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Kirov Saga #1
Kirov
The battlecruiser Kirov, is the most powerful surface combatant that ever put to sea. Built from the bones of all four prior Kirov Class battlecruisers, she is updated with Russia’s most lethal weapons, given back her old name, and commissioned in the year 2020. A year later, with tensions rising to the breaking point between Russia and the West, Kirov is completing her final missile trials in the Arctic Sea when a strange accident transports her to another time. With power no ship in the world can match, much less comprehend, she must decide the fate of nations in the most titanic conflict the world has ever seen—WWII. The novel is an intensely focused naval saga, where the crew of the lost Russian battlecruiser must struggle to understand what has happened to them, and then make a choice that could be decisive in the outcome of the war—who’s side are they on? The course of all future history rides in the balance! At this crucial time, Kirov finds herself just days and miles away from a secret summit at sea between Churchill and Roosevelt. On August 9, 1941, the two great leaders meet to plan cooperation in the war and lay down the Atlantic Charter, which decides the framework of post war power in the world and becomes the basis for the new United Nations and NATO. With the hindsight of history as their guide, Kirov races south toward the secret meeting place at Argentia Bay in Newfoundland. Even as she cruises for the Denmark strait, both Roosevelt and Churchill prepare to embark for the sea journey as well. The Royal Navy soon discovers what they believe to be a fearsome new German raider in the Norwegian Sea, and they join with America’s Atlantic Fleet to bar the way and hunt down the most formidable surface action ship in the world.
386 pages, Paperback
First published March 11, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
June 9, 2023
Kirov By John Schettler is a sci-fi time-travel/alternative history novel, that explores the What If ? The scenario being: A modern Russian nuclear-powered warship sailed through a time portal and went back 80 years into the past to August 1941.
There are several works, both cinematographic (Final Countdown with the aircraft carrier Nimitz), animation (Zipang with a Japanese Arleigh Burke cruiser) and literary (axis of Time with a multinational task force led by the USA) that catapult a modern military vehicle or formation through a mysterious storm/fog during the Second World War, usually in 1941-42, especially in the imminence of historical events such as Pearl Harbor or the Battle of Midway.
What makes this book stand out is this time the visitors are the crew of a Russian nuclear powered Kirov missile cruiser, a 'regenerated' version (i.e. made with the pieces of other similar cannibalized ships) of the homonymous class, considered in the 80s to be the most fearsome Soviet naval unit (also for massive missile and artillery weapons).
The Kirov and its crew in 2021, from Admiral Leonid, a grizzled old officer bitter about the Russian economic and military decline, to the ambitious and disillusioned Captain Karpov, a fugitive from Gazprom after a series of scandals and internal struggles forced him into the Russian Navy. Are testing the new warship in a navel exercise. During the exercise, the cruiser is shrouded in a mysterious fog and finds itself catapulted in time to the summer of 1941 near Norway. In the quest to discover where they are and especially when, the British learn about this mysterious cruiser and from here things get complicated and expand considerably for the crew of the Kirov. Surrounded by primitive British and American navies anxious to annihilate the dangerous mysterious ship and on the other the clash between Admiral Leonid eager to escape from events so as not to alter history and Captain Karpov who sees the possibility of changing history in favor of the USSR.
I started John Schettler’s Kirov.... and I just could not put it down. It is a page turner with great action, wonderful twists and turns, with just enough Navy techo-thriller data to make it all interesting. His history bending time travel was refreshing compared to the various other time travel stories.
The premise is pure, distilled awesome. As I was reading the beginning, I was wondering, is this Russian crew *really* going to turn on each other? Is that believable? But the author made it not only seem believable, he keeps both sides very sympathetic and heroic. There are a number of well-drawn supporting characters as well. No one in this book is a caricature, each comes across as a flesh-and-blood person with strengths and weakness--even the more vile ones.
The novel moves very quickly with short, pointed chapters, sometimes only a single page in length. The characters aren't terribly well fleshed out, but doesn't particularly distract from the story. The Kirov is a real star of the show and her capabilities are showcased quite nicely throughout novel. There are also a lot of frankly fun scenes in here. Haven't you secretly always wanted to know how a modern day warship would fair against the pride of WWII's navies?
All in all, A rare read that’s not only wildly entertaining, but also profoundly moving. That I would most definitely recommend to anyone looking for a a good military techno thriller or alternative history novel.
There are several works, both cinematographic (Final Countdown with the aircraft carrier Nimitz), animation (Zipang with a Japanese Arleigh Burke cruiser) and literary (axis of Time with a multinational task force led by the USA) that catapult a modern military vehicle or formation through a mysterious storm/fog during the Second World War, usually in 1941-42, especially in the imminence of historical events such as Pearl Harbor or the Battle of Midway.
What makes this book stand out is this time the visitors are the crew of a Russian nuclear powered Kirov missile cruiser, a 'regenerated' version (i.e. made with the pieces of other similar cannibalized ships) of the homonymous class, considered in the 80s to be the most fearsome Soviet naval unit (also for massive missile and artillery weapons).
The Kirov and its crew in 2021, from Admiral Leonid, a grizzled old officer bitter about the Russian economic and military decline, to the ambitious and disillusioned Captain Karpov, a fugitive from Gazprom after a series of scandals and internal struggles forced him into the Russian Navy. Are testing the new warship in a navel exercise. During the exercise, the cruiser is shrouded in a mysterious fog and finds itself catapulted in time to the summer of 1941 near Norway. In the quest to discover where they are and especially when, the British learn about this mysterious cruiser and from here things get complicated and expand considerably for the crew of the Kirov. Surrounded by primitive British and American navies anxious to annihilate the dangerous mysterious ship and on the other the clash between Admiral Leonid eager to escape from events so as not to alter history and Captain Karpov who sees the possibility of changing history in favor of the USSR.
I started John Schettler’s Kirov.... and I just could not put it down. It is a page turner with great action, wonderful twists and turns, with just enough Navy techo-thriller data to make it all interesting. His history bending time travel was refreshing compared to the various other time travel stories.
The premise is pure, distilled awesome. As I was reading the beginning, I was wondering, is this Russian crew *really* going to turn on each other? Is that believable? But the author made it not only seem believable, he keeps both sides very sympathetic and heroic. There are a number of well-drawn supporting characters as well. No one in this book is a caricature, each comes across as a flesh-and-blood person with strengths and weakness--even the more vile ones.
The novel moves very quickly with short, pointed chapters, sometimes only a single page in length. The characters aren't terribly well fleshed out, but doesn't particularly distract from the story. The Kirov is a real star of the show and her capabilities are showcased quite nicely throughout novel. There are also a lot of frankly fun scenes in here. Haven't you secretly always wanted to know how a modern day warship would fair against the pride of WWII's navies?
All in all, A rare read that’s not only wildly entertaining, but also profoundly moving. That I would most definitely recommend to anyone looking for a a good military techno thriller or alternative history novel.
March 18, 2021
As a US Navy Veteran this book had a level of nostalgia for me. Some of it brought me back to my days cruising in North Atlantic. It was very historically accurate as far as I could tell, although my naval history isn't very great, it is better than others. It was a believable story to a degree.
I don't know much about Russian Naval Officers, but I know enough about American Naval Officers to say it is very unlikely a Captain would do some of the things the Captain in this book does. I just don't see a Captain stooping to these low levels of ethics and morals in such a quick manner. His thought processes were kind of jarring. How has someone not done something about him previously? For a loose cannon to be put in such a position of power kind of makes it feel a little forced?
That aside, I know they needed some kind of antagonist, and it was creative to find the antagonist within the crew of the ship instead of elsewhere. There was Hitler, Stalin, the Americans, the Brits. All of whom would have made very enticing and easy antagonists, but he chose to have a cancer within the ranks (and pretty close to the top of the ranks) of the ship that was trying to figure out what the hell is was going to do.
I really enjoyed the character of Admiral Volsky. He reminded me a lot of one of my previous Commanding Officers, Captain Perry Bingham. The crew loved him because he took the time to get to the know the crew, and let the crew know what was going on instead of keeping himself tucked away out of sight. I had CO's like that, too...but when you have a Captain that shows that he cares about you it makes you want to do that much better.
I give this book a 3/5 because I did enjoy it and I will probably continue reading the next few books in the series, but I don't think it was perfect. There were typos which brought it down by about a star (when you have typos that make you have to reread sentences it becomes jarring and takes you out of the story). I also think that Karpov just wasn't very believable (at least to me). It seems his corruption was brought on way too fast.
Most of the good/great books I read these days get 3/4 stars, which poor/bad books getting 1/2 stars. I save my 5 star reviews for books that really get me in the feels and I think are superbly written on more than one level.
I don't know much about Russian Naval Officers, but I know enough about American Naval Officers to say it is very unlikely a Captain would do some of the things the Captain in this book does. I just don't see a Captain stooping to these low levels of ethics and morals in such a quick manner. His thought processes were kind of jarring. How has someone not done something about him previously? For a loose cannon to be put in such a position of power kind of makes it feel a little forced?
That aside, I know they needed some kind of antagonist, and it was creative to find the antagonist within the crew of the ship instead of elsewhere. There was Hitler, Stalin, the Americans, the Brits. All of whom would have made very enticing and easy antagonists, but he chose to have a cancer within the ranks (and pretty close to the top of the ranks) of the ship that was trying to figure out what the hell is was going to do.
I really enjoyed the character of Admiral Volsky. He reminded me a lot of one of my previous Commanding Officers, Captain Perry Bingham. The crew loved him because he took the time to get to the know the crew, and let the crew know what was going on instead of keeping himself tucked away out of sight. I had CO's like that, too...but when you have a Captain that shows that he cares about you it makes you want to do that much better.
I give this book a 3/5 because I did enjoy it and I will probably continue reading the next few books in the series, but I don't think it was perfect. There were typos which brought it down by about a star (when you have typos that make you have to reread sentences it becomes jarring and takes you out of the story). I also think that Karpov just wasn't very believable (at least to me). It seems his corruption was brought on way too fast.
Most of the good/great books I read these days get 3/4 stars, which poor/bad books getting 1/2 stars. I save my 5 star reviews for books that really get me in the feels and I think are superbly written on more than one level.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 4, 2017
I was completely surprised by the quality of the writing of this book, easily 5 stars!! I love the genre (WW2 and modern military fiction with time travel added for measure!) amd could not put the book down (or the ipad down, as I read the kindle version). The battle descriptions are just great, the characters very beliaveble and very well characterized and the actions are extremely pausible. You can easily imagined this could happen if Kirov would find itself in the middle of WW2! Now I want to know how the author managed to fill another 27 (!!!) books in the series... On to read the next one...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 22, 2020
I was hesitant to read this book since it was self-published, but saw no problems with editing at all.
While there are some minor logical gaps in the characters behaviour (to increase conflict?) I found them relatively easy to overlook.
The story feels action packed and I enjoyed the combat scenes a lot. With the Russian perspective to events the book feels more "adult" than for example the destroyer series that sometimes feels like a comic series. Relating to that the book also feels wonderfully free of the author's political views. I feel so very tired of those books that tries to cram down either left- or right-wing views down my throat.
While there are some minor logical gaps in the characters behaviour (to increase conflict?) I found them relatively easy to overlook.
The story feels action packed and I enjoyed the combat scenes a lot. With the Russian perspective to events the book feels more "adult" than for example the destroyer series that sometimes feels like a comic series. Relating to that the book also feels wonderfully free of the author's political views. I feel so very tired of those books that tries to cram down either left- or right-wing views down my throat.
February 3, 2017
I've read the Destroyermen series by Taylor Anderson and enjoyed it tremendously. So, I am a bit hesistant when picking of the Kirov series wondering how good it would be. Half way through the book, I couldn't find myself to stop and went through it entirely. Strongly recommended.
January 20, 2019
excellent russian naval milporn
July 23, 2019
Well written with good character development. A different take on the modern warship visits the past genre.
June 17, 2025
This book shows only too well the problems that arise if we get too hung up on labels. It is very difficult to categorise this books as it could very easily fit into a number of categories:
a) Naval Warfare – a lot of the book is the story of a series of naval battles
b) Sci-fi (Time travel) – the modern day Russian warship Kirov is sent on a series of time travel jumps initially back to 1941 and then forward again but to where we don’t know
c) Sci-fi (alternative history) – the presence of the Kirov does present an alternative to the established historical timeline. This is the weakest category as the alternate history is only brought about by the time travel of the Kirov
Whatever category you put this in however what you get is an excellent novel that moves along at a good pace and presents the reader with a number of different plot lines:
a) What position should the Kirov (once in 1941 the most powerful naval vessel on the planet
b) There is the tension and conflict between Admiral Volsky and Captain Karpov epitomises the conflict of ideas that result from being sent back in time – do they use the power and if so to what end or do they try and have a minimal impact on this timeline
c) The ensuing naval battle between modern weaponry and 1941 warships/ planes is well written and believable
After reading the novel I was left with the fact that it reminded me of one film and one TV series. In the file The Final Countdown the USS Nimitz is sent back in time to the day before the Pearl Harbour attack and has to overcome similar conflicts and situations. The ending reminded me of the TV series The Time Tunnel were the protagonists are sent on a series of time jumps never quite knowing where and when they would end up.
I will certainly be giving more the series a read.
a) Naval Warfare – a lot of the book is the story of a series of naval battles
b) Sci-fi (Time travel) – the modern day Russian warship Kirov is sent on a series of time travel jumps initially back to 1941 and then forward again but to where we don’t know
c) Sci-fi (alternative history) – the presence of the Kirov does present an alternative to the established historical timeline. This is the weakest category as the alternate history is only brought about by the time travel of the Kirov
Whatever category you put this in however what you get is an excellent novel that moves along at a good pace and presents the reader with a number of different plot lines:
a) What position should the Kirov (once in 1941 the most powerful naval vessel on the planet
b) There is the tension and conflict between Admiral Volsky and Captain Karpov epitomises the conflict of ideas that result from being sent back in time – do they use the power and if so to what end or do they try and have a minimal impact on this timeline
c) The ensuing naval battle between modern weaponry and 1941 warships/ planes is well written and believable
After reading the novel I was left with the fact that it reminded me of one film and one TV series. In the file The Final Countdown the USS Nimitz is sent back in time to the day before the Pearl Harbour attack and has to overcome similar conflicts and situations. The ending reminded me of the TV series The Time Tunnel were the protagonists are sent on a series of time jumps never quite knowing where and when they would end up.
I will certainly be giving more the series a read.
January 10, 2014
This is the first of a self-published time-travel, alternative history series that hinges on a barely believable event - in this case where a 21st century Russian battleship is thrust through a mysterious portal into the midst of World War Two. This is a similar plot device to John Birmingham’s recent Axis of Time trilogy wherein a 2021 multinational naval fleet is thrust back to 1942. In the cases of both series the alternative history rests on an essential game changer - modern, electronically sophisticated warships ranged against a larger but less sophisticated enemy fleet. What results in books of this type is less of a truly engaged contingent alternative history but entertainments where if one swallows the premise then what follows is diverting and fun. The strength of Kirov is in the portrayal of the crew as they begin to comes to terms with the unassailable evidence that they are truly back in 1941.
June 29, 2014
Great book.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews