The Worldwar Series, The Colonization Series & Homeward Bound

The Worldwar Series, The Colonization Series & Homeward Bound by Harry Turtledove, 8 books, 3512 pages.

At first glance Harry Turtledove's series seems like a typical alien invasion scenario, a staple of the sci-fi genre. The Worldwar Series, however, presents interesting twists on the concept. First, the aliens, who call themselves "the Race," invade in Spring of 1942, simultaneously assaulting every inhabited continent. Second, the Race are not your typical slavering hordes of monsters. They are alien in outlook, arrogant, ethnocentric and imperialistic, but are not "evil." They have come to conquer the Earth out of sense of manifest destiny, but still possess all the moral complexity of human beings. Turtledove consistently communicates the differences in outlook, sometimes vast or subtle, of the various human and alien characters, which come from all walks of life.

The two series, plus the follow up novel, span from World War II to the turn of the century, and display the slow-motion collision of the Earth's diverse cultures with that of the Race. Turtledove doesn't handle action and suspense very well, so he mostly skips over it. The books are engaging and entertaining none the less. I would especially recommend it for young people who have yet to travel abroad as the novels can show one the diversity of human perspectives.