Rating: 
Summary: The North finally wins - but at what price?
Review: The reader familiar with the previous installments of the Great War series, as well as other alternate history works of Dr. Turtledove, usually looks not for the new content in his work but for the continuation of the story. In a way, it's addictive, like waiting for the next episode of a soap opera to see what happens next. Turtledove remains true to himself in Breakthroughs: multiple story line, emotionally charged scenes on both sides of the trenches, sharp, if sometimes dark, wit, excellent incorporation of actual historical figures into the fictitious history - this and much more is present. But once you finish the last page and close the book, the feeling of foreboding will be hard to avoid; what will become of North America where the exhausted but bitter and vengeful United States, with the principles of democracy and equality providing a window dressing for the more and more German Empire-like administration, finally triumph over not only the Confederacy, but Canada, as well?
Rating: 
Summary: Bang up great job!
Review: So the Great War series finally come to an end. Of course, now I have to wait a good long while for the story to continue in the American Empire series. But I'm sure it'll be worth it!Take one simple What If and see where it goes. Start with the initial twist of fate that sets the events of How Few Remain in motion. Suppose that Union forces don't find General Lee's General Order 191 (a far more likely outcome than what did happen quite by improbable accident in our timeline). With the element of surprise intact, Lee wins the battle of Antietam. His swing up into Pennsylvania so he can attack Washington DC from the north succeeds. With position and momentum favoring the Confederacy, England and France make up their minds to ally themselves with the South and force Lincoln to accept secession. And the world is changed utterly. Stepping forward 50 years, the same fatal chain reactions that set World War I into motion in our world also explode in this one, except in Turtledove's alternate history, the Confederacy throws in with its allies, and the Union sides with Germany and Austria-Hungary. And the deadly carnage that ruined Europe in our history washes over North America in this different timeline. The 1800 plus pages of the Great War series make fascinating, compulsive reading. Turtledove's approach is to tell the vast story of this Great War from the personal, limited viewpoints of more than a dozen individuals, rather than either stepping back and giving us the grand author's view of events from above or focusing on a smaller number of lead players. There are pluses and minuses to this. For one, the large number of characters can be confusing to keep track of, at least at first. (I don't think that it's until this third volume that he bothers to give us much at all in the way of physical descriptions of any of them.) And the unvarying psychic distance we have of all their stories, always staying right in limited third person, floating just above their heads, rather than zooming in for something more intimate with just a handful of sympathetic characters or pulling out for a grander, historical vista, can be monotonous at times. But the cumulative effect of this compromise is to communicate both the huge expanse of the story and also to give us a feel for what a World War fought in North America would really be like for an individual caught up in it. He gives us a view from not one but many trenches. And it works. But the cost is that Turtledove never quite achieves either the sweep of history or the vivid highlights of personal storytelling. For me, the Great War series, especially in this final book, also illustrates an important historical lesson. It's what France and England got so terribly wrong after World War I and what the Allies finally got right after World War II. At the end of The Great War, the Confederacy is crushed, the United States vengefully triumphant, and one can see the ruinous peace that is going to be imposed on the South. Just as the wicked and unwise Treaty of Versailles and the devestation it caused in Germany gave Hitler the political and social conditions he needed to come to power, so too you can see a Hitler of the Confederacy arising in this alternative world. (I'm guessing the next series, American Empire, is going to show us just how terrible these consequences are going to be.) So now I can better appreciate the wisdom of all the allies who backed the Marshall Plan and helped to rebuild Europe. There's the lesson. Once you're in a fight, make sure you win and win decisively. (This is something that in this story Congresswoman Flora Hamburger refuses to accept). And once you do make sure it's over by knocking the other guy down so he can't get up, you give him your hand and help him up and make him your friend so you end it right there. In both Turtledove's alternate history and our own, it's a lesson takes a long time and that's learned in blood.
Rating:
Summary: Foreshadows the war to come...
Review: Although Harry Turtledove is probably best known for his World War series, the Civil War series that began with HOW FEW REMAIN is doubtless his greatest work. The back-story for this series is a plausible world in which Lee's plans for the 1862 invasion of Pennsylvania did not fall into Union hands. After battles at New Cumberland and Camp Hill in which Lee crushed the Army of the Potomac, leaving Washington cut off, England and France intervene--forcing the North to sue for peace. In HOW FEW REMAIN, the story picked up in 1881 when the North declared war on the Confederacy following the latter's purchase of Chihuahua and Sonora from the Empire of Mexico. Following another British and French intervention, the Confederacy was again victorious. The Union is left embittered and hungry for revenge. At the end of HOW FEW REMAIN, Turtledove foreshadowed the four volume GREAT WAR with clear hints of an emerging alliance between the Union and Imperial Germany. In AMERICAN FRONT, the story picked up in 1914. World War I has broken out in Europe. The Union and Imperial Germany are staunch allies, while the Confederacy remains allied with England and France. In short order, the Union and the Confederacy plunge into a war paralleling that in Europe. The war doesn't make a lot of sense. In World War I, all of the European players had clear war aims. The war turned out to be a tragic folly, but they all knew why they went to war. In contrast, it's not clear why the Union and Confederacy are fighting (old animosities?) or what their respective war aims are. Does the USA believe it can conquer and reabsorb the Confederacy? Perhaps this is Turtledove's point - the utter folly of war. If so, his story powerfully illustrates the utility of George Washington's advice that the US steer clear of "entangling alliances" with European powers. As was made even more clear in volume 2, WALK IN HELL, privation and radical social change are the war's only sure outcome. Volume 3, BREAKTHROUGHS, brings the story forward into 1917. As usual with Turtledove, there are a lot of sub-plots to keep track of - at least a dozen! Crib notes are almost a necessity. Yet, some plot lines that in prior novels seemed needlessly duplicative now begin to show clear distinctions. Consider the McGregor and Galtier sub-plots. Both are based around oppressed Canadian families living in territories occupied by US forces. The McGregors are resistance fighters, while the Galtiers fell (more or less by accident) into being collaborationists. I still think Turtledove, however, would have done better to combine these separate plot lines into a single one, in which the conflict could have been established within a single family, heightening the tension. Without revealing too many spoilers, I want to note that a couple of predictions made by this reviewer's comments on prior volumes have come true. First, Turtledove still cannot write sex scenes but persists in foisting a couple on us per novel. The cuckoldry of one of the viewpoint characters is certainly the sort of thing that happens in wartime, but Turtledove's turgid purple prose is still off-putting. Second, as I predicted, Jake Featherston has clearly emerged as a proto-Hitler. So now for my next predictions: The final volume will develop themes of economic privation and social breakdown (think Weimar Germany). A major theme will be Featherston's rise to power as a racist demagogic leader planning a pogrom against blacks. And we'll be buying yet another tetralogy-this time dealing with WWII. The next tetralogy likely will end in southern defeat, although maybe not reunification. In creating the GREAT WAR world, Turtledove thus far has stuck pretty close to the plot line of the Franco-German wars, with the Union playing France's role and the Confederacy that of Germany. In HOW FEW REMAIN, the Confederacy won a short war pretty easily, just as the Kaiser on the Franco-Prussian war. In the GREAT WAR, the south will lose a bloody war, just as the German Empire lost WWI. If Turtledove sticks to form, the south will lose the next war too. Anyway, this is alternative history at its finest. Turtledove is not the greatest stylist in fantasy, and spreads himself too thin across too many books for real quality, but he is a consistently imaginative and capable storyteller. He has the guts to kill off major viewpoint characters, which few other series authors do. One becomes invested in the story and eager to find out how it comes out. Recommended, although U subtract one star for the awful sex scenes.
Rating: 
Summary: The "Great War" winds down...or does it?
Review: I usually look forward to Harry Turtledove's "next book" in several of the series that he has running. I particularly like to keep up with various characters that he has developed rather nicely,such as Jake Featherston and Cinncinnatus. At times this book moves along rather well and some of the writing is paticularly inspired,but for the greater part of the book we are simply plodding along from one telegraphed situation to another. Not very satisfying;therefore--2 stars. I thought that the situation in which the CSA found itself in regards to armaments to be a bit odd,considering that their major ally, Great Britain, was one of the World's leading industrial powers...and a naval power! My conclusion regarding this particular "installment" in the neverending saga ,is that it is really a setup for a real doozer of a "Second World War". The parallel of the CSA being disarmed and occupied,as was Germany at the end of "real-time" W.W.I,is a good teaser for history buffs.Of course the anger, resentment, and the loser's desire for revenge sets up the next war. I suspect that the next book in the series will really make this one an important cornerstone for future developments. The generally flat tone of this book was not very satisfying,but it did leave me wanting more. Overall,this book was a necessary evil in order to further bring Dr. Turtledove's alternate history timeline to completion. I look forward to the next volume with enthusiasm.
Rating: 
Summary: An interesting read. However...
Review: I've been following Turtledove's work for a long time, and have read most of his novels. For the most part I consider him to be one of my favourite authors. However, "Breakthroughs" turned out to be something of a disappointment. There seems to be very little spirit behind the writing this time around; the descriptions are vague and somewhat colorless, and the reader is not made to truly feel any horror, trepidation, or surprise that the setting so powerfully lends itself to. It struck me as being a book that was churned out; something that Turtledove wanted to get out of the way so that he could move on to bigger and better things (understandable when you're working on two other series simultaneously). The major plot devices are clearly marked, and it is made clear after a dozen pages which side is going to win the war. Jack Featherston the artillery sergeant in particular is marked with a flashing neon "PLOT DEVICE" sign. The book wasn't particularly poorly-written, it was just...bland. Turtledove's trademarked constant repitition of points was particularly throbbing towards the end, too, so anybody who gets ill of that quickly should be advised to take some aspirin first. Anyway, in general it was an interesting read, so don't set up the firing squad yet. For me it was mostly of historical interest. If you want to be at all surprised, though, pass this one up and skip to the next book in the series when it comes out; no doubt our good friend Turtledove will be good enough to recite the events of "Breakthroughs" in the next novel...again...and again...and again... ;)
Rating:
Summary: great book.... now what's next?
Review: Personally, I thought this was another great Turtledove book. I love how he twists history into these alternate images, for they are the way things could have ended. I think Turteldove is a great writer and it's sad to see that everytime a good book like "Breakthroughs" comes out that people have to snipe at it and criticize it for not being perfect. Im no high-minded history professor who knows the shoe size of every soldier who fought in WWI, but I know enough to imagine that Turtledove knows his history as well as can be expected. That's the biggest thing in his books, imagination. All it takes is a little imagination and these stories really come alive, that's how I see it. "Breakthroughs" really moves too, it doesn't seem to bog down and has several twists in the plot to keep you reading all the way to the end. The characters are still numerous and several of them stand out in this novel, such as Jake Featherston, the disgruntled Confederate artilleryman and Irving Morell, a U.S. colonel who becomes a barrel commander and is my favorite character from the series, he's intelligent and I see him (as well as Featherston) becoming major players in the next story. It would be nice to see more information on the war as it happened in Europe, but I think that would sort of be like telling it how it really happened, since this is alternate history, it probably is better if the story is not so embroiled in the war in Europe. Imagining it happening in your backyard and directly effecting you... It adds a new flavor to the situation. (...
Rating:
Summary: building toward ...what??
Review: In "Breakthrough" the war finally begins to wind down as the Confederates find themselves unable to fight on two fronts, nor cope with the "barrel" (tanks) tatics that have allowed the U.S. to break through their lines. After a false start, a armistice is declared, but now what? In the victorius US, the people are faced with intergrating new territory into their Union, despite partisan activity in Canada, the Socialists are gaining power in Congress, while in the South, the communist revolt of the blacks have been finally crushed (or has it?), leaving a residue of bitterness, and a veteran, (parelling Hitler's rise in post WWI Germany) curses the stay at homes, the office corp and the blacks who caused the defeat and who also kept him from promotion. Dr. Turtledove seems to laying groundwork here for notjust one more book, but at least one more series...This series has been a great read, (and I include "How Few Remain" which isn't supposed tobe part of the series,but is..)and I eagerly look forward to the last book in it, and the next series as well.....
Rating:
Summary: Pointing to the future
Review: As the other reviewers have pointed out, this volume of the Great War Tetralogy sees an end to the conflict both at home and abroad; what does this leave for the final volume? Well, something that I for one anticipate with great relish: Just how will the US and CS deal with the aftereffects of the War? I think it might be easier not to bother, to have stretched out the fighting through another volume, but that would've led to interminable, Robert Jordan-esque piddling about with the plot; "Walk in Hell" felt enough like that for me that I was glad to see some resolution in "Breakthroughs". However, I can see already that the series is looking far beyond its own borders; references are continually made toward the end of the book of the "next war, 15 to 20 years from now," about the development of "barrel warfare" ('barrel' being the name adopted for our 'tank') in the future, and indeed other references towards burgeoning air-power and the development of aircraft carriers. Could it be that Turtledove has another series in the works? A WWII alternate-history that doesn't involve aliens? At any rate, there are some definite surprises in store for readers in this one, and some gut-wrenching twists of plot. A worthwhile read, especially after the way that Walk in Hell dragged. I look forward to the next volume.
Rating:
Summary: Always a delight to read...
Review: As a book store owner, I get to become jaded to fiction. I get to look at every new book that hits the shelves, and 95% of the time I am simply not impressed. Harry Turtledove is one of the few authors I own everything by. From his Fantasy writing, to his Alternative History books, he is solid reading. f you are looking for something different, Harry Turtledove is your man. In this his latest book in the WWI series, he has put together a book, I personally wish never ended. I have become attached to several of the characters, and hate waiting for the next book. Yes Harry does at times seem to follow the actual events too much, but then again if he just went off into the blue sky, it would lose its ability to be believed. All of the things in his books are believable, as are his characters. I recommend him highly, for history and fictions readers alike..
Rating:
Summary: The end of WWI on American soil
Review: The final book of the Great War trilogy, I was a bit disappointed to see Turtledove stick to his rather annoying habit of mirroring the actual events. In this book, he has basically turned the CSA into the Germany of 1917-1919 that we know. A breakthrough that cannot be plugged up allows an enemy to penetrate deep into the countryside, forcing an armistice. The currency is devaluated, and the disgruntled army is still semi-mobilized waiting to avenge themselves. (If you replace Featherston with Hitler, "Over Open Sights" with "Mein Kampf", and the Richmond War Department with Munich Beer Hall and jump ahead approximately 5-10 years, then the last few chapters make more sense.) It is rather evident what the sequel will bring: Jake Featherston as a Hitler-type leader of the CSA, bringing a holocaust on the blacks as "backstabbers" of the Confederacy, with another minor character (probably someone from this series-Major Potter or Jeff Pinkard?)as his Himmler. In the USA, Irving Morrell will have evolved into an advocate of armored warfare, maybe one of the British desert war generals?? However, I must say that Dr. Turtledove's style is intriguing and I can't wait to read his conclusion, especially what he will do with the European situation and where he will place the Battle of Britain.
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