Fallout: The Hot War: 2

Turtledove as always superb

"Fallout: the hot war" is Harry Turtledove's sequel to  Bombs Away: The Hot War  in which the "cold war" turned boiling hot in 1950. It is the second book in a trilogy: the third is  Armistice: The Hot War ).Having done about as many alternative versions of World War II as you can possibly imagine, in the "Hot War" trilogy Harry Turtledove, sometimes known as the master of alternate history, turns his attention to World War III,During the period before the fall of the Berlin Wall many novels appeared about the possibility of World War III becoming a reality - from the viewpoint of the authors and contemporary readers, of course, most of these were not alternative history but described possible near futures which ranged from dystopian to complete catastrophe.This series, however, goes back to 1950 and the Korean war, and speculates on what might have happened if Truman had dropped atomic bombs on the Chinese to try to stem the Communist advance - and if both Harry Truman and Joe Stalin had disastrously misjudged each other's reactions ...The results were pretty catastrophic in the first book, and in this one they get even worse.Told in typical Harry Turtledove style with a large cast of viewpoint characters from different countries and with Turtledove's usual strengths and weaknesses - the former including mostly believable and interesting characters, the latter a propensity to repeat things far too many times as if the reader had the attention span of a gnat.My parents were fond of recalling later that at the time of the Cuban missile crisis they said to each on retiring to bed, "I hope to see you in the morning." Even with the weapons available fifty or sixty years ago it is very fortunate for us all that the deterrent worked and both the USA and USSR had the sense to avoid a nuclear war.This series will, leave most readers even more relieved that they probably already were that Truman, Stalin and their successors did have the good sense never to start that war.

Excellent book, and service

Harry Turtledove does it again! And some neat touches, as always. A wounded character gets carried off the Korean battlefield - I spotted which Mobile Army Surgical Hospital he ended up in... nice ameos!

I like this book, even though it is only 1/3 of a story. It is solid work by the author, who has probably got into something of a rut with his recent series. I would like to see him work a little more: for a world spanning book, the southern hemisphere doesn't get a mention.So much for the down side. There is a fair bit to like about the book and it does keep you turning the pages. And, one of Turtledove's strengths, he is never afraid to Nuke a previously favoured character.

Good story, but not quite as good as his earlier books, a little slow at times.

Very good

Second volume in a a trilogy of alternate history novels entitled 'the hot war,' which imagine what might have happened if the Americans had used nuclear weapons in the Korean war, and the situation had escalated into world war three.The first volume in the trilogy was called 'bombs away.' Although there is enough exposition in this such that new readers could probably get up to speed easily with it, you are probably still better off with starting with book one to get the most from the series.This volume runs for three hundred and seventy eight pages, and is divided into twenty six chapters. It does feature strong language and adult moments.And it picks up from where book one left off, with the various viewpoint characters - one real, others fictional creations - caught up in the conflict as it swiftly escalates. Savage fighting takes place on the ground in Europe. More atomic bombs are dropped all over the world. A politican makes a huge decision. And a potential new danger arises...This is written in the writer's usual style - those who read his work regularly will be well familiar with it - with scenes of no more than a few pages, involving one of many different viewpoint characters. Fictional or otherwise. Who can be killed off at a moment's notice. And history occurs sometimes as they are present, or sometimes off screen. The characters, as usual for the writer, will spend a lot of time rallying about fate and war and certain other aspects of life.Although the style is familiar, this is a pretty good series. Because this particular alternate history idea is not one that's been done before, and whilst some of the characters - mostly the soldiers and others in the armed services - are a bit generic, most of the civilians involved in the story are pretty interesting creations. Some have very good character arcs. And the way the conflict and the world situation progresses as a whole in this one is rather well done, a realistic feeling escalation.It ends with the situation still very much in the balance, and it's a good enough read to make you want to find out what happens next.There is a short excerpt from the third book 'armistice' at the end.A decent read from a writer who is good at this kind of thing.

First book was nice, second one is lukewarm at best. There are just to many characters whose viewpoints don't matter. Also, there are a lot of filler chapters which don't add more perspektive to the bigger picture. I don't care about Aaron Finch playing with his son or Daisy having a crush or Istvan enjoing a very detailed match of football or Marian working in some random office. After a while I started skipping those alltogether. Besides, the book is full of repetitions. The same figures and sometimes even the same paragraphs are used over and over again. Not a great read.

I didn't realize that this was book 2 in the series so you may want to start with book 1. That being said it is also a great stand alone book and I had a difficult time putting it down. This was my first book by turtledove and I now have a few others qued up to read.The audio version is well narrated and the kindle version is helpful to research weapons, characters and geography. The author is very detailed in historical, political, geography, weapons and culture.

Turtledove at his best again .. Continuing the story of a world gone mad with atomic weapons .. and Great read .. hard to put down .. eagerly awaiting the next in line ..

Another great book by Turtledove, fast shipping

I’m going to try and keep this a spoiler-free review of this novel, so it will be relatively short. In his first novel in this series, Bombs Away, Turtledove laid an intriguing twist…what if we had used nuclear weapons in the Korean War? How could that have played out?The answer is a world where B-29’s drop bombs fresh from the factory. This is not Wargames version of global thermonuclear war…it is slow, grinding, ponderous and painful. It is a bomber war.In book two, Fallout, we see the results of this war lumbering forward. There is no quick victory here for the characters. As with all Turtledove novels I’ve read, he’s got multiple story lines and perspectives in play. The nature of the war shifts in Fallout, bringing rise to the use of nukes on the battlefields. Several of the story line characters are on those fields of war and experience first-hand the kind of war we only speculated as children.Both sides start to break out their WWII surplus tanks and weapons to replace losses. I know some readers found that far-fetched but in reality, up through the 1960’s, the Soviets maintained a large stockpile of T34/85’s from WWII, just for such an eventuality. I learned that in my research for my own military history book, The Fires of October.Personally, I would have enjoyed more battle scenes. There are some story lines I found myself drawn to. The woman sent off to the gulags is an angle that is proving interesting and is something of a departure for typical Turtledove characters. I also love the cliffhanger moments with the English woman who owned a bar in Bombs Away. I came away from the book thinking about how cursed some people are to having bad things happen to them.The politics of the war and the rise of Joe McCarthy get some reader-time, but don’t seem to add much to the novel. I wish that had been explored more as a source of tension. Then again, knowing Turtledove, he could be holding back an “October Surprise” for us fans.The book does have a big escalation moment near the end – which I won’t spoil. It was good – damned good. It could have been more – but it was still pretty awesome.People love to take shots at Harry Turtledove’s work, as one of the fathers of contemporary alternate history. Going after his style, his repetition, his character arcs, etc., is almost cliché at this point. I won’t go there. People like to take shots at the people at the top of their game – there’s something very American about it. I won’t. I’m enjoying the series.If you liked Bombs Away, you’ll find Fallout as a good solid novel. Four out of five stars in my opinion.