| Title | : | Tilting the Balance (Worldwar, #2) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0345420578 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780345420572 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 478 |
| Publication | : | First published February 21, 1995 |
NOT STALIN, NOT TOGO, NOT CHURCHILL, NOT ROOSEVELT . . .
The invaders had cut the United States virtually in half at the Mississippi, vaporized Washington, D.C., devastated much of Europe, and held large parts of the Soviet Union under their thumb.
But humanity would not give up so easily. The new world allies were ruthless at finding their foe's weaknesses and exploiting them.
Whether delivering supplies in tiny biplanes to partisans across the vast steppes of Russia, working furiously to understand the enemy's captured radar in England, or battling house to house on the streets of Chicago, humankind would never give up.
Yet no one could say when the hellish inferno of death would stop being a war of conquest and turn into a war of survival--the very survival of the planet . . .
Tilting the Balance (Worldwar, #2) Reviews
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Yeah I know if you read my 2 star rating for the first in this series you probably wonder why I tried the second. I said it there. It's a great idea...unfortunately they just aren't very good books. I wish they were. The idea of a group of long lived slowly changing aliens (their civilization has changed little in 50,000 years) arriving expecting to find mounted horse warriors but instead finding the world in the middle of WWII is inspired. It could have been so good.... Instead we get a soap opera.
This idea could make a great book, maybe someday someone will write one.
I weep. -
Anyone who follows my reviews and synopses of the books I read would know that I have a bias against the epic storytelling style where points of view skip around like flies on a garbage dump. Such a perspective runs the risk of having me lose interest when some of the characters don’t really seem compelling. I occasionally get this feeling in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series (though I haven’t stopped reading it), but Martin has some characters that are strong enough to bring me back. So, it’s easy to see why I liked the idea of Harry Turtledove’s epic of alternate history, WorldWar, where the earth is facing invasion and potential conquest from a superior (but ultra-conservative, reactionary) alien race that disrupts World War II and forces Allies and Axis to align against the “Lizards.”
In the first volume of the series, WorldWar: In The Balance, my personal feeling was that the thesis undergirding the series was fascinating (superior weaponry with limited intelligence and, ultimately, a logistics problem versus inferior weaponry with superior intelligence and superior (albeit underground) logistics) but many of the characters weren’t interesting enough to keep my full attention while others were intriguing but, perhaps, underused. Let me go on record that WorldWar: Tilting The Balance doesn’t offer that problem to me. I really began to empathize with various cases of addiction, betrayal, courage, death, fear, loneliness, and reactions to gender/racial discrimination experienced by the characters on both sides of the conflict. Further, Turtledove not only manages to make me care about certain characters on both sides, but he masterfully uses what happens to them to make me care about their deaths. Yes, there are significant deaths in this book. Deaths that I regret because I wanted to read more about the characters (I won’t reveal which ones) in the future and deaths that I regret because of what they do to the other characters I care about. I also felt like Turtledove really captured the period culture better than in the first volume of the series. In spite of the science-fiction elements, one really experienced the limitations of that era.
Most significantly, as the title of the novel implies, the tactics (and to some degree the technology) of the defenders of earth have improved enough to give them an underdog’s chance in battles while still being overmatched. Also, I felt like there were many more action sequences in this novel, making the skipping around more bearable. And the action sequences were superb. I loved the way Turtledove managed to blend actual WWII armored tactics into reasonably adapted tactics against this superior foe. In some ways, it was like when lightly armored tanks had to attempt to slow down the superior armor of the Soviet tanks on the historical eastern front and when lightly armored U.S. and British tanks faced Rommel’s better armor in North Africa. The historical tankers had to adapt and that’s what is happening throughout WorldWar: Tilting The Balance.
Further, there was a significant amount of maskirova (Russian for camouflage or subterfuge) that took place in several of the covert and commando operations which took place in this novel. At times, it felt like the defenders of earth were masterfully finessing a card in a game of Bridge. And, at times, one saw where an apparent masterstroke succeeded not so much because of the plan as because of the reactionary mindset or herb-induced hubris of the invaders. Most impressive to me was how Turtledove managed to deal with the cost of diversions and stalling tactics in terms of human lives. Too many times, I’ve felt like fiction writers (and even to some extent, historians) have glossed over the cost of holding a position until the master tactic could be exercised or providing a convincing feint. Frankly, some of the action scenes in this book seemed so realistic that I forgot I was reading an alternate history. I thought I was vicariously experiencing the real thing.
Finally, the secret of making something as epic as this work can be signaled in terms of “Relationships, relationships, relationships.” In order for me to care about characters, they have to care about other people. Broken, complicated, new, and old relationships are fecund in this volume. I smiled, I hurt, and I could identify with many of them. And they aren’t just the stereotypical “ships passing in the night” relationships, either. These are compelling and complex relationships, but to say more would be to offer spoilers.
At first, I thought this series offered more in ideas than in execution. Now, I think it is an incredible story that defines alternate history even more than some of my favorite books by Turtledove. I liked Shakespeare as a spy in The Phoenix and the Turtle and I experienced some good moments in his American Civil War Guns of the South reinvention, but this series is my favorite alternate history so far. -
This is the second of four books in Harry Turtledove's alternative history series about an alien invasion disrupting the Second World War. For the first fifty pages or so, I kept thinking I'd stop reading soon. The plot did not really seem to be going anywhere, and though I truly love the way Turtledove has brought the Lizard invaders and their culture to life, and the contrast with human nature and culture, I figured he'd made his points already - nothing much else to say.
However, I didn't stop. I was pulled along by the diverse and engaging cast of characters, including the Lizard characters. After a while, I realized that I was enjoying this series in the much same way that I enjoyed The Game of Thrones books, following the separate narrative threads.
The author chooses one POV character, then another. We get to see how each one is coping with the war, including with enemies turned reluctant allies. Loyalties shift; people die; we see the saga of conflict stitched together through the disparate visions of individuals, almost all of whom invite our sympathy.
I have the other two books on my shelf. I'm rationing them, rather the way I did with GOT, which I normally saved for long airline trips. Okay, no airline trips in my immediate future, but I do plan to go on vacation at the end of the month. The Lizards will go with me. -
Slightly disappointing sequel to the first book as the characters are stalled and few make much progression. The main story is the race to make a nuclear warhead as the US, Russia,Germany and Japan all step up their efforts - with one causing a disaster and one actually succeeding. Diverting enough.
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DNF at 50% (page 235)
I didn't necessarily hate this book. I had a lot of the same problems with this one that I had with the first book in the series: the casual, period appropriate racism and sexism, which seems to be excused by the narrative (though, it didn't seem nearly as egregious as the first book). The American exceptionalism, while still rearing its head, also seemed less in the first half of this book than the last one.
There seemed to be a lot more sex in this book, which wouldn't necessarily be a mark against it, except all the sex was written in an incredibly bland, dry, and mechanical way, so... meh.
In the end, I was just very meh about the whole concept of this series from the beginning. I like some other Turtledove series, but he just couldn't win me over to this one. I'm meh about aliens. I'm meh about WWII Military Histories. I'm Very Meh about aliens invading in the middle of WWII and getting a military history. I was very meh about all the characters in this book.
I might have been interested in reading up to Colonization, since aliens invading again in the 60s sounds kinda neat, but honestly, I just can't bring myself to care.
Not leaving a star rating for this one because I recognize it's just not the book for me. I'm not quitting because I hate the book. Just because I can't bring myself to care about it. -
Review of the First and Second books.
This series, I imagine, is self-consciously styled after Tolstoy's "War and Peace".
Also, it is not the sort of series where a book can stand alone and provide any sort of meaningful conclusion. The "Balance" is just one big book, broken for length, not plot.
The "Balance" is the story of a war, drawn out across several years and numerous characters. The war is WWII, with the added twist of an alien invasion midway through. So, it is an alternate-history novel with a science-fiction twist.
This bears repeating: the science-fiction component is just a twist. The aliens psychology is anthropomorphic, and they even look quite humanoid (despite being egg-laying lizard-like beings!). The realization of technical details is a little shoddy. Also, the historical development of technology is mixed up in certain places. Things get shoddier as the series advances, too.
One example of shoddy technological history, I think, is the conspicuous use of audio recording as a plot device in the first and second books. This is historically inaccurate, as the first audio tapes were developed in Nazi Germany toward the end of WWII, and used to record Hitler, then broadcast his speeches so he wouldn't have to be at the radio station. Later, they were adopted by US radio stations. Before that, audio recording quality was sub-par and quite recognizably not-live.
The characterization is good, but not outstanding, and a few characters are practically interchangeable. More variety here would have been welcome.
In the second book, characterizations gets derailed even more. Worse luck.
The pace is rather slow, drawn out, really, even stretched thin in certain parts. Every now and then, skipping a few pages (representing one character's PoV) is quite OK. The situation is even worse in the second book.
Overall, OK. I think I'll need to read more before forming a more definitive judgement; like War and Peace, this is really one giant novel split apart for convenience. Unlike War and Peace (which I'd never read), I think this one gets old and crappy rather quickly... -
I liked the book very much. At the beginning I grew weary of the repetition, as the author appears to not trust the reader to remember things unless they are repeated. But that petered out and I enjoyed the rest much more as a result. I look forward to the next one, which I have right here and will begin reading momentarily.
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Book 2 continues the series right where the last one ended. What would have happened if aliens came in 1941 and inserted themselves into world war 2... would we work with the Germans? Very cool concept!!
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much better than the first one
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This was my first book that I've read from Turtledove and I'm really impressed. He creates a very detail alternative world set during World War II. He makes use of many real-life people to intertwine between his rich other characters. People are thrown into tough war situations where they are battling for their lives. Yet in between, the struggle to carry on their lives the best they can. Since this is the 2nd in the series, I look forward to going back and reading the 1st (and continuing with the rest of the series).
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Turtledove continues his story of an alien invasion of Earth disrupting World War II and leading the Axis and Allies to put aside the war to fight the aliens together. He carries forward the characters and subplots he started in the first volume and continues the what-if and if-then process exploring how our history could have been changed by an development like this.
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What started as an incredible premise started to come apart in this volume. The outcomes of every battle and scenario were implausible at best, insultingly juvenile at worst. See the review of Book 3 for my overall feelings on a series whose first book I thoroughly enjoyed.
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Continua la narrazione del precedente volume del ciclo, quasi fosse la seconda parte di uno stesso romanzo. L'interesse si mantiene alto ed è impossibile non continuare la lettura nel successivo volume!
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More of the same. That's a compliment.
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Thoughts while reading:
It is funny, but on page 25, Jager thinks to himself how odd it was that he and Ludmilla consummated their desire for each other on June 22, 1941. It is like the author is trying to retroactively state when the Lizards invaded the Earth [either he forgot when he intended the aliens to have invaded or he had enough fans of the first book asking in which year of World War II did it take place, so he added that date for people to stop asking him]. The problem with this date is that it does not match up with events and comments in the first book [as well as how the second book starts out]. Had the Lizards invaded in early to mid 1941, the Japanese would never have attacked Pearl Harbor or any other islands or territories in the Pacific Ocean, yet comments are made about the Japanese having attacked Pearl Harbor and other islands. Comments are also made how the Americans and Japanese hate each other as much as the Germans and Russians hate each other; if the Japanese had not attacked Pearl Harbor, that hate would not be there. So the author has created a bit of a dilemma/paradox, here. Ah, well.
It is kind of funny, but I have come across an inordinate amount times where the phrase 'tilting the balance' is used in the book. I can't quite decide the author is trying to be funny, or if it's just the way it's 'working out' in the book. So many people say it! And not even 'major' characters are saying it. Some minor ones say it, as well as 'background' characters. It's almost funny.
The author is continuing his repetition of facts every few chapters [such as the U2 biplane surviving because it is primarily canvas and wood as opposed to metal] in this novel as he did the previous novel. It still makes me wonder if he's forgotten what he's written previously and repeats himself as a result. There is a lot of 'stuff' going on in each novel, as well as each chapter, so it is somewhat understandable.
One of the nastiest descriptions I have ever read: Mud thin as bad diarrhea slopped over his boot tops and soaked his socks. What. The. Heck?!? It is horribly, graphically nasty and does a wonderful job describing how the rain is adversely affecting an infantry unit outside of Chicago. Blech! Cannot believe how much it makes my stomach churn! hahahah If I were wearing a hat, I would doff it in deference to the author's choice of verbiage.
Just finished a part that was utterly stupid in the book.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
So I just finished this book. It most assuredly ends with a bang! and not a whimper!
As others have said, this is the second book in a tetralogy in which aliens invade during World War II [that's not too much of a spoiler, is it?]. Parts of it move at a fast pace; other parts move glacially slow. This book seems to focus more on the various human elements and quite a bit less on the alien invaders. The author ignores historical facts for the convenience of the plot . Overall, I do not think his monkeying around with history adversely affects the story.
The character development is interesting, I guess. Some of it is good/strong, some of it is pretty weak. Some of it seems cliche. He does have a lot going on in the book, so it really is probably only natural to have some parts be weaker than others [including characters].
Barbara and Sam stay together; Jens eventually leaves because he cannot bear to see the two of them together any more. I had forgotten how Jens had acted after he finally meets up with his wife. I realize the revelation of what his wife has been doing and her current physical state would be a severe shock to the system, but the author still chose to have Jens make the horrible decisions he makes [including the potential-attempted rape of his former wife] prior to leaving Denver, Colorado, to visit Hanson, Washington. It is funny, but a part of me was still rooting for Jens to get his act together and to woo his wife back, right up until Jens became a monster.
Relatively speaking, it seemed like a lot of [minor] characters died in this novel. Some of the deaths seemed rather pointless [but a lot of deaths seem this way in life], but it was still 'hard' to read about one or two characters I had come to 'care about' dying on the page as I was reading. So the author did a nice job making me care about these characters and their 'ultimate fate' in the novel. Overall, though, I did not care about too many characters in the novel.
I really do not know what to say about this novel. It seems to bog down in several parts due to the lack of 'action' throughout the book. There are other parts [not enough of them!] that zip along. He creates at least three 'love triangles' in the book that I did not recognize the first time I read it. Obviously, there is the whole Barbara-Jens-Yeager thing he carried over from the first book.
I did enjoy reading about Diocletian's Palace [the other novel in which I read about this Roman ruin was one of the Percy Jackson books from the 'second' series]. It sounds like a remarkable place, and I would love to visit it sometime.
There were battles in the book; it was just not 'action-packed' in my opinion. For being a book about a world war being waged against alien invaders, it seemed like very little fighting was ever actually done. We get mostly bombing runs and attacks from aircraft, it seemed like in the novel. Well, aircraft and artillery. There were two or three skirmishes between Lizard and German tanks. We know of American Shermans moving into position around and outside of Chicago, but we never learn how successful these tanks were against their Lizard-built opponents. There are some skirmishes between infantry units scattered throughout the novel. So my claim of 'nothing happens in the book' is a bit of an oversimplification; it just seemed less action-packed than the first novel.
It is kind of funny, because I am unsure as to how much time takes place in each novel; at the same time, I do not know how much time has elapsed in between in each novel. I get the impression that a significant amount of time has passed both inbetween the first and second novel, and inbetween the covers of each novel. It would be nice if the author were to have interjected some kind of time frame so that the reader would have an idea of how much time has passed.
I almost forgot!
It was a decent book. I am still glad that I read it. -
Ok, so I wasn't all that enthused about the first book in this series by Turtledove, but the selection was slim at the library, and I'd kinda gotten caught up in a couple of the characters' stories, so I decided to keep on reading.
In this second book, The Race, a bunch of lizard men bent on conquering Earth, has been brought somewhat to a standstill by the unorthodox tactics of humans around the globe, and the advent of winter, which the cold-blooded lizzies can't tolerate as well as the mammals. The former Axis and Allies have managed to capture some of The Race's war machinery, and are trying to comprehend its technology - solid state circuitry, ceramic alloys, hydrogen fuel, and have also captured a sample of plutonium, from which the Germans, Russians, Americans and Japanese are feverishly trying to create an atomic bomb which they can use to stop the relentless lizards.
The lizards have another unforeseen problem in their conquest. Many of their males have become addicted to ginger. This earth spice has an effect similar to cocaine on their metabolism - a feeling of excitement, invincibility and euphoria. It is also immediately physically and psychologically addictive for them. Understandably, soldiers under the effects of ginger suffer from impaired judgement in combat, which isn't helping their cause.
Turtledove manages to kill off some of our favorite humans in this book, though I won't spoil it by telling you which ones. This book still leaps around the globe quickly, changing POV at will, but the sections are now longer, I think, possibly because he's managed to downsize the POV pool by attrition.
Anyway, a solid but uninspiring read. -
VOTO INTERO CICLO DELL'INVASIONE: 4
Il Ciclo dell'Invasione è composto da 4 volumi basati sul racconto di un'improvvisa invasione aliena che avviene nel pieno dello svolgimento della seconda guerra mondiale: da qui si dipana la narrazione di una vera e propria storia alternativa che vede le nazioni in guerra far fronte comune per cercare di colmare la schiacciante superiorità tecnologica e bellica dell'alieno invasore, al fine di contenerne le mire espansionistiche.
Nel complesso è un buon ciclo, ricchissimo di vicende e personaggi appartenenti alle più disparate fazioni coinvolte nel conflitto mondiale, dei quali se ne seguono le azioni e i destini, più o meno coinvolgenti per il lettore, anche se ritengo che il punto di forza della saga si basi sulle caratteristiche sociali e sui profili psicologici degli invasori alieni, il che non mancherà di suscitare anche momenti di ilarità.
Le pecche più evidenti si riscontrano nella talvolta superflua prolissità dell'autore nel descrivere i dettagli di ciò che racconta e sulle ripetizioni di vicende ed avvenimenti che non mancheranno di annoiare, soprattutto se il ciclo viene letto un libro dopo l'altro.
Nel complesso consigliato agli amanti del genere ucronico. -
Worldwar: Tilting the Balance by Harry Turtledove is the second of four novels in this series. Turtledove writes in a genre called Alternate History – what would happen if a different event in history had occurred? With this type of novel, the setting is usually a familiar one historically, with a twist.
In this case, Turtledove puts forth the premise of what would have happened if an alien race had attempted to conquer the earth in the summer of 1942?
Sounds ridiculous? Dumb? Not interesting? Or like something out of a bad science fiction film? I had a lot of those same suppositions before I started reading these novels, and I like science fiction! I was worried about this being like an “aliens have landed” B-movie from the 1950’s.
To read my full review, please visit
https://thoughtsfromthemountaintop.co... -
All I can say is that this book blew me away. Harry Turtledove would have written that sentence so much better with finely attuned, vivid imagery.
We pick up from book 1 and the story lines are advanced even further and new ones are introduced. Turteldove (is that really his last name?) weaves us in and out of various characters and settings, drops in some battle action, bedroom action, strange bedfellow national alliances and even gives us an inside glance of the enemy.
I didn't see the end coming. Classic cliffhanger that made me immediately want to read the next in the series, though I think I'll pause for a month or two for something different - that's just me. -
The second novel in the struggle against alien conquest advances several relationships. The close relations between men and women are stressed and shorn by war. The international relationships between the fighters of the powers at wars, first fighting each and other then fighting the aliens are deepened and examined by the soldiers working with their former foes. The relations between the world leaders start to twist toward a time when the aliens no longer vie for which species will control the planet. In short this is a novel of change.
This is a good read. -
Following on from "In the Balance", this book looks at the second year of the battle between "The Race" of reptilian aliens, versus the combined powers of Nazi Germany, Soviet Union, USA, Japan and England. All the former enemies have to work together to defeat the common enemy.
And what I like about this book is it is not always "the good guys win". We have had a few main characters knocked off and a few "happily ever afters" knocked on the head. Good to see! -
Same review as the first in the series since it is a slow moving saga: Harry Turtledove weaves an intricate alt-history novel that dives deep into character development. The problem is, in my opinion, that he dives too deep. It makes for a very long read - a problem made worse by the author's style of telegraphing his intentions. It's still an enjoyable book and series even if I was looking for something with a bit faster pace.
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I am not really a devoted fan of this author.
I find his stuff hard to read from a believability standpoint.
But, if the teenagers reading his stuff develop an appreciation for history, and his weird sci-fi induces a kid to go read a real history book from the nonfiction section of the library... I guess his stuff will serve a purpose. -
I like this style and I don't mind where this is going. The first book was a little slow but now that we have everything established things feel a lot cleaner. The deaths were surprising but didn't feel forced. Definitely happy to read the next instalment.
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I love this series about how some hapless invade Earth for colonisation, just to get their tails kicked as they expected to face knights in shining armour, but instead ran into tanks and artillery.
Tons of viewpoint characters make the story a bit longwinded, but I still love it :-) -
I quite enjoyed this book like I quite enjoyed the 1st one. It's overly long, the dialogue is like it was written in the 40's, there's definitely a Baseball fixation, it quite badly drags in places...but I still want to know what happens next so will read the next one.
