[Zsinj]

You know, Harry Turtledove's alternate history novels have always interested me, but some of them look...I don't know....rather hokey, if you know what I mean. So I was wondering if some of you could please recommend me some good alternate history novels by him? Btw, I already have his "Gerin the Fox Series" written under his penname of Eric Iverson on my to-read list, along with his "Videssos", "Krispos", and "Time of Troubles" cycles.
Any help would be dearly appreciated. :)

[LordBalthazar]

You know, it's funny you started this thread because I started reading my very first Harry Turtledove novel today - an alternate history titled Sentry Peak, the first book in his The War Between the Provinces series. Hokey doesn't even begin to describe it. As someone who, like you, is a first-timer to the world of Turtledove, I have to ask if Sentry Peak is indicative of his work - incredibly shallow and so cheesy one would think it was parody.

To all the Turtledove readers out there. Is this as good as it gets?

[James Carmack]

I've only read the four books of his Worldwar Series and the first two of his Colonization follow-up. It was better than nothing back in AIT, I can tell you that much. I thought all the tawdry sex scenes were rather puerile, but there's definitely worse authors out there. Without any wider experience with his work, I can't say whether any particular segment of his career measures up in the grand scheme of things.

Generally, I think it's a fair bet that if you're not too jazzed about an author, you're not going to warm up to him anytime soon. If Turtledove isn't quite doin' it for you, you might as well move on to another author. There are plenty out there, after all.

[suciul]

Try the standalone Guns of the South (good idea to borrow, browse... first just not to waste money if you do not like it). If you do not like that I do not think you would like other Turtledove, unless you really want to read about a specific period/kind of ah as represented in one of his books.

Personally I read the WW and Colonization series (good by and large, mostly because many characters were interesting), Justinian (very good historical under Turtletaub pseud), Guns of the South (the best HT), In the Presence of Mine Enemies (decent too) and a new one from 07 with mammoths (good but I like first contact and polar settings) and I tried but not got into the big American series and the magic WW2 (Darkness) series, or into the hellenistic historical one written as Turtletaub.

[beenorthern]

I agree with Suciul, *Guns of the South*, is the best of Turtledove's alt.worlds. Probably because it's a stand-alone. The further he goes with a series, the flatter it gets. I bogged down on the 3rd *Worldwar* ... (*Footfall* by Niven & Pournelle is a shorter and more vivid alien invasion tale.) I cannot tell you how tired I am of *Videssos* (Byzantium re-cloned)! Guy Gavriel Kay's *Sailing to Sarantium* is infinitely better!