Book One), Hitler's War (The War That Came Early

The Book Report: The "Master of Alternate History", per his jacket copy, takes on one of the most popular subjects in all of alternative hitory: WWII. Equaled in numbers of treatments only by the American Civil War, WWII is a target rich environment for armchair historians to play with: Operation SeaLion succeeds (invasion of the UK); the 1944 coup against Hitler succeeds; the 1940 US election returns an isolationist President and the UK reaches terms; Battle of Midway goes the other way; Japan doesn't get nuked, much loss of life in conquering it; etc etc etc blah blah blah. Since 2001, I've read the nasty, hostile, but very interesting posts on the old USENET group soc.hist.what-if, so it takes a LOT to get me interested in something about WWII. Turtledove's fame in the field wouldn't be enough to entice me, I assure you, since I can't *abide* one of his most popular series about aliens landing on earth during WWII.

Here, however, we have something that really piques my interest. It's an actual historical possibility: Chamberlain of England and Daladier of France refuse to hand over Czechoslovakia instead of buying themselves a little longer preparation time by waving bye-bye to their ally as they did on our timeline. (The antique USENET convention for representing alternative history events is to do this: *WWII means the MODIFIED version of the war, where WWII is understood to be the one departed from by the modified version; henceforward, if you see the asterisk, that's what it means.) So *WWII starts in 1938, not September 1939. Poland isn't the first country attacked, and in fact ends up allied to Germany in opposition to its very long-term enemy Russia. The *Spanish Civil War (remember now!) is run by a General Sanjurjo, instead of Franco; the man died for his vanity in OUR reality (called OTL in USENET terms, so again: "OTL" = Our Time Line, the world we learned about in history books). This means for some very cogent reasons that the *Spanish Civil War isn't over when *WWII begins, and there are some significant results from that. The *Japanese, busy raping China into submission as in OTL, realize that one of their longterm ambitions is in easy reach: The conquest of Siberia, with its **astonishing** riches, to add to Manchuria. It's all very plausible, and it's all very tidily constructed.

What Turtledove usually does, he does here: He tells his story through the lens of many different viewpoints on all sides of every conflict. He makes sure the reader sees through American, Russian, Czech, French, Spanish, Japanese, Jewish eyes what the causes and results of *WWII are. All that tidy construction feels quite fragmented, and seems to be an excuse for chaos. In fact, this book could simply not have been written had Turtledove not had a tight and complete grasp of the facts he's departing from, in order to create the modified world. His success is close to complete.

My Review: Oh, but the price one pays for following so many, many characters. Nothing ever gets more than set up; the payoff is pages and pages away, several stories of great interest intervening, and sometimes the action sounds quite repetitive because after 40pp the author or his editor thought it'd be a good idea to give a little review of where we left, for examply, Luc Harcourt and Sergeant Demange. Wearing. Action-slowing. Not usually necessary, IM(never-very)HO. But nonetheless, the suspense manages to build, because unlike the OTL history of WWII, the *WWII has events in it we never even heard of! I like that. I like that I can trust Dr. Turtledove to build those events from sound conjectures. And most of the time, I overlook the little inconsistencies (a character bound for Romania suddenly turns up in Berlin, no explanation offered). I like alternative history because I like OTL history, and I like seeing what a storyteller can do with the astoundingly rich vein of material there is in any historical account.

But will this book make converts among those who have not drunk the historical Kool-Aid? No, on balance, I suspect not. I'd never suggest that someone start reading alternative history here. But for those of us already In The Cult, it's a damn good outing and the beginning of a series that promises some very rich rewards.

If you're considering trying Turtledove, this isn't the place to start. The best thing I can say about this book is that I checked it out of the library and didn't spend $17 on it. You should know that this is the first book in a series. It has no ending whatsoever.

Turtledove loves to do alternate histories. The problem is that he tends to do them all the same way. He takes a number of small players in an event (usually a war) and tells the story from their perspective. Since he's now done several WW2 era stories, he's been over this ground before. If he told the story from the primary player's perspective, it might be better. These "little people" stories all start sounding the same, though. In fact, Turtledove has gotten so repetitive he really needs to hire a better editor. This book could be 200 pages shorter and lose nothing.

A few things that are firmly established: 1) wartime cigarettes don't taste good 2) non-coms think that their officers are stupid 3) Soldiers are generally in the dark about what's going on and just want to stay alive 4) Hitler and Stalin didn't allow for dissent in the ranks. I lost track of how many times these same comments were made.

The other major frustration I have with the book is that it gives no hint that it's book one in a series (granted, one should probably realize that with Turtledove). This wouldn't be quite so bad if the book had a legitimate ending, but since it just stops in mid-story, it really doesn't qualify as a book. A cynical reader might assume that it's just a money making enterprise.

The biggest problem here, though, is that the story just isn't told very well. It's not very interesting.

Harry Turtledove, the unchallenged master of alternative history scores a bullseye with his latest epic saga! Starting in a Spain just as their Civil War germinates, Turtledove's latest book quickly picks up speed and plunges you into the world of a war that could potentially have happened.

From the battlefields of Spain, to the marshes of northern Poland, and the frozen far far east, the reader is plunged head first in the War That Came Early. The scope of this first book, in which the British and French stood their ground against Nazi aggression at Munich (where, historically, they caved to Hitler's demands to carve up Czechoslovakia) is dazzeling. The detail, though, is pure Turtledove, and quite realistic; by the time you're done reading it, you almost have to check yourself to remember that it did not actually happen this way.

As almost always, the author quickly dispenses with the political reasons for the conflict and goes straight for the action. And like always, he focusses on the common soldier on both sides, and the innocent civilians who are caught up in the malestrom.

That's what gives this story such depth. It's not simply a story of war, it's the story of people, whether its the perspective a brave and patriotic (but politically naive) German dive bomber pilot and his cynical tail gunner, a French polis, a British Tommy, a dedicated Japanese soldier, a Jewish German, or a trapped American woman, you see the war unfold before your eyes and theirs. It's this realism that makes the narrative so compelling and moves the story along, never quite sure of the outcome, which always remains in doubt until the final pages.

This dramatic tension is what makes Hitler's War so compelling; you literally don't want to put it down as each page tantalizes you with more details, like a classy burlesque dancer slowly shedding her garmets. By the time you reach the final page, though, you're ready to cheer along with the hard-pressed French soldier who lets out a whoop as a British Hurricaine fighter swoops in low to strafe the German lines.

It's only when you're done that you realize this is, as Churchill once famously said, not the end, nor the beginning of the end, but merely the end of the beginning. Where Turtledove takes this, only he knows but with this first novel of an alternate World War II, he has clearly set the bar very high for what will follow.

If Hitler's War: The War That Came Early is not real history, it is because it is better than real history. It is a snapshot, indeed, of a world gone mad, and of the madman that brought it about.

Fraught with tension, and filled with great detail, Turtledove has weaved a very compelling and realistic story as only he can. From the battlefields of Spain and Siberia, from the perspective of a German panzer commander to that of a Jewish family trying to live in the Nazi Reich, the pace never lets up for a moment. It is, quite simply, a terrific and facinating read!

Thank you Harry!

Harry Turtledove writes some of the best war and alternate history around. That said, even Harry can write something like this in his sleep. If you look at his website, this is the first in a projected five/six book series and he is taking his time introducing us to his menu of characters. Like most of his series, there are people a plenty and it takes time to explain their situations and how the war is effecting them.

But, this book has the feel of half-a-book, there is such a thing as too much characterization. By the end of the novel I have learned four new ways to say "F..k you". Now that may serve me well sometime in the future, but I'd like to understand more of the history and less of the alternate. Strangely enough, of all the nations fighting in this "WW 2", no one Italian has shown up yet, and the only Chinese is a servant in the US Embassy in Peking. So that's why I think this isn't the whole first book. The second, called "East West" (snappy title) is probably that second half and maybe is the bringing of the US into the war.

The third book due in 2012 (if we live that long) is titled "The Big Switch", which portents that one of the major Allies or Axis will switch sides or come in on a different side (probably the former) to make this more of an alternate as opposed to a replay. So we'll just have to wait and see.

Zeb Kantrowitz

I enjoy aternate history novels, and this happened to be the first time I've read a Turtledove book. After getting about 2/3 of the way through, I came to the conclusion that the book was moving slow enough that there was no way a definiate ending would be coming. I went online and found it to be first book of a series that would span 5 or 6 books. I had fortunately bought the first book of that series.
I enjoyed this book, with it action scenes and the author's knowledge of history and military equipment. The characters though were not prominent figures of the war, except at the beginning when Hitler and other world leaders were included in the storyline. I would have preferred them to step in more often throughout the book to fill in the reader of what exactly was happening from their perspective and give a little more input to the strategies they had in mind.
At first I didn't care for Turtledove's writing style. Too many side bars and parenthesis to the characters' words and actions, with lots of idioms and half hearted attempts at humor. Lots of foriegn word statements that were many times not translated. I became accoustomed to it later in the book, which made reading it a little easier.
I agree with other reviewers that many things were repeated throughout the book. However I didn't mind it that much as it gave a realistic perspective for the imagination and reminder of the hard life the characters were living through.
All in all it was an ejoyable read of the way things might of been. I will be buying the rest of the series.

A fun read and very a typical "Turtledove" novel. The Alternative History pviot point for this book is that Hitler starts WWII earlier then in our timeline. Here the war starts with an invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1938 as opposed to a free walk-in occupation of Czechoslovakia and a subsequent invasion of Poland in 1939. For some this may seem like a trivial change but this book the first of a series, shows that the geopolitics could be very different. If you have never read Turtledove before, his style is to create his story by moving his dialogues from one setting with a given set of characters to another. This book seems to have a larger set then usually of these setting, so it did take some effort before I felt comfortable recalling the dramas and characters and putting them together in a complete story picture. That said I did very much enjoy Harry Turtledove's history changing ideas in this Alternate History and look forward to reading the next book in the series. The only suggestion I have is that I thought a couple of the settings with respective characters should have been made up of major decision makers (i.e. FDR) to better understand the unfolding of this conflict from a more strategic level. I strongly recommend to all Alternate History fans, History buffs, especial Military History buffs.

The British and French are about to sign Czechoslovakia to the Germans when the leader of the Sudeten Germans is assassinated. With Hitler pushing for more concessions, the French and British balk, unwilling to believe he didn't arrange the assassination himself. Which means Camberlain doesn't sign the Munich Accords, and war breaks out years earlier than in our own history.

The Germans were far less prepared for war in 1938 than they were a year later, but so, too the French and English were less mobilized. And with Poland intact, Russia is not in direct contact with Germany at all. Likewise, in Asia, the Japanese are already bogged down in China, but they haven't committed to War with the US. Russia has long been a Japanese rival and with Russia involved in war with Poland, Japan might be able to snap up its Asian provinces.

Historians and politicians have argued that Chamberlain was a fool, that Hitler never would have dared war with the Allies if he'd stood firm. But Hitler was hardly a calculating bean-counter. He wanted a war, needed a war. Author Harry Turtledove builds a convincing case that war would have occured, that Hitler and the Germans would have been a powerful and dangerous foe even if war had come a year early.

Rather than relay dry counter-historical events, Turtledove shows us what might have happened, from the viewpoint of soldiers and civilians on all sides of the war. Czech infantrymen, Spanish Nationalists, International Brigade fighters, Russian and German air force pilots, all combine to give us a close-up of a war that could have happened. By giving us the war from all sides, Turtledove lets us see the human similarities between people, regardless of the uniforms they wear.

Turtledove has a distinctive style--one that (to me at least) over-relies on a few turns of phrase and on repetition (every time French artillery comes on stage, we are reminded that their 75mm is outdated but fast. When French infantry are discussed, they're always in old-fashioned-looking uniforms. When French machineguns are mentioned, we re-learn that they fire more slowly than their German counterparts. When German divebombers are in the picture, we're told again and again that they're slow compared to the fighters the British and French send against them). Perhaps Turtledove picked up Homer's trick of using the same descriptors for each character (ox-eyed Hera). At any rate, I wish he'd bring in a few more similies rather than continually re-hash the old ones. Style points aside, HITLER'S WAR is an enjoyable and intellectually intriguing story set in a compelling alternate history.

Turtledove's style of "alternate history" has begun to wear thin, and for "Hitler's War" he seems to have invested little or no effort in research or even plotting and character selection. By now that pigeon's verbal tics (eg "He would; except that he didn't because he couldn't) and strong interest in the comparative quality of smoking tobacco around the world have lost their power to charm.

The thin reports from foreign correspondents phoning in from various muddy battle fields -- I mean from soldiers and airmen) shed little light on the characters, only a dim glow on the tactics (yes, yes, the little German light Panzers were too light, but they were maneuverable; yes, yes the other team had bigger guns) and nothing at all on the policies of governments which should be directing both strategy and tactics.

There are a lot of reasons why a failure at Munich might have meant the failure of Hitlerian arms. The strongest reason is that the Wehrmacht didn't want to fight in 1938, and would very likely have refused an order to initiate general war. Hitler proved he was right (in the real world) because he said that the UK and France would capitulate, and got away with it only because they did. A lot of generals thought the little corporal was a military genius for that one.

Why did T-dove need a Japanese character group? If I hadn't known before, I might well not have learned in Hitler's War. T-dove certainly doesn't explain -- and, dammit, the man is a professional historian.

I think Harry found a computer program somewhere that generates random battle scenes, random characters, and random locations and then stirs them together and writes his book for him.

If Harry can't give me his best effort, I don't see why I should contribute to his retirement fund. I got this one at the library, and am proud of my foresight in guessing that Hitler's War would be another clinker.

In Hitler's War, Harry takes a different approach postulating that Neville Chamberlain actually has some gonads, the Spanish Civil War takes a different turn, Poland is a German ally, the German Army rolls through the low countries and into France, Russia is an early enemy, and Japan is poised to invade Siberia. There is the usual cast of minor characters who view the war from their own personal & limited views. This makes the story come alive, as it is where reality and alternative history meet. Harry does fall into his habit of redundancy, but the story moves forward in spite of this trait. I look forward to the next installment.

I have read just about every alternative history book of Turttledove's and was looking forward to this one. But the number of POV characters is too much, you do not need one in every country. And they say essentially the same thing, grousing about their superior offices over and over. Ok Harry we get it, the repetition of the same lines over and over again `the ammunition cooked off' and do we really need to know what each of them smoked, are they paying you by the word?. There is a good book here. Get rid of about half the characters if you are going to do a second book, the Spanish Civil war part was interesting but did not add the the story much like the chapters about the Russian Far East. And where is England in all of this? I hope the next installment is better than this.

Hitler's War (2009) is the first Alternate History novel in the War That Started Early series. In 1938, Chamberlain was negotiating with Hitler within the Nazi headquarters in Munich. He was close to giving the Czechoslovakian border lands to the Germans to preserve peace.

In this novel, Adolf Hitler is the Fuhrer of the new German empire. He is dissatisfied with the lack of progress on the Sudetenland issue. Hitler is impatient with the delays in his conquest of Europe.

Neville Chamberlain is the British Prime Minister. He believes that the Allies can compromise with the Fuhrer.

Edouard Daladier is the French Prime Minister. He too is trying to compromise with the Germans.

Jose Sanjurjo is a Spanish general. He was exiled for his revolt against the Second Republic. He is caming back as the leader of the Nationalist army.

Francisco Franco is also a general in the Nationalist army. He is a subordinate of Sanjurjo.

In this story, General Sanjurjo is returning to Spain in triumph. He is using the same plane that previously carried Franco from the Canary Islands. His aides overload the plane, but Sanjurjo takes the pilot's advice and leaves his trunks of uniforms behind.

Two years later, the Spanish civil war has become a stalemate despite the German and Italian troops fighting for the Nationalists. Hitler is disappointed with the situation in Spain and the delays in Munich. Then Konrad Henlein -- leader of the Sudeten Germans -- is shot and killed by a Czech.

Hitler had considered having Henlein assassinated to provide a casus belli, but decide that the ploy would be too obvious. Now the Czechs have given him a good reason to declare war. Hitler announces the changed circumstances to Chamberlain and Daladier.

Unfortunately, the British and French Prime Ministers decide that the shooting was a German plot. Hitler is amazed and frustrated by their refusal to believe his announcement. So Hitler angrily declares war on Czechoslovakia.

The British and French then declare war against the Axis. British troops cross the channel to Calais and coordinate with the French. Of course, they do nothing to help Czechoslovakia and the country soon falls to the Wehrmacht, but not without fierce opposition.

This tale relates the progress of a war that came early. The Fascist Powers find themselves fighting against more dedicated -- if not more competent -- armies in Western Europe and Russia. The Japanese are fighting a much different war in the East.

America is staying neutral. Some Americans -- mostly Communists -- are fighting in the Abraham Lincoln Battalion of the International Brigade within Spain. American Marines in the legations within China are trying to keep a low profile and not irritate the Japanese occupation troops.

The decision point in this alternate timeline is the successful return flight of General Sanjurjo. He is a more popular figure than Franco and becomes the acclaimed leader of the Nationalists. Unfortunately, he is not as good a general as Franco.

Then Chamberlain reached a breaking point in his appeasement of the dictator. The British Prime Minister couldn't stomach the perceived hypocrisy. Of course, Hitler was going to take Czechoslovakia anyway, but in this timeline the Germans met more effective resistance from the Czechs.

This work is the closest examination by the author of the origins of the Second World War. Although two series addressed the war itself, now he dwells on the conflicts and thinking among the major political leaders in this conflagration. The actual combat scenes are much like his earlier works, both detailed and believable.

This story ends after about a year into the war. The next installment is West and East. Read and enjoy!

Highly recommended for Turtledove fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of military combat, political intrigue, and ordinary people caught in the conflict.

-Arthur W. Jordin

It is difficult to describe how much I have enjoyed Harry Turtledove's alternate history novels, particularly the "How Few Remain"/Time-line 191 series. In those books, Turtledove offers a vivid and disturbing image of America as it could have been, where the southern Confederacy prevailed in establishing itself as an independent country and North America lurches through a profoundly violent 20th century. Turtledove bases this alternate past on a very plausible "what if"- changing a single moment during the Civil War that (in reality) helped lead to eventual Union victory into a moment that ensured Confederate success. Furthermore, Turtledove demonstrates an amazing talent for creating many characters across a wide spectrum of a society that is both fictional and completely realistic. One feels genuinely invested in these men and women, whether they are historical or imagined, while reading about their experiences. This leads to the final, and most important, treasure of Turtledove's "How Few Remain" series: they will impact your view of the country as it actually was and is today. Not only does Turtledove pepper these books with actual historical characters- sometimes in brief, one-sentence passages that leave you looking up more details about the person -but the picture he paints of this turbulent, fictional history is a commentary on a very real turbulent past, and how many of the divisions created over 150 years ago remain today.

I found "Hitler's War" much less compelling and somewhat disappointing. In this novel, the European Allies abandon their appeasement of the Nazis. Consequently, in 1938 Germany invades Czechoslovakia and World War II starts in Europe about a year before it actually did. Turtledove apparently is generating a sequence of events that may lead to Britain and France joining Germany in its fight with Soviet Russia. I won't make a "that wouldn't have happened" claim, but the historical events that Turtledove changes to fit his alternate time-line (the survival of a Nationalist general in Spain and death of a pro-Nazi leader in Czech.) seems uninspired and leaves you wanting more details. Additionally, unlike the rich characters in "How Few Remain," there is little depth to the men and women running around in this book, nor is there significant variety in their roles. There are some fascinating nuts-and-bolts relating to how Germany's military hardware in 1938 affected their combat effectiveness, and thus the nature of war (Blitzkrieg) is slightly different. But it barely justifies this novel and certainly won't keep a new series moving along. An alternate history for World War II in Europe would seem to be a target set up for a talented writer like Turtledove, but he missed the mark on this one.

In 1938 England and France were prepared to tear away the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia and cede it to Germany until the leader of Sudeten Germany Konrad Heinlien takes refuge in Germany. A Czech assassinates him giving Hitler the excuse to invade. Neville Chamberlain and Messer Daladier refuse to sign the treaty that Hitler offers them. Hitler declares war.

The Czechs fight bravely, but are easily overwhelmed by the superior Nazi army abetted by Slovakia independence supporters. The German war machine quickly conquers Holland, Belgium and Lichtenstein. While leaders of both sides map strategic objectives, individuals struggle with the effect of the hostilities. Peggy Druce came to take the waters at Marianske Lazne but ended up a neutral stuck in Berlin unable to go home. The Goldmans always thought they were Germans first and Jews second until the Third Reich destroyed their beliefs. Their son joins the German army under a false name. Besides the prime fronts, there are other local wars like the Spanish Civil War where American Communists fight against Fascist forces. In China, the Japanese have invaded China while American marines have a ringside seat to the pacific Theatre. However, the biggest news is the German blitzkrieg heading towards Paris.

Harry Turtledove once again changes a pivotal point in history and provides his answers to what if Chamberlain said no to Hitler. In HITLER'S WAR, neither side is at full readiness especially the Allies who were stunned when war broke out as they adhered to their belief that they fought two decades earlier "the war to end all wars." Mr. Turtledove shows the impact of war on individuals who are powerless and quickly lose all hope. Although the alternative history premise is fun to follow due to a strong execution, it is the little people who bring heart and soul to the epic of "war what is good for, absolutely nothing: (Edwin Starr).

Harriet Klausner

Turtledove tells a grand story using the point of view of the ordinary man or woman. Only in very few cases are historical figures of authority (like Hitler) featured; in fact, except for the commander of an Uboat there's not a single POV character above a noncommissioned rank. This approach has its advantages: the action can often seem closer, more real. more dangerous. It shows the impact of grand strategy on ordinary people. And it allows the author to explore the experiences of fringe characters, for example an American woman stuck in wartime Nazi Germany or a German Jewish family trying to survive in a climate of repression.

That approach can work, but it's never guaranteed it actually does. Here, it doesn't.

Point-of-view characters are all nice and wonderful, but there's just too many of them here! You've got multiple Spaniards, Czech, BEF, French, Russian, American civilian, American Marine, Japanese Army, International Brigades, Germans of all branches of the Wehrmacht, Jewish civilians... In the end, you're burdened with close to 20 POVs and are none the wiser for it. You begin losing track of them - something made worse by the fact that some of them are unpleasant characters - and not only that, in your mind they begin to melt into one great mushy something that might have been a coherent plot at some time: after a while, half the book looks and reads the same: it's always some 75s and 105s firing, some guy smoking and/or sitting in a foxhole in a completely interchangeable place between Bratislava and Madrid. Someone will curse the Jews, propaganda will echo from some radio, and all Russians will drown themselves in vodka. Turtledove draws his characters on a canvas populated by clichées.

I know, the big writing creed is "Show, don't tell". But every piece of cookie cutter wisdom has its limits. If all you do is show without actually telling something, the formula collapses. Or, to formulate it differently: this book is almost completely written on the micro-level of events, and because eight out of ten people fighting in wars are confronted with the same issues, it's all the more boring and confusing at the same time. Bluntly, it lacks a macro-perspective on events: you never really know what's really going on at any given moment. That makes it nigh impossible to follow events, and even more impossible to actually give a damn about two dozen cookie cutter characters.

I loathe giving this a 2 out of 5, especially because Turtledove actually managed not to butcher the ample German he uses in it, but in the end Hitler's War simply didn't convince me.

If you want Alternate History that's fresh and just as grand, but not as convoluted, try Wolf Hunt: The Burning Ages (Volume 1) or East Wind Returns.

I bought this in the mistaken view (hope really) that it was not yet one more endless series from the Harry Turtledove heavy book building industrial complex. I was wrong. It is apparently the first volume of a new alternate history series based upon the interesting premise that the Munich talks in 1939 fall through and Hitler gets the war that he (thinks he) wants rather than having to wait until the following year as historically occurred. From that premise, the author launches a workmanlike and reasonably plausible account of the resulting war - to include its most likely outcome within the time frame alloted for this first volume. As noted, the writing is easy to read and the story not without interest. The only problem for me being that I had just recently finished reading a small collection of memoirs of World War I and II infantrymen - American, British, and German - and Turtledove's version of infantry warfare actually pales by comparison to the reality. The failure herein of fiction to keep up with history surprised me, however realistic this story might be otherwise. If you are a Turtledove fan, you will enjoy the book and the series, I hope you do. Personally, I'm getting off of the bus at this stop, thanks anyway.

I thought this book would be an excellent "What if..." Unfortunately, the dialogue was so bad, the phrasing so common, it was as if a 15 wrote it. Every dialogue cliche was there; the characters only distinguishable by their names. I just couldn't read any more.

For many years, Harry Turtledove has been touted as the master of alternate history. At least, the blurbs on his book says so. Unfortunately, in the case of "Hitler's War", they refer to his earlier work. I've read and enjoyed many of his books (even as far back as when he wrote as "Eric Iverson"), but this one was a bit of a let-down. The first in what appears to be a new series ("The War That Came Early", next part out this summer), "Hitler's War" has all the hallmarks of Turledove's style - both good and bad. As in most of his earlier books, history has been puttering along as we know it, when something happens that changes the course for good. In the case of this story, which starts out in 1938, the Spanish Civil War is raging and the Munich meeting about the fate of Czechoslovakia is about to be held. Two unrelated things throws the switches of history; in Spain, the Republican General Sanjurjo isn't killed in a plane crash, which means that General Franco is relegated to a secondary role. In Germany, a Czech assassin kills the Sudeten German leader Henlein, which scraps the Munich talks, and gives Hitler a cause for a full-out invasion of Czechoslovakia, instead of having the country served to him on a platter. What happens next is a mix of the familiar and the new. Great Britain and France declare war on Germany, with the French army making a token attack on Germany. Germany attacks Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and France, sealing off the BEF from the Channel ports. The Soviet Union attacks Poland, which aligns itself with Germany. In China, Japan is about to attack the USSR. Meanwhile, an American tourist and a German-Jewish family are stuck in the middle of the conflict.

Turtledove's familiar style is in full swing, with his use of at least 14 different characters. Or not-so-different, unfortunately: several of them are soldiers who complain about cheap tobacco and who do some fighting, but with little more than their names and nationalities to set them apart. Add to this four or five "supporting cast" characters for each of them, and we have a cast of if not thousands, but then at least close to a hundred. Readers familiar with Turtledove's style will recognise the constant repetition of details and character quirks, as if the reader couldn't be trusted to remember things from one chapter to another. Well, he falls in the same trap here, but to a lesser extent than in his other books. Still, it is a bit annoying. The characters are rather two-dimensional and wooden; there was almost no one I took a liking to. A few could've been cut out of the story with no loss to the flow, and introduced in the next book instead. Some of the main characters are based on real people; I spotted Hans-Ulrich Rudel and Julius Lemp, Stuka and U-boat aces, respectively.

Written almost entirely from the perspective of people on the ground (figuratively, at least), the reader will have a hard time trying to sort out what really happens on a larger scale. A coup against Hitler is hinted at, but not explained. The overall strategic situation has to be read between the lines. When the strategic situation in France changes by the end of the book, the reader has no real grasp on why it does. Unless the reader is familiar with the state of the Wehrmacht in the early part of the (real) war, it is easy to miss that the Germans are suffering from "Totsiegen" (being "victored" to death), with battlefield attrition of men and materiel. Unlike Turtledove's series of books on the alternate history of the USA and CSA, we get next to no insight in the considerations of politicians and generals. What remains is a string of battlefield vignettes playing out during late 1938 and early 1939, but which could just as well been placed in the "real history" of 1939-40. Not bad, but we've read it before.

Turtledove is usually very good on research, but there are a few bloopers that could've been avoided. He refers to "Waffen-SS", when the armed branch of the SS was known as "SS-Verfügungstruppen" in 1938, not changing the name until 1940. He refers to SS (RSHA?) as "blackshirts", when that was a name used for Mussolini's Fascists. A couple of months into the war, German civilians are feeling the pinch, and it seems like their clothes had become instantly threadbare, and the shops emptied in no time at all. He has grasped that the Wehrmacht of 1938 lacked the punch to deliver the knock-out blows of 1940, but the Blitzkrieg style of warfare works without a hitch, despite being more or less improvised in the real world (like air-to-ground liason) during the attack on Poland in 1939. There are some minor technical mistakes, but Turtledove is still better than even some non-fiction writers.

One piece of really bad writing that stands out is Hitler's visit to the front, where he starts to rant in front of a Panzer crew, and with SS henchmen yearning to make the hapless audience "disappear". It was like a scene from bad movie, something that ended up on the cutting room floor when Tarantino edited "Inglorious Basterds". It was really hard to believe that it was the same author who gives subtle hints to other writers and books, like when the fighting in France takes place at Coucy-le-Chateau (a nod at Barbara Tuchman's "A Distant Mirror"), or when one of the characters in Spain passes a British volunteer (George Orwell).

All in all, I expected more from Turtledove. Perhaps he is suffering from "Totsiegen", too... I'll take a close look at the reviews of the next part, "West & East", before deciding to buy it. When one knows how good Turtledove can be, "Hitler's War" cannot be placed in the upper half of his production. To sum it up, one can use a "Turtledove-ism": it wasn't all bad, but it could've been a lot better.

Interesting book but the start of another interminable series. I don't think Turtledove is necessarily the master of alternate history but he has perfected a way of sucking readers into buying book after book. Fortunately, I borrowed this at the library and won't end up buying all the volumes to follow. I will not fall into that trap again. Several reviewers have mentioned repetition and Turtledove has indeed got that technique down pat. He really needs to sit down and read some of his own writing instead of just cranking it out. I'm looking forward to using my library card to finish this series although I don't know how many times I can reads description of cigarettes, vodka, and uniforms over and over and over again.

This was my first Harry TurtleDove book and it will also be my last.

I first got interested in the alternative history genre by reading some S. M. Stirling books, which I really enjoyed. This book, on the otherhand, was so unengaging, so uninteresting, that it became an albatross around my neck. I even coined a new verb while reading it - "albatrossing," which I define as feeling like you've wasted enough time trying to get into a book that you just need to finish it to get some kind of resolution. "Honey, can you start the bath for the kids?" my wife would ask. "No, I'm albatrossing...I've got to get this albatross off my neck." And by that, I do not imply it as a good thing, the kind of situation where you just can't put down a book because it's just so good.

Each chapter in the book was broken up into 4-5 subsections, which randomly rotated through the 8-12 character sets in the book, and with none being given precedence over any other. There was no protagonist and each of the character/character groups were humanized, be it from a German bomber, panzer tank driver, czech fighter, English fighters, Russian pilots, an annoying American woman trying to get out of Berlin, and a random Jewish family subject to humiliation. The story flipped back and forth between the various characters without purpose, and nothing about the change in history (chamberlain's not rolling over regarding Hitler's moving in on the Czechs) really impacted anything.

Even the ending, where nothing at all was resolved, was lackluster. It's hard to call the ending anti-climatic when the book did not lead up to any climax at all.

Overall, a bad read, the only positive being that I would not venture to read another Turtledove book again.

Do yourself a favor --- skip this one.

Although I've read other of Turtledove's series/books and enjoyed them, a common thread was their being relatively unfocused and too many characters. Unfortunately Turtledove's Hilter's War has raised these to a new level. Way too many characters, none of whom are developed well enough to grab the reader. Yes, I know this is a series (projected) and maybe more character development will come along - but the reader shouldn't have to hope that after buying future books it will all gel. I found I had to struggle to finish this book, as in "I bought it, so darn, I'm going to finish it." It's unlikely I'll buy the next in this series unless it gets rave reviews upon correcting the problems of the first book. The worst comment I can give is that after finishing the book, I could hardly remember ANY of the characters, didn't see how they interconnected, and didn't see any reason to anticipate the sequel.

The premise of the book is interesting, but the execution is awful. The plot is underdeveloped as most of the writing seems to revolve around too many characters smoking cigarettes, insulting each other's mothers in different languages, and copycat cliched battle scenes. I skipped several pages where all they talked about was smoking, and describing what cigarettes are better (apparently Gitanes are not very good). The book barely covers a year, but it takes 600 pages to do so, which should give an idea of how much wasted filler there is. The essential plot points could have been distilled down to 100 pages, and the rest of the war described in the other 500. But it's better to ride on a recognizable name and stretch the premise across twelve books--you make a lot more money that way. I won't read any of the others.

I read Turtledove for his grasp of history and consistency in developing plausible alternatives that ring true and accurate once you accept the premise--even in sci-fi alternatives such as the alien attack in the World War II saga and the AK-47 armed South Africans time-traveling to help the Confederates in Guns of the South.

He's a below average writer, but the plots and historic developments make his work well worthwhile, and his characters, if a bit wooden, generally draw some empathy.

This book is a poor cousin to others I've read. The subject matter is somewhat narrower and should only draw the interest of WW II weenies such as me. The characters are very flat--and I just don't care a bit about them. I got my copy in a book exchange at work and will probably continue if I can get the next book from the library. But I can't recommend spending money on these.

Sorry, Harry.

For really masterful what-if history with compelling writing and well-drawn characters, read the Civil War and Pacific War series by Newt Gingrich (yes, THAT Newt Gingrich--forget your politics) and William R. Forstchen

Another new series from Turtledove. I have enjoyed most of his other series to varying degrees. His writing style is the same as the others. I enjoy following the different characters and watching through their eyes as the war rages. As for all series start from the beginning. And enjoy some good old fashion escapism.

I have been a Harry Turtledove fan since "Guns of the South"

Unfortunately this book just plain awful. The constant rehashing of basically the same scene of people discussing smoking just gets plain annoying. The characters are mostly one dimensional and some seem totally pointless and just seemed to be lead in's for the next book (which I will not be purchasing)

I have a sneaking suspicion the Mr Turtledove has a contract with the publishers that he has to ill and is now just churning them out without any real effort.

If you want to read great Turtledove seen the World at War series or "Guns of the South" but give this book a wide berth.

About a third of the way through I started skipping, at first a little, then longer and longer passages. It seemed as if I kept reading the same battle scene over and over and over and over again. By the time I got to the two-thirds mark I was skimming and skipping whole chapters. And then the whole book ends in an inconclusive battle that hints that the tide of war is changing.

Well, I'll wait for the last book in the series and sit in the bookstore and read the last few chapters.

What if British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain had refused to sign the Munich Accord? Turtledove, the master of alternate history, brilliantly explores the changes that would have made in WWII in this fictional account.

Anyone seeing a pattern here? HT was once one of the best AH writers around. Now he's the most prolific. Better to go back to being one of the best. I won't be buying anything by HT until things change. Too bad.

This is my first read from Harry Turtledove and this was the best book I have read in a while I bought it for 16.00 dollars at BAM I wont wont buy #2 until that comes down next will the be the series Worldwar on my Kindle because they just lowered the price on those books.

Too many characters for one volume.
Too little characterization.
A narrow idea unmercilessly fleshed out.
I stopped reading this book after the first 100 pages.
I borrowed this book from the library and am glad I did.

I love science fiction, particulary alternate history, but Turtledove comes across as Pro-Nazi, Anti-Semetic, and racist. Seems like he lives in a world with no jews, blacks, latino's, etc. Smart guy, but very demented.

"In 1938, British prime minister Neville Chamberlain, determined to avoid war, signed the Munich Accord, ceding part of Czechoslovakia to Hitler. But the following spring, Hitler snatched the rest of that country, and England, after a fatal act of appeasement"

Dear the store and/or whoever wrote the above synopsis.

Please note that the words British and England are not synonymous, Britain <> England and vice versa. Britain, currently, consists of the countries Scotland, Wales and England, the United Kingdom adds Northern Ireland to the mix. None of the countries however represent Britain on their own.

England did not fight WWI or WWII on its own, the whole of Britain fought. I know that world history isn't taught particularly well in US schools but it only takes a moment or two to check your facts.