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Title: In the Balance: An Alternate History of the Second World War (Worldwar | Volume 1) |
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Review of In the Balance: An Alternate History of the Second World War (Worldwar, Volume 1)
- From Pearl Harbor to panzers rolling through Paris to the Siege of Leningrad and the Battle of Midway, war seethed across the planet as the flames of destruction rose higher and hotter.
And then, suddenly, the real enemy came.
The invaders seemed unstoppable, their technology far beyond human reach. And never before had men been more divided. For Jew to unite with Nazi, American with Japanese, and Russian with German was unthinkable.
But the alternative was even worse.
As the fate of the world hung in the balance, slowly, painfully, humankind took up the shocking challenge . . .
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Comments for In the Balance: An Alternate History of the Second World War (Worldwar | Volume 1)
- Posted on 2008-08-30
Great alternate history with enough sci-fi to remain interesting
Harry Turtledove really keeps you interested with this series. I have read many of his books and this series is the one that got me hooked. His treatment of how the world would have changed given the events that he introduces simple make sense. When an enemy greater than us all comes along, we would have to all work together to ensure some sort of survival.
Truly interesting and it makes you think. I love the genre and love the sci-fi. I also appreciate his following the laws of physics within his books.
Great character development and truly interesting insights into our own historical figures.
Well done and a great start to this series.
Score: 4
- Posted on 2008-05-28
If you liked 'V' you'll like this series
It is 1942 and the world is torn by war - the Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor and are laying waste to China, in Poland the Warsaw Ghetto is on the verge of collapse, on the Russian front the German invasion is slowing due to the vast distances and the determined Russian resistance when everything changes in a flash, literally. A long planned alien invasion has arrived. Based on their latest reconnaissance intel the invasion should take no more than a few weeks at most. Unfortunately for the invaders that mission occured over 800 years earlier. Instead of the medieval technology they expected their targets were now armed with guns and traveled in tanks and airplanes, primative weapons by the invaders standards but much beyond what was expected.
Earth was shocked to discover that the alien invaders of science fiction were now science fact. Old enemies who had been battling before the aliens arrived quickly formed uneasy alliances against this new and greater threat. They quickly discovered that their best weapon against the aliens is the human ability to adapt quickly to new circumstances.
Turtledove tells his story by using a huge cast of characters, both human and alien, and many subplots, several of which intertwine during this introductory volume of a trilogy (which is followed by a second trilogy). In order to help the reader keep the various plots straight a list of characters is included although Turtledove has managed to write the characters well enough that each usually does manage to stand out enough that the list is rarely needed.
On the down side the basic scenario, while interesting, is rather reminiscient of other scifi plots. 'V' for one springs to mind, even down to the reptillian invaders arriving to stop a war and rescue some of the humans. The plot device of reminding the reader of who the various characters at each reappearance is a bit overdone which causes the story to drag a bit. Other plot points are rather drug out at well, resulting in a perfectly good 400 page novel being stretched out to 565 pages.
Despite these flaws IN THE BALANCE is a promising start to an interesting series making this reader at least ready to begin volume 2 TILTING THE BALANCE.
Score: 4 - Posted on 2008-03-31
Great storytelling marred by amateurish writing
Having put down "How Few Remain" largely out of disinterest, my yearning for a good World War II alternate history novel (before I learned of "Fatherland" and others) inevitably lead me here.
Lizard-like aliens (called "Lizards" by humanity) invade Earth in 1942, expecting to encounter resistance from Earth in the 1600s, so thus they become embroiled in a turbulent version of World War II in which the Axis and Allies must work together to overcome the Lizards.
Another reviewer pointed out that little thought was put into the Lizard's technology, which appears to just be a manifestation of 90s-00s military technology. From a certain point of view, that does appear remarkably true, but if it weren't for that reviewer, I would never have thought of that or imagined it as so.
The writing is definitely no Steven Pressfield or Jeff Shaara, but it serves its purpose in being easily readable for most reading levels and progressing the plot.
There is an immense amount of characters to keep track of, which can be disorienting sometimes, but also add different layers to the book to keep you from becoming sick of one character's tired old plight or whatever. The Lizards in particular are very interesting, and their reactions to humanity's aptitude in adapting is intriguing to listen to.
Another major flaw which greatly irritates me concerns the leadership. For the first hundred or so pages of the book, NONE of the world leaders are shown or written about. And if it weren't for the exposition progressing different events, you'd think the leaders all suddenly died in the invasion, and the military and civilian populace is handling diplomacy and war on its own. Indeed, by the end of it, Adolf Hitler appears only once, yelling at Ambassador Molotov over the Jews "betraying" humanity by siding with the Lizards, Churchill acts as representative for Britain in peace talks among the world leaders, Stalin, Roosevelt, Hirohito, Mussolini, and other high ranking leaders (aside from General Patton and General Marshall) don't appear at all. For a story mostly centered around certain characters, this is okay, but considering this is the ONLY alternate history book series dealing with this sort of event, we'd like to see how the world leaders would react!
I would like to see Hitler confronting Stalin and being forced to negotiate a peace and try to secure uranium for both countries equally. I would like to see Winston Churchill and Adolf Hitler arguing over military strategy. Instead, they barely ever show the leaders.
Not only are the leaders barely shown, but major events happen as soon as they're mentioned. For example, the Lizards debate amongst themselves to make the tough decision to drop a nuclear bomb on Berlin, and in the next section, a character is hearing on the radio how Berlin was bombed yesterday or whatever. This happens a LOT, and it is annoying.
The flaws aren't enough to detract from this being a highly entertaining series, with some genuinely likeable characters amongst the massive bunch. Not only are there three more in the series to look forward to, but three more when the Lizard Colonization fleet arrives, twenty years after the invasion...
Score: 4 - Posted on 2008-02-22
four volumes of this?
I think as sci fi goes
he is kind of obvious sometimes.
His history is interesting at times.
I don't know that as even as good at plot and characterization and history
as Harry Turtledove is that I want to read the other volumes...
For me he is just too transparent.
I might sample some of his other sci fi in the future.
The Aliens are xenophobic in many ways, and the technology is obviously at an improved level of our current technology.
We couldn't mount a mission to another star like this:
it is doubtful these Aliens could either.
Score: 3
- Posted on 2007-12-14
In the Balance is in the trash
I tried, and I tried but I just could not get into this book. There were a number of things I did not like about it. The technology of the aliens for one thing. They were supposed to be thousands of years advanced, but they were using 1990's technology. Come on, helicopters? I listened for an hour and a half and decided to shelve it. Sorry, but I cannot recommend this one.
Score: 1
