Review: Official History Style Writeup, not a Story
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 5, 2013
This is not a story and has no characters.  It is written as the background for an alternate history, and should be considered only as such.  Those readers who really like alternate histories know those often have an appendix summarizing the alternate history's development, but it is also possible to write a cracking good book this way, though it will be pretty weird.  The best example of the genre is Robert Sobel'sFor Want of a Nail: If Burgoyne had won at Saratoga (Greenhill Military Paperback).The Whale Has Wings Vol 1 - Rebirthis exactly like that, but written more in an official history style than Sobel's choice of a future academic history.  Just be aware of this in deciding whether to buy the book.I personally appreciate this style as a change once in a while, and IMO it is a more effective of telling the story author David Row wants to tell.  His writing style is concise and his pacing is good.  Some knowledge of carrier aviation history is necessary to really enjoy how well Mr. Row succeeds here.  His expertise in the subject is formidable, and there are only intermittent typographical errors.I personally find his assumptions of Treasury financing ludicrously optimistic but hey, it's his story and any details concerning the prewar financing fights would pretty much ruin the story with eye-watering accounting detail long before we get to the fun of the fighting.  I also feel the heavy hangar deck armor of so many fleet carriers would, even with his implausible Skoda fix, so conflict with the 3rd & 4th ships (Howe & Anson) of the King George V class as to set off a major prewar row with the battleship admirals which then First Sea Lord Pound would have resolved in the battleships' favor.  This is nit-picking.David Row clearly succeeds in what he wants to do here.The Whale Has Wings Vol 1 - Rebirthis a good fun read for those interested in carrier aviation and plausible alternate World War II's.  It is a worthy entry in the line ofFor Want of a Nail: If Burgoyne had won at Saratoga (Greenhill Military Paperback)alternate histories.I will definitely buy the next book.