Harry Turtledove
Language: English
ISBN
Fiction:Historical
Publisher: Random House Pub.
Published: Aug 9, 2005
In Turtledove's engrossing second book in the alternate history master's Settling Accounts trilogy (after 2004's Return Engagement), Confederate forces, in an undeclared war of revenge that coincides with WWII, have split the United States from the Ohio River to Lake Erie, but this only stiffens Yankee resolve. Insurrection breaks out in occupied Canada and in Mormon Utah, resulting in harsh reprisals by U.S. troops against civilians, while Confederate President Jake Featherstone pushes for more "population reductions" of freed slaves. As in the previous volume, Turtledove comes up with convincing analogues to events during WWII, such as the Confederate army's Stalingrad-like defeat around Pittsburgh. On the other hand, his portrait of the führer-like Featherstone is less persuasive. The Southern leader shows more courage and flexibility than his model, making intimations of future behavior a procrustean attempt to force him back into a Hitlerian mold. There's enough back story for the benefit of new readers, while established fans, despite the repetition, will find this latest installment thoroughly satisfying. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Starred Review The second volume of Turtledove's third alternate World War II trilogy, Settling Accounts, is in many ways the strongest one in any of them. The Confederacy has given its best shot at cutting the U.S. in two between the Ohio River and the Great Lakes, but U.S. production and tenacity are beginning not only to hold the line but also to regain lost ground. Meanwhile, at sea the primary opponents are the U.S and Britain, and "deep in the heart of Texas," nobody is singing as Jake Featherston's final solution to the Negro problem picks up speed. There is plenty of action, and, of course, characterization remains one of Turtledove's long suits. But the real strength of the book, and of the whole alternate-history saga of which it is neither least nor last, lies in the juxtaposition of events not usually associated with people who could be readers' parents or grandparents. Firing squad executions in Canada? Suicide bombers in Utah and the Deep South? A U.S. destroyer escort sinking a British Q-ship? The pacing practically compels one to keep reading, but after a certain point, Turtledove's not-just-refutation but massacre of "American exceptionalism" may bring some readers to the point of putting the book away and seeking a soothing, cozy novel by Stephen King. Roland GreenCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Description:
From Publishers Weekly
In Turtledove's engrossing second book in the alternate history master's Settling Accounts trilogy (after 2004's Return Engagement), Confederate forces, in an undeclared war of revenge that coincides with WWII, have split the United States from the Ohio River to Lake Erie, but this only stiffens Yankee resolve. Insurrection breaks out in occupied Canada and in Mormon Utah, resulting in harsh reprisals by U.S. troops against civilians, while Confederate President Jake Featherstone pushes for more "population reductions" of freed slaves. As in the previous volume, Turtledove comes up with convincing analogues to events during WWII, such as the Confederate army's Stalingrad-like defeat around Pittsburgh. On the other hand, his portrait of the führer-like Featherstone is less persuasive. The Southern leader shows more courage and flexibility than his model, making intimations of future behavior a procrustean attempt to force him back into a Hitlerian mold. There's enough back story for the benefit of new readers, while established fans, despite the repetition, will find this latest installment thoroughly satisfying.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From
Starred Review The second volume of Turtledove's third alternate World War II trilogy, Settling Accounts, is in many ways the strongest one in any of them. The Confederacy has given its best shot at cutting the U.S. in two between the Ohio River and the Great Lakes, but U.S. production and tenacity are beginning not only to hold the line but also to regain lost ground. Meanwhile, at sea the primary opponents are the U.S and Britain, and "deep in the heart of Texas," nobody is singing as Jake Featherston's final solution to the Negro problem picks up speed. There is plenty of action, and, of course, characterization remains one of Turtledove's long suits. But the real strength of the book, and of the whole alternate-history saga of which it is neither least nor last, lies in the juxtaposition of events not usually associated with people who could be readers' parents or grandparents. Firing squad executions in Canada? Suicide bombers in Utah and the Deep South? A U.S. destroyer escort sinking a British Q-ship? The pacing practically compels one to keep reading, but after a certain point, Turtledove's not-just-refutation but massacre of "American exceptionalism" may bring some readers to the point of putting the book away and seeking a soothing, cozy novel by Stephen King. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved