Homeward Bound (Mass Market Paperback)

by Harry Turtledove (Author)
Key Phrases: exalted fleetlord, imperial limner, emphatic cough, Big Uglies, Harry Turtledove, Sam Yeager (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Alternate-history maestro Turtledove's conclusion to his Worldwar and Colonization sagas, about how lizard-like aliens known as the Race invaded Earth during WWII and were fought to a stalemate by the major Allied and Axis combatants, lacks the vividly described battle scenes of its predecessors, but more than compensates by closely examining the Race's culture and society. While the Race have colonized much of Earth, they're amazed by the human ability to adapt to change. (The aliens' probe some 600 years earlier led them to expect they'd be facing armored knights.) When an American starship makes the trip to Home, the Race's planet of origin, the lizards fear the loss of their technological dominance and decide to annihilate Earth, their colony included... The question of how much common ground exists between the lizards and humans wouldn't have been out of place in old issues of Astounding. The author dramatizes the old "nature versus nurture" argument through the moving stories of a human woman raised from birth by the lizards and of two aliens raised as humans. Fans will be pleased that room remains for a sequel.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist
Turtledove brings the saga of the Lizards (the Race) and the Tosevites (Big Uglies, or humans) to a resounding and massive conclusion. The human race has developed a starship, and early in the book, it appears in the skies of Home. That sets the Race by the ears (well, it would if they had any), and their respect for and fear of the Tosevites' rate of change and technological ingenuity has them waiting for the other shoe to drop, though they don't wear shoes. [...] Turtledove keeps the story from becoming too convoluted by focusing on Sam Yeager, successful diplomat in spite of himself, and his family, and on Kassquit, the human baby raised as a Lizard, and thereby produces not only a more coherent narrative but also tours de force of characterization. Which is not to say that the book is free of japes, wordplay, and such odd devices as an aging Matt Damon in a pornographic historical epic, all of which reassure the reader that this is indeed a case of Turtledove in full cry. The whole saga, begun in the Worldwar series and continued in the Colonization trilogy, may not quite equal Turtledove's alternate America books, but it certainly ranks as something few other writers would have attempted and even fewer would have brought off so well. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 656 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey; First Edition edition (December 27, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345458478
• ISBN-13: 978-0345458476
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (78 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #164,494 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I'm a big fan, but this was disappointing..., December 18, 2005

By	Max Killinger "Max" (Danbury,CT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Homeward Bound (Hardcover)

Basically, the story went nowhere.

Nothing happened. I don't know how else to say it. Americans made it to Home in suspended animation. Home is hot and dry. The Race is shocked. America demands that they be respected as equals by the race. The Race refuses and just before they decide to launch a pre-emptive war, an American "Faster than Light" ship reaches home. Instead of spending years in suspended animation, the trip to home takes 5 weeks. Home, now realizing that they are now technologically INFERIOR for the first time in their history, decides not to make the attack. One of the Americans becomes Kassquit's sex partner, leaving her pregnant. The Americans go home.

Uh.......that's pretty much it. 600 pages.

46 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I'm a big fan of Turtledove, but..., March 31, 2005

By	Darren B. O'Connor (Norfolk, Virginia United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Homeward Bound (Hardcover)

I enjoyed the series as a whole. It's a fascinating premise: aliens invade in the middle of WWII, and the warring nations must put aside their differences in order to confront the new threat. Also, after several books of humans playing catch up with the alien invaders, it was satisfying to see them pull ahead technologically.

But having said that, this book has serious flaws. Turtledove is, I am saddened to admit, apparently devolving as a writer. Look at his first major work, the "Videssos Cycle" and you will see good pacing; good plotting; memorable, colorful characters; rich detail; and a host of other virtues. Look at his more recent work, and you will see signs of a more slipshod approach to each project. Perhaps this is because he is churning out a lot more books these days, and quality is suffering at the hands of quantity. Perhaps also, having achieved critical success and gained a following, his editors are less inclined to make changes to his work than they were when he was an unknown newcomer.

This book was more or less good. It wasn't great. And that's a pity, for greatness is something this author is quite capable of. Some details just don't ring true at all. Throughout this whole series, he's had humans meekly accept the appellation "Big Uglies" -- a clearly derogatory term -- from the Race. Nowhere to you see humans stand up and declare that that is a derogatory and insulting name, and they find it unacceptable -- even when humans are grown powerful enough to insist upon respectful treatment. Social trends like large numbers of humans aping the Race by shaving body hair and wearing body paint just don't ring true either, nor does humannkind aping the Race's language by interjecting such awkward and unnatural (for humans) things like interrogative and emphatic COUGHS into the English language. English can easily adapt words for new concepts from other languages (and often has), but the language has never altered basic speech patterns to such a radical degree, so it doesn't feel right at all that it should here. But these are details. By far the biggest flaw I discerned in the book was far more fundamental: the author shows a real tendency to beat certain things TO DEATH. Before I was a quarter of the way through the novel, I had read at least a dozen times how the Race had been possessors of an advanced starfaring technological civilization when Cro-Magnons were still taking over from Neanderthals. It seems that each character in the story is given the opportunity to state or reflect on this. At length. And the reader gets to read about it each and every time. After the fifth time I was rolling my eyes in exasperation. I GET IT ALREADY!!! It's as though Turtledove was getting paid by the word, and was determined to stretch this thing out as much as possible, in order to milk the cash cow. The book (and really, this whole series, for that matter) was entertaining, but could easily have been trimmed to half its length without sacrificing anything important to the story. Harry Turtledove is to writing what William Shatner is to acting. Shatner CAN turn in brilliant performances (watch Star Trek's "City on the Edge of Forever", or even "Star Trek III" [the scene where Kirk loses his son]). Shatner CAN act, and act very well. But he has an innate tendency to ham it up, so he needs a good director to rein him in, and keep him from overacting so much that he starts eating the scenery. Similarly, Turtledove, as he proved with the Videssos Cycle, can tell a fantastic story, but he needs a good editor to stop him from running on endlessly over the same points, and from unnecessary exposition.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Once upon a tiime, September 22, 2005

By	Canticle For Leibowitz (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Homeward Bound (Hardcover)

Once upon a tiime, September 23, 2005
Reviewer: Canticle For Leibowitz (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
Once upon a time there was a writer named Harry, who wrote some great and imaginative books, Guns of the South, Household Gods, Ruled Britannia...WHERE OR WHERE IS HE? Sorry, but anyone these days who buys any part of any of his many series is simply begging to be taken. I swear, its to the point that Harry Turtledove could be replaced by a computer program designed to write hack historical science fiction, a program designed for the computers of the late 1980's...does he mail these in? Does he pay interns to write for him? Look, I know some of you will hate this review, and probably love what hes doing, but really, don't you all know his formula by now, couldn't many of you outline his hack formula? Is there any one left who doubts he is STRETCHING THESE OUT FOR ALL THEY'RE WORTH? Is he paid by the word? Does he even care any more, does he have any respect left for his public? I LOVED his work, and I regret what he has become...now, please don't hate me!