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timinbc's review against another edition
3.0
Third of three in the Axis of Time series. It's a good fast read. I suspect it was researched thoroughly but written hastily.
Some characters are well developed, others are cardboard caricatures. Admiral King continues so be so ludicrous that I want to throw the book across the room every time he appears. Kolhammer and Jones are impossibly competent in a Heinleinesque way; perhaps it's a tribute.
Author was careful to explain how ship A could communicate with ship B 200 miles away, but didn't tell us how they pulled off a worldwide videoconference without having satellites, especially when he explicitly mentions their lack a few pages later.
At the end, they are talking about dividing Japan. We're told that the Good Guys will get Tokyo, as if that matters when the city was completely destroyed about ten pages earlier.
There's some sloppy editing. A character struggles to breath (not breathe); the Japanese missiles are sometimes Ohkas, sometimes Okhas; and there wee several other sloppy bits that a copy editor should have caught.
It's military porn. I understand that there's an audience for that. Things happen that need to happen, and in reasonably plausible ways, but as guts hang out, people are turned to a "pink mist", and gory deaths abound, I get the feeling that the author was enjoying himself a little too much; if he were reading the book to us he'd say, "Hoo-hah, here comes a juicy bit!"
If the world of sci-fi is a month's worth of different meals, this is a container of fairly good fries from a roadside takeout. You eat them all, and they're tasty, but later you wonder if you couldn't have used the day's calories better.
Some characters are well developed, others are cardboard caricatures. Admiral King continues so be so ludicrous that I want to throw the book across the room every time he appears. Kolhammer and Jones are impossibly competent in a Heinleinesque way; perhaps it's a tribute.
Author was careful to explain how ship A could communicate with ship B 200 miles away, but didn't tell us how they pulled off a worldwide videoconference without having satellites, especially when he explicitly mentions their lack a few pages later.
At the end, they are talking about dividing Japan. We're told that the Good Guys will get Tokyo, as if that matters when the city was completely destroyed about ten pages earlier.
There's some sloppy editing. A character struggles to breath (not breathe); the Japanese missiles are sometimes Ohkas, sometimes Okhas; and there wee several other sloppy bits that a copy editor should have caught.
It's military porn. I understand that there's an audience for that. Things happen that need to happen, and in reasonably plausible ways, but as guts hang out, people are turned to a "pink mist", and gory deaths abound, I get the feeling that the author was enjoying himself a little too much; if he were reading the book to us he'd say, "Hoo-hah, here comes a juicy bit!"
If the world of sci-fi is a month's worth of different meals, this is a container of fairly good fries from a roadside takeout. You eat them all, and they're tasty, but later you wonder if you couldn't have used the day's calories better.
aspinei's review against another edition
5.0
Best of the trilogy. Just the right mix of politics, speculation, and war.
jhouses's review against another edition
3.0
La inercia de la historia poco a poco va devolviendo la 2ª Guerra Mundial a su final en lineas similares a las de la original. Sin embargo Stalin desvela su nuevo Telón de Acero más amplio que el de la primera iteración. Un buen final para una interesante trilogía aunque deje abiertos algunos hilos.
mcduggan33's review against another edition
2.0
Weird end to a reasonably compelling series. Oddly one sided with no real peril for any allied characters, meaning it turns into a bit of weird war porn. Also, very uncomfortable use of nuclear bombs with no real talk about the morale implications.
markazarnie's review against another edition
5.0
At first I liked the final book in the trio, but felt there could have been more. Then Stalins Hammer-Rome arrived
bleepnik's review against another edition
4.0
Well, that was interesting. As a whole, this is the best book of the trilogy, but the second half of Weapons of Choice is the best half-book of the trilogy. But time-wise, I liked the bit right after the Transition/Emergence the best, which is the second book, Designated Targets. So basically, it's all pretty good. Not amazing, but pretty darned good.
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