Scan barcode
kathydavie's review against another edition
5.0
Third in the Troy Rising military science fiction series revolving around self-made billionaire...he could be a trillionaire by this point...Vernon Tyler who singlehandedly created the Troy battlestation and saved the Earth from an alien invasion.
The Story
We got cocky. We easily beat off an attack by the Rangorans at the opening of the book. After all, The Rangorans have been throwing inadequate numbers of ships at the Earth and the battlestation, Troy, has been slicing through 'em like a hot knife through butter. Then we stupidly put faith in the cease fire during the peace talks and bam. The Rangorans have slowly been wising up and we are about to take it down the throat.
That's the main storyline. The human interest plotline revolves around "Comet" Parker. She's been transferred to the 143 to bring her engineering skills to bear on why it is that the 143's ships are never out of the maintenance bays. Is it a manufacturing flaw on Apollo's part for there sure seems to be something wrong with Granadica, the AI fabber (by the way, I want one of these!)? Or is it sabotage?
The Characters
While Vernon Tyler will always be an important character in Troy Rising, Hot Gate introduced "Comet" Parker and Citadel has focused on her. We did get a brief "hi" to Butch [Citadel]!
My Take
ARGHHH!!! Ringo has done it again. I raced through Hot Gate because I just had to find out what happened next! And he left me hanging!! Now I have to wait for book 4...wahhh
I love Ringo's books. He is such an amazingly good writer creating characters with whom you can empathize and action sequences that have you on the edge of your seat. Even though I don't always understand the technical stuff...ah, well.
I do have a quibble about the relationship between Pal and Comet...I didn't see that one coming at all. And I wish he hadn't glossed over the troubles and victories that Parker was having with her new posting.
One of the things I love about Ringo is he always brings in the good guys, eventually, to ensure things go right. I'm thinking of Horst at the peace talks in particular when he confronts Danforth; thank god, Danforth isn't in charge! I adore Ringo's Vernon Tyler. Tyler has more money than God and doesn't care about status or protocol. With his reputation and money having saved the Earth...over and over...he don't take no sh*t from nobody whether it's the President, South American politicos, or the military. At the same time, he is wide open when it comes to ensuring that his equipment and ships work right. If there's a problem, he lets everybody know and brings 'em all in on it.
At one point, Tyler is talking to 30 kids who have submitted essays on what to call the next battlestation. It has to be a battle in which a few fought well and bravely. What was fascinating was how Tyler winnowed through the submissions. Talking to the kids and explaining why or how this or that battle didn't fit the parameters for what he had in mind. The explanation for Johannsen's worm was pretty interesting as well…a brilliant concept, if only the humanistic aspect has been more positive…!
I also found Ringo's exploration of South American culture fascinating. And scary from a military point of view.
The Cover
Oh yeah, the cover so reflects the last battle in this story with all those missiles homing in on the Thermopylae. And, yeah, the title is accurate as the gate between universes, the one guarding Earth is definitely a Hot Gate.
Somebody wasn't paying attention on the inside plot summary. They've got the battle focusing on Troy…oops...
The Story
We got cocky. We easily beat off an attack by the Rangorans at the opening of the book. After all, The Rangorans have been throwing inadequate numbers of ships at the Earth and the battlestation, Troy, has been slicing through 'em like a hot knife through butter. Then we stupidly put faith in the cease fire during the peace talks and bam. The Rangorans have slowly been wising up and we are about to take it down the throat.
That's the main storyline. The human interest plotline revolves around "Comet" Parker. She's been transferred to the 143 to bring her engineering skills to bear on why it is that the 143's ships are never out of the maintenance bays. Is it a manufacturing flaw on Apollo's part for there sure seems to be something wrong with Granadica, the AI fabber (by the way, I want one of these!)? Or is it sabotage?
The Characters
While Vernon Tyler will always be an important character in Troy Rising, Hot Gate introduced "Comet" Parker and Citadel has focused on her. We did get a brief "hi" to Butch [Citadel]!
My Take
ARGHHH!!! Ringo has done it again. I raced through Hot Gate because I just had to find out what happened next! And he left me hanging!! Now I have to wait for book 4...wahhh
I love Ringo's books. He is such an amazingly good writer creating characters with whom you can empathize and action sequences that have you on the edge of your seat. Even though I don't always understand the technical stuff...ah, well.
I do have a quibble about the relationship between Pal and Comet...I didn't see that one coming at all. And I wish he hadn't glossed over the troubles and victories that Parker was having with her new posting.
One of the things I love about Ringo is he always brings in the good guys, eventually, to ensure things go right. I'm thinking of Horst at the peace talks in particular when he confronts Danforth; thank god, Danforth isn't in charge! I adore Ringo's Vernon Tyler. Tyler has more money than God and doesn't care about status or protocol. With his reputation and money having saved the Earth...over and over...he don't take no sh*t from nobody whether it's the President, South American politicos, or the military. At the same time, he is wide open when it comes to ensuring that his equipment and ships work right. If there's a problem, he lets everybody know and brings 'em all in on it.
At one point, Tyler is talking to 30 kids who have submitted essays on what to call the next battlestation. It has to be a battle in which a few fought well and bravely. What was fascinating was how Tyler winnowed through the submissions. Talking to the kids and explaining why or how this or that battle didn't fit the parameters for what he had in mind. The explanation for Johannsen's worm was pretty interesting as well…a brilliant concept, if only the humanistic aspect has been more positive…!
I also found Ringo's exploration of South American culture fascinating. And scary from a military point of view.
The Cover
Oh yeah, the cover so reflects the last battle in this story with all those missiles homing in on the Thermopylae. And, yeah, the title is accurate as the gate between universes, the one guarding Earth is definitely a Hot Gate.
Somebody wasn't paying attention on the inside plot summary. They've got the battle focusing on Troy…oops...
wetdryvac's review against another edition
1.0
I really like Ringo's writing style. I really like his plotting style. Both were present in this. However.
I don't think I've seen anyone attempt to shag Kipling's The White Man's Burden into the sunset before, and it's decidedly not a pretty thing. The solid writing was there. The solid plotting was there. It just kept - repeatedly - licking the notion that cultures not American were lesser, and doing so in ways that crossed some pretty hard lines.
I would like to think that this got fixed beyond the Advanced Reader's Copy that I ended up with, but that was some pretty seriously baked in racist crap.
I don't think I've seen anyone attempt to shag Kipling's The White Man's Burden into the sunset before, and it's decidedly not a pretty thing. The solid writing was there. The solid plotting was there. It just kept - repeatedly - licking the notion that cultures not American were lesser, and doing so in ways that crossed some pretty hard lines.
I would like to think that this got fixed beyond the Advanced Reader's Copy that I ended up with, but that was some pretty seriously baked in racist crap.
pjonsson's review against another edition
3.0
This one was actually a bit of a disappointment. I almost gave it a 2 star rating. A good chunk (much too much) was devoted to nonsense politics and "cultural differences", lazy "Latinos" not being able to do proper maintenance even if their lives depended on it, etc. etc.
Luckily those bits where still written in a way that was somewhat interesting to read unlike the extremely boring, never ending, two people dialogs that have become a habit in some of David Weber's latest works. Also, luckily, the dumbass politicians gets slammed quite badly half way through.
The book felt quite short compared to the other ones. Maybe I just read it a bit faster due to all the political nonsense in it. Sure, it ended up in the usual big badaboom battle at the end which, of course, the humans won. Although here I have another gripe with the book. It tries to portray it as if the humans "lost for the first time". What kind of rubbish is that? They won! Sure, they took some losses but what the f... would you expect?
Now the book was still an okay read but given how much I liked the previous book in the series, this one was definitely a disappointment.
Luckily those bits where still written in a way that was somewhat interesting to read unlike the extremely boring, never ending, two people dialogs that have become a habit in some of David Weber's latest works. Also, luckily, the dumbass politicians gets slammed quite badly half way through.
The book felt quite short compared to the other ones. Maybe I just read it a bit faster due to all the political nonsense in it. Sure, it ended up in the usual big badaboom battle at the end which, of course, the humans won. Although here I have another gripe with the book. It tries to portray it as if the humans "lost for the first time". What kind of rubbish is that? They won! Sure, they took some losses but what the f... would you expect?
Now the book was still an okay read but given how much I liked the previous book in the series, this one was definitely a disappointment.
fathershawn's review against another edition
5.0
More SF save the earth fun! I bought the DRM free ebook direct from the publisher at Baen Ebooks.
thesmudge's review against another edition
3.0
This one was ok, not nearly as good as the first two. Big area in the middle about multiculteral groups learning to work together etc, blah! I guess I am glad to have finished the series, but this is the weakest by far.
wetdryvac's review against another edition
1.0
I really like Ringo's writing style. I really like his plotting style. Both were present in this. However.
I don't think I've seen anyone attempt to shag Kipling's The White Man's Burden into the sunset before, and it's decidedly not a pretty thing. The solid writing was there. The solid plotting was there. It just kept - repeatedly - licking the notion that cultures not American were lesser, and doing so in ways that crossed some pretty hard lines.
I would like to think that this got fixed beyond the Advanced Reader's Copy that I ended up with, but that was some pretty seriously baked in racist crap.
I don't think I've seen anyone attempt to shag Kipling's The White Man's Burden into the sunset before, and it's decidedly not a pretty thing. The solid writing was there. The solid plotting was there. It just kept - repeatedly - licking the notion that cultures not American were lesser, and doing so in ways that crossed some pretty hard lines.
I would like to think that this got fixed beyond the Advanced Reader's Copy that I ended up with, but that was some pretty seriously baked in racist crap.
matosapa's review against another edition
3.0
I'm a big John Ringo fan because I think he's got a great way with military stories whether they're set in space, Earth, etc. This was no exception. The first book is mainly the story of one man bootstrapping a space-based military to defend against alien overlords. After that, the technology, battles, and stage keeps growing until the climactic last battle in the third book.
It claims to be a trilogy but not every little sub-plot was wrapped up nicely. That doesn't mean the reader is left dangling (the last book was very good) but I could see him continuing the series.
It claims to be a trilogy but not every little sub-plot was wrapped up nicely. That doesn't mean the reader is left dangling (the last book was very good) but I could see him continuing the series.
thesmudge's review against another edition
3.0
This one was ok, not nearly as good as the first two. Big area in the middle about multiculteral groups learning to work together etc, blah! I guess I am glad to have finished the series, but this is the weakest by far.