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Yesterdays War
A wealthy Australian industrialist in the year 2040 accidentally opens a portal into the past with one of the scientific experiments that he has financed. A cataclysmic nuclear war that dooms humanity erupts almost at the same time. The industrialist decides to go through the portal and try to change history to prevent the final war. He assumes the identity of a dead prospector after finding himself in the year 1918. The time traveler enlists the aid of local Aborigine tribesmen while planning to use his knowledge of the future to become wealthy once again. Only this time, he will be using his wealth to influence the course of history and those who made it.
420 pages, Paperback
Published January 24, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
February 2, 2018
I finished the book but it was a struggle.
If the author has visited Australia I would be surprised, it certainly does not show in the book.
Both the cultural and financial aspects are inaccurate to say the least.
The currency was the pound, not the dollar in 1918; as an example.
If the author has visited Australia I would be surprised, it certainly does not show in the book.
Both the cultural and financial aspects are inaccurate to say the least.
The currency was the pound, not the dollar in 1918; as an example.
April 10, 2018
Fox "News" goes back to the future
By page three, I started skimming and gave up a third of the way. The writing is pretty bad and the understanding of history was mind numbing.
I got all the following assumptions presented as background by page three.
"Liberal"administrations have gutted the U.S. military, causing the return of all military forces to The U.S.
The liberal administrations have increased military spending on every budget since before 1942. The conservative administrations have done the same. Under Obama, food assistance was reduced by 8 billion dollars or so to help defray the 30 billion dollar cost of a new aircraft carrier. The U.S. military has a tank park with about 3,000 surplus armored fighting vehicles, and still buys new tanks, armored personnel carriers, self propelled guns, etc. every year.
Isolationism was triggered by attacks on "U.S. territory by Islamic terrorists posing as refugees".
The U.S. doesn't need terrorists when you have Christians and Neo-Nazis committing mass murders so regularly that something like eighteen school shootings occurred in the first month and a half of 2018. Years ago, the Republican and Democratic parties passed a law forbidding the FBI from collecting gun death or police shooting death statistics, except on a voluntary basis. Yet since the Trade Tower, there has been no terrorist attack in the U.S., except perhaps by all American males.
U.S. armed forces personnel have left the military completely and it's equipment is falling apart from lack of maintenance and spare parts as a result of U.S. financial collapse, no cause given.
For decades the U.S. has spent more than 50% of the entire world military budget. It's not a state secret, it's been in the paper. Could that be the cause. The last global collapse was caused by U.S. banks, could they be The cause. The writer is silent.
The world has lost the stabilizing shield of U.S. military might and now is subject to "the continuing Islamic offensive in the middle east, Africa, Asia and Europe".
The only continuing offensive is the writer blaming communists, Islam and non-Europeans for the global war. The U.S. military has been identified as one of the most destabilizing forces in geopolitics since the Vietnam war.
Because of U.S. weakness, China has seized control of the South China Sea and its neighbors (not specified but I assume to mean -japan, South korea, Vietnam, The Philippines, perhaps Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, even India) are preparing for war against China.
Since the Chinese have ignored the political and economic backwater of Taiwan, they are already in possession of the South China sea. So why are they waiting for 2040, to get their war on.
Poland and central Europe (?) are engaged in a "holding action ?" against Western Europe and Russia.
I think that the writer meant something else but states that Central Europe is caught between two mighty enemies. He doesn't know what Central Europe is, apparently and certainly never heard of the Baltic States. Maybe he meant Eastern Europe (?).
Western Europe is overrun by Islamists and europeans "are huddling in their homes".
That lie was invented by Fox "News" and repeated by every overt racist or Republican (at this point, aren't they the same thing) who could find a camera, until lawsuits were filed against Fox by several European countries that Fox named as being overrun. Suddenly that assertion disappeared. How by the way can Europe be overrun with its citizens hiding from the Muslims, while simultaneously poised for war with Russia. Talk about racist fever dreams.
The above is a fairly complete summary of the prologue, which is almost all the backstory you get. Given the above that's probably a good thing.
If any two of the writer's assumptions above seem plausible, then enjoy the book.
By page three, I started skimming and gave up a third of the way. The writing is pretty bad and the understanding of history was mind numbing.
I got all the following assumptions presented as background by page three.
"Liberal"administrations have gutted the U.S. military, causing the return of all military forces to The U.S.
The liberal administrations have increased military spending on every budget since before 1942. The conservative administrations have done the same. Under Obama, food assistance was reduced by 8 billion dollars or so to help defray the 30 billion dollar cost of a new aircraft carrier. The U.S. military has a tank park with about 3,000 surplus armored fighting vehicles, and still buys new tanks, armored personnel carriers, self propelled guns, etc. every year.
Isolationism was triggered by attacks on "U.S. territory by Islamic terrorists posing as refugees".
The U.S. doesn't need terrorists when you have Christians and Neo-Nazis committing mass murders so regularly that something like eighteen school shootings occurred in the first month and a half of 2018. Years ago, the Republican and Democratic parties passed a law forbidding the FBI from collecting gun death or police shooting death statistics, except on a voluntary basis. Yet since the Trade Tower, there has been no terrorist attack in the U.S., except perhaps by all American males.
U.S. armed forces personnel have left the military completely and it's equipment is falling apart from lack of maintenance and spare parts as a result of U.S. financial collapse, no cause given.
For decades the U.S. has spent more than 50% of the entire world military budget. It's not a state secret, it's been in the paper. Could that be the cause. The last global collapse was caused by U.S. banks, could they be The cause. The writer is silent.
The world has lost the stabilizing shield of U.S. military might and now is subject to "the continuing Islamic offensive in the middle east, Africa, Asia and Europe".
The only continuing offensive is the writer blaming communists, Islam and non-Europeans for the global war. The U.S. military has been identified as one of the most destabilizing forces in geopolitics since the Vietnam war.
Because of U.S. weakness, China has seized control of the South China Sea and its neighbors (not specified but I assume to mean -japan, South korea, Vietnam, The Philippines, perhaps Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, even India) are preparing for war against China.
Since the Chinese have ignored the political and economic backwater of Taiwan, they are already in possession of the South China sea. So why are they waiting for 2040, to get their war on.
Poland and central Europe (?) are engaged in a "holding action ?" against Western Europe and Russia.
I think that the writer meant something else but states that Central Europe is caught between two mighty enemies. He doesn't know what Central Europe is, apparently and certainly never heard of the Baltic States. Maybe he meant Eastern Europe (?).
Western Europe is overrun by Islamists and europeans "are huddling in their homes".
That lie was invented by Fox "News" and repeated by every overt racist or Republican (at this point, aren't they the same thing) who could find a camera, until lawsuits were filed against Fox by several European countries that Fox named as being overrun. Suddenly that assertion disappeared. How by the way can Europe be overrun with its citizens hiding from the Muslims, while simultaneously poised for war with Russia. Talk about racist fever dreams.
The above is a fairly complete summary of the prologue, which is almost all the backstory you get. Given the above that's probably a good thing.
If any two of the writer's assumptions above seem plausible, then enjoy the book.
August 8, 2018
This is not a good book. Let's ignore the set-up problems detailed by another reviewer and accept the fact that global war nuclear war has destroyed the world and our MC is going to save it. The idea that you do this by preventing nuclear weapons from being used is... novel. The characters in the story are, with one exception, 1 dimensional. Let's talk about our exception, the love interest. Said Female Lead(FL) is met during a trip to london, and after being hired as an administrator for the company marries the MC mid voyage. I had hope at this point, and then I lost it. I had hoped that perhaps this was a british or even russian spy to infiltrate our MC's organization, but no. The MC has smooth sailing through-out his journey, only midly troubled by the racists of the day.
In the end, the biggest problem I had with this book is that it was boring. Do Not Recommend.
In the end, the biggest problem I had with this book is that it was boring. Do Not Recommend.
June 11, 2017
A story hidden among many many words...
The premise of this book is very fascinate. However I was very distracted by the poor editing of the electronic text. Words were noticeably missed or misplaced or in the wrong context. The spacing between italics was horrible. The dialogue between characters was often drawn out and monotonous. Often the chapters started with a recap of the story or the premise. It felt like reading a monthly serial novel...All that said I enjoyed the book and am glad I persisted to the end.
The premise of this book is very fascinate. However I was very distracted by the poor editing of the electronic text. Words were noticeably missed or misplaced or in the wrong context. The spacing between italics was horrible. The dialogue between characters was often drawn out and monotonous. Often the chapters started with a recap of the story or the premise. It felt like reading a monthly serial novel...All that said I enjoyed the book and am glad I persisted to the end.
January 18, 2020
Atrocious Editing
This book has some interesting concepts but is hard to read because of the extremely poor editing - missing words, words run together, sentences splitting mid-line and continuing in a new paragraph, characters referred to by the wrong name, date errors ..., etc. You name the error you'll probably find it. I gave it a 3 rather than a 1 for the value off the story. Correct the errors and this could be an enjoyable read. As it is I'm going to grit my teeth, read book two and hope the editing is better.
This book has some interesting concepts but is hard to read because of the extremely poor editing - missing words, words run together, sentences splitting mid-line and continuing in a new paragraph, characters referred to by the wrong name, date errors ..., etc. You name the error you'll probably find it. I gave it a 3 rather than a 1 for the value off the story. Correct the errors and this could be an enjoyable read. As it is I'm going to grit my teeth, read book two and hope the editing is better.
February 21, 2018
Interesting premise
How could someone go back in time and change the future? This book illustrates how difficult that would be ... and how dangerous. I am interested in reading how the law of unintended consequences affects the outcome of Mr. Stevenson/Carville’s quest. A bit too much technical info for my taste, but I enjoyed the premise so much that I could overlook the tedious technical passages about the construction of ships, tanks, airplanes, etc.
How could someone go back in time and change the future? This book illustrates how difficult that would be ... and how dangerous. I am interested in reading how the law of unintended consequences affects the outcome of Mr. Stevenson/Carville’s quest. A bit too much technical info for my taste, but I enjoyed the premise so much that I could overlook the tedious technical passages about the construction of ships, tanks, airplanes, etc.
March 4, 2018
I found this to be a very entertaining (except for all the typo's) story. The Author's approach to time travel and alternate history was compelling. How would anyone handle finding them self in a Post WW I World knowing what was going to happen? Take out Hitler? Stalin? Oppenhimer? von Braun? What are the consequences? How much do you tamper with history? How the main character handles the moral and ethical dilemma makes this well worth the time and considerable effort to read
November 11, 2021
Good concept, but
A nice change to see someone other than America featured in a story. The book needed a proof reader. Almost every page had missing words or extra words not needed. There were too many incomplete sentences also. Sometimes it seemed as though the book was translated from a different language. I would have given a much higher rating if these things were fixed. May read the next one to see if it is better.
A nice change to see someone other than America featured in a story. The book needed a proof reader. Almost every page had missing words or extra words not needed. There were too many incomplete sentences also. Sometimes it seemed as though the book was translated from a different language. I would have given a much higher rating if these things were fixed. May read the next one to see if it is better.
January 27, 2019
A Very Interesting Take on Time Travel and Efforts to Plan a Better Future
This book takes a future visitor’s efforts to manipulate the past to a whole new degree of complexity. Attempting to save his own world from destruction he works tirelessly to improve the chances for the rest of the world to fend off Nazi, Japanese and Soviet attacks on the rest of the world.
This book takes a future visitor’s efforts to manipulate the past to a whole new degree of complexity. Attempting to save his own world from destruction he works tirelessly to improve the chances for the rest of the world to fend off Nazi, Japanese and Soviet attacks on the rest of the world.
April 26, 2021
WWII
Oh how I loved this book. So much history about the beginning of World War II. My father taught in the South Pacific during the war. This book opens your mind to think if only Time Travel were possible, at the millions of lives that could have been saved. What if time travel is real and just don’t realize it. Mmm
Oh how I loved this book. So much history about the beginning of World War II. My father taught in the South Pacific during the war. This book opens your mind to think if only Time Travel were possible, at the millions of lives that could have been saved. What if time travel is real and just don’t realize it. Mmm
March 30, 2018
O.k. story
Similar to John Birminghams axis of time trilogy, put poorly edited and the story seemed a bit rushed with too much uneeded filler details. Hopefully the second part will be a bit smoother.
Similar to John Birminghams axis of time trilogy, put poorly edited and the story seemed a bit rushed with too much uneeded filler details. Hopefully the second part will be a bit smoother.
April 20, 2019
The concept is quite interesting and it was an enjoyable read. Sadly, lacking in both proofreading and editing. Hopefully the book is updated for future readers. I will continue to read the series. Thanks to Mr. Hall for a new entry in historical fiction, my favourite genre.
February 5, 2021
Great time travel book
I'm a big fan of this type of book. This was one of first I read several years ago. Notice a book four decided to re-read series. Just as good as I remember.
I'm a big fan of this type of book. This was one of first I read several years ago. Notice a book four decided to re-read series. Just as good as I remember.
December 30, 2019
Nice well written book
Nice well written tale hope the next one is as good and enjoyable and enjoyable to read roll on the fun.
Nice well written tale hope the next one is as good and enjoyable and enjoyable to read roll on the fun.
November 26, 2022
New past to future
How.can we change things to save people from themselves. There is no turning back. Time is set when we do what we did before.
How.can we change things to save people from themselves. There is no turning back. Time is set when we do what we did before.
February 21, 2017
Good ideas but really needs editorial changes to make the character dialogue less stilted.
April 9, 2017
The premise is quite interesting and I enjoyed the idea of this book quite a bit. I need to look at more alternate time/ time travel books I guess.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews