This is the first book in a four part series by Harry Turtledove. I bought this book for three reasons. First, Harry Turtledove is a well-known author and I have never read any of his books. Second, the premise sounded very interesting: what would have happened if aliens had attacked Earth when the super powers of WWII were at their strongest-1943. Finally, I enjoy books set during World War II.
While I enjoyed the well-written battle scenes and stories and perspectives of three of the protagonists, the German lieutenant, the female Russian pilot and grizzled old American World War I veteran, I'm not going to buy another book in the series.
The stories and perspectives of six other protagonist had me skimming long sections of the novel. So much of the book dealt with the Jewish experience during World War II, it competed with the main story of aliens attacking earth. I didn't expect to get this kind of history lesson from a book about aliens attacking earth.
In conclusion, I can see why Turtledove is a well-known author: his action scenes are solid, his characters are well-developed and the premises of his novels are very interesting.
Unfortunately, there were too many characters in this novel that failed to keep my interest.
