Final Impact: A Novel of The Axis of Time

What an excellent read! John Birmingham really did himself well by this - and he did even better by the fans of his earlier books in this series. This tale could easily have devolved into an overblown fanboy raving where the good guys get all sorts of super high-tech weaponry to mow down endless waves of cardboard character bad guys. Thankfully, Birmingham didn't fall for such banal writing and setting. The whole Axis of Time series is very intelligently written and smartly focuses on its characters with the high tech stuff coming in a distant second. Birmingham takes a step away from the standard tropes of the genre by examining the political and social changes that such an arrival of highly advanced and highly different, socially, solidiers from the future would wreak upon even their allies - let alone upon their enemies. The result is a far more believeable and far more "real" read. I found this one as much a page turner as the previous two. Sure, as a fan, I wanted more and would've been happy enough to have every bit of what happened be completely detailed in the telling of the tale. But, I can also appreciate the need to prune some things and to have others happen "off stage." Otherwise the book would wind up an almost unreadable six inches thick and thus appeal only to a few die hard fans. I appreciate the way Birmingham handled this as it did not reduce the impact of the story nor seem otherwise out of place. I wish other authors could exercise such discretion in the way they tell their tales. All in all this was an excellent read. The plot was realistic and briskly paced. The characters were at the forefront of the tale and the technology depicted was realistic and described just well enough to support the rest of the story while not overwhelming it. This series would be an excellent introduction into the alternate history genre as it does a wonderful job of examining the political and social changes such a history altering event might have. As a last thing, please ignore the cover illustration chosen for the US edition of this book. Why the publishers felt compelled to go with such an appallingly awful image is beyond me. It has nothing to do with what's in the book and you shouldn't let that dissuade you from plucking it off the shelf and diving right into its pages. Madoc

Final Impact concludes World War 2.1 with literally a bang. Or, perhaps, a whole lot of bangs as the Allies, armed with the weapons developed by crew of the 21st Century battle fleet that popped into the middle of the Battle of Midway, close in on both Nazi Germany and Japan. But the Nazis and the Japanese, armed with their own weapons and a desperation born from the foreknowledge of what was due to happen to them in the old timeline, will not go down without a fight. And the Soviets, who are also armed to the teeth, will not accept the verdict of original history and go into that good night. Though the revised version of World War II concludes with a blood letting even greater than what occured in our history, it may be only the beginning. John Birmingham has allowed himself room for ample sequals for a Cold War 2.0, which may not be "Cold" for very long. Highly recommended for fans of technothriller, action, and historical fiction.

After reading the first two books in the Axis of Time Series, I couldn't wait to read the third installment. I had to order my copy from Austrailia. It certainly didn't disappoint! As a student of history I always enjoy different takes on the past. This book(and series) takes it to a whole different level. The sociological changes that Birmo decribes could be a book all on their own. Add to that the action scenes and the different world that is created and this book goes down as one of the best books I have ever read in this genre. Even though this is the last book of the trilogy there is plenty of room for the story to grow. It certainly didn't end like I expected it to. If you want to read a great book that combines alternate history and a great novel, this book is for you!

Following on from the previous two books, Final Impact is the perfect ending to the series, and yet manages leaves it open for a new series (Cold War 2.1 pretty please?) This book is for everyone, the military geeks, the history nerds, even just people who love a good read! I can't recommend this book enough.