Weapons of Choice

by John Birmingham

Paperback, 2004

Status

Available

Call number

Fic SF Birmingham

Collection

Publication

Del Rey (2004), Paperback, 448 pages

Description

Fiction. Literature. Science Fiction. Historical Fiction. HTML:On the eve of America�??s greatest victory in the Pacific, a catastrophic event disrupts the course of World War II, forever changing the rules of combat. . . . The impossible has spawned the unthinkable. A military experiment in the year 2021 has thrust an American-led multinational armada back to 1942, right into the middle of the U.S. naval task force speeding toward Midway Atoll�??and what was to be the most spectacular U.S. triumph of the entire war. Thousands died in the chaos, but the ripples had only begun. For these veterans of Pearl Harbor�??led by Admirals Nimitz, Halsey, and Spruance�??have never seen a helicopter, or a satellite link, or a nuclear weapon. And they�??ve never encountered an African American colonel or a British naval commander who was a woman and half-Pakistani. While they embrace the armada�??s awesome firepower, they may find the twenty-first century sailors themselves far from acceptable. Initial jubilation at news the Allies would win the war is quickly doused by the chilling realization that the time travelers themselves�??by their very presence�??have rendered history null and void. Celebration turns to dread when the possibility arises that other elements of the twenty-first century task force may have also made the trip�??and might now be aiding Yamamoto and the Japanese. What happens next is anybody�??s guess�??a… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member tajohnson
Too many characters, Too much going on, a virtual train wreck that the author attempted to manage.

As soon as I started to track one character (Black the underlined main character) the author would spend several pages on another storyline. At one point he tells the story of certain characters and
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leaves them hanging in the beginning of the story and never comes back to them. Maybe his plan is to come back to them in another book but these were the characters I was most interested in. (trying not to put in any spoilers, sorry)

The author has completely thought of every detail from political to science however, he didn't have to try to put it all in one book. Weak on the science fiction with way too many characters and gratuitous action and too many plot lines. You can skim the book quite easily to read the main plot line because he jumps around so much with other characters, from Axis to Allies, and quickly and still comprehend what the author attempted. I will not attempt another one of these.
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LibraryThing member buffalogr
This book was really exciting for me. I enjoyed the premise, sci-fi that it was. The characters were numerous and one was always jumping out at me...popping up out of nowhere. I finished the book in record time...enjoyed every word.
LibraryThing member AutumnTurner
Great book. If you love alternate history with a bit of a sci-fi flare, I recommend.
LibraryThing member capewood
I had picked up the third book of the series without knowing it was a series. After 5-6 pages I started feeling like I had come into the middle of a story. So I found the first book. I wasn't disappointed. I'm a fan of alternative history stories which was what attracted me. My only real problem
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with the story is the central event of how they got into the past in the first place. I'd have thought that the black hole or whatever would have killed them all but that wouldn't have been much of a story. So let's get past that. So here's a few whys. Why did the bulk of the fleet just happen to land in the middle of the US Navy fleet in 1941? Why didn't they all land in the same place? Why did one ship land on top of and partially in a mountain, seemingly fused together? A future ship and a 1941 ship end up fused together, with grotesque results for crewmen and furniture. Why did all the other ships arrive floating in the ocean and not somehow fused with the water? What happened to all the air they landed in?

Despite these questions I still enjoyed the book and plan to read the rest of the series.
Comment
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LibraryThing member SimonW11
A future international naval task force. From a world that seem to have avoided global warming. comprised mostly of the US and a few Allies. gets swept back in time to the second world war.
Not particularily original. I could name plenty of similar works. time travel to the second world war is old
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hat. in scope it probably most resembles Harry Turtledove's works. Something implicitly acknowledged by the author. on the two occasions that someone remarks that this is about as likely as lizards from space landing.

Like Turtledove's the characters tend to be a bit wooden.They tend also to be steriotypes. Still the pace is a lot faster than Turtledoves. and and the plotting is interesting though all to evidently the first part of what is in this case a trilogy.
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LibraryThing member rw_flyer
Alternate history idea of modern (late 20th century) weapons transported into WWII. Birmingham's treatment is very cognizant of the limitations that a WWII world imposes around supply, which is refreshing. It is also refreshing that not all of the modern people and equipment end up belonging to the
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USA or are good and righteous. I did find the battle scenes somewhat gory and tedious, though.
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LibraryThing member MSWallack
This was an interesting alternate history sort of book that will really appeal to fans of the movie The Final Countdown. In 2021, a multinational naval task force is sent back in time to 1942. The book explores both how WWII might have changed in such an event and how the people from the two times
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interact with and react to each other. The book began with quite a bit of action; the problem was that the author introduced so many characters, that it was nearly impossible to get a firm grip on who was who and who was doing what. Also, the early action sequences in which 1942 Americans and 2021 Americans are shooting at each other leaves the reader somewhat uncomfortable in who to "cheer" for. The other problem I had is that the author seemed to go a bit overboard in efforts to be sure that his 21st century protagonists were truly a rainbow of people. I certainly believe that by 2021, more women will be involved in the navy, but a reader of Weapons of Choice might be led to believe that the navy has no white males at all. I do plan to read the remaining books in the series.
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LibraryThing member jjmcgaffey
Um. I don't _like_ it, but I'm mildly fascinated - train wreck. He spends about 4/10ths of the time on the goshwow gadgets from 2021 (and contrasting them with the 1941 equipment), 6/10ths of the time explaining how the 1941 people are all institutionally racist, sexist, and many just plain nasty
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(the scrounger, the cop). All the 2021 people are good soldiers; not just that they're good fighters but there are no f**ups among them, no scroungers (except one and he goes out of his way to explain that she does it entirely legally), nobody who isn't entirely dedicated to the war. Ok, this is the result of many years of war, and the real incompetents are gone...but that doesn't really account for it. And it ends in the middle of events - I'll look at the next one, of course. But it's really not particularly interesting to me - way too one-sided.
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LibraryThing member stevetempo
A fun reading and fascinating concept. John Birmingham hasn't disappointed again in this my second book under his authorship. The battle descriptions while enjoyable (read like a Clancy Novel) were a little long in some areas (like the first 100 pages), but the anachronistic interactions between
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the time travelers and residents of 1942 were not only entertaining and fascinating. The happenings and ideas from the plot line seemed very plausible and the hint of future plot directions make me excited about reading the next in this trilogy.
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LibraryThing member dalai-lt
In the book a modern battle fleet travels back in time to WWII and starts to change history. This a definitely interesting read and the author raises some interesting problems that would arise not just because of the technological but also the cultural differences between the time travelers and the
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people of 1940s. He is also quite competent in giving the different viewpoints (axis/allies, future/past).

So why is it just ok for me (two stars)? First of all although he could just as easily have used today's technology and people going back through time, he chose to use technology 15 years into the future. This was a risky choice and for me it backfired. An example: The ships of 2021 have combat intelligences that can prevent someone boarding the ship if the crew is incapacitated but they don't do anything if the ship is attacked and noone is conscious. There are several examples of inconsistent technology improvements and for me (maybe because of background) they stood out. I also felt that some of the decisions of the people involved were strange. Finally something that I didn't appreciate at all was ending with a kind of cliffhanger. I know this is supposed to be a trilogy but still. He could have dispensed with the final section which is just a teaser for the next book.
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LibraryThing member autumnturner76
Great book. If you love alternate history with a bit of a sci-fi flare, I recommend.
LibraryThing member Belles007
It's well written but it's not my kind of book.

Awards

Locus Recommended Reading (First Novel — 2004)

Language

Original publication date

2004-06

Physical description

448 p.; 9.2 inches

ISBN

0345457129 / 9780345457127

Local notes

Axis of Time, 1

DDC/MDS

Fic SF Birmingham

Rating

½ (223 ratings; 3.7)
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