Saturday, December 17, 2011
Homeward Bound
by Harry Turtledove
This last book of the Tosev timeline series is quite a disappointment. The timeline starts with an alien invasion of Earth in 1942. Known as the Race, these aliens plan to easily subdue the planet and it's native inhabitants. What they didn't anticipate is that human technology and society progresses (or at least changes) at a lot faster rate than theirs. So the attempted subjugation is anything but easy. Anyway, fast forward to the 1990s. Human technology has "borrowed" a bit from the invaders and the United States sends off their own starship, the Admiral Peary, to visit the homeworld of the race. What follows os a relatively dull tale. After seven volumes of life threatening conflict and intrigue, Mr. Turtledove finishes with a story of diplomacy and sightseeing. The whole book seems awkward, almost as if he (or his publisher) decided to cut the saga off short and jump to the final resolution. Or maybe he was giving his best efforts to his Settling Accounts series, which was also being published at the time. (Of course, I must confess that I was also reading under a handicap, having read a synopsis of Homeward Bound beforehand. Knowing the big plot development tends to diminish the suspense. But if you do want to know the ending of the series, I suppose reading the book itself is more enjoyable than skimming the Wikipedia entry.
Only waiting room material. (Emphatic cough)
LibraryThing link
This last book of the Tosev timeline series is quite a disappointment. The timeline starts with an alien invasion of Earth in 1942. Known as the Race, these aliens plan to easily subdue the planet and it's native inhabitants. What they didn't anticipate is that human technology and society progresses (or at least changes) at a lot faster rate than theirs. So the attempted subjugation is anything but easy. Anyway, fast forward to the 1990s. Human technology has "borrowed" a bit from the invaders and the United States sends off their own starship, the Admiral Peary, to visit the homeworld of the race. What follows os a relatively dull tale. After seven volumes of life threatening conflict and intrigue, Mr. Turtledove finishes with a story of diplomacy and sightseeing. The whole book seems awkward, almost as if he (or his publisher) decided to cut the saga off short and jump to the final resolution. Or maybe he was giving his best efforts to his Settling Accounts series, which was also being published at the time. (Of course, I must confess that I was also reading under a handicap, having read a synopsis of Homeward Bound beforehand. Knowing the big plot development tends to diminish the suspense. But if you do want to know the ending of the series, I suppose reading the book itself is more enjoyable than skimming the Wikipedia entry.
Only waiting room material. (Emphatic cough)
LibraryThing link
Labels: HarryTurtledove, TosevTimeline, WaitingRoomMaterial
Friday, December 09, 2011
Colonization: Aftershocks
by Harry Turtledove
This book ends like there was supposed to be a sequel. Plotlines are loosely tied up, but there's no real sense of finality.
Waiting room material.
LibraryThing link
This book ends like there was supposed to be a sequel. Plotlines are loosely tied up, but there's no real sense of finality.
Waiting room material.
LibraryThing link
Labels: HarryTurtledove, TosevTimeline, WaitingRoomMaterial
Saturday, December 03, 2011
Colonization: Down to Earth
by Harry Turtledove
Waiting room material.
LibraryThing link
Waiting room material.
LibraryThing link
Labels: HarryTurtledove, TosevTimeline, WaitingRoomMaterial
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Colonization: Second Contact
by Harry Turtledove
I had already picked this book up at the library sale, so I figured I'd go ahead and read it anyway. Despite the fact that I was unimpressed by the first volume of the preceding Worldwar tetralogy, I found my interest piqued by this sequel. The 1960s start with the planet Earth being shared by humanity and "The Race", reptilian aliens who tried to conquer the planet in 1942. The Race's colonization fleet arrives to discover that their invasion fleet hasn't quite tamed the planet for them. There's a number of intrigues between humans and aliens, as well as the various factions of humanity: principally the Americans, the Soviets and the Third Reich. Guess I'll be getting the other books in the series and trying to forget the spoilers I read online.
I'll be checking them all out, I guess.
LibraryThing link
I had already picked this book up at the library sale, so I figured I'd go ahead and read it anyway. Despite the fact that I was unimpressed by the first volume of the preceding Worldwar tetralogy, I found my interest piqued by this sequel. The 1960s start with the planet Earth being shared by humanity and "The Race", reptilian aliens who tried to conquer the planet in 1942. The Race's colonization fleet arrives to discover that their invasion fleet hasn't quite tamed the planet for them. There's a number of intrigues between humans and aliens, as well as the various factions of humanity: principally the Americans, the Soviets and the Third Reich. Guess I'll be getting the other books in the series and trying to forget the spoilers I read online.
I'll be checking them all out, I guess.
LibraryThing link
Labels: CheckItOut, HarryTurtledove, TosevTimeline
Friday, November 11, 2011
Worldwar: In the Balance
by Harry Turtledove
Odd. Usually I really like Harry Turtledove's books, but this one didn't impress me so much. Rather than read the other three books in the series, I contented myself with reading the synopses on Wikipedia. Anyhoo, this is an alternate history/science fiction hybrid speculating on what would happen if aliens invaded Earth in the middle of World War II. Mr. Turtledove tells the tale from a variety of perspectives--a technique I fell in love with when I read the first book of his The Great War series. My biggest complaint is that this "global" perspective is actually limited to the northern hemisphere. Logically, there would be a lot of invasion activity in Africa and South America, but that all takes place behind the scenes.
Waiting room material.
LibraryThing link
Odd. Usually I really like Harry Turtledove's books, but this one didn't impress me so much. Rather than read the other three books in the series, I contented myself with reading the synopses on Wikipedia. Anyhoo, this is an alternate history/science fiction hybrid speculating on what would happen if aliens invaded Earth in the middle of World War II. Mr. Turtledove tells the tale from a variety of perspectives--a technique I fell in love with when I read the first book of his The Great War series. My biggest complaint is that this "global" perspective is actually limited to the northern hemisphere. Logically, there would be a lot of invasion activity in Africa and South America, but that all takes place behind the scenes.
Waiting room material.
LibraryThing link
Labels: HarryTurtledove, TosevTimeline, WaitingRoomMaterial
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