West and East

June 14, 2010
Having laid out the course of "the war that came early" in 2009's Hitler's War, Turtledove focuses on turning his characters from stock military figures into specialists. In this version of WWII, the Nazis fail to take Paris. The German war machine, apparently fed by infinite soldiers, turns not only to the western and eastern fronts but also north to Denmark. The novel most fully shines when the characters are allowed to strive for their full potential: Czech sniper Vaclav Jezek adopts an antitank rifle as his favorite weapon; German pilot Hans-Ulrich Rudel ingeniously modifies his aircraft; Soviet soldier Chaim Weinberg becomes a Party propagandist; and the Goldman family tries to achieve a semblance of normal life in Nazi-ruled Münster. The war is always present, though, and there's plenty to satisfy fans of military strategy, tactics, and armaments.

May 15, 2010
Set in an alternate time line in which British prime minister Chamberlain decides not to appease Germany in 1938, this sequel to "Hitler's War" continues to follow the fortunes of a few men and women whose lives epitomize the struggle that would change the world. Here, as a battle emerges on two fronts with the Japanese invasion of Siberia as well as the Nazi offensive in Europe, the actions of a few have long-lasting consequences as well as personal complications. Turtledove is in top form as he traverses familiar and beloved terrain, the war years of the 20th century. VERDICT The author's fans and lovers of military fiction and alternate history should welcome this addition to the genre. [Ebook ISBN 978-0-345-52184-2.]

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 15, 2010
Continuing on from Hitlers War (2009), it is now 1939, and both Germany and Russia are faced with wars on two fronts. Sergeant Fujita fights to cut off Vladivostok, while Russian pilot Sergei Yaroslavsky fights the Germans and their Polish (!) allies outside Warsaw. British Sergeant Alistair Walsh acquires a pet cat and an unreasonable familiarity with Norwegian weather as the German invasion of Scandinavia leaves the peripatetic Peggy Druce marooned in Sweden. Meanwhile, one of the few real-historical characters, Stuka pilot Hans-Ulrich Rudel, earns the Knights Cross for discovering how to turn the lumbering dive bomber into a lethal tank-buster. In Spain, Chaim Weinberg learns that the dialectic he knows so well can be as effective a weapon as a rifle, and in Shanghai, marine corporal Pete McGill learns that it may be a long, hard road to marrying his beloved, White Russian refugee Vera. And so it whirls on, the suspense building inexorably, thanks to two of Turtledoves gifts, in particular. One is for portraying so much of the action from the viewpoint of the grunts, or even civilians, who know little of what the Great Ones are up to until the consequences are all over them. The other proceeds from the first and is for envisioning WWII unraveling like an endless ball of yarn in the paws of an intelligent kitten. Keep reading or miss something exceedingly fine.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)