The Grapple

Settling Accounts, Book 3

By: Harry Turtledove

Narrated by: Paul Costanzo

Length: 25 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

It is 1943, the third summer of the new war between the Confederate States of America and the United States, a war that will turn on the deeds of ordinary soldiers, extraordinary heroes, and a colorful cast of spies, politicians, rebels, and everyday citizens. The CSA president, Jake Featherston, seems to have greatly miscalculated the North's resilience. But as new demonic tools of killing are unleashed, secret wars are unfolding.

The US government in Philadelphia has proof that the tyrannical Featherston is murdering African Americans by the tens of thousands in a Texas gulag called Determination. And the leaders of both sides know full well that the world's next great power will not be the one with the biggest army but the nation that wins the race against nature and science - and smashes open the power of the atom.

©2006 Harry Turtledove (P)2016 Tantor

Almost over

I have such mixed feelings about these books. I enjoy the series but could not recommend them to anyone I think. They are all far too long and too similiar to one another. Tons of filler and bizarre historical parallels. If you cant look past it, the more you know about the history the less you will probably enjoy settling accounts. I'm excited to move onto the final book and listen to something else finally but it has been a pleasure overall to follow all these characters for so long.

The end is near.

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

One of the best story wise.

What other book might you compare The Grapple to and why?

I have none I can think of to compare it to.

How could the performance have been better?

Another narrator, they should've kept using George Guidell, or however his surname's spelled.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Scipio's fate in the camp almost made me cry, even if I knew it was coming.

Any additional comments?

None.

Great listen

This series just keeps getting better.When I first read the First book in series I never thought it would turn out like this.

Great book!

A tale of the most horrible war never fought. Can't wait to dig into the next one.

Disappointed

Out of the entire series in this particular disappointing world war nothing has disappointed me more than this specific book.

Turtledove is a wonderful alternate history creator. But his characters who are filled with promise and potential have started to fall underwhelmingly. Anne from the previous books had a disappointing end, I thought it would be the only one, Scipio has also fallen to this dull fate.

Scipio’s arc becomes dull after the First World War and is a little tedious to get through, but I liked the character enough to put up with it. Ultimately I thought he would live up to the myth as a rebellion leader by trying to get the blacks out of the death camps. Instead he goes out like a chump.
And then there is rodrigez, I didn’t much like him, but I thought he would have a better redemption than suicide.

I know Turtledove is trying to reenact a different version of real history and that not all real life stories are interesting. but I do not want to read about arcs that aren’t going anywhere.

Step up from previous book.

Turtledove's philosophy is still that no that detail, cliche or stereotype isn't worth repeating and repeating and repeating. He also shows a bit too much enthusiasm in the many politically incorrect aspects of the timeline for me.
(Does every female guard have to be a lesbian?) A main character who has been developed methodically over the entire series goes out with a pitiful whimper. A few others end their arcs more dramatically. Doctor O'Doul segments repeat the same story over and over. Patch a guy up, step out for a smoke and some philosophizing, patch the next guy. Definitely recommend skipping those. Featherston has achieved full caricature status. Due to the considerable action in the war, this is a decent read as we slog our way to the end of this long series.

Poor story

The gratuitous use of the n word was too much. The terrible 40s slang made it difficult to listen too the story was just terrible.

The CSA are NOT nazis!

I really like this genre and this storyline in particular, but I don’t like the author turning the CSA into another Nazi regime.