After America [Audiobook, MP3 Audio, Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Unfortunately, Birmingham fell into the same trap that so many authors before him have. After an excellent start to the series, in Without Warning, Birmingham has created a second part to the series that effectively does nothing other than move the main characters around, in preparation for what I presume will be the finale.

The main events of the book occurred within the first couple of chapters, and nothing was resolved. The rest of the book was devoted entirely to a journey to nowhere. None of the characters accomplished anything of note, once the setting was in place. The book read like filler, something to bridge a gap to the next installment.

Caitlin's story was entirely pointless after the attack at the beginning. Jules and Rhino accomplished absolutely nothing, other than meeting other main characters. Kipper's story was one of angst and indecision the entire book, affecting the story in no discernible way for this book. Milosz at least had some action, though once again, meaningless action that did not advance the story, other than to push him towards further action. Miguel's story also peaked at the beginning, and like Caitlin's was just a matter of movement through space and time. The only happening of consequence at the end of the book revolved around a new character introduced this book, and even then, he was a disposable character.

Also, I would gladly give up the line after line of intricate detail about the color of the carpets in a hotel, the specs of a weapon, or the specific military designations of disposable characters and units in exchange for actual story, which was oddly missing, or truncated in this book. It was as though he depended too much on whoever was doing his research, rather than on his own story-telling ability.

Overall, I am hugely disappointed in Mr Birmingham, because I loved the Axis of Time series and the first book of this series, Without Warning. My thought, as I closed the book on the last page was, "I waited two years for this?"

I waited with great anticipation for this book, the first sequel to the outstanding "Without Warning" , that I rated at 4 stars. Unfortunately for me, this middle of a planned trilogy just didn't do it. Whereas the first book introduced a large number of really intriguing situations, this follow-up didn't follow up on most of them. There was lots of action in the sense of military mayhem in Manhattan and vigilante violence in Texas, but not very much at all in the sense of advancing the story line itself. And be forewarned - one really has to have read "Without Warning" to make any sense of this one. Overall, 2.5 stars.

Lady Julianne and Rhino are in Manhattan on a treasure hunt that never really made much sense. With the world population decreased by 33% (I know America is important, but I'm not sure that I buy 2 billion deaths resulting from its immediate absence from the world stage), I wouldn't think that oil leases would be that valuable. I was very interested in what exactly was the upshot of Israel's nuking most of the Arab world, seemingly without reprisal, but I still don't know because it's barely mentioned in this sequel.

The president, Kipper, seems lost most of the time, barely a shadow of the take charge, don't mess with me city engineer we met in "Without Warning", and super Echelon agent Caitlin's character seems wasted running around from England to Germany and finally to Manhattan on a semi-personal vendetta.

Of all the principal characters, the only one who seemed to have grown significantly in stature and depth since the first book was Miguel. He faces a horrible personal tragedy in the beginning of the book and turns out to be a powerful, well written character with a lot of depth. His story, and that of the socio-political problems in Texas were by far the most interesting to me of everything in the book.

I was not put off, like some others who have commented, that there was no further discussion (as there was almost none in the first book) as to the nature and/or cause of the Wave. I would be perfectly happy if author Birmingham simply intended to use that as a plot device to ask what would happen if the US suddenly disappeared, and never attempted any explanation. It might be irrelevant to the story. That being said, however, I was still struck by the maps of the area affected by the Wave in both books. I would have expected that almost any natural (or unnatural) phenomenon that might have caused the effect would have exerted its effect in a spherical area. But affected area is not circular and the maps point towards a potential point source somewhere in the North Atlantic, as if someone (The Russians or Chinese, perhaps, both of whom who seem surprisingly absent from the book) set of some kind of device there. Could be just a red herring, but having read the fantastic "Axis of Time" trilogy, I know Birmingham to be an outstanding plotter, not given to emphasizing useless facts. I'lll just have to wait and see.

So IMHO, After America wasn't bad, it just wasn't nearly as great as the first in the series or any of the three parts of the Axis of Time trilogy.

So, another couple of years for the final entry. I'm still waiting.

J.M. Tepper

The first book, Without Warning, in this series of, it seems, two books was an excellent read. It ended abruptly, leaving all the characters in limbo. The catch was a second book, After America, which would be released mid 2010. A "little hidden "Got'cha!" as we used to say at homebrew computer club"
OK, finally After America was released so I re-read the first book so as to transition into the second with the first book fresh in my mind. Ahh, but a resolution was not to be had. I won't bore you with the details, I will just say that this second book leaves the reader unfulfilled and hanging, much like a looter hanging from a lamp-post, swinging gently in the wind.
anticlimactic is the word. Look it up if you are unfamiliar with this word because after a fairly good read, BAM! the book ends leaving the characters in limbo, an unfinished tale of about a dozen very interesting characters.
The author needs his knuckles "rapped" with a ruler and to be sent back to finish the story.
4 stars since its a great book, very entertaining, but unfinished!

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