Kirov Review

[Gary Oswald]

Discuss this new review by @Coiler here

 

[SenatorChickpea]

This has given me a fondness for a book series that I will never, under any circumstances, no matter how much I am paid, sit down to read.

 

[Alex Richards]

I've seen a graph attempting to show the various timeline splits and plot jumps before (I think it was somewhere on this site actually) and it does just have a delightful convolutedness to it.

 

[Coiler]

Thanks for posting the review (and really good timing-it's posted just as I'm powering through the books). This is-something. I think it might even be the series that grew on me the most after I gave it a shot.

 

[Meadow]

I really like this review and this take. Not going to be something I read either, but I can share Colin's respect for the enterprise involved and for the audacity.

 

[Skinny87]

As I've said before, I will always doff my cap in awe to an author who has written so many books in a series that he can then sell books made up solely of excerpts of the battle scenes, for readers who don't want the 'boring bits'

 

[Charles EP M.]

FIVE MILLION WORDS

What a legend

 

[FriendlyGhost]

I'd never heard of this series and it does sound fascinating - though like others I think I might not actually read it (I've already got far too many books on my 'need to get round to reading this' pile!). Excellent review, thanks @Coiler .

I've seen a graph attempting to show the various timeline splits and plot jumps before (I think it was somewhere on this site actually) and it does just have a delightful convolutedness to it.

There's a set of pages about the series here; the linked page has some graphs on it do seem nicely confusing (with some great pseudo-science about time travel effects)!

 

[SpanishSpy]

It's a literary equivalent of Alantropa, or Welthaupstadt Germania, or the Palace of the Soviets.

 

[Alex Richards]

There's a set of pages about the series here; the linked page has some graphs on it do seem nicely confusing (with some great pseudo-science about time travel effects)!

This is amazing

 

[Coiler]

So, having caught up with the entire series (gulp), I think I can give the comparative impressions of each arc, even by the weird baseline of Kirov as a whole:

Books 1-3: This is the most coherent and understandable arc in the series. It's also full of contrivances to have the ship fight at all and to threaten it with WWII technology. Ends on an actually good conclusion, but is the clunkiest in terms of action.

Books 4-8: A jumbled mess that's more about introducing potential plotlines than actually resolving anything-by now the cash cow is there. The pacing is a little better than the mega-arc that follows, but the action is a lot worse (going to full wargame LP actually made the battles somewhat better).

Books 9-40: The big arc of WW2. Essentially the median of the series. What more can I really say?

Books 41-48: A contemporary WW3, and probably the worst arc in the series because it's the most mundane.

Books 49-53: Another "contemporary" WW3, but significantly better than the previous one because, unlike the last one, it takes full advantage of the alternate history and goofy elements (one of the best scenes is where the ship timeshifts into a place inhabited entirely by hostile drones and fights them).

 

[Skinny87]

@Coiler are you honestly telling us you brought all 53 books? Because those things aren't on Kindle Unlimited and they aren't cheap - Amazon is telling me that the first 50 alone are £186!