Review: This is an excellent series. Harry Turtledove interrupts World War II with an alien invasion. The aliens, who call themselves the Race, are more advanced than the people of Earth in technology, but not in tactics and cunning. The human race advances much more quickly, developing new technology even during the war while the Race uses technology only after years if not decades of testing. He does an excellent job of creating a believable scenerio where humanity fights an alien invasion. The cost to fight the aliens, who have no industrial base, is great but the Earth will never be the same again.
I couldn't wait for the last book to come out in paperback, so I bought the hardback. The war seems to be picking up as the Lizards become more desperate. The political problems continue as the two races continually fail to understand the way the other thinks. Both are getting better at manipulating the other, though.
Harry Turtledove continues to follow a number of different characters, ranging from grunts on the front lines to the various heads of state. This lets him give a broad picture of the overall war while keeping you interested in the plights of the individuals involved.
Picking up twenty years later, the colonization fleet has finally arrived, only to find that Earth has not been conquered. The Conquest and Colonization fleets must deal with this unprecedented occurence and the newcomers must get used to how things are on Earth. Meanwhile, the nations of Earth are not faced with an influx of large numbers of the Race and are afraid of what that means for Earth.