I read this book hoping for more than I received. It feels like Turtledove wanted to write a book about an exploding super-volcano and decided to wrap a few poorly fleshed out characters around it. To me, the characters felt like afterthoughts in the story, the volcano was central. Unfortunately Turtledove spends a lot of time with the characters having them do rather mundane things, with problems and issues that never seem to resolve themselves. Indeed, the only character I really emotionally connected to was "Pickles" the cat. Now, ignoring the characters in a world changing cataclysm like an exploding super-volcano can be forgiven if we have a broader view of what's gong on, perhaps more author narration of the impact on global climate or the sociological impacts of the destruction. Turtledove barely bothers us with this however. We get snippets delivered through the characters from time to time but it's just that, a snippet, a hint of something going on in the wider world but it's rarely explored further than a mere tease. All in all this was a disappointment. This felt detached, more interested on the nature than the people. Yet the portions concerning the explosion and it's effects felt rushed, if that's what you want to write about, tell us more. I wish I could recommend this but I don't think it will please anyone, whatever angle they approach the topic from.