This is an interesting book. I think it re-affirms my opinions on Turtledove, which is that he is a very intelligent theoretical historian (or what ever the term would be for someone who intelligently imagines historical "what if"s) and a passable writer.

In this book we experience a geographically altered earth. It seems that what we know as the eastern coast of the United States, has broken away (long ago) due to continental drift or tectonic plates or perhaps alien art forms. The end result is a large landmass in the middle of the atlantic. around the time of 1440 (or so) some fishing vessels from varrious nations find it, and people boldly move to it to get out from under the thumb of oppressive nobles and dangerous peasant uprisings. And things go on from there. By the end of this the first book in a series, Terra Nove has been discovered awhile back (The rest of the North American continent) and what in our history would have been called the French and Indian war.

The characters are fairly two dimensional and flat, but this is part of Turtledoves style. He wants the reader focused on the differing events of history rather than on the characters, they are merely there as living observers. Because the characters are fairly 2-D, the dialogue is also at times dry and stilted.

In the end, this is less a work of literature and more a fairly entertaining historical essay on "What if the eastern coast of the USA was actually in the middle of the Atlantic". Its no more and no less than this, and on those terms it fairs quite well. On the terms of a novel, its ok at best. I wouldn't denouce it the way I've denouced other authors, but I can't preach its prais to everyone either. If you are a history/alt-history sci-fi geek, you will probably find this book at least vaguely interesting. If you are anything else, I don't think you'll get a whole lot from this book.