Zivan reviewed In the Balance by Harry Turtledove
Review of 'In the Balance' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I was a bit weary of reading In the Balance.
I imagined that when the warring nations of WWII united against a common enemy, the Jews would be throne under the buss.
Well that's not exactly what happens.
In the Balance is my 14 year old WWII fantasy, with aliens coming in to save the day.
The aliens themselves are Imperialist bastards so the fantasy goes on with Humans fighting to preserve their freedom against superior technology.
As with Niven's [b:Footfall|116356|Footfall|Larry Niven|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320440216s/116356.jpg|1913289], the aliens have to be a bit dumb for humanity to have a chance at all.
Alternate history is a difficult genre for me, as a history buff and especially a military history buff I tend to have my own ideas as to how things would change if events took a different direction.
however Turtuledove did a very good job and I have very few complaints.
My only …
I was a bit weary of reading In the Balance.
I imagined that when the warring nations of WWII united against a common enemy, the Jews would be throne under the buss.
Well that's not exactly what happens.
In the Balance is my 14 year old WWII fantasy, with aliens coming in to save the day.
The aliens themselves are Imperialist bastards so the fantasy goes on with Humans fighting to preserve their freedom against superior technology.
As with Niven's [b:Footfall|116356|Footfall|Larry Niven|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320440216s/116356.jpg|1913289], the aliens have to be a bit dumb for humanity to have a chance at all.
Alternate history is a difficult genre for me, as a history buff and especially a military history buff I tend to have my own ideas as to how things would change if events took a different direction.
however Turtuledove did a very good job and I have very few complaints.
My only real issue is his lack of imagination. The aliens simply have late 1980s tech with space travel tacked on to it.
The question here is more: how would the armies of WWII have handled themselves against the US forces of the first Gulf War. Rather than how they would fair against the forces of an interstellar civilization.
