OK, so I finally finished the first book,
A New Nation (1775-1815) -- and, wow...
The POD, for those who don't know, is the moderately well known Battle of Saratoga, where Benedict Arnold -- then mostly known for his exploits in Quebec -- defies the commanding officer, and at the end, it is
Burgoyne's army that surrenders...
A lot of surprises, I have to say. First, this may be the first AH work on a successful colonial rebellion where I wasn't thinking how ASB it was the whole time -- mind you, that may just be on how dramatic and well written it was, I'm not sure right now.
Another surprise is the sheer epic scope of the changes involved -- all the books, it seems, are actually global histories (makes sense, given that the PoD would have global repercussions). France's Revolution, noticeably, comes earlier and get's a lot bloodier, then weird. Not that there weren't enviable things about the universe he creates -- for example, it looks like Britain becomes liberal a lot sooner, especially considering how much sooner they end the slave trade ITTL. (I hear slavery is abolished in both the British Empire and the USA earlier as well, by the end of the sequel

) And that's saying nothing of the parts on Haiti and Spanish America...
The United States itself (seems they actually keep the name

) still takes up most of the book -- over half, anyway -- and it certainly keeps the drama up. Sometimes I really like it, like with the Philadelphia Convention chapter (this always bugged me about other USA TLs -- they never account for how a confederation of states could institutionally handle the problems they'd be facing -- nice to see it averted). Other times it's problematic (seriously, the War of 1812 felt kind of forced; can't seriously believe two countries would stick to war over so obvious a diplomatic snafu... oh well

)
What's really selling me on this are the characters -- Gen. Arnold surprised me to say the least. There's also a lot of attention payed to one Andrew Jackson -- looked him up, seems OTL he was the younger brother and accomplice of the infamous pirate Robert Jackson (now I get the irony of the last chapter

). I've got a feeling there's a lot in store for him...
And that's just in the new nation -- does anyone know if Robespierre was anything near as big an asshole in real life? What about Napoleon -- was he even a real person?
Overall, I wanted to get your thoughts on the series -- yes, that's all three books so far. I've already decided that I'm going to read the next book,
Births of Freedom (1815-1865), and as epic as these works are, I think I'm okay with discussing it in advance. I'll also probably read the most recent addition, even though it's gotten less stellar reviews -- at least it's shorter (I think... goes to an election in 1896, from what I hear). Anyone with advanced knowledge on Part Four would also be welcome -- I hear the tentative title is
Rendevous with Destiny (1896-1945).
OOC: Thought I'd try and see if a more ambitious DBWI took
The USA Series
A New Nation (1775-1815) -- PoD is Saratoga in 1777; author has read it
Births of Freedom (1815-1865) -- hasn't read it, plans to
Seeds of Empire* (1865-1896) -- hasn't read; got less than stellar reviews
Rendevous with Destiny (1896-1945) -- unpublished
EDIT ADD (still OOC): Also, I thought I'd put in
this link, in case anyone was confused by my slavery comment
LATE EDIT NOTE: At 9:13, 11/26, I added the title of the third book, as it came out in the thread