Updated Sunday 15 May, 2011 12:18 PM

Homeward Bound

Harry Turtledove

Seven years ago, I was introduced to Alternate History through Tilting the Balance, the second book in the four-book World War saga. Seven books on, Harry Turtledove finally concludes the series with a single coda book. Homeward Bound, as the title implies, concerns a voyage by an American starship to Home, the homeworld of the alien Race that invaded Earth in 1942.

Turtledove, who never seems to be able to finish a series these days, brings Sam Yeager back for the ride; using a plot device I have significant doubts about. Atvar and Straha, two of the Race, take their bows as well. All in all, Turtledove has cut down the cast of characters significantly.

It’s hard to say too much about the book without spoiling everything. Turtledove presents a very interesting exploration of Home and the Race’s culture, as well as their desperate attempt to discover the truth behind a reputed human breakthrough in technology. Events build to a crisis that is only averted by…but that would be telling.

Homeward Bound is not Turtledove’s best work. It suffers from being attached to the WorldWar books, which create vast expectations for their readers. Almost all of Turtledove’s single-book novels are better than Homeward Bound, which reads more like an afterthought to the series than a single novel, but at the same time is less than part of the series. The book is also less exciting than the other novels in a series; is it part of a new series? I myself would have removed Sam Yeager and co, using a new and more plausible cast.

That said, it reads very well in place. Seven out of ten.

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