Harry Turtledove inhabits a fairly strange genre, he writes what is often called "alternative history". If you've ever wondered what would have happened to the world if aggressive alien lizards from the star Tau Ceti invaded earth at the beginning of World War 2 or what the possibilities would be if we had a machine that could move us "sideways" into multiple universes that diverged from our timeline at some (usually recent) point in the past, then Harry Turtledove is your man. He does this one thing and he does it extremely well.
"Beyond The Gap" is slightly different. It depicts human society, yes, but not on any earth we would recognise. The communities in the novel range from pre-historic (the Bizogots herd mammoths) to medieval (Raumsdalians live in castles and fight with swords). All of them share an existence that is dominated by a huge earth encircling Glacier (always with a capital G) to the north. Except that the Glacier has been retreating for the last few centuries and now a gap has appeared that allows travel to the other side. The descriptions of living and travelling in the shadow of the Glacier are very well done, you almost feel the chill as you read it.
"Beyond The Gap" is also the first book in the "Opening Of The Earth" trilogy and, given that the three books tell a single story, should really be read with "The Breath Of God" and "The Golden Shrine". There is a definite stylistic difference between the first two books and the last one; the first two are written in the style of Turtledove's "Crosstime Traffic" series which is aimed at a younger audience but "The Golden Shrine", while maintaining some aspects of this style such as the annoyingly frequent repetition of key phrases like "he couldn't tell him he was wrong", has a much more adult feel about it. The critical plot element that resolves the story was obvious, at least to me, by about half way through the first book but was well done nonetheless and was immediately followed by a final plot twist of biblical proportions that I hadn't anticipated and greatly added to my enjoyment of the story and my appreciation of Turtledove's skills as a writer.
This series was an enjoyable read over a week or so on the train. I think I've had enough Turtledove at the moment, though, so although I've got "Give Me Back My Legions!" sitting beside the bed, I suspect I'll return it to the library unread. Turtledove fans can, however, expect me to return to the author later in the year.
"Beyond The Gap" is slightly different. It depicts human society, yes, but not on any earth we would recognise. The communities in the novel range from pre-historic (the Bizogots herd mammoths) to medieval (Raumsdalians live in castles and fight with swords). All of them share an existence that is dominated by a huge earth encircling Glacier (always with a capital G) to the north. Except that the Glacier has been retreating for the last few centuries and now a gap has appeared that allows travel to the other side. The descriptions of living and travelling in the shadow of the Glacier are very well done, you almost feel the chill as you read it.
"Beyond The Gap" is also the first book in the "Opening Of The Earth" trilogy and, given that the three books tell a single story, should really be read with "The Breath Of God" and "The Golden Shrine". There is a definite stylistic difference between the first two books and the last one; the first two are written in the style of Turtledove's "Crosstime Traffic" series which is aimed at a younger audience but "The Golden Shrine", while maintaining some aspects of this style such as the annoyingly frequent repetition of key phrases like "he couldn't tell him he was wrong", has a much more adult feel about it. The critical plot element that resolves the story was obvious, at least to me, by about half way through the first book but was well done nonetheless and was immediately followed by a final plot twist of biblical proportions that I hadn't anticipated and greatly added to my enjoyment of the story and my appreciation of Turtledove's skills as a writer.
This series was an enjoyable read over a week or so on the train. I think I've had enough Turtledove at the moment, though, so although I've got "Give Me Back My Legions!" sitting beside the bed, I suspect I'll return it to the library unread. Turtledove fans can, however, expect me to return to the author later in the year.
"Beyond The Gap" itself is a bit difficult to track down at The Book Depository unless you are happy to get the Talking Book CD versions but there are plenty of second hand copies available at AbeBooks. "The Breath Of God" and "The Golden Shrine" are both available at The Book Depository (click on the link below) with paperback copies hitting New Zealand shores for a little over ten dollars each.
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