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Colonization: Down to Earth

By: Harry Turtledove
Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
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Publisher's Summary

In 1942, Hitler led the world's most savage military machine. Stalin ruled Russia while America was just beginning to show its strength in World War II. Then, in Harry Turtledove's brilliantly imagined World War saga, an alien assault changed everything. Nuclear destruction engulfed major cities, and the invaders claimed half the planet before an uneasy peace could be achieved.

A spectacular tale of tyranny and freedom, destruction and hope, the Colonization series takes us into the tumultuous 1960s, as the reptilian Race ponders its uneasy future. But now a new, even deadlier war threatens. Though the clamoring tribes of Earth play dangerous games of diplomacy, the ultimate power broker will be the Race itself. For the colonists have one option no human can ignore. With a vast, ancient empire already in place, the Race has the power to annihilate every living being on planet Earth.

©2009 Harry Turtledove (P)2010 Tantor

Critic Reviews

“Turtledove demonstrates his talent for crafting drama on a global scale by concentrating on the individual stories that make up the big picture.” ( Library Journal)

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An extremely well (maybe overly) fleshed out story

So I read all of this series, from beginning to end, when I was a kid, maybe around 8... I LOVED them. They left such an impact on me that Sci-Fi has been my favourite fictional category by a wide margin ever since.
And I might even go so far as saying that my own interest in becoming a Sci-Fi writer was ignited by this series.

However, listening to this series now, years later as an adult, I find that where I lacked judgement as a child, I now have plenty of judgement around the topic of niavity and reptition.
I find many concepts turned around the maypole in this series to be strangely naive, and not even topics directly related to the Race.
This instalment in particular brings up the discussion of nurture over nature, and I personally do not think that Mr. Turtledove did his due research into this topic.
Also some of Sam Yeager's opinions about The Race I find mind boggling. Finding them interesting and even empathising with them is one thing, but he goes as far as holding the Lizards' lives as of higher import than those of his own people, even if that topic is raised indirectly.
I have trouble imagining a world where (in this circumstance) most Humans' wouldn't hate The Race with a desperate passion.
But my main issues with the fic are two simple points that many will agree with:
A ~ Repetition! Repetition! Repetition! The same thing gets brought up again and again as though its as fresh each time. From how the Race feels about the cold, to the heat, to Human behaviour, to language, to almost every important difference between the two species and their respective homeworlds.
B ~ Too many characters! 8 in 10 of them add nothing to the plot, and I end up not giving a s**t about whatever happens to them. Their own characterisation is fairly two dimensional and is hard to empathise with.
It's easy to tell which character Mr. Turtledove intended as the "main characters."

I don't find the narration to be as bad as some reviews make out it is. He isn't my favourite narrator, but I don't find him to be "bad," just not a grade-A narrator.

I'd love to see this series continued and even with the final "Homeward Bound" novel reimagined, and continued, into a broader universe.
Just with half the characters.

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