Customer Reviews

Appeasement

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(20)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

Harry Turtledove, dubbed by some as "the master of alternate history" is at it again. This time it's in the book "Hitler's War", a book that's clearly the start of (yet another), alternate history based around World War II.

The point of departure this time concerns a Spaniard, Sanjurjo, who died in our world but survived in this one. That somehow leads to a Czech assassination of a leading Nazi, which means that, rather than Hitler getting Czechoslovakia as a form of appeasement, he instead has to go to a war that neither he nor the allies are really prepared for.

What follows are the usual multiple POV characters, the standard blood and gore and, for Turtledove at least, a remarkable lack of semi-graphic sex-scenes. We see the war through the eyes of Americans fighting the Spanish Civil War, an American Marine legation in Peking, soldiers on all sides and an American woman stranded in Berlin. Of course there's also the requisite Jewish POV character and a German U-Boat commander who, in this universe as well as ours, sinks a ship called the SS Athenia...

One problem I, and many fans have, is Turtledove's repetitiveness. Did you know, for example, that in the "Worldwar" series, Sam Yeager has false teeth from having the Spanish Flu back in 1918? It's true! You might not notice it since it gets mentioned in every single book. Also, Clarence Potter in the "Timeline 191" series speaks like a Yankee. Again, something you might not notice, since it gets mentioned in every book.

I actually don't have a huge problem with this when it's from book to book. After all, most of these are published a year apart from each other, so little reminders of various things are ok, and it's only an issue when reading them as a group.

But this book really takes the cake. Twice we're told that the German uniforms make the French ones look old fashioned, three times we learn that the French uniform in the first war was the wrong color, and no less than FOUR TIMES we're told that a Stuka becomes lighter and more maneuverable once the bombs are dropped. Turtledove really needs to be aware of this issue and give his audience at least a little credit for paying attention so he doesn't have to make the same point multiple times IN THE SAME BOOK.

That said, the book is also usual Turtledove in that it is well-researched and entertaining. It's clearly part one of what I'm guessing will be a several part series (it covers time from 1937 to 1939), and I'm guessing each of the next books will cover about a year or so. If the war ends in 1945, we can expect seven books in the series. That should be entertaining. If the rest are as well-done as the first, we're in for a real treat!

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 book 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 narrative, 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 will probably come out next year while will move events forward, perhaps even wrap them up. 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.

I think I'll stop reading Turtledove entirely. He's fallen into a lousy habit of repeating himself to "pad" the volume. He must be paid by the word: and they should cut his pay for repeats. Every scene in this book seems to start, or end, with someone lighting up and complaining about the quality of the tobacco. Multiply by about 30 times, and you get really irritated. Well, readers now know that the Ju87 is a slow plane, because he has the characters repeat it a dozen times. Etc. Etc. Guy needs a new shtick.

I have read much of Turtledove's writing and given many of his books as gifts. I immediately ordered the hardcover version of this book.

Unfortunately Turtledove is not his usual creative, well-written self. The title itself "Hitler's War" is rather tired. He provides a serial narratives of a variety of participants caught in war, who almost universally complain about their tobacco, coffee, or booze. I think Turtledove himself would get tired of reporting the taste of Navy Cut cigarettes and ersatz coffee. While usually gifted presenting the experience at the warrior level, he fails give the usual punch. His usual alternative history talks also at the General Staff level which enhances the drama. Unfortunately, the drama is lacking this time around.

Turtledove can write a great book. Let's hope he doesn't provide a sequel to this one.

This was my first Harry TurtleDove book and it will also be my last.

I first got interested in the alternative history genre by reading some S. M. Stirling books, which I really enjoyed. This book, on the otherhand, was so unengaging, so uninteresting, that it became an albatross around my neck. I even coined a new verb while reading it - "albatrossing," which I define as feeling like you've wasted enough time trying to get into a book that you just need to finish it to get some kind of resolution. "Honey, can you start the bath for the kids?" my wife would ask. "No, I'm albatrossing...I've got to get this albatross off my neck." And by that, I do not imply it as a good thing, the kind of situation where you just can't put down a book because it's just so good.

Each chapter in the book was broken up into 4-5 subsections, which randomly rotated through the 8-12 character sets in the book, and with none being given precedence over any other. There was no protagonist and each of the character/character groups were humanized, be it from a German bomber, panzer tank driver, czech fighter, English fighters, Russian pilots, an annoying American woman trying to get out of Berlin, and a random Jewish family subject to humiliation. The story flipped back and forth between the various characters without purpose, and nothing about the change in history (chamberlain's not rolling over regarding Hitler's moving in on the Czechs) really impacted anything.

Even the ending, where nothing at all was resolved, was lackluster. It's hard to call the ending anti-climatic when the book did not lead up to any climax at all.

Overall, a bad read, the only positive being that I would not venture to read another Turtledove book again.

Do yourself a favor --- skip this one.

When I picked up "Hitler's War," I was under the impression that the novel would be one of Turtledove's stand-alone works. These seem to stand out among the author's work, as his narrative is limited to what he can fit between two covers. "Ruled Britannia," in which he paints a quite fascinating portrait of 16th century England dominated by Spain and "How Few Remain," the solo opening in an alternate history where the South won the Civil War, are good examples of this trend.

By contrast, Turtledove's series work tends to fall victim to endless repetition and sometimes sluggish plots. Reviewers complained during the "Southern Victory" series spun off of "How Few Remain" that Turtledove spent too much ink rehashing character traits we were already familiar with or using similar descriptions or dialogue over and over again. He worked to remedy some of these issues during that massive narrative, but unfortunately they seem to have returned in this work. Nearly all of the dialogue seems to focus not so much on the action and politics at hand as it does on a) the terrible quality of cigarettes and other rations during wartime or b) characters privately having doubts about the veracity of their totalitarian government's claims, but at the same time knowing that being indiscreet will get them executed or imprisoned.

The book covers more ground than the "Southern Victory" series, with characters dotting the map from Spain to Mongolia, but this becomes problematic. So many characters are crammed in that there isn't much room to make us feel any empathy for these people. A few do stand out, such as a boisterous American woman trapped in Germany after the outbreak of hostilities and a Jewish family torn between their love for Germany and hatred for Hitler's regime. Most of the other characters just come off as yet another cardboard soldier or pilot running around the battlefield trying to avoid artillery or flak, respectively.

Adding to the problem is the lack of a truly alternate set of events caused by Turtledove's two points of diversion. This is one of the more enjoyable aspects of Turtledove's books, and likely to multiply as time goes on, but only a few points show any major change from what actually occurred in World War II. It is possible this series will improve as it unfolds, but the first offering is nothing special. Turtledove's creative energy would definitely be put to better use if it was focused on single-book stories.

Just for the record, I am a real Harry Turtledove fan. I was first snagged by Guns of the South and I loved his alternate Byzantine Empire in Agent of Byzantium. Starting from there I read the whole alternate Civil War series starting with How Few Remain and working through all eleven volumes to Settling Accounts In at the Death. I am well aware of the limitations of Turtledove's style and his tendency to repeat himself, but I love his stuff anyway.

That said, I have two main problems with this book. The first--no maps. I know that things changed rapidly in the relatively short time covered by this book, but a few well-drawn maps would have made a world of difference. If this series continues and political boundaries begin to shift in to shapes not familiar to us, maps will become even more necessary. The second problem is that, with a very few exceptions, the characters have a very limited field of vision. They seem mainly to be soldiers in trenches, sailors in ships or pilots in planes. With this limitation it usually happens that the greater significance of what is going on is simply not available. I am aware that Turtledove creates some of his best effects by focusing on low-level characters, but here most of the characters really don't know what is going on, which means we don't either. A few politicians or commercial figures would have added a great deal of depth to what seems a rather shallow narrative.

Something that would help this series would be if changes in narrator could be signaled by some sort of dateline, e.g., "French lines before Laon -- November 23, 1939".

All of this is to say that there is not enough context in this story. Lots of good incidents, but not well put together. If Turtledove takes a bit more time with the next volume it will be much better.

I regret that I did not take in all of my fellow customer reviews before downloading the audio version to my iPod. I echo many of the reviews addressing the book in print form so will not duplicate the prevailing critique. I just want to add how difficult this was to enjoy based on the actor/reader's voice. I respect the challenge associated with trying to represent so many characters with so many accents but the performance was beyond distracting. Sometimes the French characters sounded like Germans and the Japanese accents were uncomfortably stereotypical. Perhaps a small cast covering all the parts would have delivered a more engaging performance. Even with accents each character sounded like the reader who has a habit of trailing off on the last sentence of every exchange. In terms of content, Turtledove was accurate regarding the weapons of war but the characters were cartoonish and the plot long and boring. In short, the initial promising premise was never delivered on.

This book had a fairly original premise with World War II breaking out a year earlier because Chamberlain stands up to Hitler at the Munich Conference. The description of the alternate World War II seems inadquate. It is too much like the otl World War II. The Germans defeat the Czechs too easily and Hitler defeats the army coup even though most historians believe that the coup would have succeeded. Turtledove makes another change where the original leader of the Spanish nationalists Sanjuro doesn't die early in the war. This divergence seems to serve no purpose as the absence of Franco doesn't seem to affect the course of the Civil War. The Spanish Nationalists attack on Gibralter also makes no sense given that the nationalists would have a harder time fighting the Republic given that the Republic would be recieving more aid from Britain and France then in otl and the Nationalists would have fewer resources to spare to attack Gibralter.

The dialogue of the characters is very flat. They all keep complaining about the poor quality of the coffee and tobacco.

This book promises an interesting story but doesn't deliver. It feels like any other WWII novel; dates and details are changed, but the Axis and Allies still end up aligned more or less the same, with the exception of Poland being an Axis country. The battles play out in roughly the same way, and to some extent so do the politics.

To do everything it wants to do (some of which is quite superfluous) the book has to resort to two seperate PODs, and in the end it adds what should probably count as a third, since it doesn't seem to flow from the existing changes.

Well maybe it's a character driven story, then?

That's what I thought when I first saw some spoilers in a review. But the characters really suck here. I've never had much trouble following HT's many POV characters, but in TL-191 and Derlavai and Worldwar the characters were differentiated and interesting. In this book almost all of the POV characters are completely interchangeable: they report combat scenes that are all so identical it's impossible to keep them straight. They'd done the same thing in Settling Accounts, but by then I'd gotten to know them. Here, though? I was thinking the other day how annoyed I was in The Grapple when Sam Carsten kept going on and on about having run guns to Ireland when it was Enos who did so. It occurred to me that if HT got, say, Vaclav Jezek and Alistair Walsh crossed in this series, I wouldn't even notice. They ALL run together. I can't count how many times I realized I had no idea who was narrating the scene I was reading. I didn't care, either.

Some characters add a little variety, but they lack relevance. There are two Spanish Civil War soldiers, one on each side, who are tiresome and thoroughly unimportant. (Wait, the Spanish Civil War is still going on? Yeah, it's still going on because . . . oh, who the hell cares. It doesn't affect the story any.) There's a U-Boat captain who's very, very boring. A Japanese soldier who doesn't have anything meaningful to do till the end but at least provides a somewhat exotic setting. A Soviet pilot who's all right but whose scenes move at a very slow pace. An American civilian who got trapped behind the lines and keeps trying to escape Berlin but can't get out because the Nazis think she's a spy. Now if she were a spy we'd have a great story, but instead she just keeps trying to escape. Her scenes are as formulaic as Power Rangers episodes. There's a German-Jewish girl whose family is being persecuted; she's pretty much the only character who has an interesting, unique story to tell, but I get the feeling it would be told far better by her father.

And the piece de resistance, a US marine sergeant in Beijing who does--NOTHING! Not a single blessed thing from the first page of the book to the last! He's the most useless character I've ever seen in my life. I just can't believe it! The printers of this book could save ink by replacing all the pages his scenes are written on with:

256 Hitler's War

INTERMISSION

They really could!! It wouldn't change a thing!!!!!

By the way, at the end of the book a new front opens in Asia. It's well to the north of Beijing (I'll let the spoiler-shy among you use your imaginations) but it's still on the continent. So what does he do? Gets transferred to Shanghai. He moves several hundred miles south for a reason which is not disclosed. I am absolutely convinced the move was made so he would be a safe distance from any actual EVENT!

Interesting things do happen offstage. Chamberlain survives two votes of no-confidence. Hitler survives a coup attempt by his generals and starts purging the Army. An American ship is sunk by a German U-boat and Washington howls in fury. We will see none of this, nor has it featured into the story as of the end of book one.

Speaking of the end of book one, the Germans have been having their way in their invasion of France the whole book long. This is not unusual for HT--one side gets all the momentum, then the other side gets it back. But usually there's SOMETHING to account for the shift, even if it's rarely interesting. Here? No. The Germans are about to take Paris. The Allied characters think how desperate their situation is, then say "But the Germans are tiring too." We've had no sign of this at all at any point in the book, but sure enough, the battle starts, and suddenly, the Germans are tiring! Paris is saved!

They've stumbled on a great weapon here. All they need to do is declare Germans to be tired, and they make it so.

God but this book is lame. Between this and The Golden Shrine, Turtledove's having a bad year.