Hitler's War (War That Came Early Series #1)

Not what I expected from Harry Turtledove

Let me start by saying Harry Turtledove is an amazing author and definatly go and read some of his other books. Just not this one. It starts out plausible but quickly becomes frustrating. The main problem I had was being expected to believe that a czech soldier escapes from his defeated country and goes to France to fight the nazis. If you read the book you'll know what i'm talking about. All in all I was desappointed by Harry Turtledove but will still read anything new he writes.

3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Turtledove Stumbles

Harry Turtledove has long been a favorite of mine. I rarely wait for a paperback edition of his alternate history novels. I can't; they're too damn good. But "Hitler's War" was a disappointment for me. The characters are sketchy with little or no resolution for most of them at the end. Unless you are a serious student of history, and are thoroughly aware of the world political situation in the late 1930s it will be easy for you to get lost. There was too much information and too little character/plot movement in one book. This would have been an excellent basis for a short series of books but, alas, it didn't happen. I will, of course, continue to read his most excellent books, but I cannot recommend this one.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Disappointed Again

I have been a long-time Harry Turtledove reader. His early works were creative, imaginative, and page-turners. However, his recent works have been extremely disappointing. He still does good character development, creates a credible "what if" world, and can hold the readers interest. However, in this like his last four or five books, it just seems as if he looks at the number of pages he's written and says "well, that's two hundred and eighty pages so I'll just quit and send it to the publisher now". His recent books have all ended abruptly, no conclusion and no resolution. Not even a paragraph with a glance and what the future in this alternative history might be. Will there be a sequel? Who knows? Sometimes he writes one, more often in recent years he doesn't. When I finished this book, it no longer left me wanting more - it was more like never again! This is probably the last book I will buy from an author that I used to look forward to every new publication.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Harry Turtledove once again changes a pivotal point in history and provides his answers to what if Chamberlain said no to Hitler

In 1938 England and France were prepared to tear away the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia and cede it to Germany until the leader of Sudeten Germany Konrad Heinlien takes refuge in Germany. A Czech assassinates him giving Hitler the excuse to invade. Neville Chamberlain and Messer Daladier refuse to sign the treaty that Hitler offers them. Hitler declares war.

The Czechs fight bravely, but are easily overwhelmed by the superior Nazi army abetted by Slovakia independence supporters. The German war machine quickly conquers Holland, Belgium and Lichtenstein. While leaders of both sides map strategic objectives, individuals struggle with the effect of the hostilities. Peggy Druce came to take the waters at Marianske Lazne but ended up a neutral stuck in Berlin unable to go home. The Goldmans always thought they were Germans first and Jews second until the Third Reich destroyed their beliefs. Their son joins the German army under a false name. Besides the prime fronts, there are other local wars like the Spanish Civil War where American Communists fight against Fascist forces. In China, the Japanese have invaded China while American marines have a ringside seat to the pacific Theatre. However, the biggest news is the German blitzkrieg heading towards Paris.

Harry Turtledove once again changes a pivotal point in history and provides his answers to what if Chamberlain said no to Hitler. In HITLER'S WAR, neither side is at full readiness especially the Allies who were stunned when war broke out as they adhered to their belief that they fought two decades earlier "the war to end all wars." Mr. Turtledove shows the impact of war on individuals who are powerless and quickly lose all hope. Although the alternative history premise is fun to follow due to a strong execution, it is the little people who bring heart and soul to the epic of "war what is good for, absolutely nothing: (Edwin Starr).

Harriet Klausner

2 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

A fun read and very a typical "Turtledove" novel.

A fun read and very a typical "Turtledove" novel. The Alternative History pviot point for this book is that Hitler starts WWII earlier then in our timeline. Here the war starts with an invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1938 as opposed to a free walk-in occupation of Czechoslovakia and a subsequent invasion of Poland in 1939. For some this may seem like a trivial change but this book the first of a series, shows that the geopolitics could be very different. If you have never read Turtledove before, his style is to create his story by moving his dialogues from one setting with a given set of characters to another. This book seems to have a larger set then usually of these setting, so it did take some effort before I felt comfortable recalling the dramas and characters and putting them together in a complete story picture. That said I did very much enjoy Harry Turtledove's history changing ideas in this Alternate History and look forward to reading the next book in the series. The only suggestion I have is that I thought a couple of the settings with respective characters should have been made up of major decision makers (i.e. FDR) to better understand the unfolding of this conflict from a more strategic level. I strongly recommend to all Alternate History fans, History buffs, especial Military History buffs.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Turtledove scores again

In keeping with the 'what if' and the 'might have been' of human history, Turtledoves latest leaves little wanting for his legoins of fans.

This first in a series examines how WW2 could have started with the land grab of 38' instead of the invasion of Poland in 39'.

As per HT's style, the characters come across as real, with the addition he is not afraid to kill them off in order to advance the plot.

All in all a good read and a tantalyzing example of what to look forward to in this new and exciting series.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A very interesting story! I have read Harry Turtledove novels before and they are good escapism! I felt the character development was good and that I knew many of the characters and what made them "tick" I look foward to the second vol

A good read. Allof his books are interesting and alternate history is a good "What If" a few things had been different.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Disappointing Effort From a Master

Having read almost all of his books, this one left me cold. Almost no plot. Just a series of incident involving various people in a fictitious war. No real ending, Seems like he got tired of writing and quit. Many character situations are left unresolved. Certainly does not live up to my expectations of this author.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Another Turtledove classic

Harry Turtledove does it again with another great alternate history novel.

Interesting - to a point

Turtledove does a great job with developing a story arc. He also does well with details on uniforms, geography, political developments, etc. But his wordsmithing can be a bit grating. Infantry seems to always "lope" behind tanks. Traits for charactars are repeated ad nauseum. They always over-explain their responses or comments. Thus, back and forth conversation is either stitled by excessive analysis, or very cliched wisecracks like a 1930's Film Noir B movie. But if you can endure the prose (and the frequent profanity), the story rewards your patience. This is true for me across all three books so far in his series.

Great book but overpriced for digital

The book is awesome but don't bother w/the electronic format, it's overpriced 3-fold. $11.99 for an ebook is just ridiculous, even for an author as good as Harry Turtledove.

The Best

Harry Turtledove is the best alternate history author writing today. His plots are fascinating I have read nearly every book he has written and they are all phenominal.

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.