After the Downfall

1945: Russian troops have entered Berlin, and are engaged in a violent orgy of robbery, rape, and revenge! Wehrmacht officer Hasso Pemsel, a career soldier on the losing end of the greatest war in history, flees from a sniper's bullet, finding himself hurled into a mysterious, fantastic world of wizards, dragons, and unicorns!©2008 Harry Turtledove (P)2008 Audible, Inc.

A Nazi gets a healthy dose of self-awareness...

First off, there's a lot of negative reviews concerning this audio book. Don't believe a word of it. While this isn't in Turtledove's wheelhouse of alternate history, the story is well told for what it is. Some might cringe at the idea of a Nazi protagonist, but this isn't a story glorifying the ideals of Nazism. The protagonist isn't a member of the Gestapo or part of a death camp's staff; he was a regular army officer fighting the Soviets on the Eastern Front, which history has shown as a case of bad guys fighting other bad guys. Hasso saw the war right up to the losing end, only to get magically sent somewhere new. In his new position, he's forced to reevaluate a lot of beliefs he essentially took for granted but never really thought about, particularly on who exactly counts as "people". Alongside him, the side characters on both sides fit very well with the setting. If possible, I wish Turtledove could've explored this world more with later volumes. As for the narrator, he does a good job. Some have said the German accent sounds bad, but I think it works. So kindly give both this book and its protagonist a chance.

Great story and great perspective

While everyone is entitled to their opinions, I would disregard negative reviews of this book. I was worried it would have a slow start; this was a unwarranted. A great story, great characters, and very well narrated. A must read for alternate history fans.

Good story, mediocre writer

Although I like the concept of this story, I must object to some of Mr. Turtledove's plot devices: in particular, his indulgence in male sexual fantasies, and his graphic depiction of male battle-lust and blood-lust. He depicts simply ridiculous male sex fantasies (e.g.: a woman taking off her clothes and invitingly lying down in the middle of the road to thank the hero for rescuing her); and, although I understand that Mr. Turtledove wanted to display the cruelty and prejudice of one race as opposed to another (comparing it to the Nazis vs. the Jews), I object to such detailed descriptions of the villains' actions, no matter their verisimilitude to real human blood-lust. Also, the hero's nonchalance in the face of this behavior does not make the reader like him very much, even though he apparently doesn't participate directly in the monstrous deeds. On the other hand, this book does have the advantage of showing the conversion of a Nazi officer to a more tolerant point of view. To quote Horton: "People are people, no matter how small."

Hasso Pemsel

Hasson Pemsel really changed as a person where he came from the Battle of Berlin to this world and he released the mistakes he and the Thrid Reich have made during WWII. He tried to change and adapted the outcomes of the areas he was in. After the Downfall is a good story to listen and I enjoyed for a medieval fantasy story.

pleasantly surprised how good this book was!!

With all the negative reviews ,I wasn't sure if I wanted to try . I am very happy that i did give the book a chance. The book was really well written and the narrator was clear and pleasant. I have read many books by this arthor and this is among the best in my own opinion.!