Settling Accounts Return Engagement Book One of the Settling Accounts Trilogy

Settling Accounts Return Engagement Book One of the Settling Accounts Trilogy

In this well-thought-out alternate history, the first in a new trilogy, Turtledove (American Empire) combines elements of the Civil War and WWII with disturbing results. Confederate President Jake Featherstone has launched an undeclared war of revenge on the U.S.A., with Rebel “barrels” (tanks) cutting the nation in half. U.S. President Al Smith doesn’t sue for peace as expected, causing unreconstructed Canadians to sabotage the now-vital Northern rail system holding the nation together. Mormon separatists have once more revolted against the federal government, and Louis Armstrong, who has defected to the North, brings with him chilling evidence of the Confederate “population reductions” (genocide) of African-Americans. Turtledove’s depiction of how easily the C.S.A. could carry out genocide—and do so with less cost to the conscience than the Germans experienced in the real Holocaust—coupled with the “so what?” reaction of Northerners when this is publicized makes a disturbing commentary on the state of race relations in both parts of our country. While some of the character descriptions are repetitious, the author handles his huge cast with admirable skill. The insights into racial politics elevate this novel to a status above mere entertainment, although it provides that aplenty.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Battled between 3 and 4 stars – Unique narrative.
I just finished this book this past night. I got it for the Kindle for free.

Overall I liked the book. The author has a different way of narrating the story. He has maybe 10 or 15 different characters that are involved in the conflict. He dedicates few pages to each one in turns. I believe this is an interesting idea. This allows him to write hundreds (or maybe even thousands) of pages without getting too boring. If you get bored with one of the characters you have to hang on only for a few pages and you will have the opportunity to read from another character.

He uses different characters with different objectives and backgrounds. There is a doctor, an aviator, some politicians, few spys, a mexican, some generals, some navy men, etc. Each one has a different perspective on the war.

The story seems pretty straightforward. Not a lot of surprises. For example, at one point some of the characters decide it would be a good idea to kill an specific officer fighting for the other country. Few chapters later the author has a snipper shoot at the officer. You kind of expect that this will happen. So when it does happen there is not a lot of surprise.

In addition some of the characters are not very well developed. For example, there is a general that seems like a charicature. You know he is going to fail the first time he is introduced.

And some of the dialogue seems very unlikely. The doctor character seems to be always having the same dialogue with one of his subordinates. Over and over again.

My overall assessment for this book would be somewhere between 3 and 4 stars. I decided to go with 4 because of the novelty of the approach – I liked the idea of narrating the story from several different characters. I also decided for the 4 stars because I want to read the second book in the series.

5 Stars Alternative History at Its Best
Many people don’t like these kinds of books. Harry turns history into a classic bookseller.

1 Star Too expensive even at $0.00
I downloaded this book to Kindle because it was one of the free offers for the month, and I thought I’d try a new author. I’m afraid I didn’t enjoy it much. I normally compulsively finish books I begin, but I deleted this one from Content Manager after the first two chapters.

The storyline is that the South is fighting the North again, but this time, it is in the 1940′s and the North has a Socialist President. And at least one female, single-mom, Socialist congresswoman. The story is written from the congresswoman’s POV, and very much emphases intelligence and understanding over physical strength, so you’d think it would appeal to a woman, but it didn’t hold my attention. I always felt as though I were reading a book, rather than slipping into another world.

I did enjoy the free download of Charlie Huston’s book (Caught Stealing) and am looking forward to reading more of Huston’s books.

1 Star Boring beyond tolerance
I have spent the last week reading this book. Mind you, I am not done. I have been trying very hard to be interested because I got it as a free download on my kindle. I thought I at least owed it to the author/publisher to read this. I can’t anymore. It is putting me to sleep. I keep wanting it to be over… I read to be entertained or to be educated, this serves neither purpose.

The concept of an alternative history of the United States is a plausable background for a novel and I love historical novels but this is giving me a brain freeze.

I think it is time for me to hit that delete key on my kindle and move on to Eat Shoots and Leaves.

3 Stars The Reviews are more Entertaining than the Book
These books are sort of infuriating. If you get pulled into the narrative, then they become hard to put down – sort of like a bag of pistachios.

Turtledove is a formula writer. Take a war, make up a dozen or so characters, each representative of a particular group. Start from the premise that something is different about the war from actual historical events, such as it is between the US and Confederacy instead of US and Germany. Give each character an identifying characteristic, such as Jewish exclamations, propensity to sunburn. Lay out the time line, turn on the word processor and start stringing together the time line by writing ten pages or so about each of the characters.

The writing cries for an editor. This is not so much a series of novels, but one long novel that is two and a half times as long as War and Peace; each volume ends after approximately 640 pages. Turtledove makes up words, “barrel” for tank, “flabble” for complain (loosely). This can be jarring, especially his use of the word “flabble” which occurs several hundred times in this series (I counted them on my Kindle).Only the first of these books has any kind of a story arc or sense of a conclusion at the end.

Still there is something wierdly compelling if you are prone to this kind of thing. Turtledove has some real talent as a writer, and badly written as this series is, it still has some narrative force. He also has quite a bit of imagination and intelligence, every now and then he has some intriguing ideas.

If Turtledove were to take the time to read what he wrote and cut it down to a second draft, he’d probably be a good writer. If he were to spend some time polishing in addition, he’d be a very good writer. And, if he had a decent editor on top of that he could be an excellent writer. Alas, he is a writer with intelligence, talent, good ideas and a lot of energy, but his books are poorly written and overly long.

Buy/More Info