Name: Tim Vos's review of Worldwar by Harry Turtledove
Item: Worldwar
Rating: 4
Author: Tim Vos

Harry Turtledove

NO ONE COULD STOP THEM-- NOT STALIN, NOT TOGO, NOT CHURCHILL, NOT ROOSEVELT . . . The invaders had cut the United States virtually in half at the Mississippi, vaporized Washington, D.C., devastated much of Europe, and held large parts of the Soviet Union under their thumb. But humanity would not give up so easily. The new world allies were ruthless at finding their foe's weaknesses and exploiting them. Whether delivering supplies in tiny biplanes to partisans across the vast steppes of Russia, working furiously to understand the enemy's captured radar in England, or battling house to house on the streets of Chicago, humankind would never give up. Yet no one could say when the hellish inferno of death would stop being a war of conquest and turn into a war of survival--the very survival of the planet . . . "From the Paperback edition.

Tilting the Balance

Worldwar

Tim Vos

Russia, Communist China, Japan, Nazi Germany, the United States: they began World War II as mortal enemies. But suddenly their only hope for survival--never mind victory--was to unite to stop a mighty foe--one whose frightening technology appeared invincible. Far worse beings than the Nazis were loose. From Warsaw to Moscow to China's enemy-occupied Forbidden City, the nations of the world had been forced into an uneasy alliance since humanity began its struggle against overwhelming odds. In Germany, where the banshee wail of hostile jets screamed across the land, caches of once-forbidden weapons were unearthed, and unthinkable tactics were employed against the enemy. Brilliantly innovative military strategists confronted challenges unprecedented in the history of warfare. Even as lack of fuel forced people back to horse and carriage, physicists worked feverishly to create the first nuclear bombs--with horrifying results. City after city joined the atomic pyre as the planet erupted in fiery ruins. Yet the crisis continued--on land, sea, and in the air--as humanity writhed in global combat. The tactics of daredevil guerrillas everywhere became increasingly ingenious against a superior foe whose desperate retaliation would grow ever more fearsome. No one had ever put the United States, or the world, in such deadly danger. But if the carnage and annihilation ever stopped, would there be any pieces to pick up? "From the Hardcover edition.

Upsetting the Balance

Bryan Alexander

This is another installment in an alternate history series, which I'm reading because my 15-year-old son ordered me to. Worldwar offers the intriguing idea of an alien invasion which occurs smack in the middle of WWII.

Upsetting the Balance is the third and weakest volume. 

In terms of plot, it traces the war through another year as multiple human nations struggle against the invaders, the Race or, as we call 'em, the Lizards. Most of the world has fallen to the aliens, but the leading WWII powers are still fighting hard: the US, the UK, the Nazis, the USSR, Japan, and China. Honestly, this becomes very repetitive and stale through the course of Upsetting, as multiple scenes rehash the same points for each side. We don't see much development until the end, whereupon (view spoiler)[humans and Lizards suddenly launch atomic strikes against each other. Munich, Chicago, Miami, Breslau, Seattle, Honolulu, and Rome all go up in nuclear fire. The Lizards nuke Tokyo earlier in the book, but it doesn't seem to mean much. The Lizard invasion of Britain is disappointing - Atvar's decision isn't explained (and everyone hates it), and it fails pretty quickly (hide spoiler)].

One nice scene has a psychologist (!) thinking about timelines. He makes a convincing case that the gap between the Lizards' observation of humanity (1400s, I think) and WWII would not have been a problem had the gap occurred earlier in history. For example, if the Lizards had spotted the Roman Republic, they would have had no problem walking over the late middle ages. A nice point, reminding me of Ian Morris' excellent Why the West Rules (for Now).

Other problems with the book: the Lizards simply suck. Every chapter sees them acting stupidly, outfoxed by clever humans. It's repetitive, unrealistic, and saps the story of much energy.

Another problem: the sheer death toll doesn't seem to affect humans very much. We are more upset by lack of electricity than mass slaughter.
Related to this: nuclear fallout doesn't seem to be an issue. Which is, ah, weird.

Bonus problem: apparently the southern half of the world lies under Lizard control. This doesn't seem to matter. The aliens don't get any joy from it, and the other humans don't seem to care. I'd love to see a storyline from the perspective of, say, an Australian aborigine, or a Chilean peasant. While I appreciate Turtledove's inclusion of fronts usually downplayed in WWII discussions (China, even Russia), this feels racist at worst, and awkward at best.

Extra-bonus problem: the US paperback shows a meeting between Einstein, Eisenhower, and Mussolini. Which actually happens in the book, but makes no sense. It's never explained, nor do any characters return to it later. Why is the Italian dictator in middle America...?

I'll look into volume 4, since my son will be unrelenting, but my expectations are low.

War seethed across the planet. Machines soared through the air, churned through the seas, crawled across the surface, pushing ever forward, carrying death. Earth was engaged in titanic struggle. Germany, Russia, France, China, Japan: the maps were changing day by day. The hostilities spread in ever-widening ripples of destruction: Britain, Italy, Africa...The fate of the world hung in the balance. Then the real enemy came. Out of the dark of night, out of the soft glow of dawn, out of the clear blue sky came an invasion force the likes of which Earth had never known - and worldwar was truly joined. The invaders were inhuman and they were unstoppable. Their technology was far beyond our reach, and their goal was simple. Fleetlord Atvar had arrived to claim Earth for the Empire. Never before had Earth's people been more divided. Never had the need for unity been greater. And grudgingly, inexpertly, humanity took up the challenge. In this epic novel of alternate history, Harry Turtledove takes us around the globe. We roll with German panzers; watch the coast of Britain with the RAF; and welcome alien-liberators to the Warsaw ghetto. In tiny planes we skim the vast Russian steppe, and we push the envelope of technology in secret labs at the University of Chicago. Turtledove's saga covers all the Earth, and beyond, as mankind - in all its folly and glory - faces the ultimate threat; and a turning point in history shows us a past that never was and a future that could yet come to be...

In the Balance

An entertaining alternate history, _Worldwar I_ shows the pleasures and limitations of the genre.

It's simply fun to follow the working-out of implications and details, once the divergence (alien invasion) appears. Will underground movements ally with the new invaders? How will Axis and Allied nations join to stop the initially overwhelming foe? How do various historical characters appear: Patton, Molotov, Churchill? The invasion's conceit (aliens scoped us out centuries ago, and thereby didn't plan for 1940s technology) is entertaining.

The book uses a social novel approach, portraying dozens of characters in many plots To his credit Turtledove embraces the global nature of the second World War. Characters are drawn from rural America and China, British intelligence and Soviet fliers, Japanese military and Nazi tankers, Jewish fighters and exiles. 

The aliens are somewhat interesting. Their culture has a single organizing idea, which becomes implausible over time. Some characters gradually emerge.

But the limitations... It's hard to do a social novel and have individual characters emerge. Think of how _The Wire_ gives as a rich, multilayered view of Baltimore, while most characters appear as distinct people. In contrast _Worldwar_'s characters are often thin perspectives, mobile optics giving us a quick sketch of what they see without developing much of an inner life.

This thinness leads to a failure of historical imagination. Most of the characters are or become nice people. Some start with racist ideas, which they shed through conversation. There aren't many true believers to represent Naziism, the Japanese empire, American white racism, or the Soviet Union. We can see progressive ideas unfold, but not the concepts they react against. Some representatives appear from time to time but only as placeholders, non-player characters in gaming language.

_Worldwar_ also struggles to depict the impact of large historical events. Turtledove does a good job with individual scenes, like conversations in occupied Paris or the adventures of a German tank crew. But we don't get a sense of the vast horror that would accompany, say, (view spoiler)[the nuclear destruction of Berlin and Washington, DC (hide spoiler)]. The weirdness and disorientation of first contact doesn't really appear, beyond a couple of characters being readers of Astounding. I'd contrast this, perhaps unfairly, with the way _The English Patient_'s main characters react to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, or the way Vonnegut establishes the horror of Dresden in _Slaughterhouse-Five_. Many of _Worldwar_'s events pass by like references to other books.

So: a fun book for alt.history buffs, but not much more.

When the united Allies and Axis use atomic weapons to save the Earth from lizardlike invaders, they risk damaging the planet so badly there is nothing left to defend

Tim Vos &
Worldwar by Harry Turtledove

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