Aftershocks (Colonization Book 3) [Mass Market Paperback]

Harry Turtledove (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 26, 2002

“ONE OF THE MOST MEMORABLE SERIES OF ALTERNATIVE HISTORY NOVELS EVER WRITTEN.”
–Science Fiction Age

World War II has evolved into decades of epic struggles and rebellions targeting the aliens known as the Race. As the 1960s begin, one of Earth’s great powers launches a nuclear strike against the Race’s colonization fleet–and the merciless invaders find themselves confronting a far more complex and challenging species than any they have encountered before. Ultimately, only superior firepower may keep Earth under the Empire’s control–or it may destroy the world. While uprisings and aftershocks of war shake the planet, one nation plots a stunning counterattack . . .

“Hugo winner Turtledove lives up to his billing as the grand master of alternative history. . . . This novel is altogether excellent.”
–Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In the aftermath of World War II and the invasion by the alien Lizards, decades of struggle have led to an uneasy attempt by the aliens to maintain a colony on Earth. Collaboration, rebellion, and attempts at understanding each other bring humans and Lizards to the brink of new hostilities, threatening the destruction of the world but holding out hope for its renewal. This conclusion to Turtledove's multivolume alternate history features the author's close attention to detail and his ability to paint broad, panoramic pictures without sacrificing the personal stories of his characters. A good addition to most sf collections, particularly in libraries that own previous series titles.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Colonel Sam Yeager has a terrible secret that he can share with only one person--and no humans. The former shiplord Straha, a lizard now exiled to L.A,, is willing to keep the army officer's secret as a protective measure for Yeager and his family. But when Yeager goes missing, and Straha decides to take his secret to the colonization fleetlord, the outcome shocks everyone, from the crew of the American spaceship Lewis and Clark to the ginger dealers in Marseille. Turtledove concludes his highly entertaining Worldwar alternate-history saga with a series of deadly nuclear confrontations and happier, more intimate encounters between lizards and humans. Characters once mired in the struggles between the doomed Reich and the Race are now free to travel, and Cockney Jew David Goldfarb finds himself in Edmonton, inventing a caller ID system, while Rance Auerbach moves from South Africa to the south of France. Mao and Molotov remain in power, but new humans and lizards are climbing the ranks to challenge the old guard. Turtledove explores ethics, vengeance, and the duties of familial love versus those of friendship with his trademark wry humor--for instance, the Warren Commission turns out to be a loose gathering of lizards intent on understanding the death of President Earl Warren. If only there were another five books in the series to look forward to! Roberta Johnson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 624 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey (February 26, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345430247
• ISBN-13: 978-0345430243
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (70 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #549,011 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #27 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > ( T ) > Turtledove, Harry
  • #59 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Alternate History

More About the Author

Harry Turtledove is the award-winning author of the alternate-history works The Man with the Iron Heart; The Guns of the South; How Few Remain (winner of the Sidewise Award for Best Novel); the Worldwar saga: In the Balance, Tilting the Balance, Upsetting the Balance, and Striking the Balance; the Colonization books: Second Contact, Down to Earth, and Aftershocks; the Great War epics: American Front, Walk in Hell, and Breakthroughs; the American Empire novels: Blood & Iron, The Center Cannot Hold, and Victorious Opposition; and the Settling Accounts series: Return Engagement, Drive to the East, The Grapple, and In at the Death. Turtledove is married to fellow novelist Laura Frankos. They have three daughters: Alison, Rachel, and Rebecca.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A little too open-ended of an ending..., February 6, 2001

By 

Timothy Lehnerer (Nerva Archipelago) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Aftershocks (Colonization, Book 3) (Hardcover)

After following the life & times of a very changed world for seven books, I was hoping for a sense of closure that I didn't get from AFTERSHOCKS. That's the only thing I found wrong with the book, though--Turtledove has done his usual masterful job of extrapolating what could have happened from what did, human nature, and the elements of the world that he changed.

Also, Turtledove drops waaaaay too many hints over the first half of the book about which nation attacked the colonization fleet with nuclear weapons in DOWN TO EARTH, and mentions how dangerous the knowledge is each time it's mentioned. I got it. I'm sure the other readers got it too.

The rest of the book is typically fine Turtledove alternate history. It's interesting to see things like Caller ID or the decades-premature invention of the Furby in a different world, and the usual care has been lavished on all of the different political factions--the USA, the Greater German Reich, the USSR, China, Canada, South Africa and the conflicts between the invasion and colonization fleets. Here's hoping that if there is another sequel series it ends slightly more definitively.

Also, it would have been nice to see alien-obsessed British music producer Joe Meek in the series--the Colonization books take place right around the high point of his career and it's not like other real people never appear in the books.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Aftershocks glorifies treason?, March 23, 2001

By 

Robert G Schiele (Indianapolis, IN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Aftershocks (Colonization, Book 3) (Hardcover)

I've been a fan of Harry Turtledove since the Worldwar cycle of books began and have read that cycle and the subsequent Colonization cycle including the latest, Aftershocks. In general, I like Turtledove's presentation. His characters seem human to me (yes, even the aliens) and the situations, while taking place in an alternate history, are at least believable.

I was appalled, however, when I read Aftershocks. I won't give the whole plot away, but Turtledove has one of the entire cycle's main characters giving certain information to the Race which ultimately costs tens to hundreds of thousands of humans their lives when the Race retaliates. Supposedly, the character commits the act because the Race too are intelligent beings; however, this begs the question. The Race, however lovable and understandable they may be, are alien invaders. In earlier episodes, they completely exterminated the people of Australia as well as erasing major cities in other countries in their attempted conquest of Earth.

I may be old-fashioned, but I think Turtledove has done a real disservice here. For a major (and hitherto respected and respectable) character to do what occurs in Aftershocks with the author's symbolic arm around him as if he were some kind of hero is to carry tolerance way past the crazy point. After the Race's invasion of Earth, and the immense death and destruction they have caused, they deserve anything they get and as far as I'm concerned, any human passing them information, whatever their intention may be, is not only a traitor to their country, but to the entire human race.

I hope that Turtledove does something in the next book to redeem my previously good opinion of him.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Colonization - Lightest Aftershocks Imaginable, March 25, 2002

By 

"meowser007" (Kirkland, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Aftershocks (Colonization Book 3) (Mass Market Paperback)

How is it that a book can take 600 pages or thereabouts to take you on a ride that goes nowhere? I scored this book as 2 stars rather than one because I believe it takes considerable stringing-along skill to maintain the deception of progress for such a duration, hence one point for the book and one, with a tip of my hat for such, er, technique.

Not only that but the story finishes, if such a word can be used, with more loose ends than a mop. As I was nearing the end of the novel, with maybe 50 pages to go, I was thinking "wow, it's going to be exciting to see how this gets wrapped up - any page now, something big is going to happen!". Then there were 30 pages left, then 20, then... well, I got this sinking feeling. Which proved to be well founded.

Will there be yet another trilogy? Frankly I no longer care.