In Two Fronts, the penultimate novel in
Harry Turtledove's "The War That Came Early" series, Germany
has suddenly found itself fighting a war against Russia in the east and
France and Britain in the west. Although this bears some semblance
to the war it fought in reality, the differences in Turtledove's
timeline mean that the United States is not directly involved in the
European war and the Germans feel a resentment against the British and
French who had been their allies in previous volumes until they turned
against the Germans, forcing the current situation.
Turtledove's always large cast of characters
covers the conflict from most sides, with the Japanese soldier Hideki
Fujita providing insight into the war in the Far East, Marine Pete
McGill cruises the Pacific around an Hawaii isolated from both the
rest of the Pacific and the United States as America's sole base in the
ocean. Aristide Demange gives a perspective on the Western European
front from the French point of view while pilot Hans-Ulrich Rudel sees
the same front, but with the added perspective of the traitorous actions
of the French after they turned against the Germans.
With the entire world to cover, it is interesting
that Turtledove does place some of his viewpoint characters in proximity
to each other. His two characters in Spain are not only both
fighting on the same side of the conflict, but Chaim Weinberg and Vaclav
Jezek even interact with each other. Turtledove's two civilian
viewpoint characters, Peggy Druce in Philadelphia and Sarah Bruck in Mü
nster, are both women, although with Turtledove's penchant for killing
and maiming his characters, it is quite possible that one of the male
viewpoint characters may join them in civilian life before the end of
the series.
The two front war in Europe is similar to the war
that was actually fought, but there are significant differences, with
the Americans remaining isolationist and leaving the British, French,
and Russians, to fights against the German war machine on their
own. The United States is focusing its own attention on a Japan
that is having much more success in the Pacific and willing to do
whatever it takes to win. Without the Concentration camps, Jews
like Sarah Bruck and her parents, the Goldmans, are still being
mistreated by the Nazis, but the Nazis are not required to divert a
significant amount of their manpower to initiate and maintain the Final
Solution. Furthermore, the camps are not there to stir up revulsion
against the Nazis, making Turtledove's war a "cleaner" war
that the one that was actually fought.
Two Fronts is the penultimate novel in
"The War That Came Early," yet Turtledove doesn't give a
strong indication of the endgame. Although there are hints dropped
by Herb Druce that Turtledove has another major twist in store for the
readers and his alternative world before the end of the series. If
Herb's clues are carried to fruition, the final book will provide an
intriguing ending to a war that is similar to the war in our own
timeline, although different enough to be surprising.
