Has anyone else been reading this series?
If so, has anyone been left wondering what happened at the end of the last book? It’s as if Turtledove never finished the series. Everything was left hanging. The Americans are out in the asteroid belt, the Japanese got the bomb, the revolutionaries took over China, etc., but there was no resolution. And, AFAIK, Aftershocks was the last book of the series.
Is Turtledove planning another series with the Race which picks up where Aftershocks left off? I hope so, because I’d hate for the whole thing to end up the way it did.
Zev Steinhardt
I thought there was one more book to go in the series, i can’t beleive it is done, too many loose ends. And i predict there will be another series after that, provided the Race doesn’t just nuke the world, that takes place in the 80’s. I did like Harold Stassen becoming president, that was cool. Maybe JFK will become the Stassen of that world, running for president again and again to no avail.
I’m also itching for more of the American Empire series, as it sets in motion the events that will lead towards WWII, CSA style!
I seem to recall reading that Colonization was slated for 4 books when started but when the Great War series did so well he signed a contract for two more of those and truncated the WorldWar series.
Which is too bad. The Race are really decent people. Other than that ‘taking over the world’ thing.
I also understood that there would be a third book to this series. I am a really big fan of Harry Turtledove and this series has great potential, but I think he has too many characters going, and many of characters I cared about ended up dying. What did you think of Aftershocks, Zev? Better than the one before? I haven’t picked it up yet.
And, checking the Turtledove fansite Tars is right, a third Great War trilogy covering WWII has been signed up. No release date yet but he writes fast.
got an address on that fanbsite? or other good fansites? I’m too lazy to sift through thousands of sites myself…
It’s a ‘semi’ official fan site thing. And it’s got a nice (though not too frequently updated) FAQ.
http://www.sfsite.com/~silverag/turtledove.html
Thank you, Exalted Fleetlord. That is a good site about the Big Ugly known as Turtledove!
Tried to read Turtledove’s World war II series… Pe eewww! He stretched 1 story into several books which did not work. How many times do I have to have a read an update on the action in the same novel. The Aliens once again look over their hologram of the earth and wonder what is going wrong with their plans… Discuss everything that has happened up to this point, then go to another subplot and have them go over the action then again and over and overand over and over, and over, and OVER!
If the rest of his books are like this there is a real good chance for anyone can be published!
I think alot of the repediveness is to compensate for the large number of characters and their being stretched across books tat come out about a year apart. When i read the World War series, they were all already out, so it was annoying, but the Great War series was just starting, so the recaps were nice to keep tabs on the characters (especially since that book had 80 bajillion charaters, it took four chapters (100 pages) to rotate back to the first characters. Luckily, they began dying off and the action got faster.
You could ask him yourself. 
http://www.cybling.com/artists/harry.html
Turtledove takes questions in chat from that site about 4 times a year.
I read the entire series and I love this book. I also thought that the series would continue into modern times (ie the 90’s and beyond), but it looks like this will be the last of it (unless Harry changes his mind; I’m not holding my breath).
I got the four World War books about a year ago, and liked 'em both, so I got the first Colonization one, which was out then, then finally saw the second just before Christmas this year, then the third a couple of weeks later. Score!
I liked 'em pretty much, but was disappointed to discover Jager was dead, that Russian Pilot had barely a cameo, and most of the British guys were just not mentioned (until at least the second book. Others went still unmentioned) and previously “good” guys like Roundbush went bad. I didn’t particularly care for Penny or Rance in the first series, and their adventures in the second were tiresome, but I liked how David Nussboym turned up again, and all the other good characters like Molotov…
Pity there’s no fourth book, though I think we were supposed to be left with the feeling that now the USA is going to go do a number on Home because we’re now as advanced as the Race. Or something. Another book would be nice…
Preview of Book 4:
The Emperor of the Race looked at the stranger who entered his castle. “Who are you?” he hissed.
“I’m Neil Armstrong, and i claim this planet in the name of the USA!” Armstrong then impales the Emperor with an American flag.
The End?
Funny he hasn’t turned up yet. It’s about the right time period.