The premise is that in May, 1942, just as the human race is getting ready for some serious mutual bloodletting, invaders from another star show up. These are the Race, known to humans as 'the Lizards', a species that has developed VERY slowly and patiently, and has conquered two other inhabited worlds. Both the alien races the Lizards have previously encountered were much like them. Humans aren't.

The Lizards have only sublight travel, and last surveyed Earth during the Crusades. They expect humanity to have advanced as much in 800 years as they or the other conquered races would have -- that is, barely at all. So they deploy their supersonic fighters and tanks, ready to roll over knights on horseback, and run smack into armies that are outclassed in some respects, and fully competitive in others.

A big factor determining if you'll like this series is whether you're willing to buy into the premise. You could say that these books are highly artificial -- let the Race arrive in 1932 and they'd walk over humans, let them show up in 1952 and they'd be nuked before they got a foothold. Or you can say 'the Race' is carefully contructed. Turtledove obviously started with the idea of an invasion during WWII that would be neither a pushover nor doomed, and the Lizards' characteristics follow logically from that plot requirement. As it is, humanity and the Race are "In the Balance," just matched to each other. This delighted me, but it clearly annoyed some of the reviewers.

The other big factor in deciding whether you'd like this series is pace and scope. The story develops a bit slowly, and not everyone will like following dozens of characters scattered over the globe as they make their separate decisions to fight or cooperate with the invaders, and try to stay alive in a world turned upside down. Also, things won't be resolved quickly, any more than the real WWII was over in a few months. Again, this annoyed some, but left me with lots to look forward to.

The "World War" series develops over four books, till the humans and the Race reach temporary balance, and continues in the "Colonization" series, when the aliens main settlement fleet finally arrives. If you want everything settled in one novel, this is definitely not for you. If, like me, you enjoy following dozens of characters spread through years and continents, you'll probably like this series.

Turtledove's characters are mostly well drawn, and the plotting fairly tight. His knowledge of history shows, and I mostly believed his assessments of how Hitler, Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt would have reacted to these events. There are some things I would have insisted on changing if I was his editor, but overall I liked all four of the "Worldwar" series, and eagerly await the third volume in the "Colonization" series.


A disappointing bloatfest   August 18, 2000
 12 out of 18 found this review helpful

... This series, which runs well over 2000 pages, could havebeen edited into 600 pages and been an OK read.

These books are among the most painfully repetitive you'll ever read - for several reasons. First you can actually start the series anywhere, at any chapter, and within two chapters have the entire backstory - he repeats what's happened so frequently. Then within one 100 page spread late in the series, I counted 12 different times characters, when having an alcoholic beverage, commented a) on its poor quality (i.e. "this is what passes for beer these days") and b) it's better to have this than nothing. ...

Finally, the author has this annoying habit of unnecessarly explaining what a character really means when they've said something - and often in excrutiating detail. ...

The biggest disappointment: ... The bookcovers of the series feature military and political leaders. I imagined gripping scenes at the executive leadership level - grand strategic and tactical discussions, and the fireworks between these leaders when ideologies clash as they attempt to solve the alien threat. Awesome.

Alas, we are only given fleating glimpses of these figures, usually from a distance, and instead we trudge through with uninteresting sidebar characters who are remarkably alike.

This was a brilliant concept. I hope someone else does it right.


Harry Turtledove's materful retelling of history   February 4, 2000
 7 out of 9 found this review helpful

Harry Turtledove secures his title as master of alternate history in this thrilling book for fans of history and sci-fi alike. In this alternate history of WWII, a reptilian alien culture called the Race ( labelled "the lizards" by humanity) launch a massive invasion of war-torn Earth in May, 1942. Expecting the conquest to be a walkover, the Race soon realizes that humanity is going to be far more difficult to passify than anticipated. Turtledove takes us on an exciting journey accross the globe, from Nazi-occupied Europe (where the aliens face the brutal efficiency of Hitler's war machine) to the suburbs of Chicago (where General Patton attempts to halt the alien onslaught). Turltedove expertly tells the story of a huge cast of memorable characters, some fictitious, others prominent historic figures. We are shown the struggle of a Chinese peasant woman and the desperation of a Jewish family in Warsaw. We join an RAF bomber crew on a suicidal mision and ride with a German panzer commander against unstoppable alien war machines. Likewise, we also get to see the war through the aeyes of the Race. We get to experience the suffering of an alien pilot with the misfortune to be captured by the Japanese. We also get to experience the inner workings of the Race's military and political hierarchy. Turtledove also forces us to look at humanity's own shortcomings. In some ways humanity seems to be far worse than the Race (such as the Nazi and Soviet death camps and the Japanese enslavement of China's populous). All in all, Worldwar: In the Balance is a must read for any fan of sci-fi OR history. In a fascinating story of bitter enemmies forced to unite against the greater foe, Turtledove brings together the horrors of war and the strength of the human will to survive adversity to weave on of the greatest tales in the history of sci-fi.


Intriguing Idea, Tepid Execution   November 7, 2001
 6 out of 7 found this review helpful

The friend who loaned me this book had this to say:
"Harry tries to stuff 55 pounds of (...) in a 5 pound bag."

I'm inclined to agree with him. You'll need a scorecard just to keep track of the plethora of characters (some rather poorly-developed to the point of stereotyping). Quite a few scenes seem contrived (e.g., Mr. & Mrs. Larssen...I won't say more), and it feels like Turtledove has opted for quantity over quality, often filling scenes with comments on liquor quality, etc. Turtledove seems to fall back on constantly reiterating how slow the invaders are, philosophically, to the point where I was ready to say "enough already...can we please get on with the story?"

I stand by my title. This could have been good.


Very Close to Pornography..   February 4, 2004
 6 out of 16 found this review helpful

I was never more disappointed in any book I read. The story went directly from the eve of invasion by the aliens to "Oh, my, they're here!" with no explination no how they got here. The book was also more concerned with the characters sex life. They spendt 90% of their time having sex, with the aliens forcing their captives to have sex, because they didn't reproduce sexually and were doing 'research'. Even earth people who weren't in captivity seemed to spend most of their time having sex. I will never read any by Mr. Turtledove again.