Homeward Bound
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4.4 • 5 Ratings
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- £2.99
Publisher Description
The brilliant conclusion to Turtledove's epic alternate history of the second half of the twentieth century, which began with the Worldwar trilogy and continued with the Colonisation trilogy. Halfway through World War II aliens invaded Earth. They were repelled - but not for long.
For the aliens known as the Race, the conflict with Earth has yielded dire consequences. Mankind has developed nuclear technology, years ahead of schedule, forcing the invaders to accept an uneasy truce with nations who can defend themselves. But it is the Americans, with their primitive inventiveness, who discover a way to launch themselves through distant space - and reach the Race's home planet itself.
As the twentieth century ends, a daring few men and women embark upon a journey no human has made before and arrive at the place called Home, at the centre of a flashpoint with terrifying potential.
For their arrival on the alien homeworld may drive the enemy to make the ultimate decision - to annihilate an entire planet, rather than allow the human contagion to spread.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Alternate-history maestro Turtledove's conclusion to his Worldwar and Colonization sagas, about how lizard-like aliens known as the Race invaded Earth during WWII and were fought to a stalemate by the major Allied and Axis combatants, lacks the vividly described battle scenes of its predecessors, but more than compensates by closely examining the Race's culture and society. While the Race have colonized much of Earth, they're amazed by the human ability to adapt to change. (The aliens' probe some 600 years earlier led them to expect they'd be facing armored knights.) When an American starship makes the trip to Home, the Race's planet of origin, the lizards fear the loss of their technological dominance and decide to annihilate Earth, their colony included until another Earth spaceship arrives, this one with the faster-than-light drive the Race never developed. The question of how much common ground exists between the lizards and humans wouldn't have been out of place in old issues of Astounding. The author dramatizes the old "nature versus nurture" argument through the moving stories of a human woman raised from birth by the lizards and of two aliens raised as humans. Fans will be pleased that room remains for a sequel.
