This is CAN of Military Sci-Fiction Woop Ass!

I started reading John Ringo when he first got started. So I was excited to see most of his books going audio. This is as good as it gets. The audio book does not disappoint. The narrator does it justice. I am ex-army retired and a computer weenie (26 years), and believe that John captures the flavor and essence of the military and the techie side of warfare as well..lots of action and lots of good ideas and new concepts.

13 people found this helpful

I may read the whole series

I buy a fair number of these military scifi books but rarely buy the second book in the series. Often I find the characters too one dimensional, the situations too far-fetched and the story too full of fighting. It may sound strange that I would complain that a war book contains too much fighting but, in fact, war is more than fighting. The underlying situation has to sound reasonable enough to believe, the characters have to seem real for me to have any empathy for them and the world outside the fighting has to be interesting for me to be able to enjoy the book. War is politics as much as fighting.

I bought the first book in this series quite some time ago and relegated this series to the same category as most other books of this type - once was enough. But about 6 months after the first read I re-read it and found, much to my surprise, that I was more interested in the characters than I had at first realized, so I bought the second book in the series.

It is the world surrounding the war that I find most interesting. The character of Michael O'Neal is interesting, the characters around him seem both realistic and worth meeting and the situation in which they find themselves, trying to save their lives in the face of an alien invasion and, at the same time, having to deal with their "allies" who cannot be trusted, to be a sufficient mix of reasonable and heroic to make the books worth reading for me. As with all of the John Ringo books I have read this one contains just the right amount of desperation and hope to leave me with a positive feeling in spite of the violence surrounding the main characters.

There are a lot of side characters whose stories do not seem to have a major effect on the main plot but I that this enriches the story. Most people's lives in time of crisis and war are important only to them and to those around them and do not affect the overall outcome. Thus, for me, the fact that there are secondary interesting characters who do not add to the main plot in a major way makes the book more realistic, not less interesting and their stories add flavor to the book and keeps it from being all war.

The narration is very good and the story flows well. I may read the whole series.

5 people found this helpful

Great action book

Has a lot of milatary jargen and aslo does a good job at really giving you a pretty clear veiw at how screwed up the ranks can be. Good actions book does jump a litle but not hard to follow well woth listening to. KEEPS WITH STORY LINE WORTH LISTNEING TO GOING TO GET THIRD BOOK.

7 people found this helpful

Posleen Invasion of Earth

This is a military science fiction book. I enjoyed the poems by Rudyard Kipling that started each chapter. The story wound its way between the individual lives of key people and the battle for the earth. Lots of good military information about equipment and tactics lots of heroic battles and a few laughs here and there. I hope the next book in the series covers more about some the people touched on in this story such as XO Mrs. O'Neal in her frigate.
also the O'Neal's daughter with her grandfather. The book was long but it moved right along. Marc Vietor did an excellent job narrating the story.

5 people found this helpful

Awesome military sci-fi

I've read the whole series and enjoyed it all. I don't care for the use of profanity but it is appropriate for the situations rather than gratuitous. Well thought out plot lines that come together exceptionally well.

4 people found this helpful

One of my favorite all time books!

Any additional comments?

There is a lot of cussing, but I was in the military, and if you are going for realism...

If you like realism in your sci-fi, this series and John Ringo is awesome!! From the generals who think the know everything, and who run the military, to the politics, to way military people work and talk, this book is spot on! If you think this is not exactly the way things would go, you don't know how things REALLY are in the armed forces. You must remember, military men and women have some of the biggest egos on the planet and don't like being told they are doing it wrong! This goes double for old soldiers! This book draws you in and makes you care about the characters without boring you to death with the every thought going through there mind. This is an adult book because of the large amount of cussing. Unless you like tough, cussing, bloody battles, I would not get this book, you probably wont like it. It's got a ton of action and not a lot of toughie feely stuff. I liked this one at least as much if not more than the Halo series. I LOVE the Halo series, so that says a lot! Halo is also a combat book series, and a hit video game. This series so far is even better than Ringos hot gate series. This series(so far) is a must have for the serious sci-fi war buff!

1 person found this helpful

Good stuff

Really enjoyed this book. Like the first book it was chalk full of action. Once again though I found myself lost because of the constant switching of characters telling the story. Again, I was also waiting for the viewpoint to switch to the character Mike O'Neal. Though this book is good it doesn't hold my interests enough to get the next book.

3 people found this helpful

Ringo has it!

Again....John Ringo is without a doubt, in my mind, one of the best science fiction writers currently plying the trade. I don't know if he grew up reading the masters (heinlien, clarke, asimov....) but I am hearing their echos in his writing. An absolute joy to listen to........... Science Fiction like it needs to be.......(again).

3 people found this helpful

A Well Paced Sequel

This book is a well paced sequel to A Hymn Before Battle. Like with the previous book the focus of this one is characters. It also contains the tactical crunch that one looks for in a good Military Science Fiction as well as the science fiction aspect. Still, the measure of a good story is in how it flows around the characters. This is a good one. I do suggest you read the series from the beginning. While John Ringo does a good job recapping, I feel someone starting with this book will miss some really important stuff.

4 people found this helpful

Elements of a good story - far too much info-dump

You have to admire John Ringo's intimate knowledge of weapons systems and of the workings of the Military, but I found myself rapidly overwhelmed and ultimately bored with his detailed descriptions of the functioning of every single weapon. I can see him playing hours of SIMS games as he thinks through the consequences of a massed invasion of the world in minute detail. A very impressive accomplishment, but unfortunately the story quickly loses forwards momentum. He intersperses his descriptions of battles and weapons systems with short anecdotes of the people involved. His characterizations are masterful and engrossing, but there are too many of them to follow. I would have liked more descriptions of the alien political machinations and a stronger story line following the main characters. This book would really have benefited from a good editor. The narrator is outstanding, one of my favorites.

4 people found this helpful