Best Harry Turtledove Books

The best books by Harry Turtledove — 8 titles spanning Sci-Fi, Historical Fiction, Biography & Memoir, averaging 3.92 BLT stars.

Read more

Harry Turtledove is the undisputed master of alternate history, the writer who made "what if the South won?" and "what if WWI never ended?" into sprawling, obsessively detailed fictional universes. His Great War and Settling Accounts series reimagine early twentieth-century America with the granular patience of a historian — troop movements, political intrigue, civilian suffering all rendered in exhausting, immersive detail. The scale is his signature: Turtledove doesn't write novels so much as he constructs alternate timelines, populated with dozens of characters whose lives intersect across thousands of pages. His prose is workmanlike rather than lyrical, which suits the material — this is fiction that earns its weight through research and scope, not style. Readers who love deep-dive counterfactual history and don't mind committing to a series that demands real investment will find Turtledove endlessly rewarding.

Harry Turtledove's highest-rated book in our collection is The Great War: Breakthroughs (4.24 BLT stars). Browse the full list below.

Where to Start with Harry Turtledove

  1. 1
    The Great War: Breakthroughs cover

    The Great War: Breakthroughs

    Great War (Turtledove) • Book 3

    by Harry Turtledove

    4.24 BLT Score (0 ratings)
  2. 2
    The Center Cannot Hold cover

    The Center Cannot Hold

    American Empire • Book 2

    by Harry Turtledove

    4.09 BLT Score (2.9K ratings)
    ★ 3.94 Goodreads (2.9K)
  3. 3
    The Victorious Opposition cover

    The Victorious Opposition

    American Empire • Book 3

    by Harry Turtledove

    4.05 BLT Score (2.5K ratings)
    ★ 3.95 Goodreads (2.5K)
  4. 4
    American Front cover

    American Front

    Great War • Book 1

    by Harry Turtledove

    4.03 BLT Score (4.2K ratings)
    ★ 3.92 Goodreads (4.2K)
  5. 5
    Settling Accounts: Return Engagement (American Empire) cover

    Settling Accounts: Return Engagement (American Empire)

    Settling Accounts • Book 1

    by Harry Turtledove

    3.92 BLT Score (2.9K ratings)
    ★ 3.9 Goodreads (2.9K)
  6. 7
    Three Miles Down cover

    Three Miles Down

    by Harry Turtledove

    3.70 BLT Score (1.1K ratings)
    ★ 3.64 Goodreads (1.1K)
  7. 8
    Alpha and Omega cover

    Alpha and Omega

    by Harry Turtledove

    3.58 BLT Score (725 ratings)
    ★ 3.69 Goodreads (725)

How We Rank Audiobooks

Rankings are driven by listener ratings and review counts from Audible and Goodreads. Books with high ratings across a large number of listeners rank higher — a 4.5 with 50,000 ratings says more than a 4.8 with 200.

Unlike most book lists, we weight audiobook-specific factors: narrator performance, production quality, and how well a story translates to audio. A great book with a poor narration isn't a great audiobook.

We don't accept paid placements or prioritize new releases. These rankings reflect what listeners actually enjoy, not what's being promoted.

Rankings update periodically as new ratings come in and new titles are added to the collection.

Read our full ranking methodology →