Review: Battle for America

Battle for America by Mack Maloney

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Alternate universe of an alternate universe redux

If you believe in a multiverse, this 18th book is an example of such. First, the Wingman series IS already an alternate universe whose point of divergence was made in the 1980s. Second, after saving the Earth, Hawk emerges in not one, not two, but three different realities in books 14, 15, and 16 AND the Star Hawk series where he has been blasted into the future. Then when he gets back to 21st century Earth, he finds yet again another small differences, only this time, he is reliving the events of Book 2 – The Circle War on top that.

I wonder if this series should have ended because it might have jumped the shark, to borrow that phrase. Minor spoiler: Hawk’s beloved F-16XL is forever gone and instead he gets some captured Su-34Fullbacks. If you know anything about the F-16 XL, it does bear lots of design resemblance to the F-16 Falcon/Viper BUT it is a completely different airframe. That was why the USAF in real life never procured it since it meant new factories and tools. Hawk picking a Su-34, even a captured one, made more sense because it is NOT a one shot.

With all this time travel and dimensions, it can get confusing since Mack Maloney does serialize his stories. To borrow yet another phrase, this time from Chief Miles O’Brien of Star Trek TNG/ DS9, ” I hate temporal mechanics.”



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