The Valley-Westside War
The Valley-Westside War is a 2008 American young adult alternate history novel by Harry Turtledove.[1] It is the sixth and final book in the Crosstime Traffic series.
Background
In The Valley-Westside War, a global nuclear war broke out between the United States and the Soviet Union in 1967, leading to the collapse of civilization. The book is set in the ruins in what was once Los Angeles, 130 years after the war. The area of the city is controlled by two rival feudal states at war with one another: the Kingdom of Westside and the Kingdom of the Valley. The Crosstime Traffic team is dispatched to investigate the remains of the UCLA library in an attempt to discover what happened to cause the initial nuclear war, but are caught up in the local war by citizens of both kingdoms who believe that they are trying to access the knowledge of the old people to create advanced weapons.
Plot summary
The Mendoza family, funded by a Crosstime Traffic grant and disguised as traders, return to postwar Earth to learn who initiated the hostilities. Liz Mendoza frequently visits the UCLA library to analyze the period books and magazines, searching for insight and reasons for the conflict. It is on her regular trips to the library that she meets Dan, a Valley soldier whom she initially considers dull and dumb. Dan, however, is not as unschooled and ignorant as Liz thinks, and, although he is attracted to her, he has his misgivings about the Mendozas. His suspicions are confirmed, and he blows their cover and causes them to return to their own time alternate, but not before he asks why someone from a different time, who has the knowledge and expertise to help Earth recover from its postwar havoc, does nothing.
Reception
The School Library Journal gave the novel a good review saying fans of dystopias would enjoy the story.[2] SF Scope said the novel was "an interesting exploration of what a post-apocalyptic world might be" but found the characters, except for Liz and Dan, to be little more than ciphers.[3] The Los Angeles Times did not give a positive review describing the book as sloppy and saying it failed to live up to other dystopias based on alternate histories like The Man in the High Castle, The Difference Engine, or The Plot Against America.[4]
See also
- Ape and Essence
- A Canticle for Leibowitz
- Lud
References
- ^ "Uchronia: Crosstime Traffic Series". www.uchronia.net.
- ^ "Adult/High School". School Library Journal. September 1, 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-02.
- ^ Strock, Ian Randal (January 16, 2009). "A review of The Valley-Westside War by Harry Turtledove". Book review. SF Scope. Archived from the original on 2009-01-25. Retrieved 2009-01-23.
- ^ Ulin, David L. (August 2, 2008). "'The Valley-Westside War' by Harry Turtledove". Book Review. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-09-02.
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Time of Troubles |
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- Into the Darkness
- Darkness Descending
- Through the Darkness
- Rulers of the Darkness
- Jaws of Darkness
- Out of the Darkness
- Gunpowder Empire
- Curious Notions
- In High Places
- The Disunited States of America
- The Gladiator
- The Valley-Westside War
- The Bastard King
- The Chernagor Pirates
- The Scepter's Return
- Beyond the Gap
- The Breath of God
- The Golden Shrine
- Hitler's War
- West and East
- The Big Switch
- Coup d'Etat
- Two Fronts
- Last Orders
- Eruption
- All Fall Down
- Supervolcano
- Maelstrom
- Bombs Away
- Fallout
- Armistice
and Three Men and...Stories
- "Visitor from the East"
- "Peace is Better"
- "Typecasting"
- "Something Fishy"
- "Always Something New"
- "Tie a Yellow Ribbon"
- "Three Men and a Vampire"
- "Three Men and a Werewolf"
- "Three Men and a Sasquatch"
- A Different Flesh
- A World of Difference
- Agent of Byzantium
- Alpha and Omega
- And the Last Trump Shall Sound
- Between the Rivers
- The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump
- Conan of Venarium
- Down in the Bottomlands
- Every Inch a King
- Fort Pillow
- Give Me Back My Legions!
- The Guns of the South
- Hail! Hail!
- Household Gods
- The House of Daniel
- In the Presence of Mine Enemies
- Joe Steele
- Justinian
- The Man with the Iron Heart
- Noninterference
- Or Even Eagle Flew
- Ruled Britannia
- Thessalonica
- The Two Georges
- Through Darkest Europe
- "A Massachusetts Yankee in King Arthur's Court"
- "Election Day"
- "Getting Real"
- "The House That George Built"
- "Joe Steele"
- "Lee at the Alamo"
- "Liberating Alaska"
- "The Last Article"
- "Powerless"
- "The Road Not Taken"
- "Topanga and the Chatsworth Lancers"
- "Uncle Alf"
- "Vilcabamba"
- "Zigeuner"
- Atlantis and Other Places
- Counting Up, Counting Down
- Departures
- Earthgrip
- Kaleidoscope
- Reincarnations
- The Best of Harry Turtledove
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