Just Finished Reading: Worldwar – Homeward Bound by Harry Turtledove.

This was the 8th book in the epic series starting with Worldwar – In the Balance which related the tale of an alien invasion of Earth back in 1942. Needless to say this series was Alternate History [grin].

This rather long, and to be honest fairly dull, 600 page volume was the climax of the story. In it the surviving unoccupied human countries are gradually surpassing the alien lizards in technology causing them to think the unthinkable. Is it best for the Empire to destroy the Earth now or risk a delay and allow humans to gain the upper hand? The question becomes all the more urgent when the USA manages to send its first interstellar ship successfully to the lizard Homeworld.

As I’ve probably said before, Harry Turtledove has several annoying habits not least of which is his constant repetition of ‘facts’ we already know from his previous works. This book is no exception to that and although the book does move the story on to a conclusion of sorts it does leave a few things hanging for a possible 9th book. This book was a bit of a struggle, not because it was difficult reading but because very little seemed to happen. We learnt something about Homeworld and a little about the history of the lizards but we already knew most of that. The story wandered & meandered gently on for a good 300 pages before anything substantial happened – and the ‘surprise’ ending was pretty much telegraphed well in advance. I guess the main reason I finished the book was that (apart from paying good money for it) I had read the other seven books in the series so felt obligated to finish the last one. Only recommended for die-hard Turtledove fans.