Armistice

By: Harry Turtledove

Narrated by: Henry Strozier

Length: 17 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

Set in an alternate 1950s in which General MacArthur ignites a nuclear war that nearly destroys the planet. The third and final installment in an all new series, from "the standard-bearer of alternate history" (USA Today).

Not only is the outcome of the world's first nuclear war still to be determined, as the Americans and Russians continue to sling death at each other, but there remains the question of how hard it will be for humanity to rebuild itself from the ashes of destruction that this war has wrought. For can a victor truly be declared when all of humanity has paid the price?

©2017 Harry Turtledove (P)2017 Recorded Books

Wars end

War has ended, and the characters try to rebuild their lives in a shattered world. While communism controls Europe, it has weekend. It will be interesting to see how this world will progress. I know the series is over, but I like to think that the collapse of communism might happen a few years earlier.

Anticlimactic end to what should have been two books

***spoilers***
I was really looking forward to finishing this trilogy and it seems so was the author. The war basically wraps up about a third of the way in with "hey we have an H bomb!" "Lets kill Stalin with it" and then they do. In about that level of detail, description, and excitement.

The next eleven hours drones on about minor skirmishes and how all the characters get back to their old lives which includes a cringeworthy graphic description of a young widow having sex with a senior citizen.

Save your credits/$$$ and skip this book.

Narrator

Same gravely monotonous voice for every man women and child. Just kinda droned on and on

warning

Where does Armistice rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

irrelevant to the point I am making

Who was your favorite character and why?

irrelevant

Which character – as performed by Henry Strozier – was your favorite?

irrelevant

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

irrelevant

Any additional comments?

I felt cheated. Armistice was passed off as a sequel to "Bombs Away" and it is nothing but a rehash of the earlier book. Don't waste your time if you have read the earlier novel. It may be a good read in its own right but that is no excuse for not alerting your readers.

A great trilogy

A great trilogy from Turtledove. The thing about these books is that hut for a small twist, it could well have gone this way. Frightening, isn't it? A great narrator and story, you won't regret a purchase of this audio book.

another fine turtledove

it's formulaic, but a nice listen. Always fun, but nothing earth shattering. you can't go wrong with turtledove. the narration does nothing for the book though.

The United States being bombed

I couldn't believe President Truman walking in radiation areas of Washington D.C. with no radiation suit then the United States dropped a H bomb without even knowing Joseph Stalin was in that city omg!

Intriguing storyline—decent character development.

Well written book. Mr. Turtledove follows his template religiously. His politics tend to seep through but we have to be tolerant don’t we?!

Phoned it in...

Weak end to a not very good series. The entire series was poorly researched. There are substantial problems such as the failure to address, in anymore than passing fashion, the health impacts of exposure to radiation from nuclear weapons explosions and the overwhelming effects suffered by a nation like United States hit with multiple nukes on its East and West coasts on health resources and the supply chain of food, goods and services. For instance Seattle get snooped and he never discusses the impact that would’ve had on the production of aircraft. The lack of effort also shows in issues about warfighting and the military. For instance, at the time that the war depicted in the series occurs, United States wasn’t using only B-29s. It would have been with a substantial number of improved B 50 bombers and units of B 36 aircraft as well. This is actually relevant to the plot which continues to harp on the idea that Soviet TU 4 bombers (which were reverse engineered B 29s) could pass for American aircraft. The stories also contain a large number of Jewish characters. Far too many to suggest anything other than a bizarre fascination with Kews. To be blunt, many of these characters were fairly noble people but most of them displayed some sort of negative stereotypical Jewish characterizations due to being too sensitive to be truly heroic in battle or to behave in a stoic fashion and so on and so forth. For all I know this over representation of Jewish characters in the story was intended to be laudatory but it doesn’t come off that way. I’m not suggesting anti-Semitism being involved but either the author feels he needs to elevate Jewish people and did so in a ham handed (pun intended) fashion or simply resorted to a lot of stereotypical behaviors and characterizations. On the other hand, he may himself be Jewish and felt he had to weaken the characters. In any event, the entire series was sort of a bizarre disappointment.

Very slow. Not one of his best

This was a struggle to finish. While the series started if well the same could not be said for this one.