Homeward Bound

By: Harry Turtledove

Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor

With his epic novels of alternate history, Harry Turtledove shares a stunning vision of what might have been - and what might still be - if one moment in history were changed. In the Worldwar and Colonization series, an ancient, highly advanced alien species found itself locked in a bitter struggle with a distant, rebellious planet: Earth. For those defending the Earth, this all-out war for survival supercharged human technology, made friends of foes, and turned allies into bitter enemies.

For the aliens known as the Race, the conflict has yielded dire consequences. Mankind has developed nuclear technology years ahead of schedule, forcing the invaders to accept an uneasy truce with nations that possess the technology to defend themselves. But it is the Americans, with their primitive inventiveness, who discover a way to launch themselves through distant space - and reach the Race's home planet itself. Now - in the 21st century - a few daring men and women embark upon a journey no human has made before. Warriors, diplomats, traitors, and exiles - the humans who arrive in the place called Home find themselves genuine strangers on a strange world and at the center of a flash point with terrifying potential. For their arrival on the alien home world may drive the enemy to make the ultimate decision - to annihilate an entire planet, rather than allow the human contagion to spread. It may be that nothing can deter them from this course.

With its extraordinary cast of characters - human, nonhuman, and some in-between - Homeward Bound is a fascinating contemplation of cultures, armies, and individuals in collision. From the man whom USA Today has called "the leading author of alternate history", this is a novel of vision, adventure, and constant, astounding surprise.

©2009 Harry Turtledove (P)2011 Tantor

Critic reviews

"A grand spectacle of alternate history that depends as much on its individual moments as on its large-scale encounters." ( Library Journal)

Loved it

Perfect Little Bow, wish M and D were a bit more fleshed out. Wouldn't have mind a few chapters from one of their POVs But besides that, decent supense in the build up. Being the first book series I've read since harry potter, I absolutely loved every bit out it.

Very different from the other 3, or 7, preceding books

It was too dull, repetitive & predictable. It was more repetitive than other books - almost copy paste from prior books or even prior chapters. A little action & one unsurprising twist & dull/predictable voyages & characters underwent predictable or uninteresting change. It was not at all typical of this author. Narrator required 1.3 speed & hissed a lot.

The best!

There are few tales that can even compare, let alone compete with this saga. The richness of the universe, the deep lessons and interspections. The commentary on how we see each other and treat each other, separate our selves from one another, and the similarities anyone has with anyone else. Few stories are more grand and still hold so closely to the basics of being alive. I could go on, but you're better off reading Harry. Make a show out of it and let this fundamental story live on in the generation of streaming.

Yawn... boring

I don't normally write reviews for books I listen to, but I struggled with this book and thought others might be forewarned if I gave this warning. This book is long and pretty boring. Nothing really happens in it at all. Almost the entire story unfolds through conversations and the thoughts of characters. Making matters worse was the fact that the author often treads over the same topic over and over again from the perspective of different characters. Many, many times I considered giving up on this book, and really the only reason I did not is because I had recently returned a book to Audible and did not want to press my luck. I would not say that the book is bad, but in my opinion, it is boring and too long for what it is.

An excellent end!

Homeward Bound is the conclusion to eight of the most enjoyable bits of science fiction I have ever encountered. Finally we see the homeworld of the Race, and learn more than ever about their psychology and society. As with the Collonization though this is NOT an action packed adventure, it is a slower book and is more about the characters sorting out how eachother work so it might not be everyone's cup of tea.

But if you read all of WORLDWAR, and then all of COLONIZATION, you are going to enjoy this capstone as much as you enjoyed those.

Standard Turtledove warnings do apply however, his habit of reiterating the same piece of information from many different character point of view (and sometimes the same characters point of view) is still present, and it can cause a few eye rolls sometimes, but again if you have gotten to this point you know what to expect.

I highly recommend giving it a listen!

Umm...

When I started this I had a vague notion that I started before but was never quite sure. As it ended I realized I must have and had quit part way through. This story never had a point that I could tell. Many hours were spent building up to a conflict to have the story just end. I guess if woulda, coulda, shoulda was the main point then that was well covered. There were definitely attempts to address racism and other social and societal ills but were lost unfortunately. The reader felt better as things went along and that helped.

great series

my only complaint about this book is that I want more.

this is one of the best science fiction series ever written between the world war series and the colonization series

Harry you should have stayed on earth.

Let me start by saying I loved the series. However, I was seriously disappointed by Homeward Bound. Why does it take 28 hrs and 9 mins to not say nothing? I mean really, nothing happened throughout the book. Nothing was resolved, We don't really know what happened on earth, many of the characters from the series are briefly mentioned but what happened to them?Worst of all we're left hanging at the end. I wont say more as I don't want to give away the story for those who wish to listen to this book. But I feel like after 6 other books we should have gotten a BIG finish and what we get is a well, nada, zilch zero, the big goose egg. The details of Home are interesting though, and you get some very interesting thoughts about different systems of government and you even wonder of the "races" form of government has some merit, This is why I didn't give the story 2 stars. Harry Turtledove can still make the details interesting, even if the big picture disappointed me.

Meh

The ending of
This story kinda sucked after such an amazing start, middle and almost end. I knew with 8 hours left it was going to end open ended and I was right. Race and humanity just are…dissatisfied with this one after what. 6 books or so

Needs a Sequal Quartet +

This should serve a bridge to final series, that see all colonizing and fighting while merging one culture and society, a book that brings us 100? years into future 4 of the war and a finally book to tie all the lose ends up.