Customer Reviews

Departures

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was an excellent book of short stories. Turtledove says alot in just a few pages and I was left me hungering for more. I admit to being a fan of the alternate history/reality genre and Turtledove is a master at making such "potential pasts" believeable. Perhaps my favorite story of the group (and it was not an easy decision) was concerning the arrival of an official of the Persian court to the conquered province of Greece (I believe the story was titled "Counting Potsherds"). This tells a nice compact story of how things can quickly change on a person at the flick of a wrist. This story is representative of Turtledove's work because he allows the altenate history to be a seemless and natural background to the story, as if this was the real course of events. Some writers make too much of describing the alternate history and do not give enough time to giving life and action to the characters in their stories. Turtledove's worlds are certainly different from our own but the focus is still on people and everything that people do. If the world they're set in seems foreign and unfamiliar to the reader, the humans themselves make up for it by simply being real people which is the real strength of his work. Pick this one up.

Harry Turtledove's name has become almost synonymous with Alternate History. Guns of the South is perhaps the most talked about AH novel of today. Even historical SF novels by other authors sometimes have Turtledove's blurbs on the cover.

In this highly readable anthology, the Grand Master proves that he is perfectly capable of handling other types of fiction. Sure, it contains plenty of AH stories. One particularly interesting example ("Counting Potsherds") involves a world in which Persia conquered the Greek city-states, squelching out democracy. Another ("Islands in the Sea") tells of a lively and informative debate between Chritian and Muslim theologians. The title story, "Departures", is set in the Agent of Byzantium world, telling about the life of St. Mohammed.

The non-AH stories, however, are perhaps more interesting. They reveal many sides of Turtledove that were not apparent before. There is everything from baseball stories (including the tale of a batboy who turns into a bat) to Jewish-themed fiction (including one amusing story which asks whether a genetically engineered cud-chewing pig would be kosher) to fantasy (can a well-meaning werewolf escape a midieval lynch mob?) to hard SF (humans and aliens mingle in a futuristic bar). The tone of the stories is also highly variable, ranging from the dead serious (should humans become involved with the affairs of low-tech aliens?) to the utterly silly (what happens when a confused time traveller from the far future accidentally ends up in a 20th century office building?). These stories have practically nothing in common. Some make you think, some make you laugh, some just make you say "huh?", but all are very enjoyable.

A great choice for Turtledove fans everywhere, and even those who don't enjoy his AH may want to give it a try.

A new paperback shouldn't shed pages on the first reading. My copy did that. But I'll re-read several of these tales and mend the book as I go.
A fun assortment of yarns. Turtledove crafts Short Stories well. These stories give more insights into the Author himself than his novels do.

I read these stories several years ago and they turned me on to Harry Turtledove. I only wish he would write more of these; perhaps a volume two. I especially remember the story regarding democracy and its abortive beginings in Greece.

Turtledove is one of few writers in the genre of science-fiction and fantasy who write compelling short stories, and this book is full of great ones. His knowledge of and respect for history, evident in these pages, leads to stories that are historically plausible alternate happenings (excepting, of course, the ones with vampires, etc. :-). His historicity makes these stories even more wonderful to read, knowing that "it could have been", and it leads the reader to realize and spend thought-time on just how much of history is decided by very small events and chance, and how so much of what we know and who we are today might not have been if seemingly insignificant things hadn't happened (or had happened) even thousands of years ago.

I would receommend this book to anyone who is interested in history, science-fiction, gothic horror, or fantasy --> it will appeal to all. I also recommend it to anyone who enjoys literature (of whatever genre) that causes one to pause and think and see things a little bit differently after reading it.

In any collection of short stories there will be some tales that are stronger than others. _Departures_ is no exception to this rule. Harry Turtledove's alternative histories make for a fun read, the fact that most are under 20 pages contributes to this: its a book you can pick up, read a bit, put down and return to later without having to review characters or plot.

The stories are arranged chronologically, some with characters that will be familiar to regular readers of his work. (Each story has a brief introduction by the author.) There is an element of science fiction to the collection, but the majority are certainly historically plausable. While I am not a fan of alternative history or of science fiction, I was pleasantly surprised: the stories themselves were entertaining, and for the most part they weren't too far-fetched. My favorites? "Not All Wolves", "Batboy" and "The R Strain."

Certainly sci-fi and Turtledove fans will think the collection is great. For the uninitiated and skeptical, there is still much to like here.

Mr. T. is always a good read when one finds some down time. His characters are believeable folks one can identify. Who behave in ways that make sense when thrown into unusual sitituations. His plots while at first seen unlikey to the critical eye. They quickly grown and develope into a good story.

If you have to make these stories you're introduction to Alternate History please do so.

These are really cool stories, don't get me wrong. But at the same time, please don't expect strict "alternate history". Some of these are fantasy stories, for one thing, featuring werewolves, vampires, etc. Also, I am not sure how any story that takes place entirely in the future can be considered "alternate history", although I suppose that the stories set in the future do tend to feature at least a window into the present or past, and it is cast in an unusual, "alternate" light. Also, several of these tales deal with relatively obscure periods of the history of the Greek speaking world, an area in which Mr. Turtledove holds a PhD. It got me so interested in that period that I ended up going to the library to learn more about it, but just be prepared for the fact that these stories don't all deal with well-known themes of this genre. Definitely thought-provoking, and well-written tales.

An immensely enjoyable collection of alternate history tales. This genre is growing more popular all the time and that is good, because we can learn alot from well written AH. It teaches us to appreciate the people who made things happen throughout the threads of time instead of taking them for granted. Departures accomplishes this.