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Worldwar: In the Balance

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Worldwar: In the Balance

By: Harry Turtledove
Narrated by: Todd McLaren
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About this listen

War seethed across the planet. Machines soared through the air, churned through the seas, crawled across the surface, pushing ever forward, carrying death. Earth was engaged in titanic struggle. Germany, Russia, France, China, Japan: the maps were changing day by day. The hostilities spread in ever-widening ripples of destruction: Britain, Italy, Africa...the fate of the world hung in the balance. Then the real enemy came. Out of the dark of night, out of the soft glow of dawn, out of the clear blue sky came an invasion force the likes of which Earth had never known---and worldwar was truly joined.

The invaders were inhuman and they were unstoppable. Their technology was far beyond our reach, and their goal was simple: Fleetlord Atvar had arrived to claim Earth for the Empire. Never before had Earth's people been more divided. Never had the need for unity been greater. And grudgingly, inexpertly, humanity took up the challenge.

In this epic novel of alternate history, Harry Turtledove takes us around the globe. We roll with German panzers, watch the coast of Britain with the RAF, and welcome alien-liberators to the Warsaw ghetto. In tiny planes we skim the vast Russian steppe, and we push the envelope of technology in secret labs at the University of Chicago. Turtledove's saga covers all the Earth, and beyond, as mankind---in all its folly and glory---faces the ultimate threat; and a turning point in history shows us a past that never was and a future that could yet come to be.

©2009 Harry Turtledove (P)2010 Tantor
Science Fiction Fiction War Imperialism Military
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Critic reviews

“Turtledove excels in alternate history, and this panoramic exploration of a world at war...showcases his fertile imagination. A feast for history buffs as well as sf fans.” ( Library Journal)

What listeners say about Worldwar: In the Balance

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Worldwar - Should be a TV series

A brilliant start to the series, each character brought to vivid life. The author illustrates seemlessly their in depth knowledge and research of this era of world history. Onto Book 2

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Very VERY slow.

While I love Alternative History I honesty stuggled to stay engaged in it. The depth of the world Turtledove built is impressive but he seems to drag it out too much.
Then there is how it's recorded. McLaren does nothing wrong on his own but for how page breaks are done there is no pause between setting which when you have two characters by the name of Jaeger (an American and a German ) it can be annoying and confusing.
Sadly while I am intrigued in how the story continues I don't feel like I will be buying the next book in the series even with a credit.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Anticipation Balanced.

Having an interest in history, & WW2 in particular. I was surprised to find these books years ago. Sadly only found the first series. Now I am LOVING the fact I have ALL of them...

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    5 out of 5 stars
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A great start to a great series

This is a spoiler free review for the whole series

at first i was reluctant to read this as it sounds like such a dumb premise but i was actually surprised at how well thought out it is. The characters are well devloped and the history and references are really fun and interesting whithout being cheesy like independence day or alien invasion fiction. Like it takes place in ww2 but i think Hitler only makes one appearence it isn't overplayed or childish. The 4 worldwar books are my favorite of the series as to me they were the most action backed and with a story that flows very easily. The 3 colonization books are good to the new narrator just takes some getting used to. And homeward bound is a good conclusion that leaves the world open to your own imagination of what happens next. Some characters are present throughout the whole series others are dropped and new onces introuduced and even the aliens are given great devlopment after reading this you really feel like you understand their society.

In conclusion i would defiently recommend this book and this series as a fun dive into sci-fi and alternate history these 8 books are the longest book series i've read so far and they were definetly worth it!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Time to think

I love the way Turtledove handles characterisation. He has produced story lines for a dozen people you want to know more about.



This story makes you think about the speed of human progression and he impact it has on the world and people.

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Excellent, one catch!...

It's a great listen.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Enjoyable so far

I'm only a few hours into the story, but I'm enjoying it. The voice actor isn't perfect but the voices aren't too grating.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting!

Would you try another book written by Harry Turtledove or narrated by Todd McLaren?

Sadly no

Could you see Worldwar: In the Balance being made into a movie or a TV series? Who would the stars be?

Yes a good idea

Any additional comments?

I'm a fan of the second world war so found this interesting, but very long winded.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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WW2 Interrupted by Alien Invasion

Awesome story. Very well paced and with engaging characters fictional and real. This author is a master so if you like sci-fi and realistic military fiction then this is a must. Narrator is awesome for immersion.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Good Book, could have been great

Turtledove weaves and excellent yarn in this alternative history epic.

This book was a pretty good listen. It was my first venture into the alternative history genre and I was pleasantly surprised. The fact that the author knows his background helped and as a history fan myself I didn’t come across anything obvious that spolit the story.

I’ve listened to all four of this series now and it gets pretty compulsive at times. I could tell my wife was getting annoyed as I just couldn’t switch it off. Especially at the really exciting bits! I was also very tired for work one day after staying up late listening.

The only downside was the narrator. Yes he’s got a nice voice and when he’s doing an American or doing a stereotypical German or Russian this was fine (although maybe a German or Russian would disagree). The trouble was when he was doing an accent that was outside his comfort zone he got very very annoying. He has absolutely no comprehension of what British people sound like. His Yorkshire man sounded like a cockney with some sort of affliction and when we are introduced to a character from Cornwall, for some reason, he decided to do an impression of Paul McCartney. Annoying in short bursts but after a long stretch it was just offensive. Thankfully the book jumps around quite a lot so it was just about bearable.

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2 people found this helpful