It's nice to know there are some things in life you can trust. The yearly release of another 600-page part of the epic being created by Turtledove is fast becoming a sign of spring to me. He doesn't disappoint this time either. The book picks up, unsurprisingly, where the previous one left off, and before you know it you're 661 pages deeper into the saga. A nice touch this time around is a long part discussing Finland, with even Kekkonen making an appearance. The only thing I didn't like was the slightly annoying habit Turtledove has of trying to implicate we humans are inherently superior to the lizards, which is displayed in the way he has the lizards slowly changing to resemble humans more and more. I don't mind them getting more clever in dealing with the humans, that's expected, but when the lizards start forming life-long partnerships with one another that's just unrealistic.