Rating: 
Summary: The best Turtledove's done in quite a while!
Review: The Great War series has been excellent, and this is undoubtedly the best so far! The pace of the action picks _way_ up, and doesn't slow down till the end. I haven't reviewed the previous two books, so I'll start with a few words about the series in general, for the benefit of those who haven't read them. It is set in the same world as Turtledove's earlier (and highly recommended) "How Few Remain". In this world, the Confederates won the battle of Antietam, and went on to secede from the Union with help from Britain and France. The first book ("The Great War: American Front") opens up in 1914 with the beginning of World War I. The war in Europe goes much as it did in real life, with Britain, France, and Russia squaring off against Germany and Austro-Hungary. At this point, however, things get more complicated. The CSA is quick to join the war on the side of its old friends, Britain and France. The US is equally quick to join the war on the side of its one European ally, Germany. The result is a bloody, grinding trench war along the US-Confederate and US-Canadian borders, accompanied by battles between the US and British Pacific fleets. Like the real WWI, the result is slow, gory, and not terribly decisive. It is tense and well told, but not much land changes hands. In "The Great War: Breakthroughs", this changes very quickly. What has long been a war of positions makes the slow but inexorable transformation into a war of mobility. Throughout the series, many new tactics and technologies have been introduced. In this volume, they really begin to pay off. The result is some of the fastest, most exciting military-SF action to be found this year. Airplanes drop increasingly deadly and accurate payloads of bombs, wreaking destruction on both civilian and military targets. The US and it's Latin American allies launch an assault against vital supply lines in the Pacific, hoping to starve Britain into submission. Confederate submarines struggle to break the US Navy through hit-and-run tactics. Artillerymen concoct increasingly nasty chemical weapons. General George Armstrong Custer, long thought useless, finally does some good with his innovative use of barrels (tanks). The result of all this: soldiers are no longer safe in their own trenches, and war will never be the same again. The viewpoint characters must learn to live with this rapidly changing world. As artillery shells fall on Washington, DC, Nellie Semphroch quickly learns that obnoxious men are no longer her biggest concern. Gordon McSweeney, solidly religious but thoroughly bloodthirsty, delivers the Fires of Heaven to the Confederate heathens through the barrel of a flamethrower. George Enos hunts Confederate subs from the deck of the USS Ericsson. Jake Featherston, a stalwart Southern nationalist, turns his battery of howitzers on any who would dare hinder the Confederate war effort. The end result: one whopper of a read! The action never stops, and there's also a decent supply of nasty politics. Since book one, I've been anxiously awaiting the conclusion. The wait is almost up! I won't give away the ending, but suffice to say that the war is over by the end of the book (I won't say who wins). I guess book IV will deal with an alternate Treaty of Versailles, which will surely make an interesting conclusion. I don't give books five stars very often, but this one deserves it for sheer entertainment power.
Rating:
Summary: Harry does it again
Review: I've read all of Turtledove's alternate history novels, and this is by far one of the best. Volume III has a much faster pace than the first two volumes. More happens in this book than the first two combined. Turtledove still spends too much time with the arrogant and annoying Anne Colleton and her spineless former butler Scipio.Gordon McSweeney is also a huge bore at times. Other than that the characters are all interesting,especially Jake Featherston, Arthur McGregor and M. Galtier. The battle scenes are great as usual, especially the ones involving Custer and Col. Morrell on the Tennessee front. Most of the plotlines from books I-II are resolved here. Therefore, Book IV:Settling Accounts will resolve the remaining plotlines and may be a semi-introduction to a WWII storyline. Several hints saying as much were found in this book. Faetherston is obviously becoming a Hitler-like character, possibly leading a postwar Nazi-like Confederacy. There was also a reference to a possible rift between the USA and Imperial Germany. The worst thing about this book is we have to wait another year for Volume IV. This is clearly one of Turtledove's best works and would be great if he couninued the series into WWII.
Rating: 
Summary: An Improvement on Volume 2
Review: The third volume of this series is a great improvement over the second. The action moves more quickly and a number of logical lapses are resolved. I especially enjoyed the transformation (?) of General Custer. I guess Harry read some of these reviews! I have to agree that the sex has to go. It's a bit embarassing. Finally, to all you unreconstructed Confederates out there, get over it! This is only alternative history, not real history. If you don't like how things turned out, write your own book.
Rating:
Summary: more turtledove
Review: As always turtledove forces you to chase every page.He follows his theme of US versus Confederate States of America rememberance. Remembererance refers the peace imposed by Britain and France on the US to sue for peace.Specifically, each time the US and CSA have fought, the Confederate Stats have won. In the Turtledove world Abe Lincoln was not assasinated and indeed he started the sociaist party. The US is allied with Kaiser Wilhem andthe Confederates with France and Great Britain.Teddy Rooselvelt is the US President. The fascination with Turtledove is the level of detail each of his characters maintains. From every day soldiers, officers, civilians and politicians. Turtledove is a delightful addiction. You always impatiently wait for the next installment
Rating:
Summary: And so, they have spoken...
Review: Book III of Turtledove's "Great War" tetralogy answers most of the questions asked in "American Front" and "Walk in Hell," while hinting at those to be confronted in Volume IV, settling account. This volume, while very well written, is also the hardest and least optimistic, thus far, of the series: An invitation, perhaps, to carry the "Great War" timeline on to World War II? More than anything, "Breakthroughs" rests on a shaky intellectual basis, as does the rest of the "Great War" series. There are few surprises from Volume II: Tanks, airplanes, poison gas and sheer manpower propel the US-German alliance on to victory while, one after the other, the CSA and its allies must sue for peace. The Americans logically resolve to annex whatever territories they've conquered. Turtledove's character development remains strong even as events become more dramatic. Bigotry and bitterness co-exist in many a heart. Confederate Soldier Jake Featherston, who blames the defeat on blacks and C.S. brass, is a sure candidate to lead a postwar, Nazi-like Ku Klux Klan. Turtledove gives too much treatment to superficial, unpleasant Anne Colleton and her cowardly servant Scipio. But he is at his best when dealing with the defeated: Canadian Farmer Arthur McGregor, who becomes an embittered monster, recoiling at nothing to gain revenge; and one-time C.S. bigot Reggie Bartlett, who actually becomes a better man -no small feat in wartime- as he learns to give blacks a measure of respect. The author's minor literary offenses are not enough to detract from the general quality of the series. But there are too many repetitions, for instance: We don't need to read fifty times that taking Winnipeg from Canada will split that country in two. One reference to "black-bordered casualty lists" in daily newspapers is more than enough. And every family in North America seems to eat chicken stew for dinner, every evening! The major question, as we consider Turtledove's hard, and impoverished world, becomes this: How realistic is his theory in the first place? Turtledove willingly challenges one of the strongest tenets of International Relations Theory: that democracies trade with each other and don't wage war on one another. Would the US so willingly have turned its cannons on France and Britain? Even if the CSA had won the Civil War, would Britain and France so willingly have allied with a slave-holding nation? Would public opinion in either of these countries have stood for this, and for post-1882 apartheid in the American South? Would the United States so willingly become the pupil of Imperial Germany, a nation with doubtful democratic credentials at best? Turtledove's highly entertaining series is a must for anyone with the curiosity to ask "what if.." But it may be no more than that: Great entertainment...
Rating:
Summary: A Great Series continued...
Review: Dr. Turtledove picks up the pace from "Walk in Hell" with this third novel in the Great War series. As the title indicates we see breakthroughs on the major fronts of action, as well as glimpses into the future of this dark timeline. I still wish Dr. T would get rid of the obligatory sex scene that seems to show up in all of his books... but other than that a great book.
Rating:
Summary: Good Book, Surprising Ending
Review: I'm not gonna say much about the end, because it would ruin it for anybody who hasn't read it yet, but I felt that this was one of the better books he had written. Several things that had been cloudy in the previous books came to surface, along with reasons for earlier criticisms. Such as the reason for two Canadian views, different trech warfare views and different black views. Although once again he did have multiple characters, in this book the transitions were much nicer, and he did a good job of bringing them together. TR was also featured much more promonitly in this book, and I felt that was much more interesting as well. All in all, it was very well written, and I look forward to the fourth book in the series.
Rating: 
Summary: Not up to his usual standards
Review: The first two books in the great war series got proggressively better, I hoped this one would follow that trend, needless to say it didn't. This book is badly overwritten and does not follow any of the fantastic themes set in the first two. I would still suggest it however.
Rating:
Summary: Many Breakthroughs!
Review: As the title suggests, there are several breakthroughs, on the personal level of Turtledove's characters as well as breakthroughs on the war. The book ends, not with the end of the war, but the side that is victorious is obvious. Think of our World War I during the middle of 1918 and you'll understand. A good book even with all the characters(some you like, some you don't) switching views so the book doesn't quite focus on plot development for the single character.
Rating:
Summary: And so, they have spoken...
Review: Book III of Turtledove's "Great War" tetralogy answers most of the questions asked in "American Front" and "Walk in Hell," while hinting at those to be confronted in Volume IV, settling account. This volume, while very well written, is also the hardest and least optimistic, thus far, of the series: An invitation, perhaps, to carry the "Great War" timeline on to World War II? More than anything, "Breakthroughs" rests on a shaky intellectual basis, as does the rest of the "Great War" series. There are few surprises from Volume II: Tanks, airplanes, poison gas and sheer manpower propel the US-German alliance on to victory while, one after the other, the CSA and its allies must sue for peace. The Americans logically resolve to annex whatever territories they've conquered. Turtledove's character development remains strong even as events become more dramatic. Bigotry and bitterness co-exist in many a heart. Confederate Soldier Jake Featherston, who blames the defeat on blacks and C.S. brass, is a sure candidate to lead a postwar, Nazi-like Ku Klux Klan. Turtledove gives too much treatment to superficial, unpleasant Anne Colleton and her cowardly servant Scipio. But he is at his best when dealing with the defeated: Canadian Farmer Arthur McGregor, who becomes an embittered monster, recoiling at nothing to gain revenge; and one-time C.S. bigot Reggie Bartlett, who actually becomes a better man -no small feat in wartime- as he learns to give blacks a measure of respect. The author's minor literary offenses are not enough to detract from the general quality of the series. But there are too many repetitions, for instance: We don't need to read fifty times that taking Winnipeg from Canada will split that country in two. One reference to "black-bordered casualty lists" in daily newspapers is more than enough. And every family in North America seems to eat chicken stew for dinner, every evening! The major question, as we consider Turtledove's hard, and impoverished world, becomes this: How realistic is his theory in the first place? Turtledove willingly challenges one of the strongest tenets of International Relations Theory: that democracies trade with each other and don't wage war on one another. Would the US so willingly have turned its cannons on France and Britain? Even if the CSA had won the Civil War, would Britain and France so willingly have allied with a slave-holding nation? Would public opinion in either of these countries have stood for this, and for post-1882 apartheid in the American South? Would the United States so willingly become the pupil of Imperial Germany, a nation with doubtful democratic credentials at best? Turtledove's highly entertaining series is a must for anyone with the curiosity to ask "what if.." But it may be no more than that: Great entertainment...
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