Homeward Bound

November 29, 2004
Alternate-history maestro Turtledove's conclusion to his Worldwar and Colonization sagas, about how lizard-like aliens known as the Race invaded Earth during WWII and were fought to a stalemate by the major Allied and Axis combatants, lacks the vividly described battle scenes of its predecessors, but more than compensates by closely examining the Race's culture and society. While the Race have colonized much of Earth, they're amazed by the human ability to adapt to change. (The aliens' probe some 600 years earlier led them to expect they'd be facing armored knights.) When an American starship makes the trip to Home, the Race's planet of origin, the lizards fear the loss of their technological dominance and decide to annihilate Earth, their colony included—until another Earth spaceship arrives, this one with the faster-than-light drive the Race never developed. The question of how much common ground exists between the lizards and humans wouldn't have been out of place in old issues of Astounding
. The author dramatizes the old "nature versus nurture" argument through the moving stories of a human woman raised from birth by the lizards and of two aliens raised as humans. Fans will be pleased that room remains for a sequel. Agent, Russ Galen.

December 1, 2004
When the lizardlike aliens known as the Race intruded upon World War II, they forced a truce that ceded part of Earth to the invaders. Decades later, technology has enabled humans to send a faster-than-light ship to the home world of the Race, which escalates the stakes for both worlds and opens up a new set of possibilities-or perils. Turtledove's long-awaited conclusion to his "Worldwar" and "Colonization" series brings together many plot threads from both series, weaving a grand spectacle of alternate history that depends as much on its individual moments as on its large-scale encounters. Fans of alternate history and series followers will demand this title. A good choice for most sf collections.

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2004
Turtledove brings the saga of the Lizards (the Race) and the Tosevites (Big Uglies, or humans) to a resounding and massive conclusion. The human race has developed a starship, and early in the book, it appears in the skies of Home. That sets the Race by the ears (well, it would if they had any), and their respect for and fear of the Tosevites' rate of change and technological ingenuity has them waiting for the other shoe to drop, though they don't wear shoes. War is a genuine danger, especially when the other shoe drops in the form of an American faster-than-light ship that immediately shifts the balance of power in humanity's favor. Turtledove keeps the story from becoming too convoluted by focusing on Sam Yeager, successful diplomat in spite of himself, and his family, and on Kassquit, the human baby raised as a Lizard, and thereby produces not only a more coherent narrative but also tours de force of characterization. Which is not to say that the book is free of japes, wordplay, and such odd devices as an aging Matt Damon in a pornographic historical epic, all of which reassure the reader that this is indeed a case of Turtledove in full cry. The whole saga, begun in the Worldwar series and continued in the Colonization trilogy, may not quite equal Turtledove's alternate America books, but it certainly ranks as something few other writers would have attempted and even fewer would have brought off so well. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)