Published by Tor, 1998,
paperback, $6.99 ISBN 0-812-54520-6
408 pages

It's not that Between the Rivers is a bad fantasy novel, it's just that Turtledove has set the bar so high that to fall short is a failure. As a fan of his Videssos, Krispos, and other series, I've come to appreciate his characters, epic settings, and plot development.

First off, this book is extremely hard to read. The constant repetition of sentences drives you to distraction. As difficult as it is to believe, I found myself skipping paragraphs to get on with the story. It seems every time two characters meet, the dialogue takes the form of multiple rephrasings of the same declarative sentence. One character, or perhaps two, might need a basic concept as a greeting explained several times, but when every character sounds like a moron, it makes this seem like a 150-page book padded out to 408 pages.

The main character, Sharur, is a young merchant who trades finished goods for raw material so that he can earn enough to buy a bride. However, in this world, the gods are a hands-on bunch, and the gods have taken a disliking to Sharur and his fellow citizens of the city of Gibil. Who can blame the gods? The Gibli tend to think for themselves too much, and of their city god too little.

Well, one caravan later, it's a war between gods and men, and Sharur and gods, and gods and gods. Oh, Sharur is a clever enough lad, with a lawyer's regard for legalese oaths, and you can't help but enjoy his predicament.

And it would be a much more interesting premise if Turtledove would write his usual sweet prose instead of this equivalent of Z-rated Biblical movie dialogue. It's difficult, if not downright tedious, to read and it makes you want to scream: "Get on with it!"

Oh, I eventually did finish. But this time, even Turtledove turns out to be mortal.