Third book in a substandard Turtledove series, began with premise of using A-Bomb on Chinese in 1950s Korean war.

Turtledove is usually a good read but this series He made USSR too powerful, it is KNOWN in 1950 USA had 299 A Bombs, USSR only had 5, in 1951 USA had well over 500 where USSR (including 1950's 5) had 25

Turtledove gave USSR more A-bombs then they had and the premise in this series of USSR hitting USA cities.. USA would have gone all out including targeting USSR A-bomb production in that case..

It Has a redeeming quality of Stalin getting H-Bomb Vaporized..

But Turtledove seems have fallen here in swallowing the propaganda of decades past of USSR being more powerful then it was in 1950 and simply overlooks the A-Bomb actual totals the USA had in 50-51-52-53.

A series that could been done better

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All 3 volumes of this are getting reviewed together as it would have been better to be one book. I would give the whole series a 3.5 if I could. Pretty entertaining but not some problems. Recommended with reservations. More behind a spoiler wall.

If this had been one book I would compare it to a low tech version of [b:Red Storm Rising|318525|Red Storm Rising|Tom Clancy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1173729031s/318525.jpg|5054712]. The big difference is [a:Tom Clancy|3892|Tom Clancy|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1407672935p2/3892.jpg] has a problem with realistic dialog while [a:Turtledove Harry|7944234|Turtledove Harry|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] has richer characters and dialog but his equipment and battle descriptions are worse. After reading Clancy, one feels like they could work the equipment, after reading Turtledove I felt like I got re-treads (like on tanks!) of the same descriptions over and over. Yes the Russian T-4 was a copy of the B-29. Maybe don't tell me that every single time we deal with the T-4.

The other big weakness was Stalin not being used as a main character. Truman is there, but not Stalin. If one is going to speculate on Truman's actions and motives, one should also get Stalin's.

Oh and the story doesn't ultimately feel completed, just stopped. Maybe the only choice for an alternate history, but maybe not as satisfying as one would hope.
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Nearing mid-way through. What worked so wonderfully in the 'In the Balance' series (starting in WWII that is altered with the arrival of a reptilian alien conqueror species) is falling very flat in this alternate post WWII setting that sees our 'cold war' turn hot.

So far, I am not liking the third in this trilogy. Will update with my thoughts once finished.

EDIT- Finished. I give it two stars. Be awhile before I pick any new Turtledove work however :( ( )

Armistice is the third book in the "Hot War" series which is based on the premise that Harry Truman decides on the advice of Douglas MacArthur to use atomic weapons against the Chinese in North Korea. Of course the Russians don't like this at all and instead of the Cold War we all grew up with we have Hot War with Hiroshima/Nagasaki sized atom bombs being dropped willy nilly by both sides. In the words of Randy Newman, "Boom goes London, and Boom, Paris. More room for you and more room for me!"

This might work as a stand alone book, but I strongly recommend starting with the first in the series, Bombs Away. Frankly, I thought that has been the best in the series. Overall, this is average Turtledove. If you like him (I do) you'll probably like this. If you've never read him before, he's actually produced some pretty fun alternate histories with my all time favorite being The Guns of the South - time travelling racist South Africans equipping Johnny Reb with AK-47s!

In any case, the Hot War series is Turtledove doing what Turtledove does. Lots of minor characters on all sides living out their lives in this alternate history. The author jumps around a lot of different stories, some more interesting than others. It's what he does and he's got it down. ( )