Between the Rivers

A tale of the morning of human history Now Turtledove turns his hand to a major fantasy creation, a world at the sun-drenched beginning of human history. Young Sharur is the scion of a merchant family in the city of Gibil, loyal -- he thinks -- to his city's god, Engibil, and to that god's human deputies. But like his fellows in Gibil, Sharur is less interested in gods than in progress in invention and trade. Then, on a routine trading expedition, he learns that the gods of the other cities, resentful of Engibil's relaxed attitude toward his people, are uniting to punish Gibil and squelch the growing power of human creativity, epitomized by the city-state's easygoing ways. Now only Sharur's wits can save the city from the aroused divinities...and he's going to need all the inventiveness he can muster. Magical, outrageous, and yet lucidly sane, Between the Rivers is a terrific entertainment, a tale of the power of human rationality that will leave readers crying out for more.
The master of alternative SF.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY Harry Turtledove is probably the best practitioner of the classic alternate-history story since L. Sprague de Camp domesticated it for American SF over a half-century ago, and his virtues are those of the master: meticulous research and thorough knowledge of the period, an understated but firm way with storytelling, and a sense of the exotic appeal of the past combined with an appreciation of the ordinariness of ordinary life.
LOCUS Turtledove has a sure hand on all historical implications.
GAHAN WILSON The work of one of alternate history's authentic modernmasters....Totally fascinating, a display of all of Turtledove's skills in historiography, characterization, and dry wit.
BOOKLIST on Worldwar: In the Balance Jacket art by Garry Ruddell
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