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Museum Store Company : The Finest Selection of Historic and Museum Jewelry, Art History Replicas and Museum Reproductions! Own a Piece of History...Give a Piece of History (tm) MuseumStoreCompany.com | |  | General | Home » » » » Final Impact: A Novel of the Axis of Time | | | | | | | Description: | | “The action is nonstop, the characters very real–and very different from each other–and, to coin a phrase, it makes you think.”
–S. M. Stirling, author of Island in the Sea of Time
In the year 2021 a multinational fleet–experimenting with untested weapons technology–pitched through time, crash-landing in 1942. The world is thrown into chaos as Roosevelt, Hitler, Churchill, Tojo, and Stalin scramble to adapt to new, high-tech killing tools, and twenty-first-century ways of war.
For “uptimers” like Britain’s Prince Harry and the men and women who serve aboard the supercarrier USS Hillary Clinton, war is a constant struggle with their own downtime allies, who are mired in ignorance and bigotry.
As the Allies counter the Nazi assault and set off for the coast of France, Japan begins to buckle, soon every battle will be played out in a lethal dance of might and intelligence, unholy alliances and desperate gambles, and each clash will be fought with the ultimate weapon; knowledge from the future.
Thanks to the historical records, all sides know that two superpowers will emerge, while the losers will be pounded into submission. But time has shifted on its axis, so none know who will survive, or how peace will take hold in a world turned upside down. These are the questions that John Birmingham brilliantly answers in his critically acclaimed adventure of war and imagination.
Praise for John Birmingham’s Weapons of Choice
“Birmingham’s enthralling battleground mixes provocative historical fiction and socially conscious futurism.”
–Entertainment Weekly
“High-tech intrigue and suspense similar to the works of Tom Clancy.”
–Library Journal
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Pick a Nit or TwoJun 14, 2010
I generally agree with jal3. 'Loved the first two books of the series, was less enamored of book 3. I rather doubt the Soviets would have been able to make as much of their windfall in 2 years as Final Impact allows, even if Uncle Joe would have given his scientists and engineers the freedom they would have needed for the feat. Nor could the U.S. The idea of going from even an advanced piston aircraft such as the Corsair to a supersonic jet fighter, much less a B-52 is somewhat ludicrous. That took away from the believability Alternate History requires. Also, though I very much enjoy time travel stories, they almost never take into consideration that time travel doesn't also imply space travel. The UN fleet would have reappeared in the location of Earth in 2021, and that would have been a loooong, loooong way from where it was in 1942. But I disaggree with jal3 in one respect: if Birmingham would decide to write a 4th book in the series, perhaps exploring the post WarII social and political impact of the 21st century warriors, I would have to make time for it. Think about that, J.B.
 3rd in a trilogyNov 30, 2009
This is the 3rd book in a trilogy - I highly recommend getting all books; Axis of Time/Weapons of Choice (#1), Designated Targets (#2) and this 3rd book, Axis of Time/Final Impact. I just finished reading all three and thoroughly enjoyed the set.
Excellent, What If storyApr 11, 2009
Excellent book, with a story that keeps you engaged throughout. The clashes between what is acceptable in the society of WWII versus present day adds to the drama. I'm looking forward to starting the second book of the series.
A Well Thought Out ConclusionFeb 25, 2009
What makes an 'alternate history' book realistic is a well thought out result to the change in events. In this case, the appearance of a 21st century naval task-force in 1942 changes all of the major participants abilities. With new technologies flooding the scientific community, the old time line can only continue for a short time. Birmingham does a good job in the outcome of this change to the battles of World War 2.
More important than the technological advances that the 'Multinational Forces' bring are the changes to the way people view woman, blacks and mixed race people. Birmingham has a great feel for historical figures like Churchill, Yamamoto, Eisenhower, Hitler, Roosevelt, etc. He does a marvelous job of describing one of Stalin's drunken debaucheries and the fear he engendered in the highest levels of the Soviet Politburo.
His hometown Aussies probably come off better than they would in most American or British novels, but, hey, let's hear it for our team! Some of the more sociological parts that were included in Books 1 & 2 get short shrift in Book 3 (maybe he was afraid the book would be too long). Here's hoping that when he gets around to the next trilogy in a couple of years, he'll update us on those parts. Good Effort and Finish.
Zeb Kantrowitz
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
A decent conclusion to the trilogyJan 30, 2009
World War 2.3: Final Impact is the conclusion to the Axis of Time trilogy, following Weapons of Choice and Designated Targets. Those books chronicled how, in the year 2021, a UN multinational carrier taskforce was deployed to drive a terrorist insurgency out of Jakarta. Unfortunately, a nearby scientific vessel undertaking experiments into quantum tunnelling accidentally opened a wormhole through space and time, dumping the entire fleet on top of Admiral Spruance's US Navy fleet sailing to relieve Midway in the summer of 1942. With no way home, the UN force's presence rapidly changed the course of the Second World War.
The final novel opens in the late spring of 1944. Both the Axis and Allies are now equipped with considerable technological advances gleaned from the ships from the future. Jet aircraft fight on both sides, and the UN taskforce's immense AWACS and radar capabilities provide the Allies with considerable tactical and intelligence advantages over the enemy. Germany and Japan made alterations to their strategies after capturing some of the ships from the future themselves and these paid off in the short term, with Germany and the USSR concluding a cynical peace and Japan successfully invading Australia and occupying Hawaii. Driven by their superior economic base, however, the Allies are now resurgent, having retaken Hawaii and defeated a German invasion of Britain before preparing their own, improved version of D-Day. The Allies, the Germans and the Russians are now in their own, frantic races to complete the atom bomb before the others, for whoever develops a nuclear arsenal the earliest will likely be the side that wins the war.
Final Impact marks a solid conclusion to the trilogy, although unfortunately some of the more interesting elements that were being developed in Designated Targets seem to have been scaled back. The sociological ramifications of the arrival of the ships from the future continue to be examined, but not quite so cleverly as in the previous volume. The sheer mass of data that the people of the 1940s would have to absorb is overwhelming and you can't help but feel that Birmingham occasionally misses out on a few interesting possibilities (although a scene where John Kennedy quietly arranges for a young Lee Harvey Oswald to be taken into state care is a nice touch). However, with the need to bring this alternate Second World War to a conclusion the sacrificing of some of the quieter elements in favour of the main storyline is understandable. This also explains the somewhat jarring leap ahead of more than a year since the end of Book 2. Several major characters die off-page between the two books, and given the ending of Book 2 it is a surprise to find Hawaii already back in Allied hands. Birmingham obviously felt that expanding on these elements would expand the series to four books or more and I certainly understand him wanting to avoid that.
Final Impact marks a solid ending to the series, with the war rapidly winding down after the nukes start being deployed. Birmingham treats these weapons as the terrible forces they are (some military authors, Turtledove particularly comes to mind, seem to love hurling them around with almost gleeful abandon) and the impact of their use is made clear. The ending is also not particularly neat. The USSR emerges from the war far stronger than it did in real life, with the threat of a real 'hot war' with the Allies seemingly much greater than in reality, but that is not part of the story that the author is telling, so that element is left dangling. As with the prior books, the author mixes action with intriguing historical speculation with solid characterisation and a fascinating contrast of the morales and attitudes of the two time periods: the 'uptimers' are far more inured to war and suffering after twenty years of warfare, whilst the 'downtimers' are prepared to accept far vaster civilian casualties to achieve victory. There is also plenty of humour to be mined, such as SAS commander Harry Windsor having an amusing conversation with his 16-year-old grandmother or disco becoming popular thirty years ahead of schedule, as well as interesting side-effects of the transition, such as questions over who has the copyright on films yet to be made by directors and actors yet to be born.
Final Impact (****) is a solid and worthwhile conclusion to this intriguing trilogy. It is available in the UK from Penguin and in the USA from Del Rey. Birmingham's new novel, Without Warning, which depicts a world where the North American continent was destroyed by an unusual energy phenomenon on the eve of the USA's invasion of Iraq, will be published next week in the USA.
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