Book Review: Weapons of Choice

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Weapons of Choice     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
John Birmingham
Class/Genre:   Science Fiction   Military   Time Travel
Series: Axis of Time # 1
Del Rey, Jun 2004, $15.95, 434 pp.

In 2021, a United Nations multinational military force gathers in the Pacific to end the ethnic cleansing of Chinese and Christians by the brutal Islamic Fundamentalist regime in Indonesia. However, an experiment goes awry aboard one of the ships, the Joint Research Vessel Nagoya; much of the joint task force is sent through a wormhole to 1942. Most of the vessels end up in the middle of the American fleet heading to battle off Midway Island; however some fall into the hands of the Japanese.

The two allied navies struggle to interrelate as the mid twentieth century one is 100 percent white male while the twenty-first century group is diverse and multiracial with a high percent of females on board. When the future force fire power comes into being along with their knowledge of the war outcome, the American navy feels confident until the reality that the crew of the USS Hilary Clinton and others has changed the future. The Japanese now sees the technological means of winning the war with the vessels they have captured.

This is an exciting alternate history tale with terrific battles that military science fiction readers will appreciate. The individual cast members are overshadowed by the varying collective attitudes of the future and “present” militaries. The 1940s navy is racist and sexist while the 2021 navy has women and minority in leadership positions. Finally how the futurists see terrorism after two decades since 9/11 is subtly superb with the 1940s crowd unable to envision Twin Towers let alone jets destroying them. John Birmingham opens his Axis of Time Trilogy with a fabulous comparative analysis of then vs. an extrapolated conversion of a future now.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner