Final Impact

Axis of Time, Book 3

By: John Birmingham

Narrated by: Jay Snyder

Length: 16 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©2007 John Birmingham (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

Entertaining Series

Enjoyed listening to the series. After growing up watching the movie "The Final Countdown", this series took that storyline all the way through WW2. It was fast paced and addictive. There were some big time gaps between books. Overall a entertaining fun trilogy.

Great story, mediocre narration.

The story is a great conclusion to the 'Axis of Time' trilogy. The narration, however has multiple mispronunciations and jumbled words.

Great continuation, although it has some issues

Overall, I loved the book and the continuation of the story. Jay Snyder continues to do a great job as narrator in regards to delivery and excited. However, I do have a few nitpicks that detracted from the story.

- They should've spent more time talking about the Battle of Hawaii and what the inhabitants went through. The author simply puts, "Oh yeah. . .a bunch of Americans were killed" and moves on! That's a very very significant event that would have made a very compelling story and give the other characters even more motiviation to take down Japan.

- Julia Duffey is portrayed as a Mary Sue. It really seems like there is NOTHING she can't do. I get that she is the embodiment of female empowerment, but I really got tired of hearing about how rich she had become, or how she was so tough as an embedded journalist with the Marines.

- CAPT Karen Halabi deserves her own book. She's a fantastic character and I think the author did a great job balancing her strength as a military officer/Commander, with the very real sensitivity of being a female minority in 1940's England. She is MORE than capable of qualified than most of the British Fleet Command, but they refuse to acknowledge it because of their own backwards views on women, Muslims, and "Up-Timers" in general. I'd MUCH MUCH rather read more about CPT Halabi's adventures than Julia's

Good story ruined by leftist politics

I read all three in spite of the liberal bent that shows up ferquently.
I did get a good LOL out of Hillary Clinton being touted as a warrior of some type. Unless the author considers all the whistleblowers and witnesses that regularly suicide by shooting themselve in the head 2 or 3 times? In that case she's a regular meat grinder.
P.s. Epstein didn't kill himself. LOL

Very Entertaining

A nice finish to the trilogy. I understand there's another novella out there set in 1950.

Would like to see it become a movie.

Completely enjoyed this series. Would like to have seen it as a movie would have been great a bit long of course but good. Well writen kept me looking forward to the next chapter and the ending covered the open details.

A great series.

I liked JB's Without Warning series so much that I decided to give these a try. Really great story and a cool premise. I thought he did a good job with the historical figures and has a good sense of the historical view of the strengths and weaknesses of each, as these are understood currently.

Impacted

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This series was an excellent and quick read. Very good story from an alternate universe. I wish there had been an extra book in there as there was a lot of action between Book 2 and Book 3 that was only briefly talked about in Final Impact.

What did you like best about this story?

A different slant to World War II

What does Jay Snyder bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I think that Mr. Snyder did a great job with the narration and characters.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The end of J. Edgar Hoover

Any additional comments?

Great series right up there with Harry Turtledove

Just good fun sci-fi.

On the whole and in the grand total. I really enjoyed the book. And given recent events. It inspires hope that given power we act to the best of our abilities to high ideas.

Final Impact

A great wrap to the trilogy by Birmingham. Great historic reality combined with just enough fantisy to keep you tied into the serious actual events and what could have happened if things were just a little off center.