My first NetGalley book, and I would call it quite the success. I don't often read WWII historical novels, but the alternative history premise in which the States are being invaded seemed very intriguing.

The novel is told from various point of views: we've got Americans (obviously), but also Germans, Italians and Japanese characters. Bold choice by the author in his debut novel, and it worked out really well. It was a real benefit to the story to experience it from so many viewpoints. I think all of them were distinctive and unique.

Another bold choice was to tell it in a diary-like manner with location and time specified to the km and the minute. While that helped with keeping track of when and where something was occurring, for me personally this style isn't my favorite. At times it made it feel a bit like non-fiction, especially with the extensive and technical approach to warfare. Be prepared to read A LOT about naval warfare. Again, for me personally not my favorite. Boats have never captivated my attention that much. Of course, it stands to reason that so much focus is given to naval warfare, the only way to invade the US (during WW2) from Japan and Germany is with boats.

The action, fighting and war in general were all depicted very realistically, very detailed and mostly very engaging. At times it was a bit too much to keep me hooked, as I said, naval warfare ain't my favorite, but if you're interested in a novel that focuses very much on war and engagements, then this is definitely a book for you.

A very good alternative history novel! Totally believable, no space aliens or magic beings or any of that type of thing. It's the what if story of Japan and Germany succeeding in their expansion through war, and then turning their attention to the USA. I could completely believe this could have happened. The character development was great, the people seemed completely multi-dimensional, not simply some he-man soldier or poor distraught females. The timeline was excellent, and very easily followed. The action was on multiple fronts, and non-stop. The writing was strong enough to actually pull multiple emotions out of me, which isn't easily done.
The book reminded me of the best of the Turtledove novels, the ones about the world wars. I think the character development was even better here.
I honestly could not put this book down. I was so disappointed when it ended, I wanted to find out what happens next. I will definitely be getting the next book in the series, I just hope it's not too long before it's released.
I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

this was a strong historical fiction novel, I was hooked from the cover and from the description. The characters worked well overall with the story and I was hooked from the first page. I thought this was a strong start to this series and was glad everything worked with what I wanted. Bart Stark wrote this well and was glad I got to read this.