I finally have started reading this book, which seems to me to be one of Turtledove's most readable AH efforts in a long time. A tight plot with some real suspense, relatively few character PoV's - all of which are central to the story - and some "cute" plays on names: dying Fuhrer "Kurt Haldweim" was a neat creation which clearly was meant to be understood as Kurt Waldheim in an ATL. Placing a real controversial figure in this alternate history was a good way of making things interesting. One can wonder about the plausibility of the history that lead to the global Germanic Empire, but his way of presenting it was understated and not pedantic. I also liked the fact that life among 21st Germans was affluent, banal, and very normal - a lot like modern western Europe in fact - which was surprisingly effective irony given the fact that they are benificiaries of a massive totalitarian Nazi Empire. Obviously, the central conceit of the book is a Gorbachev-like new Furhrer and the breakup of the Nazi empire, which many people on this board would probably take as evidence of Turtledoves' uncreative take on AH. I think it is both interesting and plausble. And you can't go wrong with the "Jews in peril" theme, which somehow made me care a lot more about these people than most of HT's characters. I could have done without the weekly bridge games, however.
What do others think?
What do others think?
Furthermore, some other names are similarly strange, I would have preferred some more common German names such as Meier, Mueller, Schulze or Schneider instead of "Schreckengost"