Download PDF A Different Flesh Audible Audio Edition Harry Turtledove Paul Woodson Tantor Audio Books
Download As PDF : A Different Flesh Audible Audio Edition Harry Turtledove Paul Woodson Tantor Audio Books
This novel by the New York Times best-selling "master of alternate history" explores an America reshaped by a twist in prehistoric evolution (Publishers Weekly). Â
What if mankind's "missing link", the apelike Homo erectus, had survived to dominate a North American continent where woolly mammoths and saber-toothed tigers still prowled while the more advanced Homo sapiens built their civilizations elsewhere? Now imagine that the Europeans arriving in the New World had chanced on these primitive creatures and seized the opportunity to establish a hierarchy in which the sapiens were masters and the "sims" were their slaves.  Â
This is the premise that drives the incomparable Harry Turtledove's A Different Flesh. The acclaimed Hugo Award winner creates an alternate America that spans 300 years of invented history. From the Jamestown colonists' desperate hunt for a human infant kidnapped by a local sim tribe, to a late 18th-century contest between a newfangled steam-engine train and the popular hairy-elephant-pulled model, to the sim-rights activists' daring 1988 rescue of an unfortunate biped named Matt who's being used for animal experimentation, Turtledove turns our world inside out in a remarkable science-fiction masterwork that explores what it truly means to be human.
Download PDF A Different Flesh Audible Audio Edition Harry Turtledove Paul Woodson Tantor Audio Books
"This must have been an early Turtledove. I got it as a recommendation from Book Bub or something and thoroughly enjoyed it as Mr. T did not use any of his canned dialogue found in his later books. I would like to read more along these lines from him before he became a rote author."
Product details
|
Tags : A Different Flesh (Audible Audio Edition) Harry Turtledove, Paul Woodson, Tantor Audio Books, ,Harry Turtledove, Paul Woodson, Tantor Audio,A Different Flesh,Tantor Audio,B07LHG1YS8
A Different Flesh Audible Audio Edition Harry Turtledove Paul Woodson Tantor Audio Books Reviews :
A Different Flesh Audible Audio Edition Harry Turtledove Paul Woodson Tantor Audio Books Reviews
- Harry Turtledove is my guilty pleasure. His multivolume series ("Elabon/Gerin the Fox," "The Darkness," "Worldwar/Colonization," "Scepter of Mercy," "Videssos," etc., etc., etc.) are cheap, cheerful, and easy to consume by the pound. They're like Chicken McNuggets--churned out by the gazillion, kinda tasty, and they always leave you feeling slightly nauseated. Count on one one-dimensional character saying something dry to another one-dimensional character, and the other doing a double-take as he realizes he's being twitted, on damn near every page. It gets irritating.
What makes it so irritating is that Turtledove is better than this, and "A Different Flesh" is proof. Set in a world where the forerunners of Native Americans never made it across the Bering Strait land-bridge, leaving North America populated by Homo Sapiens' close relations, Homo Erectus, and a host of other Pleistocene beasties, "A Different Flesh" traces the history of the relationship between H. Sapiens and H. Erectus over the course of seven stories covering four centuries, from the perspectives of colonial settlers, fur trappers, antebellum Southern lawyers and slaves, and, cleverly, student activists.
The standout, "And Now To Bed,"is the account of Samuel Pepys (Turtledove does an uncannily good Pepys, by the way) grappling with the questions the existence of these creatures raises. Faced with the existence of creatures clearly related to us, but just as clearly not quite us, humanity is forced to confront the concept of evolution nearly two centuries before Darwin. As a result, the scientific revolution occurs a quite a bit earlier in this continuum.
But H. Sapiens is no more pleasant a creature in the world of "A Different Flesh" than he is in ours, and the book makes for painful reading as the "sims," as H. Erectus is referred to throughout, are subjected to being hunted, servitude, distaste, disgust, and eventually medical testing.
"A Different Flesh" is thorough, challenging, thoughtful, and smartly-written, and ranks up there with "Agent of Byzantium" as one of Turtledove's best. It's not for nothing he's considered the master of alternate history. And I wish he'd do more in this vein, and leave the cutesy stuff to less talented hacks. - A Different Flesh is actually a linked series of stories about an alternate history in which homo erectus survived and peopled North America. Although each story stands on its own and can be enjoyed on that basis, they get increasingly sophisticated in exploring the philosophical issues involving treatment of a species that is not quite human. As ever, historian Turtledove also does a wonderful job imagining how the presence of the "sims" might change human history.
Some reviewers have complained that Turtledove does not come to a conclusion and treat this as a flaw. Unfortunately, issues like this rarely have simple, pat answers. It is to the author's credit that he portrays the problem convincingly but does not offer a solution that might make readers feel good until they realized that it just wasn't credible. Instead, he makes the reader think and make his or her own decision. - I've been a Turtledove fan for years and, while I did like this book, I don't think it's one of his better efforts. It consists of a series of what amount to short stories about humans interacting with "sims" at different periods in history but, IMO the stories were not developed to the extent that would make them truly compelling. The concept of an entirely different humanoid species co-existing with modern humans is very interesting, but I would have been happier if he'd concentrated on only one or two stories, exploring them in more detail. I don't regret buying or reading this book, but it could have been so much better.
- I've never read a Turtledove alternate-history book that didn't have a great plot, wonderful characters, and (best of all) that made me really THINK!
His books stay with you long after you finish them, and in that regard, "A Different Flesh" is masterful. Racism and Specieism are part of the moral fabric of every chapter of this work. Even though it was written in 1988, its themes are more relevant than ever. I have two friends who, for different
reasons, will find this book extremely thought-provoking. What a writer, what a book! - Do you treat people differently based on their intelligence, looks or way of life? As you read this book you might just change your ways.
Turtledove paints a portrait of an indigenous people far different from the Native Americans the first European settlers found on our shores. I developed hopes for the 'sims', and pitied them. Such was the talent of the author. - Having read many Harry Turtledove books I found this one to be a different style than many of his other books. While alternate history, it is not focused as much on characters through a time continuum. It is a series of short stories where America is still inhabited by creatures that are no longer in our world - Homo Ergaster, sabre tooth tigers, mastadons, etc. There are hints of other differences but generally works on the behavior, social interaction, historical, and ethical considerations of these creatures (many on Homo Ergaster) and the world as it develops. Particular stories about slavery, animal testing, and the industrial revolution cause you to think about our relationship with the world. This book appeals to many genres - cryptozoology, science fiction, alternative history, and historical fiction. A very fun read.
- This must have been an early Turtledove. I got it as a recommendation from Book Bub or something and thoroughly enjoyed it as Mr. T did not use any of his canned dialogue found in his later books. I would like to read more along these lines from him before he became a rote author.
- It gave a different sense of understanding. How can we be fair minded when our own values come under question. What seems to be good for the majority is not necessarily best for all. How do we treat others who are not like us? Questions we all need to be aware of.
