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shotgunsamurai42's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
chrisam's review
4.0
This is a time travel story in which a naval experiment gone wrong catapults a group of military vessels and their crews back from the year 2021 into the Pacific War of the 1940s. A multinational force, its crew including women commanders and people of various ethnic backgrounds, runs straight into the white, male world of the US Navy as it heads for Midway Atoll. Fighting ensues. Weapons of Choice put me in mind of 'The Philadelphia Experiment' (a Navy experiment makes ships disappear and reappear at random) and a clunky 1980 film called 'The Final Countdown' where an American aircraft carrier from the (then) present day goes back to 1941.
What is John Birmingham doing here if not painting himself into a corner? If you drop modern ships into the Pacific Theatre you are going to change history; doing for the Navy what Dean McLaughlin's "Hawk among the Sparrows" did for the Air Force, only better, because McLaughlin's supersonic jet fighter was unable to get a fix on the small slow wood-and-fabric aeroplanes of World War 1, whereas here the Multinational Force, armed with long-range missiles and guns like the fearsome MetalStorm, are quite capable of putting holes in a 1940s-vintage battleship without being able to see it. This Will Change Matters, surely, and the more so once the Navy of 1942 realises the Multinational Force isn't the enemy.
The 21st century has been at war for many years: the War on Terror has spread and widened and what the MNF is doing in that part of the Pacific involves the politics of the nation we know as Indonesia. Everyone has a smartphone-like terminal linked to the ship's computers, and with it they can show the natives of the 1940s what happens in The Future. So what happens to their future now that the people in the past know all about it? And is the '1942' we see here even ours?
I liked the characterisation in this novel. Some characters make their way through the culture shock better than others, and the shock isn't always what you expect (for example the 1940s sailors rely on street-fighting skills for hand to hand combat while their 21st century counterparts were trained in much deadlier methods). Subverting cliche, many of them adjust better than expected once they realise the kind of people they are dealing with. There are a few tips of the hat - to SM Stirling's "Draka", and Harry Turtledove's "Worldwar" series where World War 2 is interrupted by intelligent alien lizards. Certain other historical characters get a look in also, which is partly where the book falls down - too many strands to follow, it is too long and would have benefitted from better editing - which the author has admitted elsewhere. Shortening descriptive passages and not bothering with the corridors-of-power bits would make for a tighter read.
What is John Birmingham doing here if not painting himself into a corner? If you drop modern ships into the Pacific Theatre you are going to change history; doing for the Navy what Dean McLaughlin's "Hawk among the Sparrows" did for the Air Force, only better, because McLaughlin's supersonic jet fighter was unable to get a fix on the small slow wood-and-fabric aeroplanes of World War 1, whereas here the Multinational Force, armed with long-range missiles and guns like the fearsome MetalStorm, are quite capable of putting holes in a 1940s-vintage battleship without being able to see it. This Will Change Matters, surely, and the more so once the Navy of 1942 realises the Multinational Force isn't the enemy.
The 21st century has been at war for many years: the War on Terror has spread and widened and what the MNF is doing in that part of the Pacific involves the politics of the nation we know as Indonesia. Everyone has a smartphone-like terminal linked to the ship's computers, and with it they can show the natives of the 1940s what happens in The Future. So what happens to their future now that the people in the past know all about it? And is the '1942' we see here even ours?
I liked the characterisation in this novel. Some characters make their way through the culture shock better than others, and the shock isn't always what you expect (for example the 1940s sailors rely on street-fighting skills for hand to hand combat while their 21st century counterparts were trained in much deadlier methods). Subverting cliche, many of them adjust better than expected once they realise the kind of people they are dealing with. There are a few tips of the hat - to SM Stirling's "Draka", and Harry Turtledove's "Worldwar" series where World War 2 is interrupted by intelligent alien lizards. Certain other historical characters get a look in also, which is partly where the book falls down - too many strands to follow, it is too long and would have benefitted from better editing - which the author has admitted elsewhere. Shortening descriptive passages and not bothering with the corridors-of-power bits would make for a tighter read.
trin's review
2.0
A cool idea—an international naval fleet from 2021 is transported back in time to the Battle of Midway in WWII—is made dull by being a zillion pages long and full of stock characters and constant POV shifts. This is another “Man” book—overly lengthy and much more interested in the technical specifications than in the people. It’s the first volume of a trilogy, but I found it such a slog that I definitely won’t be continuing.
topherisswell's review
adventurous
dark
informative
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
duparker's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This is a fun book to read 3 years after it was set, and 20 years after it was written. The assumptions about technology and tactics remind me of Star Trek, and similar worlds set in the future. I like that they going back in time is not too cheesy, and that the outcome of that impact is that it truly changes world history. The ability to have the Axis powers see how they get change and maybe win world war II, is a good twist. Overall it's a pretty simple book and a good read for those who want to relax for bed.
aspinei's review
3.0
I really love alternative history so I'm a fan of the genre but author's arguable decision to add 2020's (highly unrealistic) technology in the mix plus way too many uninteresting fight scenes make this a 3 stars for me. However, I've started reading the sequel and it's much much better IMHO.
jonathanpalfrey's review against another edition
4.0
After several rereadings, I decided to uprate this book from 3 to 4 stars. Although I have some serious criticisms of it (see below), much of it is pretty good, and overall I like it well enough to reread it periodically.
The story is mostly about soldiers in wartime (although some civilians also get involved). If that doesn’t appeal to you, move on and read something else instead. The wealth of details about military operations and about past and near-future military technology is most impressive and seems well researched, although I’m not qualified to assess it.
Being a reader of sf, I appreciated the time-travel element and the clash of different cultures and technologies, which is well imagined. Sometimes I felt that people could have reacted more sensibly to the situations they found themselves in, but this is arguably realistic: people are often not sensible.
I have some criticisms:
1. The situation is interesting, but it’s contrived. Unlikely things happen without explanation in order to produce the plot that the author wanted to write about. It’s acceptable to have one such event in this kind of book, but to have more than one is inelegant and reduces credibility. The event that sets everything off, the collision of two fleets, is ridiculously implausible when you consider the likelihood of a randomly time-travelling fleet happening to smack down on top of another major naval fleet in the vast expanse of the sea and the vaster expanse of time. The fact that most of the ships remain together in one place but some of them get scattered randomly around the world is another implausibility, added purely because the author wanted it for his own purpose of making the war drag on longer.
2. The characters are varied, but numerous, so the reader’s involvement with any individual character is limited.
3. The story is plausible enough in general, but I’m sceptical about some of the details.
4. The mission to rescue prisoners of the Japanese is a noble gesture and a tactical success, but (as some people comment in the book) it seems a gross blunder to spend time and irreplaceable war-winning military assets on a mission of no strategical importance. The time-travellers should have concentrated on hitting the Axis powers hard and fast: sinking all the main Japanese warships, for a start. The faster you win the war, the more lives you save. That seems clear to me as a civilian, and I really think it would have been even clearer to the very experienced military time-travellers. I’m so disgusted with this very implausible blunder that on my latest reread I decided to skip Part 4 of the book completely (in which the blunder is made). I already decided earlier not to buy or read the sequels, because the plot has made a wrong turning and I’m not interested in following it any further.
Clearly, John Birmingham wanted to write a trilogy about war, and an early win would have deprived him of that, so he deliberately loaded the dice to avoid it. I’m not that keen on war myself: I’d have preferred an early win followed by the alternative history of how the postwar world sorts itself out.
Note that this is an unusually long novel, in four parts. Even without Part 4, it’s still quite a long novel, although without Part 4 it lacks a proper ending.
Turtledove’s [b:The Guns of the South|101599|The Guns of the South|Harry Turtledove|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1664902764l/101599._SY75_.jpg|554749] describes a roughly similar time-travel situation, but set in the American Civil War (and the time-travellers are Confederate supporters). It includes warfare but also contains many non-warfare scenes.
Hogan’s [b:The Proteus Operation|849493|The Proteus Operation|James P. Hogan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1178892317l/849493._SY75_.jpg|906055] is set mostly in the Second World War period, but the time-travel elements are more complicated and interesting. The story deals with intrigue and special operations rather than conventional warfare, and there’s more civilian involvement.
The story is mostly about soldiers in wartime (although some civilians also get involved). If that doesn’t appeal to you, move on and read something else instead. The wealth of details about military operations and about past and near-future military technology is most impressive and seems well researched, although I’m not qualified to assess it.
Being a reader of sf, I appreciated the time-travel element and the clash of different cultures and technologies, which is well imagined. Sometimes I felt that people could have reacted more sensibly to the situations they found themselves in, but this is arguably realistic: people are often not sensible.
I have some criticisms:
1. The situation is interesting, but it’s contrived. Unlikely things happen without explanation in order to produce the plot that the author wanted to write about. It’s acceptable to have one such event in this kind of book, but to have more than one is inelegant and reduces credibility. The event that sets everything off, the collision of two fleets, is ridiculously implausible when you consider the likelihood of a randomly time-travelling fleet happening to smack down on top of another major naval fleet in the vast expanse of the sea and the vaster expanse of time. The fact that most of the ships remain together in one place but some of them get scattered randomly around the world is another implausibility, added purely because the author wanted it for his own purpose of making the war drag on longer.
2. The characters are varied, but numerous, so the reader’s involvement with any individual character is limited.
3. The story is plausible enough in general, but I’m sceptical about some of the details.
4. The mission to rescue prisoners of the Japanese is a noble gesture and a tactical success, but (as some people comment in the book) it seems a gross blunder to spend time and irreplaceable war-winning military assets on a mission of no strategical importance. The time-travellers should have concentrated on hitting the Axis powers hard and fast: sinking all the main Japanese warships, for a start. The faster you win the war, the more lives you save. That seems clear to me as a civilian, and I really think it would have been even clearer to the very experienced military time-travellers. I’m so disgusted with this very implausible blunder that on my latest reread I decided to skip Part 4 of the book completely (in which the blunder is made). I already decided earlier not to buy or read the sequels, because the plot has made a wrong turning and I’m not interested in following it any further.
Clearly, John Birmingham wanted to write a trilogy about war, and an early win would have deprived him of that, so he deliberately loaded the dice to avoid it. I’m not that keen on war myself: I’d have preferred an early win followed by the alternative history of how the postwar world sorts itself out.
Note that this is an unusually long novel, in four parts. Even without Part 4, it’s still quite a long novel, although without Part 4 it lacks a proper ending.
Turtledove’s [b:The Guns of the South|101599|The Guns of the South|Harry Turtledove|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1664902764l/101599._SY75_.jpg|554749] describes a roughly similar time-travel situation, but set in the American Civil War (and the time-travellers are Confederate supporters). It includes warfare but also contains many non-warfare scenes.
Hogan’s [b:The Proteus Operation|849493|The Proteus Operation|James P. Hogan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1178892317l/849493._SY75_.jpg|906055] is set mostly in the Second World War period, but the time-travel elements are more complicated and interesting. The story deals with intrigue and special operations rather than conventional warfare, and there’s more civilian involvement.
beingshort's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
jhouses's review
3.0
Con una premisa similar a la de la película El final de la cuenta atrás, el libro abandona el simbolico ciclo cerrado en el tiempo y el dilema ético sobre la intervención en el pasado tomando el peor de los caminos posibles. En lugar de asistir a distancia al preludio del ataque japonés a Pearl Harbour, una fuerza naval multinacional del año 2021 (un año 2021 algo más avanzado que el nuestro) se ve arrojada en mitad de la flota americana que espera emboscar a la japonesa en Midway. La confusión que esto produce lleva a una alteración total de la secuencia de eventos de la Segunda Guerra Mundial en el Pacífico. Las consecuencias de un completo conocimiento de como se desarrollará ésta, producen un cambio total de los acontecimientos. Además, la sociedad de 1942 no está preparada para comprender a la de 2021.
Un gran libro, digno de los mejores momentos de [a:Harry Turtledove|29479|Harry Turtledove|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1333453762p2/29479.jpg]