Many others have said these books have gotten boring, and I won't argue with them, because they're right. It is just becoming so painful to get through these books. But if you've read this saga from the beginning, you have to do it just to find out where the thing eventually leads.

I'm not sure if this was the worst in the series, but it was close. I was mortified to see Turtledove kill off Scipio, one of the most interesting characters. This amazing individual, with his education and all that potential, was gassed with little fanfare. The same thing happened to Anne Colleton, another of the more interesting characters, one or two books ago. Other semi-interesting characters, like Dr. O'Doull and Flora Blackford are still alive but have become so dull that you just want to skip over their pages.

One would hope that Turtledove would find some interesting plot twists, but everything just grinds along pretty much the dullest possible way. The South strikes quickly, runs out of gas, and the North grinds them down with overwhelming resources.

Maybe Turtledove will do us a favor by letting the CSA be the first to get an A-bomb.

Anyhow, here's hoping the final book will be a little more readable.