What do you think?
Rate this book
The War That Came Early #1
Hitler's War
A stroke of the pen and history is changed. In 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, determined to avoid war at any cost, signed the Munich Accord, ceding part of Czechoslovakia to Hitler. But the following spring, Hitler snatched the rest of that country and pushed beyond its borders. World War II had begun, and England, after a fatal act of appeasement, was fighting a war for which it was not prepared.
Now, in this thrilling, provocative, and fascinating alternate history by Harry Turtledove, another scenario is played out: What if Chamberlain had not signed the accord? What if Hitler had acted rashly, before his army was ready-would such impatience have helped him or doomed him faster? Here is an action-packed, blow-by-blow chronicle of the war that might have been-and the repercussions that might have echoed through history-had Hitler reached too far, too soon, and too fast.
Turtledove uses dozens of points of view to tell this story: from American marines serving in Japanese-occupied China to members of a Jewish German family with a proud history of war service to their nation, from ragtag volunteers fighting in the Abraham Lincoln Battalion in Spain to an American woman desperately trying to escape Nazi-occupied territory-and witnessing the war from within the belly of the beast.
A novel that reveals the human face of war while simultaneously riding the twists and turns that make up the great acts of history, Hitler's War is the beginning of an exciting new alternate history saga. Here is a tale of powerful leaders and ordinary people, of spies, soldiers, and traitors, of the shifting alliances that draw some together while tearing others apart. At once authoritative, brilliantly imaginative, and hugely entertaining, Hitler's War captures the beginning of a very different World War II-with a very different fate for our world today.
496 pages, Hardcover
First published August 4, 2009
303 people are currently reading
1272 people want to read
About the author
Harry Turtledove
564 books1,970 followersDr Harry Norman Turtledove is an American novelist, who has produced a sizeable number of works in several genres including alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy and science fiction.
Harry Turtledove attended UCLA, where he received a Ph.D. in Byzantine history in 1977.
Turtledove has been dubbed "The Master of Alternate History". Within this genre he is known both for creating original scenarios: such as survival of the Byzantine Empire; an alien invasion in the middle of the World War II; and for giving a fresh and original treatment to themes previously dealt with by other authors, such as the victory of the South in the American Civil War; and of Nazi Germany in the Second World War.
His novels have been credited with bringing alternate history into the mainstream. His style of alternate history has a strong military theme.
Harry Turtledove attended UCLA, where he received a Ph.D. in Byzantine history in 1977.
Turtledove has been dubbed "The Master of Alternate History". Within this genre he is known both for creating original scenarios: such as survival of the Byzantine Empire; an alien invasion in the middle of the World War II; and for giving a fresh and original treatment to themes previously dealt with by other authors, such as the victory of the South in the American Civil War; and of Nazi Germany in the Second World War.
His novels have been credited with bringing alternate history into the mainstream. His style of alternate history has a strong military theme.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 181 reviews
June 20, 2013
Rating: 4* of five, all for the delicious idea
The Publisher Says: A stroke of the pen and history is changed. In 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, determined to avoid war at any cost, signed the Munich Accord, ceding part of Czechoslovakia to Hitler. But the following spring, Hitler snatched the rest of that country and pushed beyond its borders. World War II had begun, and England, after a fatal act of appeasement, was fighting a war for which it was not prepared.
Now, in this thrilling, provocative, and fascinating alternate history by Harry Turtledove, another scenario is played out: What if Chamberlain had not signed the accord? What if Hitler had acted rashly, before his army was ready–would such impatience have helped him or doomed him faster? Here is an action-packed, blow-by-blow chronicle of the war that might have been–and the repercussions that might have echoed through history–had Hitler reached too far, too soon, and too fast.
Turtledove uses dozens of points of view to tell this story: from American marines serving in Japanese-occupied China to members of a Jewish German family with a proud history of war service to their nation, from ragtag volunteers fighting in the Abraham Lincoln Battalion in Spain to an American woman desperately trying to escape Nazi-occupied territory–and witnessing the war from within the belly of the beast.
A novel that reveals the human face of war while simultaneously riding the twists and turns that make up the great acts of history, Hitler’s War is the beginning of an exciting new alternate history saga. Here is a tale of powerful leaders and ordinary people, of spies, soldiers, and traitors, of the shifting alliances that draw some together while tearing others apart. At once authoritative, brilliantly imaginative, and hugely entertaining, Hitler’s War captures the beginning of a very different World War II–with a very different fate for our world today.
My Review: The "Master of Alternate History", per his jacket copy, takes on one of the most popular subjects in all of alternative hitory: WWII. Equaled in numbers of treatments only by the American Civil War, WWII is a target rich environment for armchair historians to play with: Operation SeaLion succeeds (invasion of the UK); the 1944 coup against Hitler succeeds; the 1940 US election returns an isolationist President and the UK reaches terms; Battle of Midway goes the other way; Japan doesn't get nuked, much loss of life in conquering it; etc etc etc blah blah blah. Since 2001, I've read the nasty, hostile, but very interesting posts on the old USENET group soc.hist.what-if, so it takes a LOT to get me interested in something about WWII. Turtledove's fame in the field wouldn't be enough to entice me, I assure you, since I can't *abide* one of his most popular series about aliens landing on earth during WWII.
Here, however, we have something that really piques my interest. It's an actual historical possibility: Chamberlain of England and Daladier of France refuse to hand over Czechoslovakia instead of buying themselves a little longer preparation time by waving bye-bye to their ally as they did on our timeline. (The antique USENET convention for representing alternative history events is to do this: *WWII means the MODIFIED version of the war, where WWII is understood to be the one departed from by the modified version; henceforward, if you see the asterisk, that's what it means.) So *WWII starts in 1938, not September 1939. Poland isn't the first country attacked, and in fact ends up allied to Germany in opposition to its very long-term enemy Russia. The *Spanish Civil War (remember now!) is run by a General Sanjurjo, instead of Franco; the man died for his vanity in OUR reality (called OTL in USENET terms, so again: "OTL" = Our Time Line, the world we learned about in history books). This means for some very cogent reasons that the *Spanish Civil War isn't over when *WWII begins, and there are some significant results from that. The *Japanese, busy raping China into submission as in OTL, realize that one of their longterm ambitions is in easy reach: The conquest of Siberia, with its **astonishing** riches, to add to Manchuria. It's all very plausible, and it's all very tidily constructed.
What Turtledove usually does, he does here: He tells his story through the lens of many different viewpoints on all sides of every conflict. He makes sure the reader sees through American, Russian, Czech, French, Spanish, Japanese, Jewish eyes what the causes and results of *WWII are. All that tidy construction feels quite fragmented, and seems to be an excuse for chaos. In fact, this book could simply not have been written had Turtledove not had a tight and complete grasp of the facts he's departing from, in order to create the modified world. His success is close to complete.
Oh, but the price one pays for following so many, many characters. Nothing ever gets more than set up; the payoff is pages and pages away, several stories of great interest intervening, and sometimes the action sounds quite repetitive because after 40pp the author or his editor thought it'd be a good idea to give a little review of where we left, for examply, Luc Harcourt and Sergeant Demange. Wearing. Action-slowing. Not usually necessary, IM(never-very)HO. But nonetheless, the suspense manages to build, because unlike the OTL history of WWII, the *WWII has events in it we never even heard of! I like that. I like that I can trust Dr. Turtledove to build those events from sound conjectures. And most of the time, I overlook the little inconsistencies (a character bound for Romania suddenly turns up in Berlin, no explanation offered). I like alternative history because I like OTL history, and I like seeing what a storyteller can do with the astoundingly rich vein of material there is in any historical account.
But will this book make converts among those who have not drunk the historical Kool-Aid? No, on balance, I suspect not. I'd never suggest that someone start reading alternative history here. But for those of us already In The Cult, it's a damn good outing and the beginning of a series that promises some very rich rewards.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
The Publisher Says: A stroke of the pen and history is changed. In 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, determined to avoid war at any cost, signed the Munich Accord, ceding part of Czechoslovakia to Hitler. But the following spring, Hitler snatched the rest of that country and pushed beyond its borders. World War II had begun, and England, after a fatal act of appeasement, was fighting a war for which it was not prepared.
Now, in this thrilling, provocative, and fascinating alternate history by Harry Turtledove, another scenario is played out: What if Chamberlain had not signed the accord? What if Hitler had acted rashly, before his army was ready–would such impatience have helped him or doomed him faster? Here is an action-packed, blow-by-blow chronicle of the war that might have been–and the repercussions that might have echoed through history–had Hitler reached too far, too soon, and too fast.
Turtledove uses dozens of points of view to tell this story: from American marines serving in Japanese-occupied China to members of a Jewish German family with a proud history of war service to their nation, from ragtag volunteers fighting in the Abraham Lincoln Battalion in Spain to an American woman desperately trying to escape Nazi-occupied territory–and witnessing the war from within the belly of the beast.
A novel that reveals the human face of war while simultaneously riding the twists and turns that make up the great acts of history, Hitler’s War is the beginning of an exciting new alternate history saga. Here is a tale of powerful leaders and ordinary people, of spies, soldiers, and traitors, of the shifting alliances that draw some together while tearing others apart. At once authoritative, brilliantly imaginative, and hugely entertaining, Hitler’s War captures the beginning of a very different World War II–with a very different fate for our world today.
My Review: The "Master of Alternate History", per his jacket copy, takes on one of the most popular subjects in all of alternative hitory: WWII. Equaled in numbers of treatments only by the American Civil War, WWII is a target rich environment for armchair historians to play with: Operation SeaLion succeeds (invasion of the UK); the 1944 coup against Hitler succeeds; the 1940 US election returns an isolationist President and the UK reaches terms; Battle of Midway goes the other way; Japan doesn't get nuked, much loss of life in conquering it; etc etc etc blah blah blah. Since 2001, I've read the nasty, hostile, but very interesting posts on the old USENET group soc.hist.what-if, so it takes a LOT to get me interested in something about WWII. Turtledove's fame in the field wouldn't be enough to entice me, I assure you, since I can't *abide* one of his most popular series about aliens landing on earth during WWII.
Here, however, we have something that really piques my interest. It's an actual historical possibility: Chamberlain of England and Daladier of France refuse to hand over Czechoslovakia instead of buying themselves a little longer preparation time by waving bye-bye to their ally as they did on our timeline. (The antique USENET convention for representing alternative history events is to do this: *WWII means the MODIFIED version of the war, where WWII is understood to be the one departed from by the modified version; henceforward, if you see the asterisk, that's what it means.) So *WWII starts in 1938, not September 1939. Poland isn't the first country attacked, and in fact ends up allied to Germany in opposition to its very long-term enemy Russia. The *Spanish Civil War (remember now!) is run by a General Sanjurjo, instead of Franco; the man died for his vanity in OUR reality (called OTL in USENET terms, so again: "OTL" = Our Time Line, the world we learned about in history books). This means for some very cogent reasons that the *Spanish Civil War isn't over when *WWII begins, and there are some significant results from that. The *Japanese, busy raping China into submission as in OTL, realize that one of their longterm ambitions is in easy reach: The conquest of Siberia, with its **astonishing** riches, to add to Manchuria. It's all very plausible, and it's all very tidily constructed.
What Turtledove usually does, he does here: He tells his story through the lens of many different viewpoints on all sides of every conflict. He makes sure the reader sees through American, Russian, Czech, French, Spanish, Japanese, Jewish eyes what the causes and results of *WWII are. All that tidy construction feels quite fragmented, and seems to be an excuse for chaos. In fact, this book could simply not have been written had Turtledove not had a tight and complete grasp of the facts he's departing from, in order to create the modified world. His success is close to complete.
Oh, but the price one pays for following so many, many characters. Nothing ever gets more than set up; the payoff is pages and pages away, several stories of great interest intervening, and sometimes the action sounds quite repetitive because after 40pp the author or his editor thought it'd be a good idea to give a little review of where we left, for examply, Luc Harcourt and Sergeant Demange. Wearing. Action-slowing. Not usually necessary, IM(never-very)HO. But nonetheless, the suspense manages to build, because unlike the OTL history of WWII, the *WWII has events in it we never even heard of! I like that. I like that I can trust Dr. Turtledove to build those events from sound conjectures. And most of the time, I overlook the little inconsistencies (a character bound for Romania suddenly turns up in Berlin, no explanation offered). I like alternative history because I like OTL history, and I like seeing what a storyteller can do with the astoundingly rich vein of material there is in any historical account.
But will this book make converts among those who have not drunk the historical Kool-Aid? No, on balance, I suspect not. I'd never suggest that someone start reading alternative history here. But for those of us already In The Cult, it's a damn good outing and the beginning of a series that promises some very rich rewards.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
July 29, 2011
The POD of Hitler's War actually happens earlier than the failure of the Munich Agreement: Jose Sanjuro, one of the main conspirators of the Nationalist side of the Spanish Civil War, does not die in a plane crash in July 1936 (historically caused by his desire to carry too much luggage on a plane too small and weak for its additional weight). Subsequently, it is he who becomes the leader of the Nationalists instead of Francisco Franco. By the time the novel's actual plot starts, the Nationalists' position is slightly less advantageous than it had been historically (by the end of 1938 a Republican defeat was foreseeable).
Alas, war breaks out after a Czech nationalist shoots a Sudetengerman politician in Germany and Hitler uses this as a pretext to attack Czechoslovakia. Thing soon dissolve into a grand Battle Royale, with seemingly everybody fighting each other and their families, with Slovaks and Russians and Poles and French and British all going at it while in the Far East the Japanese Empire suffers from a case of the twitchy trigger finger.
The Czech put up a valiant fight but are ultimately doomed. The French do a premature version of the 1939/40 Sitzkrieg, and once the Czechs have been dealt with the Germans go for a fullblown repeat of the "Schlieffen Plan" of the Great War, swinging through Belgium and the Low Countries, bringing the war to France while the Allies and the Russians (who are in the direct aftermath of their officer purge) begin to bomb German cities.
The novel ends with the Wehrmacht deep in France, a failed coup against Hitler, Germany and Poland fighting the Soviets, and the Japanese invading Siberia - and we're always right in the middle of it, watching through the eyes of the men in the trenches.
This also introduces us to Turtledove's narrative approach: Turtledove tells a grand story using the point of view of the ordinary man or woman. Only in very few cases are historical figures of authority (like Hitler) featured; in fact, except for the commander of an Uboat there's not a single POV character above a noncommissioned rank. This approach has its advantages: the action can often seem closer, more real. more dangerous. It shows the impact of grand strategy on ordinary people. And it allows the author to explore the experiences of fringe characters, for example an American woman stuck in wartime Nazi Germany or a German Jewish family trying to survive in a climate of repression.
That approach can work, but it's never guaranteed it actually does. Here, it doesn't.
Point-of-view characters are all nice and wonderful, but there's just too many of them here! You've got multiple Spaniards, Czech, BEF, French, Russian, American civilian, American Marine, Japanese Army, International Brigades, Germans of all branches of the Wehrmacht, Jewish civilians... In the end, you're burdened with close to 20 POVs and are none the wiser for it. You begin losing track of them - something made worse by the fact that some of them are unpleasant characters - and not only that, in your mind they begin to melt into one great mushy something that might have been a coherent plot at some time: after a while, half the book looks and reads the same: it's always some 75s and 105s firing, some guy smoking and/or sitting in a foxhole in a completely interchangeable place between Bratislava and Madrid. Someone will curse the Jews, propaganda will echo from some radio, and all Russians will drown themselves in vodka. Turtledove draws his characters on a canvas populated by clichées.
I know, the big writing creed is "Show, don't tell". But every piece of cookie cutter wisdom has its limits. If all you do is show without actually telling something, the formula collapses. Or, to formulate it differently: this book is almost completely written on the micro-level of events, and because eight out of ten people fighting in wars are confronted with the same issues, it's all the more boring and confusing at the same time. Bluntly, it lacks a macro-perspective on events: you never really know what's really going on at any given moment. That makes it nigh impossible to follow events, and even more impossible to actually give a damn about two dozen cookie cutter characters.
So, is it worth getting? Well, I bought it for $9.99 USD, so it's not going to blow a whole in your pocket. And it's an interesting premise. But the execution really kicks this one in the bud. I loathe giving this a 2 out of 5, especially because Turtledove actually managed not to butcher the ample German he uses in it, but in the end Hitler's War simply didn't convince me.
So, 2/5 is the verdict. It's not a terribad book, but it's below average.
Alas, war breaks out after a Czech nationalist shoots a Sudetengerman politician in Germany and Hitler uses this as a pretext to attack Czechoslovakia. Thing soon dissolve into a grand Battle Royale, with seemingly everybody fighting each other and their families, with Slovaks and Russians and Poles and French and British all going at it while in the Far East the Japanese Empire suffers from a case of the twitchy trigger finger.
The Czech put up a valiant fight but are ultimately doomed. The French do a premature version of the 1939/40 Sitzkrieg, and once the Czechs have been dealt with the Germans go for a fullblown repeat of the "Schlieffen Plan" of the Great War, swinging through Belgium and the Low Countries, bringing the war to France while the Allies and the Russians (who are in the direct aftermath of their officer purge) begin to bomb German cities.
The novel ends with the Wehrmacht deep in France, a failed coup against Hitler, Germany and Poland fighting the Soviets, and the Japanese invading Siberia - and we're always right in the middle of it, watching through the eyes of the men in the trenches.
This also introduces us to Turtledove's narrative approach: Turtledove tells a grand story using the point of view of the ordinary man or woman. Only in very few cases are historical figures of authority (like Hitler) featured; in fact, except for the commander of an Uboat there's not a single POV character above a noncommissioned rank. This approach has its advantages: the action can often seem closer, more real. more dangerous. It shows the impact of grand strategy on ordinary people. And it allows the author to explore the experiences of fringe characters, for example an American woman stuck in wartime Nazi Germany or a German Jewish family trying to survive in a climate of repression.
That approach can work, but it's never guaranteed it actually does. Here, it doesn't.
Point-of-view characters are all nice and wonderful, but there's just too many of them here! You've got multiple Spaniards, Czech, BEF, French, Russian, American civilian, American Marine, Japanese Army, International Brigades, Germans of all branches of the Wehrmacht, Jewish civilians... In the end, you're burdened with close to 20 POVs and are none the wiser for it. You begin losing track of them - something made worse by the fact that some of them are unpleasant characters - and not only that, in your mind they begin to melt into one great mushy something that might have been a coherent plot at some time: after a while, half the book looks and reads the same: it's always some 75s and 105s firing, some guy smoking and/or sitting in a foxhole in a completely interchangeable place between Bratislava and Madrid. Someone will curse the Jews, propaganda will echo from some radio, and all Russians will drown themselves in vodka. Turtledove draws his characters on a canvas populated by clichées.
I know, the big writing creed is "Show, don't tell". But every piece of cookie cutter wisdom has its limits. If all you do is show without actually telling something, the formula collapses. Or, to formulate it differently: this book is almost completely written on the micro-level of events, and because eight out of ten people fighting in wars are confronted with the same issues, it's all the more boring and confusing at the same time. Bluntly, it lacks a macro-perspective on events: you never really know what's really going on at any given moment. That makes it nigh impossible to follow events, and even more impossible to actually give a damn about two dozen cookie cutter characters.
So, is it worth getting? Well, I bought it for $9.99 USD, so it's not going to blow a whole in your pocket. And it's an interesting premise. But the execution really kicks this one in the bud. I loathe giving this a 2 out of 5, especially because Turtledove actually managed not to butcher the ample German he uses in it, but in the end Hitler's War simply didn't convince me.
So, 2/5 is the verdict. It's not a terribad book, but it's below average.
November 15, 2014
The premise is great, because it's not far-fetched and silly (like giving Robert E. Lee an AK-47) but instead totally plausible and meaningful. If Neville Chamberlain had stood up to Hitler, the war would have started almost a full year earlier than it did. Which side would get more of an advantage from the head start?
Turtledove does an amazing job showing how things would have been different, how the Spanish Civil War was still going on, how the Japanese and Russians clash early in Mongolia, how Pearl Harbor might not have happened, and how the Czechs play a more active role in France.
The only problem is, Turtledove is so busy cranking up his war-game scenarios that he forgets little things, like characterization, plot, and dialogue. The tough sarge is the same character in every single scene, whether he's German, Japanese, English, French, Russian, or American. The upper class officers are all the same too. And the dames . . . don't even get me started on the dames.
You really have to get used to Turtledove's writing style, too, because it's so monotonous and repetitious that it sounds like some kind of a joke. "The shelling started again, and Luc hit the ground fast. You had to hit the ground fast when the shelling started. Otherwise you might not get up at all." No kidding! And there's a lot of stuff like, "He made sure to look both ways before he walked into the woods. This was a war, and the enemy might try to kill you at any time. And if you forgot that, any time might be sooner rather than later." Brilliant, Sergeant Croft!
And one last thing. It really drives me bonkers when the author keeps writing about how every character smokes cigarettes in every scene. Now, I know what Goodreads readers will say, that was part of the era. Everyone smoked in those days. Okay. But you know, everyone went to the bathroom in those days too. But you don't need every character in every scene to say "he needed to crap. He needed to crap real bad. The toilet paper they gave him just wasn't good enough. And right now he needed to crap."
So this is an annoying book in many ways, but still worth a quick read. Actually I'm reading the sequel now, and I think it's slightly better!
Turtledove does an amazing job showing how things would have been different, how the Spanish Civil War was still going on, how the Japanese and Russians clash early in Mongolia, how Pearl Harbor might not have happened, and how the Czechs play a more active role in France.
The only problem is, Turtledove is so busy cranking up his war-game scenarios that he forgets little things, like characterization, plot, and dialogue. The tough sarge is the same character in every single scene, whether he's German, Japanese, English, French, Russian, or American. The upper class officers are all the same too. And the dames . . . don't even get me started on the dames.
You really have to get used to Turtledove's writing style, too, because it's so monotonous and repetitious that it sounds like some kind of a joke. "The shelling started again, and Luc hit the ground fast. You had to hit the ground fast when the shelling started. Otherwise you might not get up at all." No kidding! And there's a lot of stuff like, "He made sure to look both ways before he walked into the woods. This was a war, and the enemy might try to kill you at any time. And if you forgot that, any time might be sooner rather than later." Brilliant, Sergeant Croft!
And one last thing. It really drives me bonkers when the author keeps writing about how every character smokes cigarettes in every scene. Now, I know what Goodreads readers will say, that was part of the era. Everyone smoked in those days. Okay. But you know, everyone went to the bathroom in those days too. But you don't need every character in every scene to say "he needed to crap. He needed to crap real bad. The toilet paper they gave him just wasn't good enough. And right now he needed to crap."
So this is an annoying book in many ways, but still worth a quick read. Actually I'm reading the sequel now, and I think it's slightly better!
September 9, 2011
I was a BIG fan of Turtledove's Worldwar series that postulated "what if aliens entered World War II", so I have been interested in this "Early War" series ever since it first came out.
So, a couple of weeks ago I opened up my wallet, bought a copy of "Hitler's War" and started to read.
The book postulates what might have happened if Chamberlain, instead of ducking WWII and signing the Munich Accord had actually gone ahead and declared war on Germany in 1938.
An interesting thought but poorly mishandled.
I spent the entire volume waiting for something to happen. Nearly 500 pages of nothing, nothing and a whole lot more nothing.
Blah.
I had a very hard time following the different characters. With the exception of Rudell, the Stuka pilot, the characters all blended into one.
The action segments left me very flat as well. Bland, tepid, boring, nondescript - am I repeating myself?
Good, because that's what Turtledove does, as well. Endlessly. If I heard one more time how vulnerable the Panzer I was to an artillery shell, a bullet, a hand grenade, a mortar shell, a popcorn fart - I was going to explode!
Bah!
For some reason Turtledove decided that because the war started a year early the combatants would remain frozen in a re-enactment of WWI trench warfare. No Blitzkrieg, no modern tactics - nothing but trench warfare or variants thereof.
Bah.
Another beef I had was the title itself. HITLER'S WAR. Bah! Hitler barely showed his face in the novel. We saw him in the first couple of chapters and then he was gone. Nothing but grunt after grunt after grenade-chucking grunt. No story arc, no movement, no characters with even the remotest sense of identity.
Bah.
Final verdict?
The man wrote porridge. Weak, watery porridge without even a taste of maple syrup or a handful of raisins.
I'm sorry I opened my wallet.
I'm sorry I opened the book.
Still, I am going back to re-read Turtledove's WorldWar series - starting with IN THE BALANCE.
See if it was as good if I remember it to be.
yours in storytelling,
Steve Vernon
So, a couple of weeks ago I opened up my wallet, bought a copy of "Hitler's War" and started to read.
The book postulates what might have happened if Chamberlain, instead of ducking WWII and signing the Munich Accord had actually gone ahead and declared war on Germany in 1938.
An interesting thought but poorly mishandled.
I spent the entire volume waiting for something to happen. Nearly 500 pages of nothing, nothing and a whole lot more nothing.
Blah.
I had a very hard time following the different characters. With the exception of Rudell, the Stuka pilot, the characters all blended into one.
The action segments left me very flat as well. Bland, tepid, boring, nondescript - am I repeating myself?
Good, because that's what Turtledove does, as well. Endlessly. If I heard one more time how vulnerable the Panzer I was to an artillery shell, a bullet, a hand grenade, a mortar shell, a popcorn fart - I was going to explode!
Bah!
For some reason Turtledove decided that because the war started a year early the combatants would remain frozen in a re-enactment of WWI trench warfare. No Blitzkrieg, no modern tactics - nothing but trench warfare or variants thereof.
Bah.
Another beef I had was the title itself. HITLER'S WAR. Bah! Hitler barely showed his face in the novel. We saw him in the first couple of chapters and then he was gone. Nothing but grunt after grunt after grenade-chucking grunt. No story arc, no movement, no characters with even the remotest sense of identity.
Bah.
Final verdict?
The man wrote porridge. Weak, watery porridge without even a taste of maple syrup or a handful of raisins.
I'm sorry I opened my wallet.
I'm sorry I opened the book.
Still, I am going back to re-read Turtledove's WorldWar series - starting with IN THE BALANCE.
See if it was as good if I remember it to be.
yours in storytelling,
Steve Vernon
April 21, 2013
Years ago I read Turtledove's fine four volume series WORLDWAR (and the sequel HOMEWARD BOUND) which involved an alien race's impact on WWII. These books had excellent characterizations, intriguing scenarios and considerable suspense and anticipation as to what might develop. I would rate those books four or five stars.
Trustingly, I bought the first two books of this THE WAR THAT CAME EARLY series, but after reading the first book I am reluctant to spend time reading the second one even though I own it. What a disappointment! A computer--or a hundred monkeys with typewriters--could probably have done better than Turtledove. He seems tediously tired and stuck in a groove of writing for the sheer monotony of making money.
Few of the dozens of characters here have any depth and they are not placed in any decisive positions to move events in a dramatic direction. Despite the combat and tragic consequences there is practically no emotion. Actual historical characters are hardly present (e.g. Hitler is represented only on one percent of the pages, out of five hundred). We are given snippets of scenarios from fifteen or more geographical locations in a jumble of untimed events. These crop up in no particular order or relation one to another, like a cut and paste methodology. It is also a failing that readers who lack the knowledge of what historically happened will miss the point of where the book's alternate history veers away from the actual history.
There is unnecessary repetition about so many subjects: bad cigarettes, coffee, food and liquor; excessive consumption of alcohol; incessant crassness, cussing and swearing (yes, they are inclusive to combative dialogue, but we don't need them stated in every paragraph); women regarded strictly as sex objects (don't any of these guy have mothers, wives and daughters they respect?); the perceived incompetence of superiors; and the distinct properties of guns, aircraft, tanks and uniforms. Ironically, with all this focus on combat, the most memorable characters in this book involve civilians: the Jew, Samuel Goldman and his wife, son and daughter, and Peggy Druce, an American citizen trapped in Germany.
This is how I think the book could have been made better: 1. An introductory summary of the actual historical facts for the locations and the timeline covered by the story. 2. Each chapter of the book being headed by a timeline (e.g. April 1938 to July 1938). 3. Each section of every chapter being headed by stating the location of events. 4. At a minimum ten percent of the book presenting historical figures--what they said, thought and did. 5. More involvement of civilians impacted by the politics and combat. 6. Some interweaving subplots and-- especially towards the end--some of the characters from the different scenarios meeting and interacting. 7. Some sketchy maps of where the action is happening.
Trustingly, I bought the first two books of this THE WAR THAT CAME EARLY series, but after reading the first book I am reluctant to spend time reading the second one even though I own it. What a disappointment! A computer--or a hundred monkeys with typewriters--could probably have done better than Turtledove. He seems tediously tired and stuck in a groove of writing for the sheer monotony of making money.
Few of the dozens of characters here have any depth and they are not placed in any decisive positions to move events in a dramatic direction. Despite the combat and tragic consequences there is practically no emotion. Actual historical characters are hardly present (e.g. Hitler is represented only on one percent of the pages, out of five hundred). We are given snippets of scenarios from fifteen or more geographical locations in a jumble of untimed events. These crop up in no particular order or relation one to another, like a cut and paste methodology. It is also a failing that readers who lack the knowledge of what historically happened will miss the point of where the book's alternate history veers away from the actual history.
There is unnecessary repetition about so many subjects: bad cigarettes, coffee, food and liquor; excessive consumption of alcohol; incessant crassness, cussing and swearing (yes, they are inclusive to combative dialogue, but we don't need them stated in every paragraph); women regarded strictly as sex objects (don't any of these guy have mothers, wives and daughters they respect?); the perceived incompetence of superiors; and the distinct properties of guns, aircraft, tanks and uniforms. Ironically, with all this focus on combat, the most memorable characters in this book involve civilians: the Jew, Samuel Goldman and his wife, son and daughter, and Peggy Druce, an American citizen trapped in Germany.
This is how I think the book could have been made better: 1. An introductory summary of the actual historical facts for the locations and the timeline covered by the story. 2. Each chapter of the book being headed by a timeline (e.g. April 1938 to July 1938). 3. Each section of every chapter being headed by stating the location of events. 4. At a minimum ten percent of the book presenting historical figures--what they said, thought and did. 5. More involvement of civilians impacted by the politics and combat. 6. Some interweaving subplots and-- especially towards the end--some of the characters from the different scenarios meeting and interacting. 7. Some sketchy maps of where the action is happening.
October 5, 2020
“‘We already had one war this century. Wasn’t that enough to teach the whole world we don’t need another one?’ Well…no.”
Classic alternative history from the master of the genre. Retelling World War Two without (so far) any supernatural twists. Things kick off a year earlier and don’t turn out the way they did in our universe. The action spreads across the whole world; most of it disjointed in this volume. The more readers know about World War Two, the more they will enjoy this volume; but even non-scholars will appreciate the story.
“People couldn’t have screwed up the treaties at the end of the war much worse than they did, could they?” “Never imagine things can’t be screwed up worse than they are already. But, that said, in this particular case I have trouble imagining how they could be.”
Turtledove creates believable characters who are archetypes as much as stereotypes. A few, based on actual historical people, are as unique as those he imagined. He seems to go out of his way envisioning Jews in non-stereotypical settings.
“Sergei ended up keeping quiet. Mouradian was bound to be right. If the authorities told lies and you pointed it out, who would get in trouble? The authorities? Or you? Asking the question was the same as answering it.”
Much repetition among episodic experiences of a large, dispersed cast. Some of it establishes the universal experiences of soldier regardless of country or creed; some is merely sloppy writing.
“If we were fighting the Kaiser’s army, we’d wallop the snot out of it. It’s the curse of winning—you get ready to do the same damn thing over again. The Germans lost, so they figured they’d better try something new. Now we’re on the receiving end.” “Lucky us.”
Classic alternative history from the master of the genre. Retelling World War Two without (so far) any supernatural twists. Things kick off a year earlier and don’t turn out the way they did in our universe. The action spreads across the whole world; most of it disjointed in this volume. The more readers know about World War Two, the more they will enjoy this volume; but even non-scholars will appreciate the story.
“People couldn’t have screwed up the treaties at the end of the war much worse than they did, could they?” “Never imagine things can’t be screwed up worse than they are already. But, that said, in this particular case I have trouble imagining how they could be.”
Turtledove creates believable characters who are archetypes as much as stereotypes. A few, based on actual historical people, are as unique as those he imagined. He seems to go out of his way envisioning Jews in non-stereotypical settings.
“Sergei ended up keeping quiet. Mouradian was bound to be right. If the authorities told lies and you pointed it out, who would get in trouble? The authorities? Or you? Asking the question was the same as answering it.”
Much repetition among episodic experiences of a large, dispersed cast. Some of it establishes the universal experiences of soldier regardless of country or creed; some is merely sloppy writing.
“If we were fighting the Kaiser’s army, we’d wallop the snot out of it. It’s the curse of winning—you get ready to do the same damn thing over again. The Germans lost, so they figured they’d better try something new. Now we’re on the receiving end.” “Lucky us.”
January 26, 2015
Once again Turtledove demonstrates in a single book both why I continue to read his work, and why he is no longer near the top of my favorites list.
This is a big, audacious work, completely retelling the story of WWII from a slightly earlier starting point. So far, the alternate is convincing, neither side really gains much advantage out of the earlier start, the Allies are less prepared, but the Germans are forced to use earlier equipment as well, particularly the weak Panzer I. With a large cast of viewpoint characters scattered around the world, this is vintage Turtledove.
However, Turtledove is also in full repetition mode, annoying the reader by repeating virtually identical scenes and thoughts over and over. One character's later appearances all consist of sitting waiting for the weather to clear so he can fly, getting drunk, listening to the news and wondering how much of it is lies. Utterly interchangeable and doing nothing to advance the plot, they only serve to pad the wordcount and increase the authors paycheck.
This is a big, audacious work, completely retelling the story of WWII from a slightly earlier starting point. So far, the alternate is convincing, neither side really gains much advantage out of the earlier start, the Allies are less prepared, but the Germans are forced to use earlier equipment as well, particularly the weak Panzer I. With a large cast of viewpoint characters scattered around the world, this is vintage Turtledove.
However, Turtledove is also in full repetition mode, annoying the reader by repeating virtually identical scenes and thoughts over and over. One character's later appearances all consist of sitting waiting for the weather to clear so he can fly, getting drunk, listening to the news and wondering how much of it is lies. Utterly interchangeable and doing nothing to advance the plot, they only serve to pad the wordcount and increase the authors paycheck.
June 2, 2021
I always enjoy alternate history. This is the first book in a series that envisions World War II with one key decision changed. I always find it interesting how much of a role small things and large make in history.
March 14, 2016
The worst thing I've ever attempted to read. I couldn't make it past page 40, but slogging through that much was enough to make me think I'd earned the right put it in my "Read" shelf.
I've never read any other of Turtledove's books, but this pile of cliches (I refuse to give it the dignity of calling it a "book") was enough to convince me to steer clear now and forever.
What's so bad about this book? Here are some samples:
* The panzer clanked past a house. It looked like the ones inside the Reich, too. Well, why not? Germans were Germans… (27)
* A machine gun in there started spraying death at the German infantry. (27)
* The Czechs were playing for keeps, all right. (28)
* But somebody’d forgotten to issue a whole lot of plains and meadows to this part of Czechoslovakia. (28)
* With enough lead in the air, the Czechs would be too busy taking cover and dying to shoot back much. He hoped. Boy, did he! (28)
* there sat a Panzer I, burning like nobody’s business. (29)
* Bombs started falling on Marianske Lazne--Marienbad, if you liked the old German name better--at six o’clock in the morning. (30)
* She remembered very precisely, because she was squeezing every trick from a small slam in diamonds. “Wasn’t that enough to teach the whole world we don’t need another one?” Well...no. (30)
* People were yelling and screaming and--probably--jumping up and down. (30)
* If the lights weren’t working, the goddamn elevator wouldn’t, either. The stairs were...that way. (31)
* Three flights of stairs had made Peggy’s feet start to hurt, but more broken glass crunched under her soles. She would hurt worse if she took off the heels. (31)
* The lobby looked like hell, and smelled pretty bad, too. It reminded her of a butcher’s shop with a whole bunch of fresh meat. (31)
* One of them was noisily sick on the floor, which would only make the stink worse. (31)
* Even with more bombs going off not terribly far away, they went at it hammer and tongs. (31)
* “I was for two years a prisoner in the last war. If the Boches come here, they will intern me again, as an enemy alien. I do not wish this at all.” (32)
* He was dead right--no, live right--about that. (32)
* They had more architectural gingerbread than the wicked witch’s house in the Grimm fairy tale. Right now, Peggy was trapped in a grim fairy tale of her own. (32)
* “Make it stop!” she yelled to the Frenchman “Jesus, make it stop!” (33)
* How long could this little country hold off Hitler’s armored legions? (33)
* She ate...somewhere. (34)
* Now that [the Nazi dive-bombers]’d delivered their terror message, they were doing serious work, pounding Czech positions. (35)
* They looked like last year’s models next to the vulture-winged jobs with the swastikas on their tails[.] (35)
* Fields on the German side of the border looked--surprise!--just like fields on the French side. (38)
The best, though, was this gem: "Rattling, clanking German vehicles entered Marianske Lazne at 3:17, Czech cuckoo-clock time" (36). My eighth-grade students can write better than this.
I've never read any other of Turtledove's books, but this pile of cliches (I refuse to give it the dignity of calling it a "book") was enough to convince me to steer clear now and forever.
What's so bad about this book? Here are some samples:
* The panzer clanked past a house. It looked like the ones inside the Reich, too. Well, why not? Germans were Germans… (27)
* A machine gun in there started spraying death at the German infantry. (27)
* The Czechs were playing for keeps, all right. (28)
* But somebody’d forgotten to issue a whole lot of plains and meadows to this part of Czechoslovakia. (28)
* With enough lead in the air, the Czechs would be too busy taking cover and dying to shoot back much. He hoped. Boy, did he! (28)
* there sat a Panzer I, burning like nobody’s business. (29)
* Bombs started falling on Marianske Lazne--Marienbad, if you liked the old German name better--at six o’clock in the morning. (30)
* She remembered very precisely, because she was squeezing every trick from a small slam in diamonds. “Wasn’t that enough to teach the whole world we don’t need another one?” Well...no. (30)
* People were yelling and screaming and--probably--jumping up and down. (30)
* If the lights weren’t working, the goddamn elevator wouldn’t, either. The stairs were...that way. (31)
* Three flights of stairs had made Peggy’s feet start to hurt, but more broken glass crunched under her soles. She would hurt worse if she took off the heels. (31)
* The lobby looked like hell, and smelled pretty bad, too. It reminded her of a butcher’s shop with a whole bunch of fresh meat. (31)
* One of them was noisily sick on the floor, which would only make the stink worse. (31)
* Even with more bombs going off not terribly far away, they went at it hammer and tongs. (31)
* “I was for two years a prisoner in the last war. If the Boches come here, they will intern me again, as an enemy alien. I do not wish this at all.” (32)
* He was dead right--no, live right--about that. (32)
* They had more architectural gingerbread than the wicked witch’s house in the Grimm fairy tale. Right now, Peggy was trapped in a grim fairy tale of her own. (32)
* “Make it stop!” she yelled to the Frenchman “Jesus, make it stop!” (33)
* How long could this little country hold off Hitler’s armored legions? (33)
* She ate...somewhere. (34)
* Now that [the Nazi dive-bombers]’d delivered their terror message, they were doing serious work, pounding Czech positions. (35)
* They looked like last year’s models next to the vulture-winged jobs with the swastikas on their tails[.] (35)
* Fields on the German side of the border looked--surprise!--just like fields on the French side. (38)
The best, though, was this gem: "Rattling, clanking German vehicles entered Marianske Lazne at 3:17, Czech cuckoo-clock time" (36). My eighth-grade students can write better than this.
March 5, 2021
Yet another speculative fiction/alternate history of World War II?!? How blasé, you say? Not so fast, I say, for this is told by the incomparable Harry Turtledove.
I've read a lot of Mr. Turtledove in my life, and I find this to be one of his less-detailed, and somewhat less-repetitive stories. Perhaps the approach was that nearly everyone alive is familiar with the basics of WWII, or perhaps Mr. Turtledove decided to pump the brakes a little bit. Either way, it was both appreciated and missed. I appreciated the lack of utter repetition, but missed some of the exposition.
Well, there was one bit of repetition that was very noticeable. I can't think of another book in which the mention of an asshole puckering or someone shitting themselves was as omnipresent.
In some ways, and perhaps why I enjoyed this book so much, is that I felt as if I was reading the fan fiction novelization of someone's "Hearts of Iron IV" playthrough, with the Historical AI focus turned off.
Highly recommend!
I've read a lot of Mr. Turtledove in my life, and I find this to be one of his less-detailed, and somewhat less-repetitive stories. Perhaps the approach was that nearly everyone alive is familiar with the basics of WWII, or perhaps Mr. Turtledove decided to pump the brakes a little bit. Either way, it was both appreciated and missed. I appreciated the lack of utter repetition, but missed some of the exposition.
Well, there was one bit of repetition that was very noticeable. I can't think of another book in which the mention of an asshole puckering or someone shitting themselves was as omnipresent.
In some ways, and perhaps why I enjoyed this book so much, is that I felt as if I was reading the fan fiction novelization of someone's "Hearts of Iron IV" playthrough, with the Historical AI focus turned off.
Highly recommend!
December 6, 2015
Turtledove subscribes to the rebus school of foreigner dialogue—Germans say Dummkopf (as if that's more dignified in German than ``stupidhead'' is in English) and Donnerwetter, Japanese people say ichi-ban and Sergeant-san, &c.—and machineguns trivia at the reader without ever managing to capture genuine cultural differences (rote stereotypes don't count) or the spirit of the time.
Ultimately, he's just too American to pull off a novel in which a third of the characters are WW2-era German soldiers: on the one hand he portrays members of the Gestapo and the SS as flat cartoon villains, but on the other he's very invested in seeing regular German soldiers—enlisted or conscripted—as innocent people who just happened to have gotten caught up in something. Wanting—needing—to see Nazism and fascism as a fairy-tale bogeyman disconnected from right-wing extremism as it still exists in the world and absolving soldiers of any kind of complicity in the wars waged between countries in the way Turtledove does is a uniquely, unhelpfully American point of view. (His treatment of the Russians is, inevitably, even worse.)
I can see why some people would think Hitler's War is good alternate history—Turtledove does drop a lot of names of places, people, and equipment, and surely that's what good research is?—but I'm really not impressed. One of the two points of divergence—José Sanjurjo not dying in 1936—ends up making almost no difference whatsoever (apparently it starts being a bigger deal in the sequels, but that doesn't really explain why Sanjurjo is doing everything Franco did in this one), and the other—Konrad Henlein being assassinated in 1938—has some obviously credible immediate effects—Germany invades Czechoslovakia—but later events become less and less clearly justified, culminating in what is effectively a giant ass-pull in the final chapter.
It's his descriptions of the experiences of people during the War that get to me most, though. Maybe it's because I've read and heard so many first-hand accounts of the real one over the years—growing up in Belgium will do that—that the false notes stick out so much to me, but I feel like so many of these stories are available everywhere that Turtledove should have been able to do a better job with them.
This is the first of a six-book series, so the narrative unsurprisingly doesn't reach any kind of satisfying conclusion. I won't be reading the other five to see if it ever does.
Ultimately, he's just too American to pull off a novel in which a third of the characters are WW2-era German soldiers: on the one hand he portrays members of the Gestapo and the SS as flat cartoon villains, but on the other he's very invested in seeing regular German soldiers—enlisted or conscripted—as innocent people who just happened to have gotten caught up in something. Wanting—needing—to see Nazism and fascism as a fairy-tale bogeyman disconnected from right-wing extremism as it still exists in the world and absolving soldiers of any kind of complicity in the wars waged between countries in the way Turtledove does is a uniquely, unhelpfully American point of view. (His treatment of the Russians is, inevitably, even worse.)
I can see why some people would think Hitler's War is good alternate history—Turtledove does drop a lot of names of places, people, and equipment, and surely that's what good research is?—but I'm really not impressed. One of the two points of divergence—José Sanjurjo not dying in 1936—ends up making almost no difference whatsoever (apparently it starts being a bigger deal in the sequels, but that doesn't really explain why Sanjurjo is doing everything Franco did in this one), and the other—Konrad Henlein being assassinated in 1938—has some obviously credible immediate effects—Germany invades Czechoslovakia—but later events become less and less clearly justified, culminating in what is effectively a giant ass-pull in the final chapter.
It's his descriptions of the experiences of people during the War that get to me most, though. Maybe it's because I've read and heard so many first-hand accounts of the real one over the years—growing up in Belgium will do that—that the false notes stick out so much to me, but I feel like so many of these stories are available everywhere that Turtledove should have been able to do a better job with them.
This is the first of a six-book series, so the narrative unsurprisingly doesn't reach any kind of satisfying conclusion. I won't be reading the other five to see if it ever does.
November 30, 2015
This could have been so much better.
It started off well, with a meeting between Hitler, Chamberlain, and several other leaders. In it, events lead to WWII being started earlier than it did in real history. Promising.
But from there it flits from vignette to vignette so fast that it's hard to keep track of the characters, and giving no overall view of what is happening. And so many of the characters repeat each other. Lots of soldiers who disdain their leaders and have sex-obsessed sidekicks. Oh, and lots of smoking. Then there's the two women who are both defiant and under German control (one an American who can't get home, and the other a German Jew).
The story has no arc, it just goes 500 pages, then stops.
The story would have been much improved by adding at least one (and preferably two or three) POVs that are party to the top levels, if only to give us a look at how the war as a whole is being pushed. Let's face it, the grunt-eye view does not give you any idea of how things are really going, other than the Germans are pushing to Paris, and the Japanese are pushing into Russian territory.
It started off well, with a meeting between Hitler, Chamberlain, and several other leaders. In it, events lead to WWII being started earlier than it did in real history. Promising.
But from there it flits from vignette to vignette so fast that it's hard to keep track of the characters, and giving no overall view of what is happening. And so many of the characters repeat each other. Lots of soldiers who disdain their leaders and have sex-obsessed sidekicks. Oh, and lots of smoking. Then there's the two women who are both defiant and under German control (one an American who can't get home, and the other a German Jew).
The story has no arc, it just goes 500 pages, then stops.
The story would have been much improved by adding at least one (and preferably two or three) POVs that are party to the top levels, if only to give us a look at how the war as a whole is being pushed. Let's face it, the grunt-eye view does not give you any idea of how things are really going, other than the Germans are pushing to Paris, and the Japanese are pushing into Russian territory.
September 26, 2013
This book was kind of like going to see a movie you looked forward to with big Hollywood stars in it only to find they were only in tiny spots of the film and instead you were given way too many unknown actors and no focus on any one so they all became unremarkable.
The book was good but it could have been so much more...I wanted great.
The book was good but it could have been so much more...I wanted great.
August 17, 2010
Decent but not superb. I think the hook - what if ww2 started a year early - doesn't have the same pull as if the Confederacy won the Civil War.
March 7, 2012
I just could not get into the characters. Everything seemed to drone on and on. I set it down after 80 pages.
September 9, 2024
An interesting “What if?” novel, but I felt it was trying much to hard to imitate Tom Clancy’s style without the substance to back it up. However, I’m a history buff, and the historical narrative is pretty solid, even if it’s playing off of an alternate history: What if Chamberlain had stood up to Hitler in 1938 instead of trying to appease him? There are 5 more books in the series, and I’m going to get through at least the next one- I’ve read that the series gets better as it goes on.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 5, 2021
I both enjoyed and disliked this book. It was well written and captured the feeling of war, the dirtiness and the disgusting events that happen. Hence the dislike. Having family that went through it the second world war it felt a bit too close.
This isn’t a problem, it makes the book good. I’m glad it didn’t glorify anything.
This isn’t a problem, it makes the book good. I’m glad it didn’t glorify anything.
February 2, 2022
Great read, the characters and their interactions in war are what makes this such a fun book.
“Driver’s hit, Willi realized. German had antitank rifles, too, but you didn’t expect to run up against one right after you’d finally picked up some armor.
War wasn’t what you expected. It was what you got. What the surviving panzer got was out of there.”
“Driver’s hit, Willi realized. German had antitank rifles, too, but you didn’t expect to run up against one right after you’d finally picked up some armor.
War wasn’t what you expected. It was what you got. What the surviving panzer got was out of there.”
December 29, 2022
War is Hell, but Turtledove makes it so freaking repetitive. I get that tedium is a thing, but one gets fed up pretty quickly. At least I have reached the end of it. Do I want to read the sequel? Probably not.
October 22, 2019
Ughhh.. am forcing myself to finish this book. 260 pages with only 220 to go. I just cannot get attached to any of the characters. Sad, since I like so many of Mr. Turtledove's other books.
Well, read it, done, and am now reading a great new series by Konkoly. Ahhh....
Well, read it, done, and am now reading a great new series by Konkoly. Ahhh....
April 5, 2018
For the past sixty years, the name “Munich” has been synonymous in the historical imagination with the craven surrender of Czechoslovakian territory in return for a peace settlement that proved illusory. But what if it had turned out differently? What if, instead of postponing the Second World War for a year, the conference in Munich between the European leaders had failed? What if war broke out over Czechoslovakia instead of Poland? This is the premise of Harry Turtledove’s latest alternate history series.
In it, Turtledove tries something new; instead of positing a single point of divergence, he imagines two: the avoidance of the plane crash in 1936 that killed the Spanish general Jose Sanjurjo and allowed Francisco Franco to take over Nationalist forces during the Spanish Civil War, and the assassination of Sudeten German leader Konrad Heinlein in the midst of the Munich Conference. Turtledove uses these to create a different Second World War, one in which Germany begins the conflict without some of the advantages they would enjoy a year later, and with the Soviets fighting against the Nazis from the outset.
In narrating this conflict the author uses his usual technique of using the experiences of a series of fictional soldiers and civilians to depict events. While some fans will find this familiarity comforting, it gives the distinct sense of the novel as nothing more than another by-the-numbers alternate history work in the Turtledove mold, with little outside of the premise that is original. This would matter less if the novel were up to his earlier standards, yet it is not. Character development is particularly lacking. Unlike his earlier novels, there is little description of their backgrounds; instead they are simply dumped into the novel, with their experiences and views leaving them often indistinguishable from one another.
The result is a subpar start to what is otherwise an enjoyably different take on the sub-genre of alternate-Second World War scenarios. Ending as it does in the middle of the conflict, a sequel that will move events forward, possibly even wrapping them up, is to be expected. Hopefully the follow-up will be embody more of the enthusiasm and energy that has been a hallmark of Turtledove’s best work, lest his new series be written off as a failed opportunity with a new premise.
In it, Turtledove tries something new; instead of positing a single point of divergence, he imagines two: the avoidance of the plane crash in 1936 that killed the Spanish general Jose Sanjurjo and allowed Francisco Franco to take over Nationalist forces during the Spanish Civil War, and the assassination of Sudeten German leader Konrad Heinlein in the midst of the Munich Conference. Turtledove uses these to create a different Second World War, one in which Germany begins the conflict without some of the advantages they would enjoy a year later, and with the Soviets fighting against the Nazis from the outset.
In narrating this conflict the author uses his usual technique of using the experiences of a series of fictional soldiers and civilians to depict events. While some fans will find this familiarity comforting, it gives the distinct sense of the novel as nothing more than another by-the-numbers alternate history work in the Turtledove mold, with little outside of the premise that is original. This would matter less if the novel were up to his earlier standards, yet it is not. Character development is particularly lacking. Unlike his earlier novels, there is little description of their backgrounds; instead they are simply dumped into the novel, with their experiences and views leaving them often indistinguishable from one another.
The result is a subpar start to what is otherwise an enjoyably different take on the sub-genre of alternate-Second World War scenarios. Ending as it does in the middle of the conflict, a sequel that will move events forward, possibly even wrapping them up, is to be expected. Hopefully the follow-up will be embody more of the enthusiasm and energy that has been a hallmark of Turtledove’s best work, lest his new series be written off as a failed opportunity with a new premise.
January 25, 2014
I keep trying Turtledove, because his books on the surface sound as though I should love them, but I don't think I've yet managed to finish one. I swore I was done with him, only to see this on the shelf at the library and be sucked back in...
And once again regretted it. His writing is more or less OK, if somewhat repetitive; and his characters generally tend to have very little differentiation but aren't terrible. There's two factors though that made this unreadable for me, leading me to give up about halfway through:
The first is the point of view - he uses the common trick of showing the action through the eyes of a large number of characters dispersed across all the areas where the action takes place. This in itself is OK - it worked for Clancy for instance. The problem is that all of them are at a low level with no knowledge of the strategic factors and decisions driving the war, which means the reader is in the same boat and only sees what's happening with no wider viewpoint to give it meaning and interest.
The other is the lack of detail - for a book about a war there's remarkably little information about it. I have serious reservations about the ease with which Germany is shown as conquering Czechoslovakia, for instance: the Czech army was considerably more modern than the Polish one and had the benefit of an extensive set of fortifications, so my expectation is that the invasion would have taken longer than in the real war it took to defeat Poland, and would have left the German army in far worse shape: both because of combat losses and because in reality they used tanks and other equipment confiscated from the Czechs to strengthen their own forces, an option that wouldn't have been open to them here. But in the book Germany proceeds to attack France almost immediately upon completion of the Czech campaign; given the almost total lack of information about how that first campaign proceeded it's impossible to know whether these factors have been accounted for.
The combination of the two flaws made it impossible for me to suspend my disbelief: it's possible that Turtledove has thought through all this better than I have and could make me believe his results, but since he gives me no information I have no way to know.
And once again regretted it. His writing is more or less OK, if somewhat repetitive; and his characters generally tend to have very little differentiation but aren't terrible. There's two factors though that made this unreadable for me, leading me to give up about halfway through:
The first is the point of view - he uses the common trick of showing the action through the eyes of a large number of characters dispersed across all the areas where the action takes place. This in itself is OK - it worked for Clancy for instance. The problem is that all of them are at a low level with no knowledge of the strategic factors and decisions driving the war, which means the reader is in the same boat and only sees what's happening with no wider viewpoint to give it meaning and interest.
The other is the lack of detail - for a book about a war there's remarkably little information about it. I have serious reservations about the ease with which Germany is shown as conquering Czechoslovakia, for instance: the Czech army was considerably more modern than the Polish one and had the benefit of an extensive set of fortifications, so my expectation is that the invasion would have taken longer than in the real war it took to defeat Poland, and would have left the German army in far worse shape: both because of combat losses and because in reality they used tanks and other equipment confiscated from the Czechs to strengthen their own forces, an option that wouldn't have been open to them here. But in the book Germany proceeds to attack France almost immediately upon completion of the Czech campaign; given the almost total lack of information about how that first campaign proceeded it's impossible to know whether these factors have been accounted for.
The combination of the two flaws made it impossible for me to suspend my disbelief: it's possible that Turtledove has thought through all this better than I have and could make me believe his results, but since he gives me no information I have no way to know.
February 19, 2012
File this one under guilty pleasure. I make no apologies. "What if...?" is one of those great nerdy debates about any possible subject, and for people looking at history there's no exception.
Harry Turtledove has written a lot of alternate history stuff, though this is the first I have read. The writing is not great, but you're not reading because you want great writing. You're reading because you're curious what this guy's perspective will be on World War II if it broke out at the time in the real world where the Munich Accord was signed and Chamberlain was in full-blown appeasement mode.
A lot of the story is told from the perspective of guys in the trenches. This is usually not a bad thing, but the result of the way it is in here - with perspectives on trenches from Spain to Siberia, plus a couple of pilots, plus a U-boat commander, plus a couple of civilians - means that most of the characters aren't totally distinguishable from one another. All that divides one country's soldiers from another is the occasional ethnic stereotype. But again, who really cares? These are just the excuses for Turtledove to paint his alternate version of history, which is why you might read a book like this.
It's not terrible. It meets expectations, which were not high, and that's enough to get by.
Harry Turtledove has written a lot of alternate history stuff, though this is the first I have read. The writing is not great, but you're not reading because you want great writing. You're reading because you're curious what this guy's perspective will be on World War II if it broke out at the time in the real world where the Munich Accord was signed and Chamberlain was in full-blown appeasement mode.
A lot of the story is told from the perspective of guys in the trenches. This is usually not a bad thing, but the result of the way it is in here - with perspectives on trenches from Spain to Siberia, plus a couple of pilots, plus a U-boat commander, plus a couple of civilians - means that most of the characters aren't totally distinguishable from one another. All that divides one country's soldiers from another is the occasional ethnic stereotype. But again, who really cares? These are just the excuses for Turtledove to paint his alternate version of history, which is why you might read a book like this.
It's not terrible. It meets expectations, which were not high, and that's enough to get by.
May 1, 2015
There is a fascination in alternative history, and a fascination in World War II. This series belongs to the 'lightly tweaked history' genre, where just a couple of events cause a chain of differences from our version of the world.
Turtledove seems to have done some studying, for example learning a few phrases of several different languages (which he occasionally mangles, as in "eso hombre"). He is so fond of certain factoids that he trots them out over and over again, as though assuming the reader either is half asleep or suffers from dementia. Yes, I know the Stuka is slow, actually I knew that already, and after the first four or five times HT mentioned it I _really_ knew it, so shut up already. And yes, I get it that the new war bread in Germany is less crappy than the WWI bread was. Sometimes it seems that HT has pasted whole paragraphs from an earlier chapter just in case you were napping before.
Turtledove seems to have done some studying, for example learning a few phrases of several different languages (which he occasionally mangles, as in "eso hombre"). He is so fond of certain factoids that he trots them out over and over again, as though assuming the reader either is half asleep or suffers from dementia. Yes, I know the Stuka is slow, actually I knew that already, and after the first four or five times HT mentioned it I _really_ knew it, so shut up already. And yes, I get it that the new war bread in Germany is less crappy than the WWI bread was. Sometimes it seems that HT has pasted whole paragraphs from an earlier chapter just in case you were napping before.
January 30, 2016
The genre of war novels is not my normal interest in reading. That is the core of this book. However, I did find it interest to see examined all the thoughts and motivations of the many different kinds of people who were either part of what we call WWII or impacted by it. Here the background before about 1938 is as you know it, but what would have happened if Hitler had started attacking sooner. In this book you get to see some of the battles, air, ground, and sea told from the point of view of people on many sides. Also examined are many of the fronts, Spain, China, Poland, France, Germany, ...
There is not some key character that you follow but a lot of different people you grow to understand where they are and why they do what they do. The book does make you think.
Note: If you like war stories, then it could easily be more stars for you. Reading about people getting killed in a somewhat modern war is not my favorite fiction subject. Thus, I gave it 3 stars.
There is not some key character that you follow but a lot of different people you grow to understand where they are and why they do what they do. The book does make you think.
Note: If you like war stories, then it could easily be more stars for you. Reading about people getting killed in a somewhat modern war is not my favorite fiction subject. Thus, I gave it 3 stars.
December 19, 2020
Mr. Turtledove came to my attention when one of my friends mentioned him. His specialty is alternate history. In this book, we have Germany entering WWII earlier (1937) than history. The spark plug that initiates hostilities is the murder of a Nazi officer by a Czech on German soil.
The bulk of this novel describes battle scenes from different participants (Germans, Allies from several countries) and military branches (foot soldiers, tanks, air bombers, U-boats, et al.). Maybe I'm not a WWII historian but, for the large part, I didn't see what was so "alternate" about this depiction. I wish Turtledove could've spent more time on the non-soldiers. The characters were interesting but the storyline didn't seem to come together. By the end of about 500 pages of battle, I was suffering from battle fatigue.
This is part of a four(?) book series. I don't have any desire to continue the series.
The bulk of this novel describes battle scenes from different participants (Germans, Allies from several countries) and military branches (foot soldiers, tanks, air bombers, U-boats, et al.). Maybe I'm not a WWII historian but, for the large part, I didn't see what was so "alternate" about this depiction. I wish Turtledove could've spent more time on the non-soldiers. The characters were interesting but the storyline didn't seem to come together. By the end of about 500 pages of battle, I was suffering from battle fatigue.
This is part of a four(?) book series. I don't have any desire to continue the series.
June 16, 2016
I became aware of Harry Turtledove's alternative history series "The War That Came Early" from a post on Reddit where a user requested an advance copy of the latest installment for his friend with terminal cancer. The author graciously obliged. This book, the first in the series, has World War II start in 1938 in Czechoslovakia rather than 1939 in Poland. The action is fast paced and keeps the reader interested. However, there are multiple concurrent story lines running on the various fronts with countless characters on each to keep track of. This leads to a number of characters not being fledged out in too much depth, and thus being forgettable. In any case, the book was good enough for me to read the next volume in the series.
February 8, 2014
Very much Harry Turtledove. Unlike his North vs. South series or his World War, I felt the characters weren't particularly memorable. He uses some repeated cues to remind you of who they are (just like Sam "I-get-sunburned-easy-and-aviation-is-the-future-of-naval-warfare" Carsten), but I just couldn't get into them much.
What I do like is the re-imagining of the war. That's probably what a majority of the readers are looking for as well. For that, it's entertaining. I've got most of the rest of the series on the shelf waiting to read and I will keep with it, but I hope that I can grow fonder of the characters as the story progresses (I did with Turtledove's "Darkness" series, so I'm optimistic).
What I do like is the re-imagining of the war. That's probably what a majority of the readers are looking for as well. For that, it's entertaining. I've got most of the rest of the series on the shelf waiting to read and I will keep with it, but I hope that I can grow fonder of the characters as the story progresses (I did with Turtledove's "Darkness" series, so I'm optimistic).
May 8, 2015
My 3 star rating is perhaps unfair. After all, the book is well-written, good character development. A LOT of characters, which makes it hard to keep them all straight in the beginning, but that does get better.
I was annoyed because this is "the master of alternate history" and "if Neville Chamberlain hadn't appeased the Nazis, would the Allies still have won World War II?" Unfortunately this question--which appears on the front cover--is NOT answered in this book. There are more books in the series, and eventually I assume this question would be answered, but it is misleading in the extreme.
I was annoyed because this is "the master of alternate history" and "if Neville Chamberlain hadn't appeased the Nazis, would the Allies still have won World War II?" Unfortunately this question--which appears on the front cover--is NOT answered in this book. There are more books in the series, and eventually I assume this question would be answered, but it is misleading in the extreme.
November 26, 2017
I've enjoyed "Man in the High Castle" on Amazon, and thought this book might be of a similar vein. WRONG! This is a war story and goes into a lot of detail about WW2. BUT... here's the problem... I'm not a war buff. I'm a pretty good historian, and know some general WW2 history, but as this story dragged on, I couldn't really tell fact from fiction. This series continues on, but we're just stuck in the war years instead of exploring the aftermath of what might have occurred if the war had a different result. I just couldn't tell the difference, and for me this was too detailed an boring. Sorry.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 181 reviews