Stalin's Hammer

The Axis of Time Series

By: John Birmingham

Narrated by: Jay Snyder

Ten years have passed since Admiral Kolhammer's 21st-century battlefleet was dragged into a wormhole and thrown across oceans of time, emerging with disastrous consequences and shattering the history of the Second World War.

Hitler and the Nazis have fallen, but Stalin rules half of Europe and Asia. The great Soviet engines of state power turn and burn to 'set history right'. Not just of the war, but of all future time.

In Rome with his lover, Julia Duffy, an older, mellower Prince Harry is drawn into Stalin's plans when a simple game of spies goes horribly wrong. Underneath the eternal city, former Spetsnaz officer Pavel Ivanov fights a running battle with the NKVD's executioner in chief as Stalin's minions fight to preserve the secret of a weapon that could destroy the West with one fearsome blow.

Moving from Rome to Paris to Cairo, Harry and the uptimers must fight a shadow war against the communist superstate and the suspicion and prejudices of their forebears. They can save the world, but the world does not want saving by the likes of them.

"A weapons-grade military techno-thriller.... It's like a Clive Cussler novel fell into a transporter beam with a Stephen Ambrose history, and they came out all fused together." (Time magazine, on the original Axis of Time series)

©2016 John Birmingham (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Birmingham sets new standards in alternate history, time travel, and sheer dancing-on-the-edge-of-the lava gonzo inventiveness. Solid and wild at the same time." (S. M. Stirling, author of Dies the Fire)

Great return to world. More strategy & K, please!

I loved being back in this world, and was fascinated to learn more about the divergences and strategic differences from the history of the 21st Century folk. We get to see some of how they have adjusted to being in their new time, but I would have liked even more getting more of that. The viewpoints we mostly get here, probably from the structure of the novellas, focuses the story really thought.

I would have loved to get more of the strategic viewpoints--vantage points that would have given more of a view of the sweep of the new, developing history. I do believe that that wasn't *super* common in the preceding series, either, but I have the impression that it was more prevalent. My favorite characters and viewpoints from the other series were Admiral Kohlhammer and Lonesome Jones--probably in part, because they had the more strategic views of things, and, in Kohlhammer's case in particular, we got to see the efforts, strategies, and worldview of the uptimers as they sought to shape their new time into their mold and with the advantage of their parallel-history hindsight.

That said, I'm definitely in for the next chapters in this history.

Loved it

Brilliant series of novellas that left me desperate for WW3.0. Enjoyed the reading, especially the tone of Julia Duffy

Starlings Hammer: the latest in the axis of time series by John Birmingham.

John Birmingham right incredible science fiction, especially alternate timeline science-fiction. This is a gripping story, as were all the others in the series. The only problem I have is waiting for the next one in the series! Keep them coming John. We only have so long to live!

Interesting alternate History

This is a fascinating look at how a modern naval task force gets dropped back into WW2

but goes far beyond just the battles.

This was just optioned for TV series so interested on how it plays on screen

Excellent!

Great book! Leaves me wanting another book in this series! I forgot how much I enjoyed this series.