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A review by jrpoole
Atlantis and Other Places: Stories of Alternate History by Harry Turtledove
2.0
The most notable story here is the first one, which imagines Atlantis as an immense island in the middle of the Atlantic comprised of what is now much of the East coast of North America. John James Audubon visits Atlantis in search of species that are rapidly declining due to European and Terra Novan (what is now the U.S.) colonization. It's really a vehicle to document the destruction of isolated ecosystems when the scourge of humanity appears, bringing cats and rats and other invasive species with it. I'm a bit of a zoology geek, so that was pretty fascinating stuff. Otherwise I may not have made it through.
The ideas here are interesting, but the execution is lacking. The writing is plodding and rarely shines, but it's serviceable enough to keep some of the stories engaging, while others are nearly unreadable (or unlistenable, as it were, since I did this one on audiobook). Harry Turtledove is a widely-lauded writer of alternate history and speculative fiction, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt; maybe the stories in this collection just aren't the best introduction to his work.
The ideas here are interesting, but the execution is lacking. The writing is plodding and rarely shines, but it's serviceable enough to keep some of the stories engaging, while others are nearly unreadable (or unlistenable, as it were, since I did this one on audiobook). Harry Turtledove is a widely-lauded writer of alternate history and speculative fiction, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt; maybe the stories in this collection just aren't the best introduction to his work.