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Title: American Empire: Blood and Iron by Harry Turtledove ISBN: 0-345-40566-8 Publisher: Del Rey Pub. Date: 25 June, 2002 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.87 (69 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Good alternate history, but not his best work
Comment: Continuing the alternate history begun in How Few Remain, and continuing with his rather tedious "Great War" saga, Turtledove continues with his multiple point of view technique which worked very well with two viewpoint characters in "The Guns of the South" and less well with a dozen-plus.
It doesn't take much knowledge to know where Turtledove is going with this new series. An unjust peace is imposed on a proud country, with shrunken territory, loss of most armed forces, and crippling reparations. Then, a war veteran who served as a noncom starts a new party, as the country experiences hyperinflation. The party has a uniform, a two-syllable chant, and blames the War Department and a minority group for losing the war. Riots soon ensue, and a temporary (no doubt) setback for the Party. But here, it is not Germany, it is the Confederate States. We await with dull anticipation the rise of power, Riechstag fire, Olympics, Rhineland (US-occupied Northern Virginia, no doubt), Munich Pact, and finally, the Second Great War, all certainly coming in future books, it is just a question of how many books. We'll be shelling out a few bucks before Jake, I mean, Adolf, I mean, Jake, hits the bunker. The politics are the most interesting point in this book. I could have wished that Turtledove had done as he did in "Guns of the South" and published the election returns, state by state, for his US election of 1920 and CSA election of 1921. Turtledove has certainly written another page turner. I wish, however, he would come up with a new idea as innovative as time-traveling Afrikaners in "Guns of the South". Maybe he could do something with the Revolutionary War or War of 1812, and build a new world from there. In summary: Better than the Great War books, worse than "How Few Remain" and not even close to "Guns of the South". The WorldWar books with the aliens, I gave up on halfway through the third, so I can't compare it.
Rating: 4
Summary: An ominous ending, and a beginning
Comment: This book was originally advertised to be the final volume of a tetralogy alternate history of World War I. While it certainly does serve as a fine coda to this Great War, it also is an intriguing beginning to waht promises to be an even more exciting alternate history of the between war period and World War II. Turtledove has tied up some lose ends and brought a few of his far flung characters together in some surprising ways. He has also given us hints about what is happening in the world outside of North America. Britain has been humbled but not crushed, France and Russia are in chaos (but Russia is apparently not Bolshevik, at least not entirely), and Germany rides supreme. In the Western Hemisphere the United States has defeated the Confederacy and holds northern Virginia, Kentucky, Sequoyah (our Oklahoma) and part of Texas. The US also has occupied all of Canada except for a semi-independent Quebec. Triumphant in war, the US has turned to democratic socialism by electing Upton Sinclair President in 1920. The CSA is in economic collapse, struggling with hyperinflation and huge reparation payments. Thus far the Confederates have preserved their governmental system, but an ominous political movement has begun, centered around a charismatic leader who claims to speak for the defeated and to be the enemy of those who stabbed the South in the back.
Anyone familiar with twentieth century history can tell where things are likely to go in future volumes of Turtledove's alternate history, but that should not stop them from waiting with keen anticipation for the next installments. It certainly won't stop me!
Rating: 3
Summary: B for Concept / D for Execution
Comment: This is the first book in the newest trilogy ("American Empire") in Turtledove's alternate history where the South won the Civil War, which chronologically follows immediately after his World War I series. For me, it will also be the last. The quality of this book is a lot lower than in the earlier series. I have been a Turtledove fan for a long time, but based on this effort, I will not continue this particular series.
Turtledove had a great opportunity to paint a picture of the Nazi-like Featherston's rise and (presumably temporary) fall. He could also discuss what's happening in the UK, Russia and France. (Is Russia even Communist in this alternate world?) He completely passes on this opportunity, to instead give us hundreds of pages filled with silly and boring prose about characters who have outlived their usefulness by a long shot and should not have appeared in this book at all:
* Nellie and Edna with their ridiculous bickering
* Galtier talking to his horse and engaging in "witty" banter with his family
* Jonathan Moss with his silly relationship with the Canadian woman
* Martin arguing politics with his family
* Sam Carsten with his sunburn
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Title: The Great War: Breakthroughs by Harry Turtledove ISBN: 0345405641 Publisher: Del Rey Pub. Date: 03 July, 2001 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Great War: Walk in Hell by Harry Turtledove ISBN: 0345405625 Publisher: Del Rey Pub. Date: 05 July, 2000 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: American Empire: The Victorious Opposition by HARRY TURTLEDOVE ISBN: 034544423X Publisher: Del Rey Pub. Date: 29 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: The Great War: American Front by Harry Turtledove ISBN: 0345405609 Publisher: Del Rey Pub. Date: 01 May, 1999 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: How Few Remain by Harry Turtledove ISBN: 0345406141 Publisher: Del Rey Pub. Date: 29 April, 1998 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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