"The Master of Alternative History"
Turtledove has been dubbed "The Master of Alternative History". Within that genre he is known both for creating original
alternative history scenarios such as survival of the
Byzantine Empire or an
alien invasion in the middle of the
Second World War and for giving a fresh and original treatment to themes previously dealt with by many others, such as the victory of the South in the
American Civil War and of
Nazi Germany in the Second World War.
A recurring theme in Turtledove's fiction is the realistic description of war from the point of view of ordinary soldiers. Turtledove's soldiers are usually depicted sympathetically, though far from uncritically — with the same character who perpetrated acts of appalling cruelty in one episode shown under different circumstances to be capable of compassion and generosity. The above is true also for soldiers fighting for the side which is the clear villain of the piece, such as
Nazi Germany and its numerous
alternative history and
Fantasy analogues in Turtledove's fiction. His depiction of war often includes civilians whose life is impacted as well as soldiers on the battlefield itself.
Even manifest arch-villains, such as people involved in
genocide, are hardly ever cardboard villains in Turtledove's books. In some series the reader can follow, step by step from book to book, the slippery slope by which an originally decent character gets to the point of committing mass murder.
In a passage of the "Darkness" series a character, going in disguise into the camp of his arch-enemies which he had hitherto known only as cruel oppressors, is surprised to see that among themselves they behave much as he and his friends behave, and observes that "no one is a villain in his own story" (which does not stop him from continuing to fight and kill them). This clearly seems to reflect Turtledove's own attitude.
Turtledove's books are almost invariably written in the third person, and the omniscient author is always present to a degree more characteristic of 19th century literature than in most other contemporary works. Turtledove often goes to the trouble of explaining to the reader details of a historical, linguistic or technological theme which are relevant to the scene but are far from the viewpoint character's mind. (To cite a recent example, in chapter 18 of
Drive to the East, an infantry unit is forced to retreat in a hurry in danger of being surrounded and becoming exposed to
enfilading fire — when above the din of battle Turtledove's professorial voice is suddenly heard remarking that "Taking enfilading fire is like
getting your T crossed in a
naval battle...")
Turtledove is also in the frequent habit of mildly criticizing his characters for exhibiting a prejudice and/or being taken in by propaganda, such criticism typically prefaced by the words "It did not cross his [or her] mind that..."
When the characters' English dialogue is meant to represent another language, Turtledove makes an effort to give the flavour of the original — whether an actual language or an invented one. For example, French-speaking characters say "You have reason" — a literal translation of the French "
vous avez raison" meaning "You are right". And in the "Darkness" series, Kaunian characters — speaking their language which is described as particularly precise — invariably address each other in every sentence of their conversation as "My Grandfather", "My Granddaughter " (or whatever else the relationship might be).
Much of Turtledove's work consists of long series with multiple point of view characters, all going through the same major experience (mostly a big war), and whose parallel experiences and occasional meetings and clashes with each other serve to draw a wide canvas. A greater realism is achieved by Turtledove's habit of occasionally killing off a viewpoint character — sometimes a sympathetic one which the reader has gotten attached to, and sometimes in a meaningless accident or trivial skirmish (which often happens in a real war and in real life in general, but much less often in literature).
A similar technique was used by
John Brunner in
Stand on Zanzibar and outside the field of science fiction, by
Herman Wouk in the novels
The Winds of War and
War and Remembrance and even earlier in
John Dos Passos's U.S.A. Trilogy — considered the major work of that author.
