∎ [PDF] In the Balance Worldwar Series Volume 1 Harry Turtledove 9780345420565 Books

In the Balance Worldwar Series Volume 1 Harry Turtledove 9780345420565 Books

Download As PDF : In the Balance Worldwar Series Volume 1 Harry Turtledove 9780345420565 Books

In the Balance Worldwar Series Volume 1 Harry Turtledove 9780345420565 Books

Please note, this is a Kindle version review. I prefer to rate books based on their story, characters etc. But unfortunately I have to dock points here for the production quality.

Let me start by saying the book is great. It is not imperfect, but it's a good lead-in to a really interesting "what if?" series that should appeal to alternate history buffs as well as casual sci-fi fans (well... probably most sci-fi fans, but note that the focus of the book is more on the alternate history angle and the interactions between characters and political powers).

I'd give the book itself 4 stars. But at the date of this review the Kindle product is quite poor. Specifically, the quality of the Kindle transcription is pathetic. It is riddled with typos. Typically these are in the form of punctuation errors. Sentences will randomly gain or drop major punctuation marks, sometimes resulting in a need to read them 2-3 times in order to parse what was originally intended. Sometimes one sentence becomes three. Sometimes three sentences become one. "What on, earth is that extra comma doing there,?"

There are also frequent spelling errors. For example, an "h" might become "in" in this version. As with the punctuation errors, this is presumably due to flaws in some automated means of translating the print text into digital text. But other times whole words are different (as if the victim of auto-correct on one's cell phone). There were a few cases (extreme enough that I suspect they may have been in the original print text as well) where a character's name is swapped with that of another... from a different plot line! Why is the alien going by the German Panzer commander's name in this paragraph? Bad editing.

These issues come and go. There are stretches of the book that are "ok" and then there are pages at a time where these issues are particularly bad.

The book is readable; you can make your way through the enjoyable writing without too much effort. But it's painful to read at times, and it is a real shame that that is the case


Tags : In the Balance (Worldwar Series, Volume 1) [Harry Turtledove] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. War on earth erupted in every corner of the globe. Then the real enemy came. Inhuman invaders who were unstoppable,Harry Turtledove,In the Balance (Worldwar Series, Volume 1),Ballantine Books,034542056X,Science Fiction - General,Fiction,Fiction Science Fiction General,GENERAL,General Adult,Science Fiction

In the Balance Worldwar Series Volume 1 Harry Turtledove 9780345420565 Books Reviews

Like much of Turtledove's work, this would have worked better as a trilogy. There is so much good stuff in here, but many of the side plots, exposition and dialogue bits are repetitive and drag. Worth more of a skim than a thorough read.
I read the first in the series and found it moderately enjoyable. That was enough to give the second book a try.

I understand Turtledove is a big name in SciFi, but from reading these two works, I'm not sure why.

The characters are very flat, and the plot is ... what plot? Oh yeah, somebody forgot the plot. The various characters plod through various challenges that are loosely linked sometimes. That's about all.

The overall concept of the book is great. World building is very good. But that won't induce me to read the final book, especially with the amont of typos in this one. I'll look up the book descriptions online. That proved more interesting than reading the first book.
Another great read/listen by turtledove- I just started reading his books and this one is really good with some concepts that are unique and fun in this genre. He obviously has a favorite "culture" so those chapters get a little run on but don't let them spoil the story. the story is full of historical, political and cultural detail along with some fictional details of the invaders that are, IMO, well thought out. good entertainment!

Per other reviews, there are some atrocious grammatical errors, but they do not take a way from the read- they are easy to work around. Knowing that going in I think helps.
This is a very enjoyable theoretical sci-fi series, but it is not without its share of problems. I won't bother listing the things I liked or what's great about the series, because if you're reading reviews of Book 2 it probably means you've already read Book 1 and know whether or not you like the books. In short, if you liked Book 1, get Book 2, because it advances the story well.

I think the biggest problem I have with the series is that the Lizards are put across as technologically advanced and very intelligent, but they seem to pick the dumbest course of action in any given circumstance. Why did they land a ship full of nuclear weapons down on the planet's surface where it could be attacked and detonated? Why are they crossing the Russian Steppes and fighting there instead of going someplace tactically useful? If they have heat-seeking missiles and use them to blow up planes and tanks that are hidden, why don't they use them to blow up power plants and generators to cut off all electrical production, thus cutting off any hope of production capabilities the humans have?

It just seems that in every situation, the humans triumph due to "ingenuity" that comes across more as unbelievable luck as often as not, while the Lizards lose ships, weapons, men, tanks, and whatever else because they make gross tactical errors. Twenty thousand years of history taught them that attrition-based warfare is still the best way to take over an ENTIRE PLANET? I'm not a military man or a strategist, but if I arrived at an alien planet to conquer it and found half of it busy fighting itself, I don't think I'd jump in there and start fighting. Why attack every place at once, when you can focus your efforts on the places that aren't already at war, leaving the battlegrounds to continually weaken themselves? I honestly expected that aliens with interstellar travel technology would have better tactics than throwing bodies at their enemies with a handful of tanks, helicopters, and air strikes sprinkled in - and that's to say nothing of their lack of weapons ingenuity. If they'd gotten to Earth sixty years later, they'd have gotten their collective tail-stumps kicked in.

I think what it basically boils down to is that the books give me the impression that the humans win every battle but the Lizards are somehow winning the war. When baseball players are taking out tanks with bottles of alcohol and a simple rifle is good enough to take down a jet fighter, it makes me wonder why we don't resort to using rubber bands and paper clips to fight. It doesn't really add up at this point, but the books are enjoyable so I'm going to see how Book 3 goes. Hopefully we start to see some of this Balance that keeps getting mentioned in the book titles, because for the moment, it simply looks like the Lizards are going to lose by virtue of running out of weapons and ammo before they run out of bodies.

P.S. - one other serious problem is that quite a few of the characters are becoming unlikable. When a book flips from viewpoint to viewpoint, making some of the characters unlikable tempts people to put the book down for the night or actually skip sections when those characters come around.
Please note, this is a version review. I prefer to rate books based on their story, characters etc. But unfortunately I have to dock points here for the production quality.

Let me start by saying the book is great. It is not imperfect, but it's a good lead-in to a really interesting "what if?" series that should appeal to alternate history buffs as well as casual sci-fi fans (well... probably most sci-fi fans, but note that the focus of the book is more on the alternate history angle and the interactions between characters and political powers).

I'd give the book itself 4 stars. But at the date of this review the product is quite poor. Specifically, the quality of the transcription is pathetic. It is riddled with typos. Typically these are in the form of punctuation errors. Sentences will randomly gain or drop major punctuation marks, sometimes resulting in a need to read them 2-3 times in order to parse what was originally intended. Sometimes one sentence becomes three. Sometimes three sentences become one. "What on, earth is that extra comma doing there,?"

There are also frequent spelling errors. For example, an "h" might become "in" in this version. As with the punctuation errors, this is presumably due to flaws in some automated means of translating the print text into digital text. But other times whole words are different (as if the victim of auto-correct on one's cell phone). There were a few cases (extreme enough that I suspect they may have been in the original print text as well) where a character's name is swapped with that of another... from a different plot line! Why is the alien going by the German Panzer commander's name in this paragraph? Bad editing.

These issues come and go. There are stretches of the book that are "ok" and then there are pages at a time where these issues are particularly bad.

The book is readable; you can make your way through the enjoyable writing without too much effort. But it's painful to read at times, and it is a real shame that that is the case