the sense of triumph, but is still aware of the heavy cost.Sylvia's widowhood serves to remind us of that.

And on the other side of the border, Confederates stew in their own juices and plan their revenge.As Anne Colleton says in the book's last sentence, "We've got the damnyankees to catch up with, after all."

The ending is satisfying and a reader could stop here if he wanted to.(There's some ugly writing down the line, I must warn you.)However, it also leads quite naturally into the rest of the series, when it's the CS that practices revanchism.This book is able to be simultaneously both conclusion and transition for more story.That's a rare feat for a book.That's why I'd almost say Breakthroughs transcends literature and feels as authentic as real life.

Just as promised...
The book was shipped the next day and received in excellent condition.Very satisfied and will order from this company again.

One war down, one to go
This is the third volume of Turtledove's THE GREAT WAR trilogy, and the fourth book in the eleven-book series that began with How Few Remain.

This book chronicles the end of the Great War, and a lot of the characters readers grew familiar with over the course of the trilogy meet untimely ends.Jake Featherston will live on to have a prominent role in the following AMERICAN EMPIRE trilogy that takes place right after the war and into the 20's and 30's.A handful of other characters from THE GREAT WAR will also return.

At the end of BREAKTHROUGHS, you can see the parallels between Turtledove's fictitious Great War and the actual outcome of WWI that led to WWII.(Germany reluctantly signed the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919 - even as German leaders publicly rejected its contents.)BREAKTHROUGHS neatly sets the stage for the AMERICAN EMPIRE trilogy that leads up to the four-book SETTLING ACCOUNTS series that wraps up the entire saga.BREAKTHROUGHS is an interesting read that continues the one big "what if?" event Turtledove introduced in HOW FEW REMAIN.

Poor reseach and anaylsis of implications
The book fails on a couple of different point on being good alternate history fiction: does not account for the economic impact of the Union and Confederacy being under imminent threat, the length of the border would have made trench warfare along the length impossible, logistical issues were pretty much overlooked, early tanks were not particularly effective, effective anti-tank weapons were available quickly after the introduction of the tank, and the South had historically been a lot more military (army) orientation than the North, so would have been much more effective. The warfare described would have been practical maybe 20 years later, but the modern weapons were just too crude by the time of WWI to be as effective as described: Bombers could not level cities and armies still depended on horses, not trucks until the beginning WWII

On tanks, if tanks were generally as effective as the story seems to indicate, then the original way the tanks were used would have been as effective as combining them (the South appears to have had no way to counter the tank). However, tanks were unreliable (third did not even make into the battle), underpowered (would easily get stuck). In addition the crew would be deaf and effectively blind (vision slots provide little visibility), and the lack of suspension would make MG fire pretty ineffective when moving and dangerous to the crew). At the same time they were very slow, making easy targets for Molotov cocktails, and other thrown weapons. In addition, in WWI the treat of tanks were quickly countered by special rounds anti-tank rifle rounds and then anti-tank rifles. There were also 37mm anti-tank guns (also a WWII weapon) in WWI; during WWII an anti-tank gun would take out 2 tanks of average before being destroyed; the South was on the defensive.

Another issue I have is the lack of irregular warfare described. The distances, low population density, wilderness, criticality of logistics in 20th century warfare, and availability of sympathizer would have been contusive to attack. The South very effectively used their superior cavalry in this capacity during the Civil War, and it is unlikely it would not have been a more significant weapon given the how quickly artillery and machineguns used ammunition. Only railroads could have supplied this use quantity, and they would be easy targets. As proven by the Russians during WWII, cavalry could very effectively conduct irregular warfare against the enemy, and affect the outcome of battles.

Also the Union or Confederacy would not have been as economically successful as the US; in particular, both government would have been spending heavily on defense, which would drag down the rest of the economy, and discouraged immigration (many immigrants were escaping draft systems in their own countries). Countries like Argentina would have seemed much better alternatives to these immigrants. Also under the economic hardship of high taxes, businesses would have found it harder to survive. Many of the developments in the US during the late 1800s were probably due to the lack of heavy taxes. Also the Union and Confederacy both would have had significant fear of spies, which would have also had a significant impact. This does not even take into account that the two countries combined were more conducive to a successful economy than separated.

The Union would not have had the navy that the US had at the start of WWI. Since the Union was in imminent threat on two fronts, emphasis would have been to the army, which for the US was not the case (Canada and Mexico have not been considered a threat to the US for over a century). The navy that the Union had would have had to contend with providing ships to protect the highly vulnerable Philadelphia and New York ports, the Great Lakes, and the Mississippi and Ohio rivers (not taking into account the Chesapeake Bay). At the same time, there was no way for these different areas to be able to support one another. Neither the Confederacy nor Canada was in as difficult a position. For the Union, it would have been pretty much impossible to contest the British on the high seas. The Confederacy had a better reason to have an effective Navy due to the long coast line, the Gulf of Mexico, and having interior lines of river communication due to controlling the Mississippi delta. This would not have been like the Civil War since the South would have a Navy with interior lines, particularly in the Gulf of Mexico, and a good reason to have a Navy to protect the Gulf. The North would be hard pressed to contest the Gulf of Mexico without controlling islands to provide a base.

There are a couple of other issues I have also. The most significant is the amphibious attack where the Union is able to build bridges over a river in a fraction of a day without controlling the opposite bank, and build them to be able to support multiple 30 ton tanks. In 1917, 30 tones was an enormous weight, and building a permanent bridge to handle them would have been a challenge, let alone an assault bridge. Also, it is not just building the bridge, it is building the access to the bridge; even today a lot of the work on building an assault bridge is the access since river banks are treacherous areas, and even tanks cannot just crawl onto a floating bridge. Then there is the river current to deal with (and wind); it is not possible to just add onto a floating bridge when the current is pulling everything downstream with great force. All this time the workers on the bridge would have been exposed to fire; it would have taken little to slaughter the extremely exposed workers. Even against a weak force, no commander would even consider building a bridge without controlling both sides of the river.

Then there is a lack of effective defensive mobile warfare, by the South: they started in the right direction, but proved ineffective. I am sorry, but it works extremely effectively on the defense if an army is willing to trade space for time. Even the mostly horse drawn Russians were able to do it during the beginning of WWII against a very mobile German army (a lot more mobile than the Union could have been with primitive tanks and trucks). I doubt the south would have fought any less hard against the Union than the Russians did against the Germans.

I wish the Harry Turtledove would do some research before writing a book. If he wanted resources, they are out there: there are many groups interested in simulated war games, and would be happy to help simulate accurate simulations. Harry Turtledove is about the only author in this genre, and he brings up some interesting ideas. Why even bother putting this in the post-Civil War where the South wins if you do not want to investigate what the effect would be. I rate this as high as a I because considering the alternate history is of interest.

... Read more

Product Description
"It is absolutely unique--without question the most fascinating Civil War novel I have ever read."
Professor James M. McPherson
Pultizer Prize-winning BATTLE CRY OF FREEDOM
January 1864--General Robert E. Lee faces defeat. The Army of Northern Virginia is ragged and ill-equpped. Gettysburg has broken the back of the Confederacy and decimated its manpower.
Then, Andries Rhoodie, a strange man with an unplaceable accent, approaches Lee with an extraordinary offer. Rhoodie demonstrates an amazing rifle: Its rate of fire is incredible, its lethal efficiency breathtaking--and Rhoodie guarantees unlimited quantitites to the Confederates.
The name of the weapon is the AK-47....
Selected by the Science Fiction Book Club
A Main Selection of the Military Book Club
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Customer Reviews (165)

Guns of the South
"Guns of the South" is a great alternative history book about time travelers who smuggle AK-47s through time to help the Confederacy win the Civil War.

My only regret is that Turtledove did not make this premace into a series.It wa action packed, and gave great incite into our history and historical figures.

America's Galactic Foreign Legion: Book 1: Feeling Lucky (Volume 1)

One of the most entertaining books I have read
This book is definitely worth reading. Turtledove has done his research. As with all of his historical fiction, every detail is authentic and believable. You will know what it is like to advance against the Union line as a dirty, hungry and desperate for victory Confederate soldier clutching your new AK-47.

The guns of the South
An excellent book in every dimension, that I could not put down. I'll read it again.

Probably Turtledove's Best Non-Byzantine Material
This is one of the "name" books in modern alternate history writing.I personally don't consider time travel stories part of the alternate history genre, but who am I to argue with the verdict of the SFF community as a whole?

It's a very enjoyable read.If you can tolerate the premise, it's done in a very clever way.The battle scenes are very entertaining and exciting - it struck me as I read them how the AK-47 was a particularly effective weapon against troops led by Grant, in particular, since his basic tactic was just to throw men forward until the enemy broke, and that was precisely the wrong thing to do in this alterate Wilderness campaign.The union would have been better of with McClellan!

I took off one star for two plot elements I found improbable to the point of annoyance:

I thought it took FAR too long for Lee and the Confederates to suspect the truth about their "benefactors".Even people living in a time without the SFWA to help them out would have put two and two together a lot earlier.They certainly would not have required the kind of evidence it ultimately takes in the story.

I also found the cavalier way in which Turtledove dispenses with the slavery issue a bit unrealistic.It smacked of Confederate apologism, which in alternate Civil War stories is the ONE THING an author must avoid at all costs.

Other than that, though, I was entertained by this book.

Incredibly well researched; captures the gritty feel of the era
In this alternate history, General Robert E. Lee finds that he is able to win the Civil War, as a mysterious group of men with questionable motives provide the Confederacy with a weapon the world of the 1860s has not yet seen: the AK-47.

Though the founding premise of the book is far-fetched, you'll need to suspend your disbelief no further. The book is incredibly-well researched, and captures the gritty feel of the era and the personalities of its characters in rich detail, from the attitudes of a defeated Abraham Lincoln to the opinions of the more progressively-minded sergeant-turned-schoolteacher Nathan Caudell. I think it'd thoroughly please a reader of traditional historical fiction as well as any harder military, political or sci-fi fan. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (15)

No one can bat a thousand
I regret to report that this is a very poor book written by a very good author.

Mr. Turtledove is an accomplished writer who displays flair and imagination - just not in this book. It just goes to prove that not every book written by a good author is a good book - everybody has off days.As a civil war buff and a sci-fi fan I found the book very disappointing.But that should not detract from Mr. Turtledove's other works.

Good idea, but...
Having read 4 Forrest biographies (Wills, Wyeth, Lytle, and Hurst) plus several other related books, I gained an impression of what the man himself was like.All I can say is through most of this novel, Forrest and all the lesser known and made up characters don't seem right.They don't talk right, don't act right, and I have a hard time believing it's real.It's such a shame because recreating what happened at Fort Pillow through historical fiction could have been great.

Each time I've read a Forrest biography, the thing that stuck afterwards was Fort Pillow would make a great movie or novel if it's done right.When I found this book, I was happy that somebody finally figured it out.Then I bought it and was disappointed Turtledove drove it into the ditch.Why do writers feel they have to come up with an agenda or drive home a point to write a book?What happened to telling a story and letting that stand for itself?Does this guy think the readers are too stupid to draw their own conclusions so he does it for them?I'm talking about the repetition of the fact that blacks could fight as soldiers.Even the very last page, the very last sentence makes this point yet again, just in case you missed it.Way too preachy.

Prior to this, the only Turtledove novel I'd read was Guns of the South.That one wasn't bad.Fort Pillow didn't feel like the same guy wrote it.This book should have been great even if a less skilled writer took it on.Forrest is the most entertaining historical figure I've ever read about.What a life.Check out Wyeth's book if you want a good read.As for this Turtledove book, skip it.

Having been born and raised in Middle Tennessee and still here 35 years later, I have a love for this particular history.My hometown, Columbia, is the place where Forrest killed a subordinate who tried to kill him.I've walked on the ground where many great Forrest moments occurred (Franklin, Murfreesboro, Parker's Crossroads, Chickamauga, Shiloh, Brice's Crossroads, Shelbyville, Johnsonville, Fort Pillow, and others).I used to walk by the statue under which Forrest is buried in the park that bears his name almost every day for 4 years while going to school in Memphis.This history is every bit as interesting as events that took place in the East, and which have been repeated ad nauseam.

Authors like Turtledove who want us to wake up and smell something other than Gettysburg deserve credit, but at least put some effort into it.I'm going to keep hoping that after Jeff Shaara finishes his WWII stuff, he'll get time to write historical fiction about Civil War in the West.

Fort Pillow
This is a top of the line book by Harry T.If you have read any other Civil War Books this should be on your list.

Remember, remember, the 12th of... well... April.
Harry Turtledove is known mostly as a master of the alternate history genre, and rightly so. His books "Guns of the South", "Ruled Britiania", the Worldwar and Timeline 191 series are exceptional examples of what alternate history can be.

As those who have read the works of one H N Turteltaub already know, Turtledove can also write excellent historical fiction. "Justianian" is currently out of print, but well worth reading, if you can find it.

"Fort Pillow" is not an alternate history story. It's the first (to my knowledge, anyhow), straight historical novel that Turtledove has published under his own name. Does it stand up to his other works?

Emphatically yes. The Civil War is territory he's gone over before, but always in an alternate history. Seeing what he does with a regular historical fiction novel is impressive.

As is usual with a Turtledove book we get viewpoint characters on both sides and at all levels. From the black artillery sargent, to a couple of US officers, all the way up to Nathan Bedford Forrest himself, we really get to see what the war in general, and this battle in particular, was like.

That the massacre was a great infamy goes without saying. Regardless of which sources are right or wrong (USA vs CSA), a disproportionate number of black soldiers were killed during and after the fighting, as were the officers who commanded them.

That we as a nation no longer remember this (even I hadn't known about it until the book came out, and I likes my history!), is an infamy almost as great, one that hopefully this book will go a long way to correcting.

A stunning story
A vivid and intense look into the horror and brutality of the civil war--written in the language that was used then to describe people.

Nathan Bedford Forrest, a ruthless commander for the Confederate army, and his troops, approached Fort Pillow as if on wings. His men were driven by hatred for the escaped slaves and the Union army that trained them. Spurred on through the swamps and bogs, rain and cold by the demanding Nathan Forrest they reached Fort Pillow exhausted. However, fatigue quickly gave away to their desire to punish those slaves and the other soldiers.

Major William Bradford and his Union troops at Fort Pillow were comfortable knowing the Confederate soldiers were far away. Though he was a major, his experience in actual combat was minimal. A lawyer by trade, he fought best with words. Major Booth had added his forces to the fort about two weeks earlier. Experienced in the heat of battle, he was the senior officer and Bradford resented him, but was grateful for his knowledge.

The soldiers Major Booth brought with him were another story. Many were those escaped slaves--and people thought that they couldn't fight--and just weren't worth considering because they would likely turn tale in the heat of battle. Major Bradford knew all the training in the world couldn't change the color of a man's skin. Yet Major Booth seemed to have confidence in them.

The truth would soon be uncovered. The first morning light brought the crack of Confederate rifles. The battle was one that went down in history for many reasons. The bravery and determination on both sides left many would-be heroes silenced for eternity. Their stories would be buried with their bodies, in mass graves, unremembered and forgotten over time.

We take for granted our freedoms of today, yet we understand very little of the sacrifices that won those rights. Fort Pillow is more than a novel. It will let you feel and experience history as if you were there. It is graphic and candid, leaving nothing to the imagination. Read it if you dare, you'll never be the same.

Armchair Interviews says: Powerful story well told. ... Read more

Product Description
A one-of-a-kind collection from the New York Times bestselling "maven of alternate history." (San Diego Union- Tribune)

A famous naturalist seeks a near-extinct species of bird found only on the rarest of lands in "Audubon in Atlantis." A young American on a European holiday finds himself storming an enchanted German castle in "The Catcher in the Rhine." The philosopher Sokrates plays a key role in the Athenian victory over the Spartans in "The Daimon." Centaurs take a sea voyage aboard "The Horse of Bronze" to a land where they encounter a strange and frightening tribe of creatures known as man. London's most famous detective, Athelstan Helms, and his assistant Dr. James Walton are in Atlantis investigating a series of murders in "The Scarlet Band."

This collection includes these and seven more amazing stories of ancient eras, historical figures, mysterious events, and out-of-this- world adventure from the incomparable Harry Turtledove. ... Read more

Product Description
A young Kaunian girl is forced to remain hidden while her Forthwegian savior braves the rough, Algarvian-controlled streets to earn their keep. The scholars of Kuusamo are no closer to understanding the bloodless magic that may win the war-and time is short. Kuusamo has joined into an unsteady alliance with Lagoas and Unkerlant. No one kingdom trusts another, but they must unite, for it is only together that they can defeat the Algarvian threat.

The war is no longer confined to soldiers and sorcerers. Common folk are joining together to fight from underneath their oppressors, whether they be Algarve or Unkerlant. What those farmer soldiers lack in skill, they make up for in dedication. A dedication that will carry them . . . through the darkness.
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Customer Reviews (13)

A fine continuation of the story
THROUGH THE DARKNESS continues the wonderfully imaginative fantasy mirroring our own World War II. As with the previous books, this one is very enjoyable, full of familiar (depending on your knowledge of WWII) scenes from our own history.While it may seem like a predictable plot, Turtledove is able to maintain enough uniqueness to keep the readers' attention. As the story progressively unfolds here, the characters further develop into more and more knowable (and likeable) figures. And even though you may know the primary direction of the overall story, you'll still be interested in following each of these characters through their unique adventures, and there is no way you'll predict where they'll end up.

In this book, the primary story focuses on the Derlavian War's battle for Stalingrad (Sulingen here) where the Algarvians have gotten bogged down in an over-reaching effort to capture Unkerlandt's Cinnabar deposits.Elsewhere, irregulars continue to battle the occupying Algarvians in any way they can, and the equivalent of the Manhattan Project continues on without a hitch.The dynamics of the war continue to change, and each of the primary characters from the first two books are still the focus here.Somehow, Turtledove is able to keep each of those characters' stories interesting even when they don't seem to be directly involved in the main events of the book.

The only major complaint I have about this story reflects the most common criticism of Turtledove's writing.Redundant and repetitive descriptions of characters/settings and constant reminders of easily-memorable facts is at times extremely annoying.We know that camel meat tastes bad. We know that Algarvians are overly expressive.We know the Gyongyosians don't eat goat.We know that the Zuwayzi(sp?) don't wear clothes. WE KNOW!Also, Turtledoves penchant for starting each character's section in the same way, time after time, is frustrating.If Pekka is surprised by a knock on her door one more time, I think I may rip some of my hair out.I guess Turtledove wants to hammer into his readers' brains certain characteristics of his characters, but overly repetitive actions and very similar scenes occurring over and over can be extremely off-putting.Almost like your intelligence is being questioned.Thus, four stars instead of the five stars this book came close to deserving.

Still highly recommended for those interested in getting involved in an epic fantasy closely mirroring our World War II.

Turtledave
The third installment of this series is a work of genius. The characters come alive and it is well worth a read. Harry Turtledave is the greatest author ever.

Best So Far!
I have only read the first three books of the WORLD AT WAR Series, but this one is the best so far. The characters are just getting better and better, although the parts with some of the soldiers get a bit boring. But still this is the best book in the series so far.

Blood, sweat, tears, ice and fire
The war for Derlavai continues to engulf the continent, one bloody step at a time, and its residents are unable to stop it.

Having easily smashed Forthweg, Jelgava, Sibiu, and Valmiera, Algarve seems to have met its match in the vast frozen wastelands of Unkerlant. Even continuing to use the life energy of murdered Kaunians, the Unkerlanters aren't breaking, and instead follow suit by murdering their own people. A desparate war is being raged in the streets of Sulingen, including a deadly feud between two snipers. Meanwhile, scholars of Lagoas and Kuusamo struggle to unlock a magical secret that can shift the course of the war.

Turtledove's engrossing characters also struggle with their lives. In Forthweg, Kaunian girl Vanai discovers a spell that gives her and other Kaunians a new shot at life. In the north of Zuwayza, King Shazli begins to admit Kaunian refugees, while in the south of Valmiera, Krasta cuddles up to her Algarvian lover while her brother fights against them in the underground resistance.

While any Turtledove fan can forgive the reduntant character descriptions and phrases, they will always enjoy the tale.

A Frozen Hell
Through the Darkness (2001) is the third novel in the World At War fantasy series, following Darkness Descending.In the previous volume, the Algarvians, although outnumbered in Grelz, keep outmaneuvering the Unkerlanter army.In Kuusamo, Pekka, with Siuntio and Ilmarinen observing, uses a divergent series chant to release enough energy to blow out all the window glass in the lab.In Forthweg, Sidroc finally signs up for Plegmund's Brigade and Ealstan is sick, so Vanai has to venture out to get medicines for him.

Cornelu finds that his Lagoan leviathan isn't as well trained as Eforiel, but still gets the job done.In Jelgava, Talsu keeps being told that he is lucky to be alive after the stabbing incident.In far western Unkerlant, Istvan is not enjoying his stroll through the woods, being too busy fighting ambushes and forest fires.In Valmiera, Valnu takes Krasta for a walk just before a bomb goes off where they had been;unfortunately, the bomb only causes superficial damage to Colonel Lurcanio.In Grelz, Garivald is caught by the Algarvians but is rescued by Unkerlanter irregulars.

In this novel, Ealstan recovers from the sickness and finds that some of his clients have made other arrangements.Zuwayza has Kaunians coming to their shores requesting asylum from the Algarvians.Skarnu attends a meeting of the resistance which is raided by the Algarvians.Constable Bembo and his fellows come to Oyngestun to round up Kaunians. Garivald goes on his first ambush with the Unkerlant irregulars.Colonel Sabrino returns to his dragon farm to find that the Lagoan dragons had dropped eggs there earlier.

On the Southern continent, Fernao is pleased when Kuusaman and Lagoan dragons fly in, but they don't bring any more supplies;the meals continue to be camel or ptarmigan.Leudast's men give the Algarvians a hard time in a swamp before reforming on higher land.

Marshall Rathar perceives the Algarvian strategy and convinces King Swemmell that the red heads are trying to take the Mamming Hills.The King permits him to build up his forces to stop the Algavians before Suligen.

This series is an allegory of the World Wars, with magic replacing the science and technology of this worldline.Some of the events in this series are more indicative of the first World War while others are more like the second;for example, the life force magic is analogous to the chemical weapons used in WWI, but the new magic being developed by the Kuusamans is much more like the atomic weapons developed during WWII.

Another reflection of earlier events is the invasion of Gyongyos into far western Unkerlant.These actions seem to reflect various Japanese intrusions into Russian territories beginning with the Russo-Japanese War in 1904-1905, through the Russian Civil War in 1917-1921, and then to 1924, when Japan returned Sakhalin Island.However, Japan occupied other areas, including Korea, in the northern Pacific coast of the Far East until the end of WWII.

Recommended for Turtledove fans and anyone else who enjoys speculative fiction with a strong historical and moral component.

-Arthur W. Jordin ... Read more

Product Description
NO ONE COULD STOP THEM--
NOT STALIN, NOT TOGO, NOT CHURCHILL, NOT ROOSEVELT . . .
The invaders had cut the United States virtually in half at the Mississippi, vaporized Washington, D.C., devastated much of Europe, and held large parts of the Soviet Union under their thumb.
But humanity would not give up so easily. The new world allies were ruthless at finding their foe's weaknesses and exploiting them.
Whether delivering supplies in tiny biplanes to partisans across the vast steppes of Russia, working furiously to understand the enemy's captured radar in England, or battling house to house on the streets of Chicago, humankind would never give up.
Yet no one could say when the hellish inferno of death would stop being a war of conquest and turn into a war of survival--the very survival of the planet . . .
Amazon.com Review
World War II screeched to a halt as great military powersscrambled to meet an even deadlier foe, armed with formidabletechnology that made victory seem inevitable.The menace worsens inthis, the second novel inthe four-book alternate-history saga that Booklistcalled "possibly the most ambitious in the subgenre'shistory and definitely the work of one of alternate history'sauthentic modern masters." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (38)

Turtledove's Alternate History and Sci Fi
This book combined alternate history and science fiction. It was very well put together using actual events for the start and included historical figures as they would probably react to the new circumstances.
The author describes how common people would have their lives changed by the different chain of events. He is good at describing people and their lives. I really enjoyed the book.

Typical Turtledove
If you are a Turtledove fan - as I am - Tilting the Balance is more of what we have come to expect.Like all Turtledove series, it begins and contains lots of review and recap - in case you are not reading the series in sequence or forgotten the overall issues and characters from the preceeding novel.

Lots of action, good character development and portrayal, and the ever-typical Turtledove development of alternative historical events.Truth! (emphatic cough).

I did not give it 5 stars because Turtledove is such a prolific author and I have read almost all of his work that it is almost "too much the same" as prior works.

And now for the next installment ....
In the first volume of this series, Turtledove has set up the intriguing premise of 'What if alien invaders had arrived in the middle of WWII?'.In order to tell his story from a variety of view points he has introduced several 'main' characters including Americans, Chinese, Russians, Polish Jews, Germans and alien invaders.

TILTING THE BALANCE picks up pretty much from the end of IN THE BALANCE with the same characters and various subplots.The aliens had expected an easy victory but where surprised to find how much the humans had progressed in short few hundred years since their survey ship had left.They were also appalled to discover how wet and cold the earth was, they had never before encountered a planet with such a wide variety of conditions and were totally unprepared for the conditions.The humans were proving to be distressingly adaptable, former enemies were forming alliances to fight back, they were even managing to reverse engineer captured alien technology which was causing the invaders no end of problems.But with the colonizing ships already enroute, just twenty years behind the aliens had no option but to press on.

This is a very interesting concept but it would probably be much better as a single volume, two at the most instead of the planned trilogy that grew into four volumes.As is usual with stories told from many viewpoints, and with multivolume stories, the author reintroduces each character when their storylines return.Turtledove carries this a bit too far, repeating the same information over and over.He also drags out each plot line, going into far too much detail which makes the overall storyline drag.I found myself skimming over much of the last half of the book, looking for something new and more interesting to happed.

Overall I would rate this series a solid five, but due to the overlong execution of the story, this ready should be two volumes at the most, thisparticular installment just barely makes a four.

Gripping stalemate ended by a goosebump-inducing end
I was really torn between giving this four stars and five, since Amazon won't let me rate it 4.5 when it is a solid 4.5.

The story in the first continues, even longer, and with really little development save for just the bare minimal progress for humanity, due simply to supply issues for the Lizards.

The Bad:
Turtledove's writing is still amateurish as in the first one, but thankfully there aren't as many instances of its showing.

Like another reviewer complained, Turtledove also isn't keen on too much subtlty in the subplots; in much the same vein of TNA's Eric Young and Don West with their almost inadvertantly comical bashing-us-over-the-head with "Rellik, that's Killer spelled backwards", Turtledove regurgitates the same summarization of subplots over and over and over again to a point where we just wish something would happen to change the same old story; Ludmilla's pants attempting to be penetrated by Schultz and NKVD guy who's name I forgot, Ussmak's complaining about his crappy ginger-laced prior crew and his love for his new crew, Atvar's bitterness towards Straha's uppitiness, etcetera.

The Good:
The story progresses far more efficiently with regards to the war in general being basically a stalemate, with major minor actions going on on both sides, and the focus being a race to adapting Lizard technology---jets, radar, and nuclear weapons...

Every time I read from the Race's perspective, I bitterly complain with them, the savageness of the Japanese on their prisoner (whose name I forgot), the German panzers being so damn incessant and brutalizing the Race's landcruisers no matter how many losses they sustain.And when I read from Humanity's perspective, I gripe over the seeming punctuous accuracy of Lizard tanks and artillery, the irritation of their constant air barrages, and their clarity in radar and satellite that makes Humans the equivalent of the lowest of Gallic barbarians trying to fight Caesar's legions.

There's is a definitely more realistic and mature tone to this edition rather than the first, where main characters die suddenly in the heat of action where the first book had lead you to view these characters as invincible---for one, Bobby Fiore, gunned down while assaulting a Lizard stronghold in Shanghai, Lucille Potter, with the top of her head sheared off by an artillery shell right in front of Mutt Daniels, even Drefsab, our favorite junkie Lizard.

As with the first, high-ranking leaders are very scarce, with Winston Churchill making what can only be called a cameo appearance at an RAF research camp, Franklin Roosevelt checking on Brigadier General Leslie Groves at the Met Lab in Denver, and Joseph Stalin pushing hard for the use of Soviet Russia's first nuclear bomb.


And at the end of the book, Stalin gets his way...


The final words of the book are clear indication that the pace of the war is going to shift in the last book... the Soviets haved nuked a major Lizard invasion force.What now?Straha asks Fleetlord Atvar.Atvar can only say, "I don't know"...

Poor Jens Larrssen
I support Jen Larrssen's actions in this book.
If i were in his place, i would have done the same thing and instead of the poor colonel and his bodyguard, i would "given it" to Barbara and the colonel.
Jens should have silently gone to the lizards without raising any suspicion. That way the Lizards would have sent denver a very good present.

... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (13)

Good read
I enjoyed this second in the 3 book series. These books are slow moving but still a very good read.

Interesting!
I really like good historical fiction with real heroes and heroines and am particularly interested in ancient civilizations with powers that we no longer have.I felt that the author did a good job of presenting a believably authentic 10,000 BC civilization with interesting and sympathetic characters.

The book had what I was looking for and I very much enjoyed and quickly finished it.My only complaint is that I didn't at first realize it was part of a series, and I felt it left me hanging a bit at the end.

Fewer bad habits
Thanks to Harry for not reminding us every thousand words what he says on page 1.

The Breath of God is a wind that flows from the great glacier that - up to now, divided the world. Now there is a crack, and the protagonists are going exploring to see what's there. Turtledove as usual paints a great picture of what might have been, and this one is very plausible. The book is good enough that I immediately bought and read the second book in the series. Now, please hurry up with book three.

good ole 'arry
Turtledove does it again; he earns his money. This is a great book, but too short. Question: how does he write so many books a year? Does he use helpers?
Read this book, but be prepared to wait for the ending.
Johnthebookman

A Stronger Magic
The Breath of God (2008) is the second prehistoric fantasy novel in The Opening of the World series, following Beyond the Gap.In the previous volume, the Emperor -- Sigvat II -- refused to believe Hamnet's report on the Rulers.Hamnet ignored orders from the Emperor and returned to the Three Tusk Clan range.

On the way North, his group were attacked several times by the Ruler shamans.Then they found that the Rulers have invaded the Clan range. The Bizogots raided the invaders and captured some prisoners, but were still pushed off their land.

In this novel, Count Hamnet Thyssen is a Raumsdalian nobleman.He has riden beyond the Gap with Bizogot clansfolk to search for the Golden Shrine, but instead found the Rulers, nomadic people who herd people as well as animals.Now he is trying to unite the Bizogot clans to fight against a Rulers invasion.

Ulric Skakki is an adventurer.He had been through the Gap and seen the Rulers before any other Raumsdalian.Then he went back with Hamnet's expedition.He seems to know almost everything about the Bizogot plains.

Audun Gilli is a Raumsdalian wizard.He has been exchanging magical expertise with Liv.

Trasamund is the jarl of the Three Tusk Clan, or what remains of it.He is an inveterate optimist about fighting the Rulers.His clan has hurt the enemy, but sustained great casualties in doing so.

Liv is the shaman of the Three Tusk Clan.She is barely able to counter the magic of the Ruler shamans, but she is always willing to try again.She is Hamnet's lover.

In this story, Hamnet, his friends and the surviving Three Tusk clansfolk flee from the invading Rulers.Hamnet intends to return to the Raumsdalian Empire to warn them again about the Ruler invasion, but their pursuers catch up with them and cut off the way south.So Hamnet leads the group up an avalanche spill onto the glacier.

The glacier is inhabited with people much like the Bizogots, but they speak an older form of the language.Ulric recognizes their language and is able to speak some phrases.Still, the men take the party captive and lead them across the ice.

When another larger group approaches, Hamnet has Ulric tell their captors that they will fight with them if their weapons are returned.Their leader agrees and Trasamund leads the charge.The other group has a shaman, but Liv and Audun are able to counter his spells.Hamnet kills the enemy shaman and Trasamund enjoys a few moments of brisk exercise, killing off his enemies.

After the other group is defeated, the first group starts gathering loot.The leader offers Hamnet the better parts of the shaman's body.The glacier dwellers are cannibals!Naturally, Hamnet politely refuses the offer.

Their new friends lead them across the glacier to a place where green plants are growing.There they meet Marcovefa, the shaman of this tribe.Liv and Audun start exchanging magic spells with the shaman.Ulric becomes their interpreter, much to his despair.

This tale gives Hamnet another chance to fight the Rulers.He starts out fine, but the chances of war go against him again.He begins to consider other tactics.

This story is the second volume in the series.The sequel is The Golden Shrine.Read and enjoy!

Recommended for Turtledove fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of ice age adventures, political intrigue, and sexual relationships.

-Arthur W. Jordin ... Read more

Product Description
Harry Turtledove’s remarkable alternative history novels brilliantly remind us of how fragile the thread of time can be, and offer us a world of “what if.” Drawing on a magnificent cast of characters that includes soldiers, generals, lovers, spies, and demagogues, Turtledove returns to an epic tale that only he could tell–the story of a North American continent, separated into two bitterly opposed nations, that stands on the verge of exploding once again.

In 1914 they called it The Great War, and few could imagine anything worse. For nearly three decades a peace forged in blood and fatigue has held sway in North America. Now, Japan dominates the Pacific, the Russian Tsar rules Alaska, and England, under Winston Churchill, chafes for a return to its former glory. But behind the façade of world order, America is a bomb waiting to go off. Jake Featherston, the megalomaniacal leader of the Confederate States of America, is just the man to light the fuse.

In the White House in Philadelphia, Socialist President Al Smith is a living symbol of hope for a nation that has been through the fires of war and the flood tides of depression. In the South, Featherston and his ruling Freedom Party have put down a Negro rebellion with a bloody fist and have interned them in concentration camps. Now they are determined to crush their Northern neighbor at any cost.

Featherston’s planes attack Philadelphia without warning. The U.S.A. lashes back blindly at Charleston. And a terrible second coming is at hand. When the CSA blitzkrieg is launched, the U.S.A. is caught flat-footed. Before long, the gray Army reaches Lake Erie. But in its wake the war machine is spinning a vortex of destruction, betrayal, and fury that no one, not even Jake Featherston himself, can control.

Now, President Smith faces a Herculean task, while an obscure assistant secretary of war named Roosevelt rises in his ranks. For the U.S.A., the darkest days still lay ahead. Across the globe, a new era of war has just begun. And in the hands of the incomparable Harry Turtledove, readers are treated to a masterful vision of what might have been. An enduring portrait of history, nations, and human nature in its many manifestations, Return Engagement is a monumental journey into the second half of the twentieth century.


From the Hardcover edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Enjoy his series
long book but well worth the read. His series is getting deeper into the unfolding drama of the US vs. the CSA.

Terrible writing
This book was free (for the Kindle), and that's part of the reason I read it. The genre of alternative history has always been something that sounded interesting to me, but I'd never read any.

Well, the writing is absolutely terrible: Cliches abound; literary crutches that didn't work a first time reused several times, sometimes within a few pages; terrible representation of Southern dialect; lots of things that just annoy the heck out of me.

If I had realized this book was 640 pages long, I would have given up on it early. But, I'll give Turtledove this, I cared about a few of the characters and finished it up because I wanted to know what the heck happens. Unfortunately, it's part of a trilogy so I only got a small payoff at the end -- one I saw coming, at that. I won't be picking up the rest of the trilogy.

Turtledove's version of WWII begins...
This is the first volume of Turtledove's SETTLING ACCOUNTS tetralogy, and the eighth book in the eleven-book series that began with How Few Remain.

This book picks up where American Empire: The Victorious Opposition (American Empire) left off - in late June, 1941; right after CSA President Jake Featherston pulls a sneak attack on the USA.(In a clever use of real history, the attack begins on June 22, 1941.This was the date Adolf Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in actual history.)And the parallels with the Wehrmacht's blitzkrieg are easy to see - the Confederate dive bombers nicknamed "Mules" are the North American version of the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka - an exact match down to the fixed landing gear, gull-wing design and the spine-tingling "Jericho Trumpet" wailing siren.

Twenty-seven years have passed since this cast of characters was introduced in American Front (The Great War, Book 1), and a few more of them meet their ends in this book - some due to accidents and others just being in the wrong place at the wrong time.(Such as Anne Colleton.)The USS Remembrance gets sunk in the Pacific by the Japanese in December of 1941, and the USA suffers many other downfalls.They also face a huge disaster in the final chapter when their Socialist President Al Smith is killed in a bombing raid.This book ends shortly after New Year's Day of 1942.The Confederate blitzkrieg doesn't have the effect that Featherston hoped it would, and in the next book - Drive to the East (Settling Accounts, Book 2), the USA will get on the long road to turning the tide.

condition rated incorrectly
The condition of the book was not as was stated. A section(group of pages) of the book was separated from the spine. Good story though.

Return Engagements Settling Accounts
Harry Turtledove does an awesome job in recreating an alternate history. A must for the Science fiction fan who can read a story under "What if this really happened?" ... Read more

Product Description
Russia, Communist China, Japan, Nazi Germany, the United States: they began World War II as mortal enemies. But suddenly their only hope for survival--never mind victory--was to unite to stop a mighty foe--one whose frightening technology appeared invincible.
Far worse beings than the Nazis were loose. From Warsaw to Moscow to China's enemy-occupied Forbidden City, the nations of the world had been forced into an uneasy alliance since humanity began its struggle against overwhelming odds. In Germany, where the banshee wail of hostile jets screamed across the land, caches of once-forbidden weapons were unearthed, and unthinkable tactics were employed against the enemy. Brilliantly innovative military strategists confronted challenges unprecedented in the history of warfare.
Even as lack of fuel forced people back to horse and carriage, physicists worked feverishly to create the first nuclear bombs--with horrifying results. City after city joined the atomic pyre as the planet erupted in fiery ruins. Yet the crisis continued--on land, sea, and in the air--as humanity writhed in global combat. The tactics of daredevil guerrillas everywhere became increasingly ingenious against a superior foe whose desperate retaliation would grow ever more fearsome.
No one had ever put the United States, or the world, in such deadly danger. But if the carnage and annihilation ever stopped, would there be any pieces to pick up?


From the Hardcover edition.Amazon.com Review
This is the third book in Turtledove's Worldwar series.The Axis and the Allies began World War IIas mortal enemies.But suddenly their only hope for survival -- never mind victory -- is to unite to stop a mighty foe whose frightening technologyseems invincible.Turtledove is a master of alternate history. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Very good alternate history
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

Alternate history combined Sci-fi at it's best
Harry Turtledove has definitely found the right balance (no pun intended) between Alternate history, Sci-fi, and Military Techno-thrillers. This book (the third in a four part series) Keeps the reader constantly wondering "what's next?".In fact the unpredictability of main characters fates is what makes this story so interesting. Some hard core Sci-fi fans may find the plot and alien gee-whiz gizmos tame compared to other outer space invader novels, but for those who likeTom Clancy and Larry Bond type Military Techno thrillers, this book has action aplenty, and enough different story lines to keep readers from becoming bored. The aliens employ weaponry which seems to be based loosely on today's military technology, making it easier for average people to imagine how the stuff works. The author has also obviously done his homework on the geographical areas mentioned and the life and times of people who lived during the World War II era. The detailed way people, places, and events are described leaves little to the imagination, putting the reader right there with the characters. Overall this reviewer found this to be the best of the three novels so far, although it doesn't really stand on it's own, so the first two books in the series need to be read in order first to really appreciate it. This reader eagerly anticipates the release of the last of this four part series "Worldwar; Striking the Balance".The only negative comments about this series so far is the time between releases as another reader has already mentioned. It's probably a marketing ploy to sell as many hardbacks as possible, then bring out the new book about the same time the last one comes out in paperback.Very clever ... Read more