by John Birmingham
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Product Description
It’s World War II and the A-bomb is here to stay.
The only question: Who’s going to drop it first?
The Battle of Midway takes on a whole new dimension with the sudden appearance of a U.S.-led naval task force from the twenty-first century, the result of a botched military experiment. State-of-the-art warships are scattered across the Pacific, armed to the teeth with the latest instruments of mass destruction.
Nuclear warheads, rocket-propelled grenades, AK-47s, computer-guided missiles–all bets are off as the major powers of 1942 scramble to be the first to wield the weapons of tomorrow against their enemies. The whole world now knows of the Allied victory in 1945, and the collapse of communism decades later. But that was the first time around.
With the benefit of their newly acquired knowledge, Stalin and Hitler rapidly change strategies. A Russian-German ceasefire leaves the Führer free to bring the full weight of his vaunted Nazi war machine down on England, while in the Pacific, Japan launches an invasion of Australia, and Admiral Yamamoto schemes to seize an even greater prize . . . Hawaii.
Even in the United States the newcomers from the future are greeted with a combination of enthusiasm and fear. Suspicion leads to hatred and erupts into violence.
Suddenly it’s a whole new war, with high-tech, high-stakes international manipulations from Tokyo to D.C. to the Kremlin. As the world trembles on the brink of annihilation, Churchill, Stalin, Roosevelt, Hitler, and Tojo confront extreme choices and a future rife with possibilities–all of them apocalyptic.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
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Average Customer Review:
1 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
 The first 10 pages contain 25 f*** and sh***, 2007-07-09
One thing that struck me was the usage of bad words so frequently.
Churchill, Heinz Guderian, etc too wrote about World War and he not even once did they use a single bad word.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Still Going Strong, 2007-06-22
It's hard to get a sequel as good as the original- especially if it's the second in a trilogy. Birmingham pulls it off. He writes with such realism, spontaneity, and wit, that one feels like they are actually in the trenches, actually dealing with merging 21st and 20th century technology, actually in a room with Marilyn Monroe and Frank Sinatra. We feel the palpable tension of a world going to pot- and we feel this from a nearly infinite number of perspectives.
I found I was missing the chapter introductions of the first book, which told me what time and date it was. I also enjoyed the tighter storyline in the first book, without the constant jumping across continents just at the moment of most intense action. But this reduces Designated Targets to a 4.9 instead of a 5. It is still exquisitely written. It would seem that Birmingham has been in all the places he's described, and experienced everything that his characters have experienced. Nearly every character is round and evolving. It is hard to convincingly write Hoover's perspective as well as that of an enlightened 21st century woman fighting against racism.
Perhaps the saddest thing to realize is the effects the fight on terrorism is having on us all. Birmingham also convincingly writes the perspective of the 1940s and the 2020s. In the midst of the vileness towards blacks, women, and Jews that we see in those of the 1940s, we also see the cavalier attitude that those of the 2020s have towards violence and the deaths of others- innocents or the guilty. Fighting a long struggle has endued them with an incredible lack of compassion, and a thirst for vengence. It is convincing, because one sees the roots of such ideals in today's society, as we slowly become the children of tomorrow.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
 Review of the "Axis of Time" trilogy. Overall rating: 4.4 stars, 2007-06-09
Weapons of Choice (The Axis of Time Trilogy, Book 1, 2004)
Designated Targets (The Axis of Time Trilogy, Book 2, 2005)
Final Impact (The Axis of Time Trilogy, Book 3, 2007)
I've now read all three of John Birmingham's "Axis of Time" novels -- which amount to one long novel, so don't start at #2! -- and warmly recommend the books to mil-SF and alternate-history fans. To reprise, a naval task force from 2021 is diverted to 1942 by a DARPA teleportation experiment gone spectacularly wrong. In the confusion of the transition, the moderns sink most of Admiral Spruance's fleet, enroute to the Battle of Midway. Oops....
The three books go on to re-fight WW2, and show once again that the oldest cliche' can look fresh in the hands of a good writer with a new approach. Birmingham's innovation here is that the world of 1942 suddenly knows how the next eighty years would play out, if nothing changes. So the Big Losers -- Hitler, Tojo and Stalin -- are frantically trying to rewrite history to keep from going down in flames "again". And the winners must guard their "historic" victory... It's a riveting, twisty, violent story, and man, do those pages turn.
The Axis of Time is a good reminder of just how bad the mid-20th century was, and just how monstrous Hitler and Stalin were. And how warfare brings out the best -- and worst -- in "good" people (and bad). Some of the expedients the "good guys" resort to, to win, are appalling. Which isn't to say, not necessary....
Birmingham's near-future is a rather grim place, and the interactions of 2021 with 1942 are very nicely done. The past is a different country, and the multi-racial men and women-warriors from the 21st century make the folk of 1942 *very* uncomfortable. And vice-versa.
Birmingham, a well-known Australian humorist, is making his first venture into SF here. He's done his homework, and he's an exceptionally good storyteller. The Axis of Time books are thoughtful page-turners. His writing style and pacing are still a little rough, and there's a huge plot-logic flaw in the first book. The books still rock. Start with the first, Weapons of Choice, and you'll soon know if the series suits your taste.
Book #3, Final Impact, ends with the end of WW2 -- the three books are WW2.1, 2.2 and 2.3 in the Birmoverse -- but with little resolution, which has upset some readers. Birmingham has a contract to continue the series into the Cold War (CW1.1, 1.2), with the next book scheduled for Fall 2007 (Australia). I'll be reading it. And you should read WW2.1--2.3. Not perfect books, but pretty darned good.
Happy reading--
Peter D. Tillman
Review first published at SF Site
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Not a bad read..., 2007-03-30
I found this book while killing some time in a bookstore. Even tho' it was the second volume of a trilogy, and the first volume wasn't available, I took the plunge anyway. I have not been disappointed in the decently-paced and better-than-usual alternate history aspect of this tale. I'm burned out on Harry Turtledove, so I was pleasantly surprised by Birmingham's easy to read prose. The plot line is NOT telegraphed ahead, and a lot of the chaacters are well developed to a point where readers can actually identify with them.There are a few "clunkers" as semi-major characters, but I have enjoyed the careful weaving of many recent day celebrities (i.e.: Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, and John Kennedy) into the fabric of the story.
I will read the entire series without fail. Not perfect, but good enough to entertain me...4 stars.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Second volume in an alternative history trilogy, 2007-03-17
This is the middle volume in an exciting series of three books in which a force from the 21st century is accidentally sent back in time to 1942 and throws the history World War two onto a completely different course.
I found the first two episodes in this trilogy so fascinating that when I learned that the final instalment had been published in Australia several months before the US and UK releases I could not wait, but had to order this one from Oz. None of the books in the series disappointed me.
The full "Axis of Time" trilogy is
Weapons of Choice
Designated Targets
Final Impact
In the first book, "Weapons of Choice" a multinational carrier battle fleet from the 21st century is accidentally sent back in time to 1942 when a scientific experiment goes wrong. They arrive in the middle of the US fleet which would have been about to win the battle of Midway, which immediately causes a major "friendly fire" incident; meanwhile the Japanese fleet which should have been sunk gets wind that something very odd is happening and escapes.
A different story in which a military unit was sent back to World War II might have given them a dilemma; should they intervene on the allied side, or try to minimise their impact in the hope of getting back through the wormhole to their own time without changing the past? Birmingham never gave his characters that option, as their arrival itself changed events beyond any hope of putting the timeline back in place. In this book his 21st century characters are struggling to make the best of the world they now find themselves in.
What happened at Midway was bad enough, although the the arrival on the Western side of a 21st century carrier battle group is more than enough compensation. But a second problem is that, while the great majority of the multinational force is thrown back as a unit and arrive together, one or two ships turn up in other parts of the world and are captured by bad guys so that some modern technology and knowledge of the future which would have happened fell into the hands of the Soviet Union, Imperial Japanese, and Nazis. Once they have overcome their disbelief, Stalin, Hitler, and Imperial Japanese alike resolve not to repeat the mistakes which in our timeline consigned them to the dustbin of history.
The men and women from the 21st Century face a continuing struggle both to adapt to the very difficult world they find themselves in, and to persuade the "temps" (short for contemporary) from their own side to accept such things as an African-American U.S. Marine colonel, and a Royal Navy Commander who is a half-asian woman. I would like to think that my parents and grandparents' generations would have treated members of the 21st century forces better than they are treated in this book: however, no doubt that Mr Birmingham is right that some people would have treated them well and others very badly. The treatment of J Edgar Hoover, who is very prejudiced against the 21st century people and makes a real nuisance of himself, is quite entertaining.
Mr Birmingham takes the view that Japanese members of the multinational force, and other people in an anomalous position such as a 21st century Russian special forces officer, would regard the current rulers of their home countries as tyrants and put loyalty to their 21st century comrades before loyalty to country. However, the "temps" have great difficulty trusting Japanese and this is perhaps the worst of the many problems with the multinational force have in getting on with their new allies.
The action scenes in the book are very well done and make it almost impossible to put down; there is also some excellent use of humour. One of the members of the multinational force from the 21st Century is Prince Harry, who has become a Colonel in the S.A.S; throughout the trilogy there are some amusing lines and situations involving him.
None of the books in this trilogy are suitable for those of a squeamish disposition. Faced with Axis and Soviet powers who have become even more cruel and ruthless in their desperation to avoid defeat, the allies have to be almost equally brutal to defeat them. I can't remember reading a story in which the "good" guys kill so many millions of innocent people since E.E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman series. (More so even than in the real WW2, which is saying something.) Birmingham rarely goes for the easy answer and this is a series in which horrible things often happen to good people - and in which good people do horrible things.
Nevertheless, if you are into alternative history or war stories, and provided you are not squeamish, you will very probably enjoy the "Axis of Time" trilogy.
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