The Great War: Breakthroughs

Written by Harry Turtledove

Narrated by George Guidall

A Main Selection of the Science Fiction Book Club, Breakthroughs is the third installment of best-selling author Harry Turtledove's The Great War series of remarkable alternate histories. As the frightening war to end all wars continues to spread with vengeance around the globe, the swiftly modernizing armies of the Confederacy and the United States battle for control of the North American continent.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 18, 2010
• ISBN: 9781449832148

Harry Turtledove

Harry Turtledove is an American novelist of science fiction, historical fiction, and fantasy. Publishers Weekly has called him the “master of alternate history,” and he is best known for his work in that genre. Some of his most popular titles include The Guns of the South, the novels of the Worldwar series, and the books in the Great War trilogy. In addition to many other honors and nominations, Turtledove has received the Hugo Award, the Sidewise Award for Alternate History, and the Prometheus Award. He attended the University of California, Los Angeles, earning a PhD in Byzantine history. Turtledove is married to mystery writer Laura Frankos, and together they have three daughters. The family lives in Southern California.

Reviews for The Great War

[hamburgerclan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This sucks! No, not the book. The book is quite well written and interesting. In it, Mr. Turtledove wraps up the First World War. Well, the first world war of this particular alternate reality. You know, the one where the South had won the Civil War. Now the USA and CSA are fighting across the trenches, just like the European powers. Like the previous volumes of the trilogy, Mr. Turtledove tells the tale from the perspective of a variety of people: soldier and civilian; rich and poor; damnyankee, reb and canuck. That's where the problem lies. Some of those plot threads end somewhat happily, others, not so well. One... ah, one just sucks. It's good writing. It shows an important facet of life during wartime but... I won't spoil the surprise. I hated it. Still, it's a good read and wraps up the trilogy, so I gotta have it on my shelf.

[randystafford · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

With the third book in the Great War series, Turtledove brings his alternate WWI, if not the series, to a close.There's nothing really startling here as far as alternate depictions of military technology or history. The peace treaty imposed on the Confederacy is obviously modelled on the Treaty of Versailles -- and has an even greater potential for cheating. Politically, of course, a victorious Germany on the Continent has profound implications for the future. As in our history, armored breakthroughs end the stalemate of trench warfare. Here the idea comes from an unlikely source: George Armstrong Custer, whose single notable quality, for good or ill, is aggressiveness. A noted variation from our timeline is an earlier linkage of air power with naval power.But the real attraction of the book is to find out what happens to the characters we've followed in earlier books. Some benefit in unexpected ways from war. Some suffer. And some don't survive the war. Some carry on the fight after the armistice, and others begin to prepare for what they believe will be another war between the United States and the Confederacy.The most interesting development is that one embittered Confederate veteran seems on his way to becoming a Hitlerian figure in the series' future.

[dinadansfriend · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Part of the "How Few Remain " Timeline, number three in this grouping. A very normal HT product but we try to keep track of our favourite characters, and know that the '30's lie ahead for us.