Come on. If every "enlightened" person could go back in time they would find a world so different from today's politically correct world. We had to struggle as humans to get to this point. How unfair would it be to have some ninny from the future come back and judge as us as being so unenlightened? Well duh! People and societies evolve. Every paragraph of this book is replete with John Birmingham's liberal bias and finger pointing. It's definitely no Tom Clancy novel. You could read a kindergarten book about treating all people fairly and get the same message without the unrealistic, unresearched and ridulous story line. Go outside and count the cars that drive by and you'll have more fun.

I downloaded this for free to my kindle and enjoyed reading it. It was a nice quick read like John Grisham. Instead of a young lawyer in trouble, it focused on an interesting combination of military history and Crighton type sci-fi. A fun, fast paced read if ultimately a little forgettable.

Book's free, how can you go wrong, right? Well, you really can't with this. It's got some weak spots, a few weak characters, occasional slip ups with characters mentioning events, cultural icons that are supposed to be in the 2020's but in fact are in our time, but it's a fun read, perfect for the beach, airplane, any time and any place you want to mentally coast and be well entertained. I will say it ended a bit jarringly as I had forgotten that it is a trilogy. Got off the airplane, took the taxi home and immediately downloaded the second and third books. So, I have to say it isn't free since you will buy the second and probably the third, but the trilogy is certainly worth the $12 or $13.
Net, net, it isn't great literature, but it's a heck of a lot of fun!

It seems incredible that anyone would write a time traveler story without even giving a nod to the "Grandfather Effect". Wondering over that haunted my reading of the entire book.

In America Girl SCOUTS not Guides sell cookies.

When reading history of the WWII era from contemporary sources almost all sources refer to Russia as opposed to the Soviet Union.

The writing became very sloppy in the last hundred odd pages with many words escaping sentences. Slow down and re-read before publishing!

Birmingham goes out of his way to produce a gross, un-P.C. WWII cast of characters that attack all persons other than white males who have arrived from the 21st century. The caricatures are laughable.

Even worse, he takes 21st century women journalists and turns them into the lowest form of no-self-esteem sex maniacs.

From both groups the language is foul and unappealing. It adds nothing to the story. I waded through 75% of the book, first because I like time travel and second because I like to find new authors/series. I appreciate that it was free and I would have been willing to pay full price for the "next in series".

In this case I feel like I need to go take a shower.

I read this book when it first came out, then forgot I'd done so. Saw a copy in the bookstore recently and bought it. Oops. I think one of the jacket blurbs describes the novel as Clancyesque, and it sure is, in all the worst ways- the uber-bitchy female reporters, the loving descriptions of weapons, and the colorfully named and one-dimensional military heroes. The author, an Aussie, appears to have little familiarity with how actual Americans talk. He also has issues with the Japanese- they're generally portrayed as inhuman fanatics, and the 21st-century characters are calling them "Japs" almost as soon as they arrive in 1942. Bottom line- if you like Clancy, Thor, etc. then go for it.

"Weapons of Choice" reminds me "1632" in a few ways, which is also good book, but the stories are entirely different. The idea of modern people being mysteriously sent back in time is somewhat similar, because new technology increases the odds of winning. However, the sequels do not disappoint like they do in the 1632, which were written with Flint and various collaborators with different styles.