John Birmingham, Final Impact

Final Impact

John Birmingham

Del Rey, Feb 2007, $14.95

ISBN: 0345457161

The impact of the 2021 antiterrorist fighters with their futuristic weapons like the British destroyer Trident has changed the course of WWII. Besides the superior armament from the future, the displaced time travelers know the outcome of the hostilities and much more, including state secrets. The Germans are awed but they and their Japanese allies hope to turn the tide with the development of an atom bomb and bio-chemical dirty explosives.

AS D-Day approaches, the Russians are moving steadily west. The Communists reject the inevitability of capitalism defeating the Soviets in just over four decades. The western leaders, including the newcomers from the future, fear that the Russians hijacked the missing vessel Vanguard, Trident's 2021 peer. Hitler and Yamamoto are bunkering down in anticipation of the destructions of their homelands.

The final Axis of Time trilogy alternate history is an interesting ending that lays the groundwork for a future clash between the Soviets and the West. The storyline ties up WWII nicely (see DESIGNATED TARGETS and WEAPONS OF CHOICE), but contains many less cultural clashes between the two competing centuries of players, the prime underlying concept to the thrillers. Still, this is a terrific look at the white male dominated Greatest Generation and the multiethnic, bi-gender, twenty-first-century "intruders".

Harriet Klausner