Down to Earth (Colonization, Book 2)

In 1942 Hitler led the world's most savage military machine. Stalin ruled Russia while America was just beginning to show its strength in World War II. Then, in Harry Turtledove's brilliantly imagined Worldwar saga, an alien assault changed everything. Nuclear destruction engulfed major cities, and the invaders claimed half the planet before an uneasy peace could be achieved.

A spectacular tale of tyranny and freedom, destruction and hope, Colonization takes us into the tumultuous 1960s, as the reptilian Race ponders its uneasy future. But now a new, even deadlier war threatens. Though the clamoring tribes of Earth play dangerous games of diplomacy, the ultimate power broker will be the Race itself. For the colonists have one option no human can ignore. With a vast, ancient empire already in place, the Race has the power to annihilate every living being on planet Earth . . .

Colonization: Down to Earth marks part two of part two of Harry Turtledove's epic alternate history in which WWII gets interrupted--and violently abridged--by a hostile alien invasion. With some of the same characters introduced in the four-volume Worldwar series and Colonization: Second Contact, the story arc continues through the 1960s, as the Lizards (along with their second fleet, composed not of soldiers but of colonists) continue to grapple with their not-quite-subdued conquest, Tosev 3 (a.k.a. earth). And Turtledove's alt-'60s are not--to say the least--about peace, love, and understanding.

Now the reptilian ETs must face off against three world superpowers in an uneasy truce: the United States; Molotov's SSSR; and the psychotic, nuke-wielding Nazis under Himmler. Elsewhere, the U.K. flirts with fascism, Red China (commanded by none other than Chairman Mao) wages a bloody resistance against its scaly oppressors, and the Arab world does likewise under the guidance of Ayatollah Khomeini. As ever with Turtledove, plot takes precedence over characterizations, but his suspenseful twists and turns don't disappoint. And while Down to Earth proves a bit less martial than its predecessors, the action still satisfies--if nothing else, the bang-up finale is worth the wait. --Paul Hughes