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  • Weapons of Choice

  • Axis of Time, Book 1
  • By: John Birmingham
  • Narrated by: Jay Snyder
  • Length: 20 hrs and 21 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (298 ratings)

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Weapons of Choice cover art

Weapons of Choice

By: John Birmingham
Narrated by: Jay Snyder
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Publisher's Summary

The impossible has spawned the unthinkable. In 2021, a quantum military experiment goes horrifically wrong. A multinational taskforce of ultramodern warships is suddenly transported back in time to 1942...right into the path of the US naval battle group bound for Midway Atoll.

History is rewritten in an instant as the future smashes into the past, and high-tech hardware goes head to head with World War Two technology. In the chaos that ensues, thousands are killed, but the maelstrom has only just begun. The veterans of Pearl Harbor have never seen a helicopter or a cruise missile - let alone nanotechnology, ceramic bullets, and F22 Raptor stealth jetfighters.

Allied and Axis forces are then caught in a desperate struggle to gain the upper hand - each hoping to tip the balance with a fist full of 21st-century firepower. What happens next is anybody's guess - and everybody's nightmare.

©2005 John Birmingham (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Weapons of Choice

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • 4 Stars
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  • 3 Stars
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Some awful accents detract from the story

Most of the time, the narrator is pretty good, but some of his accents are awful. I know the Australian accent can be tough for some people, with an Australian author you are going to have a lot of Australian listeners and I found it painful to listen to. I eventually almost got used to it, but it detracted from what is a great story.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent story

The start of a fantastic series, highly recommended.

Absolutely first rate riveting story. I couldn't put it down. I really like the central premise of the time traveling fleet. The action sequences were tense and suspenseful even and the writing is tight.

While the narration was good he did have trouble pronouncing Tobruk, Alamein, Changi, Sevastopol and feral - I wish someone had corrected him.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great series with a slow start. Well worth it.

This was the first book I bought on audible and I loved it then, and I love it now. It does have a bit of a slow start to the world at large with everything being chaotic and confused for the first half of this book. That being said it sets up a world and characters that become far more interesting as the main storyline develops throughout the following books.

The original book was published in 2004 yet everything is surprisingly accurate to todays world.
A TV series is also being made on this series and I cant wait for it to come out.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great story, great performance. Accents are awful

Excellent story by Birmingham. Really thought provoking and a rollicking good story. The only downside is the accents. For some reason, the narrator is unable to do an Aussie accent. Otherwise great

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

For Australian listeners

Story is not too bad if you ignore the science, but the accents and pronunciations are appalling.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Too long.

Feels like John Birmingham has made this book unnecessarily longer than it should be at over 22 hours. Not much happens in this first of a 3 book trilogy. Feels like a set up for the second/third books

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great story, wierd accents

loved the story and will be getting the 2nd book directly. The general naration was great and read in a strong easy to listen to voice. The only thing that let the recording down was the accents. In particular the supposedly Australian and British voices, they are so bad as to be funny in what apart from an underlying cheekyness is not supposed to be a comedic novel. Would still thourougly recommend both the story and recording

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

great story,

it is a great story, but as an Australian the actors Australian accent is terrible.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great story,

Fantastic story and series

The premise of modern day forces going back to WW2 and the impact it has on events and course of the war is really well done

The research depth into the historical characters really took it to another level for me, also the fact this was written 20 years ago, author did a pretty good job predicting tech advancements

My only challenge was with some of the accents, particularly the females

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Loved it

As an Ozzie I’m almost insulted by the accent.
The science that created the story scenario is a little glossed over but that’s sci fi for you.
I really loved the consequences of putting people from different times together.
My ww2 vet dad said when he saw a rickshaw being used in Melb “I thought we fought a war to stop that” (a bit racist)
When you slam cultures together you get surprising results.

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1 person found this helpful

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.