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166 of 195 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good but not Great, August 10, 2004
'Weapons of Choice' is a good book, but like all books that are intended to be series, one gets the feeling that while the Author could've wrapped up the whole thing, they left a lot of threads dangling just to lead you into the next book.
That's the case here - a 21st Century Naval Fleet winds up in WWII, and while they could've eviscerated the Japanese Navy "midway" through the book (heh, heh) they don't. Yeah, there are story reasons why they didn't but the main reason seems to be so that the Japanese navy will be around in books 2 and 3.
When all 3 books are published, the series itself will probably rate 4 or 5 stars. However, ya gotta rate the book as a standalone entity.
Good things in the book:
- Nice forward looking history. The fleet is from 2021 and an ongoing war against Terrorism and Militant Islam has shaped its men and women
- Nice treatment of the mismatch between 1940/2021 mindsets
- Great techno warfare stuff, especially how body armor/advanced ammo changes the land battle paradigm
- Recognition that the characters from 2021 would hold certain 1940s characters in awe - Spruance for one, others you'll have to find out about - and how the 1940s characters react to this
- Great overall update on the "Final Countdown" scenario
- Subtle nods throughout the book at other alt history characters and scenarios. You'll know 'em when you see 'em.
Things which hacked down the star rating
- The scene in which the fleets first meet is just ~too~ drawn out in some places and too short on description in others.
- A few times in which suspension of disbelief extends all the way to enabling seasoned warriors to make decisions that result in expension of precious advanced ammo. The reasons for doing so are given in the book, but they're not believable....
- The 2021'ers are generally paragons of behavior and professionalis- not a black sheep in the family, which any military vet will tell you just isn't realistic.
- A slight lack of depth. Too many of the characters are all surface, and in some cases (the female reporter) they're all surface even at their inner core. The forties characters are generally given a two-dimensional treatment, which is unfair to them and their time.
- Constant use of the term "Jap". I'm not big on PC and never understood why that term wasn't as acceptable as "Yank" or "Brit" or "Aussie", but anyway, its used A LOT in this book, by characters from both times. For all the multicultalism of the modern characters, no one objects to the use of the term. The author is Austrailian - perhaps the term isn't pejorative down under?
Overall, this review comes out a bit harsher than I'd like. I read the whole thing in a day, and I'll read the whole series. I'm glad I bought it.
Even so, there are a lot of things in this book that are "4 and 5 Star" but the book itself just doesn't quite make it to that level.
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37 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Seal of Approval from a 1942 "Temp", July 24, 2005
I will not add yet another summary of this book, as there are plenty of reviews already posted that serve this purpose. (My only gripe: the first meeting of the Multinational fleet from the future and the '42 fleet was a bit drawn out.) I shared this book with my father, who served on the USS New Orleans from 1943 until 1946 (she was stuck on China Service clearing mines for a full year after the Nipponese surrender). Keeping in mind some of the comments posted here (that the 1942 contemporaries - or Temps - were a bit two-dimensional), and the fact that the New Orleans is sunk at the beginning of the book, I was curious what he thought. Well, he loved it from start to finish. He thought the concept was great, and the writing was sound. In fact, he was practically giddy reading it!
We discussed the whole aspect of the racism/ignorance of the Temps. He did not deny it was rampant, especially since many sailors did not know better. And what's more, he was certain they would not have been receptive to wartime "sensitivity training"; since fatalism was rampant. Why pay attention to it, when a sudden torpedo or kamikaze could end it all? Besides, there was a war to win. This "lack of sensitivity" carries over to Spruance and Halsey's discussion (in the book) as to whether a POW rescue is a wise use of resources.
My dad's only gripe, the name of the futuristic supercarrier, and the fact it wasn't sunk at the onset. But I think he is willing to forgive!
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26 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A competent alternate history techno-thriller with some issues, December 11, 2005
"Weapons of Choice" uses the same basic idea as Eric Flint's "1632" series and S. M. Stirling's "Island in the Sea of Time," but John Birmingham has given it a Tom Clancy-esque twist, having a naval task force from 2021 wind up in the middle of Admiral Spruance's fleet headed for Midway in June, 1942.
The technological projection of 15 years in to the future is plausible and avoids dating itself too badly (the technical lingo--"data slate," "flexipad," etc.--sound like words some one would use). And the actual story is told well, even if it is a little unoriginal. The visual description of settings, battles, and characters is vivid and displays a strong grasp of the subject matter--whether it be geography or military history--and no small amount research.
Which makes the books problems all the more pronounced. Mr. Birmingham displays his political biases a bit openly and falls too easily in to stereotypes, often allowing his characters to become two-dimensional. The characters from of 2021 are all enlightened, tolerant, professional, polished, and displaying a unrealistic lack of character flaws; whether brawling in a bar in Hawaii with troops from '42 (where a small group of 2021 marines--via martial arts training--is able to clean the floor with a crowd '42 marines and navy men) or having a conversation with '42 charaters, they come out on top. The characters of 1942 (with the exception of peraps two non-major historical characters)--civilian and military--are uncouth, undisciplined, bigoted/racist (sometimes to the extreme), rough, and sloppy.
Now, having grandparents from that generation, one of whom won a purple heart on Iwo, I find this inaccurate and even insulting (my grandfather on my father's side, a Nebraska farm boy who grew up living near an Indian reservation, couldn't be less racist). Racial attitudes could very dramatically from region to region and from person to person. As an example, take a look at the men in the famous flag raising picture taken on Iwo Jima. Ethnic minorities include marine Michael Strank, who was born in a small village in Slovakia and Ira Hayes, a Native American who became a national hero after the picture was taken. Further, the picture was taken by AP photographer Joe Rosenthal, a jew. Three years earlier, colonel David "Mickey" Marcus, also a jew, was named commandant of the Army's new Ranger school, and would go on to lay the groundwork for Israel's armed forces in 1948. And all of this happened whilte hundreds of thousands of Issei and Nisei Japanese along the West coast were interned in detention camps, yet the all-Japanese American 100th Infantry Battalion would become the most decorated unit in US military history. Mr. Birmingham, by succumbing to these biases, has failed to portray the complexity of racial attitudes; the clash of racial prejudice and common decency in the American character, which would have been an interesting conflict on the pages of Weapons of Choice.
Lastly, his biases lead him to project certain ideas on US politics and military culture, in particular an openly gay female captain of the USS Leyte Gulf and Hillary Clinton as "the most uncompromising wartime president in the history of the United States." However, this is far more a matter of opinion, so yours may be different.
All this aside, it is a good yarn, and if you have a hunger for a good war novel and some alternate history then I recommend it.
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