• Worldwar: Striking the Balance

  • By: Harry Turtledove
  • Narrated by: Todd McLaren
  • Length: 25 hrs and 36 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (563 ratings)

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Worldwar: Striking the Balance  By  cover art

Worldwar: Striking the Balance

By: Harry Turtledove
Narrated by: Todd McLaren
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Publisher's summary

At the bloody height of World War II, the deadliest enemies in all of human history were forced to put aside their hatreds and unite against an even fiercer foe: a seemingly invincible power bent on world domination.

With awesome technology, the aggressors swept across the planet, sowing destruction as Tokyo, Berlin, and Washington, D.C., were A-bombed into submission. Russia, Nazi Germany, Japan, and the United States were not easily cowed, however. With cunning and incredible daring, they pressed every advantage against the invaders' superior strength and, led by Stalin, began to detonate their own atom bombs in retaliation.

City after city explodes in radioactive firestorms, and fears grow as the worldwide resources disappear; will there be any world left for the invaders to conquer or for the uneasy allies to defend? While Mao Tse-tung wages a desperate guerrilla war and Hitler drives his country toward self-destruction, U.S. forces frantically try to stop the enemy's push from coast to coast. Yet in this battle to stave off world domination, unless the once-great military powers take the risk of annihilating the human race, they'll risk losing the war.

The fatal, final deadline arrives in Harry Turtledove's grand, smashing finale to the Worldwar series, as uneasy allies desperately seek a way out of a no-win, no-survival situation: a way to live free in a world that may soon be bombed into atomic oblivion.

What if? Listen to the rest of the Worldwar series.
©2009 Harry Turtledove (P)2011 Tantor

Critic reviews

"A cast of thousands with a plot to match, well-drawn...aliens, a wealth of fascinating speculation." ( Kirkus)

What listeners say about Worldwar: Striking the Balance

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good book - Audible STINKS!

Any additional comments?

No where in the description does Audible make it clear this is the FOURTH book in the series...I thought it was the third. Is it really so hard, Audible, to figure out that folks will want to listen to the books in order and that you need to clearly state what that order is in the description?

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26 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Interesting Idea Never Fulfilled-Entire Series

Spoiler AIert-If you plan on reading the entire series, you may want to skip this review. The idea is interesting and, in the first book, very promising. But as the series develops, some of the characters develop personality aspects that are farfetched if not outright ridiculous. For instance, one character develops the personality of a serial killer without any of the known aspects that make up a serial killer's psyche. One minute, he's a normal guy, the next, he's getting aroused by killing people - no tormented childhood, no psychopathic tendencies. It's ridiculous.

Another problem is all the porn. We don't need detailed accounts of the characters sex lives to move the story forward. We know they had sex, we don't need the graphic details any more than we need to know the length and consistency of their bowel movements. (Thank heaven for fast forward.)

The author, while having a good grasp of the mechanics of the war (dates, battles, names of major players) doesn't seem to be aware of the character of that generation. He puts modern attitudes into mid-twentieth century people and it just doesn't work. It makes me wonder if he knew anyone from that generation. At one point, the humans are gaining the upper hand and they know it, then they just decide to sue for peace. It would never have occurred to that generation to simply stop when they had the upper hand. They didn't think like that.

As the series went on, there was no resolution to the story lines. For some characters, we're simply told they died some time ago. For others, they have one child and no more (definitely not how people, especially that generation, behave after a war).

In conclusion, it appears the author fell in love with his alien characters and simply forgot that there was a story to tell. He wanted to keep his aliens going and write graphic sex scenes and that's about all he did.

I would not recommend this series to anyone. Further, I won't be reading anything else by this author.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great Story Better Narration

I purchased lthe entire Worldwar sweries and found that the story really carried the recording because the narration was really poor, The story was great though, and i eventually got used to the boring narration, When this version arrived I took a chance and bought it. What a difference. Todd McLearn really delivers and makes the story come to life. I have already bought to first two volumes and plan to buy the next one and the "Colonization" series too. That means I will have paid for the same story twice, but the narration here is so much better than the original version that its worthwhile. I highly recommend the series, but you need to be sure you take them in order. It would be a ot easier to do that if they would number them book one, two etc. Get the frst one put on your headphones and prepare to be swept up in a titanic struggle. Will humanity continue to rule itself, or will it suffer the same fate as did the native Americans when they met superior technology at the hands of Cortez and Columbus. Only Harry Turtledove and you will know for sure.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

An amazing series a must read if you like syfy/WW2

A great series overall i just wish he had put alittle bit more into the end like what happens to the characters after the war ends

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

The peace conference and Poland

The lizards losing the war against the big main countries of WWII and Nazi Germany trying to be more powerful than the Lizards.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

ya gotta love turtledove

I've read this series when it first came out. I loved it. I think my oldest son ended up with them. So I decided to try listening to them. I'm glad that I did. If you don't want complex charters or an in-depth storyline then this isn't the book for you

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Reread

One of my favorite series! I wish there was another set of books after the colonization series. All of the books should be made into movies.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Not the best.

A must read if you wish to follow the entire series. One of the better books in the series.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Accents sound fake

I didn't enjoy this audiobook. First reason is: the narrator's rendition of foreign accents was really embarrassing, which is unfortunate because a significant part of the book consists in dialogues that are written in English but supposed to happen in other languages (German, Russian, Yiddish, etc.). Second reason is: apparently the people who edited the audiobook chose to not switch chapters when the viewpoint character changes, and the narrator doesn't pause long enough between viewpoint characters. In case you're not paying attention, you find yourself having to rewind, but since these viewpoint changes aren't reflected in the chapter structure of the audio file, you're never sure how far back you're supposed to go. The publisher should update this audiobook (from 2021 if I understood correctly) with a version that's better thought through and interpreted in a way that ruins all suspension of disbelief.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

excellent series

awesome alternative history series of novels.
the narration was superb and coherent.
excellent work

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