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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. This sucks! No, not the book. The book is quite well written and interesting. In it, Mr. Turtledove wraps up the First World War. Well, the first world war of this particular alternate reality. You know, the one where the South had won the Civil War. Now the USA and CSA are fighting across the trenches, just like the European powers. Like the previous volumes of the trilogy, Mr. Turtledove tells the tale from the perspective of a variety of people: soldier and civilian; rich and poor; damnyankee, reb and canuck. That's where the problem lies. Some of those plot threads end somewhat happily, others, not so well. One... ah, one just sucks. It's good writing. It shows an important facet of life during wartime but... I won't spoil the surprise. I hated it. Still, it's a good read and wraps up the trilogy, so I gotta have it on my shelf. (  ) Hamburgerclan | Jul 16, 2008 |  http://nhw.livejournal.com/1026099.ht... The book is the third of a trilogy about an alternate history war ending in 1917, where the US and Germany are fighting a bitter trench combat against Britain/Canada, the Confederate States of America fifty years after their victory in the War of Secession, and France. All the action takes place on or near the North American continent. The major one of the "Breakthroughs" of the title is the penetration of Confederate lines on the Kentucky/Tennessee front by the US army's new battle machines (known as "barrels" rather than "tanks" in this world), under the command of septuagenarian George Armstrong Custer, as a result of which the Confederate front collapses, the US re-occupies Washington, annexes chunks of Canada and declares Quebec independent, and the war and the book both end. Turtledove has about a dozen viewpoint characters, telling the story from the point of view of the military and civilians affected by the war. US president Teddy Roosevelt pops into the narrative now and then, and the defeated CSA president appears at the end, but on the whole this is the story of the little people. It is detailed and well worked out, but didn't quite grab me as much as I was hoping. I very much enjoyed Turtledove's Hugo-winning novella "Down in the Bottomlands", and wonder if the discipline of the shorter form enables him to concentrate quality rather better than in a trilogy of 650-page books. (  ) nwhyte | Apr 17, 2008 |  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0345405633, Hardcover)Is it the war to end all wars--or war without end? What began as a conflict in Europe, when Germany unleashed a lightning assault on its enemies, soon spreads to North America, as a long-simmering hatred between two independent nations explodes. Twice in fifty years the Confederate States of America had humiliated their northern neighbor. Now revenge may at last be at hand.Under the leadership of Teddy Roosevelt, and following a general named Custer--military genius or madman?--the United States are fighting a war on two fronts in 1917. In the north, from the Pacific to Quebec, U.S. forces in the air and on land are locked in battle against Canada and Great Britain. To the south, at the heart of a line that stretches from the Gulf of California to the Atlantic, Custer intends to do what none of his predecessors had ever managed: to smash through the Confederate barbwire entrenchments in Tennessee. Into this vast, seething cauldron plunges a new generation of weaponry-- submarines, barrels, attack planes, poison gas, and flame throwers--changing the shape of war and the balance of power. While the Confederate States are distracted by an insurgency of African Americans with a dream of establishing their own socialist republic, the United States are free to bring their military and industrial might directly to bear--and to unleash the most horrific armored assault the world has ever seen. Here are leather-jacketed daredevil pilots flying unproved fighters into anti-aircraft fire. Here is a melee on the sea, as U.S. sailors duel Confederate submariners, while the English, French, and Japanese surface navies vie for control of the shipping lanes. In Harry Turtledove's incredibly imagined alternate history, the Great War is played out over a cast of vivid characters. Amidst the sound and fury of battle, as nonaligned nation-states choose sides and politicians spew bombast far from the front lines, The Great War: Breakthroughs captures a world war at an apocalyptic turning point. Victory is at hand--but at a price that may be worse than war itself . . . (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:57:51 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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