What are we reading?

[mirth]

That's one of the few series that actually gets better the further into it you get...at least for those first three or four books.

The problem I had was the basic formula was pretty much the same in every book.  Big bad threatens, good guys lose the first fight (usually because of some betrayal), good guys lick their wounds and find some clever way to win the desperate final battle. Rinse, repeat in the next book.

[BanzaiCat]

Try reading the Axis of Time trilogy by John Birmingham. The guy that writes it should be what hack fraud Turtledove and his legion of no-name equally-awful copycats should aspire to.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_of_Time

The characters are both fictional and historical, the situations believable, the character interaction interesting, and the action is all kinds of awesome. Check out the first book in the series.

The premise is way the hell out there but pfft, if it's well written you can easily overlook that. I devoured all three books in the series and I'm one of the harshest judges of alt-history (see: Turtledove (natch), Robert Conroy, et al).

[BanzaiCat]

That's one of the few series that actually gets better the further into it you get...at least for those first three or four books.

The problem I had was the basic formula was pretty much the same in every book.  Big bad threatens, good guys lose the first fight (usually because of some betrayal), good guys lick their wounds and find some clever way to win the desperate final battle. Rinse, repeat in the next book.

True enough. But you really get a feel for how ingenious humans can be, when they put aside their differences and have a common enemy. The time period is perfect since so many soldiers of the time came from so many backgrounds, they really were a microcosm of society and could easily create a mini-industrial revolution on the planet they were on.

One thing I wanted to see more of in that series was, more of a history of how it happened instead of the occasional dribbits of info from the people-eaters. It's pretty obvious they devolved greatly from what they once were; I wanted to read about how that happened. Not sure if he gets into it in the later books or not. I know they got their airships from the 'burial mounds' and some aliens died from what was apparently radiation poisoning, but he didn't get much further into it.

[Gusington]

Thanks BC, I will. Come for the alt history, stay for the hack/fraud! I love it.

[BanzaiCat]

Hahahaha  :bd:

The Axis of Time trilogy has all kinds of tongue-in-cheek references, too, that are hilarious. Some are less subtle than others. For example, the flagship of the multinational fleet is the supercarrier USS Hillary Clinton, "the United States' greatest wartime president."  ;D Before you let that turn you off from it, trust me, it's well worth a read, and that name doesn't come up that often. I laughed out loud every time it did though, but felt like I was laughing at some inside joke rather than the stupidity of what I was reading.

[Gusington]

I remember seeing you guys laughing your asses off at that in other posts around here.

[mirth]

I don't think I can tolerate any version of history where Hillary is president.

[Sir Slash]

How about where she's Emperor? And Bill becomes a monk and goes to live in a monastery. Run by Amazon Death-Girls. And A. Weiner is his room mate. Could you tolerate that?

[BanzaiCat]

I don't think I can tolerate any version of history where Hillary is president.

RIGHT there with you, trust me. But he's such a good writer he made it kind of an in-joke. At least, that's the way I took it.

[mirth]

How about where she's Emperor? And Bill becomes a monk and goes to live in a monastery. Run by Amazon Death-Girls. And A. Weiner is his room mate. Could you tolerate that?

possibly

[Sir Slash]

Very open-minded of you.  :clap:

[mirth]

I am always open minded

[BanzaiCat]

"Open minded" is Maine for "open container."

[Greybriar]

I just started reading The Big Switch, book 3 in The War That Came Early series by Harry Turtledove.

I'll be interested to see if you dislike the main plot change as much as I did.

Sorry for the delay but I've had some things come up that held up my reading and I have only just now finished reading The Big Switch. While it was somewhat of a surprise, I did not really dislike the main plot change. It is alternate history after all and--unlike historical fiction--anything goes.

Next on my reading agenda is Coup d'État, book 4 in The War That Came Early series by Harry Turtledove. I never read much (if any) alternate history and I am enjoying reading this series of books.

[Pinetree]

Axis of Time was awesome. He's written a trilogy of novellas set in the 50's that seems to be setting up for another series.

His After America series was also well done.