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tome15's review
4.0
Turtledove, Harry. Aftershocks. Colonization No. 3. Del Rey, 2001.
I am going to say something I almost never say about the third volume of a 1800-page trilogy: I wish it were longer. Once again nuclear war threatens, the alien invaders are having a hard time holding on to their territory and the independent human nations are advancing uncomfortably fast. Worse, from the alien point of view, their own culture is becoming more like the human cultures. And unknow to them, the Americans are researching star travel in the asteroid belt. So, there is an obvious fourth volume to be written here. Maybe one of these days Turtledove will pick it up again.
I am going to say something I almost never say about the third volume of a 1800-page trilogy: I wish it were longer. Once again nuclear war threatens, the alien invaders are having a hard time holding on to their territory and the independent human nations are advancing uncomfortably fast. Worse, from the alien point of view, their own culture is becoming more like the human cultures. And unknow to them, the Americans are researching star travel in the asteroid belt. So, there is an obvious fourth volume to be written here. Maybe one of these days Turtledove will pick it up again.
davidr's review
3.0
This novel is the third and final in Harry Turtledove's "Colonization" trilogy. It is set in the mid-1960's, about 20 years after an alien race interrupted World War II. The aliens came, expecting an easy conquest of Earth. Instead, they found that humans adapt more quickly, advance more rapidly in technology, and are far more duplicitous than they are, themselves.
The story continues right where the second book in the trilogy left off. There are about eight subplots in the novel. Some of the subplots revolve around the alien leaders, and leaders of the Soviet Union. Other subplots revolve around ordinary people thrown into extraordinary situations. For example, a pair of ginger smugglers run around the world, applying their illicit trade while trying to evade authorities. A woman historian tries to evade a Nazi officer who has been blackmailing her. A Jewish doctor in Palestine looks for an eligible woman to marry. A Jewish-Polish freedom fighter tries to track down a band of Jews who have an atomic bomb in their possession. A Chinese girl is raised in an alien space ship, and undergoes a time of discovery as she comes of age.
All of the subplots are fascinating, and kept my interest throughout the long book.
I did not read this book; I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Patrick Lawlor. His reading is good, but as I mentioned for the first two books, his accents are not quite right. My main complaint about the narration, however, is that the story frequently shifts abruptly from one subplot to another, and there is no break at all in the narration. A few seconds of silence would have helped immensely in keeping track of the transitions between subplots.
The story continues right where the second book in the trilogy left off. There are about eight subplots in the novel. Some of the subplots revolve around the alien leaders, and leaders of the Soviet Union. Other subplots revolve around ordinary people thrown into extraordinary situations. For example, a pair of ginger smugglers run around the world, applying their illicit trade while trying to evade authorities. A woman historian tries to evade a Nazi officer who has been blackmailing her. A Jewish doctor in Palestine looks for an eligible woman to marry. A Jewish-Polish freedom fighter tries to track down a band of Jews who have an atomic bomb in their possession. A Chinese girl is raised in an alien space ship, and undergoes a time of discovery as she comes of age.
All of the subplots are fascinating, and kept my interest throughout the long book.
Spoiler
However, the plots don't go anywhere. There is no real conclusion to the book; there are lots of threads hanging. The end of the book came and I thought, "is that all?" It was very unsettling.I did not read this book; I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Patrick Lawlor. His reading is good, but as I mentioned for the first two books, his accents are not quite right. My main complaint about the narration, however, is that the story frequently shifts abruptly from one subplot to another, and there is no break at all in the narration. A few seconds of silence would have helped immensely in keeping track of the transitions between subplots.
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