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kathydavie's review against another edition
5.0
The action in this novel was incredible. I had to take a break from reading it just to get my breath back! Excellent!
droar's review against another edition
2.0
Military sci-fi (military anything really) is just so very much not my thing that I went into this read expecting the worst. It wasn't the worst, but it wasn't exactly a delight. Jumping into book 2 in a series is not a great plan to begin with but it was a relatively smooth transition aside from the never ending rotation of character introductions in the first half dozen chapters (I started taking notes and the cast starts with 7 distinct character groups, totaling 45 recurring characters. I regret not starting a spreadsheet, & am totally planning on leaving my cheat sheets in the book when I return it). The most nessicary bits of info from book one are exposition dumped early on so we're a-ok story wise & I'm not sure there's any keeping up with all these characters anyway so I wasn't sweating the recurring people either.
One of my biggest issues with this book is that Ringo is Very found of the military jargon and I am just not. He feels determined to murder me with word salad in the opening chapters, but it subsided (for a time) before returning with a vengeance in the back half of the novel. That aside, I did really enjoy the less militaristic/more generally human sections of the story, the fishing town in Florida, the citizen rallying in Virginia, the snapshots of regular people reacting to an unthinkable alien invasion. It's intense and emotional stuff that, in Ringo's world at least, brings out the best in the standard (American) citizen. Buuuuuuut, he front loaded those bits and then went hard in the military strategy/war games paint for the last half of the book and I just could not deal. A fellow book-club hooligan gleefully labeled it 'battle porn' and can I just say
In the end, I really can't recommend this book to anyone but the most seasoned of Military sci-fi fans (whom I assume are already familiar).
One of my biggest issues with this book is that Ringo is Very found of the military jargon and I am just not. He feels determined to murder me with word salad in the opening chapters, but it subsided (for a time) before returning with a vengeance in the back half of the novel. That aside, I did really enjoy the less militaristic/more generally human sections of the story, the fishing town in Florida, the citizen rallying in Virginia, the snapshots of regular people reacting to an unthinkable alien invasion. It's intense and emotional stuff that, in Ringo's world at least, brings out the best in the standard (American) citizen. Buuuuuuut, he front loaded those bits and then went hard in the military strategy/war games paint for the last half of the book and I just could not deal. A fellow book-club hooligan gleefully labeled it 'battle porn' and can I just say
In the end, I really can't recommend this book to anyone but the most seasoned of Military sci-fi fans (whom I assume are already familiar).
coniferus's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Firstly, can we laugh together for a moment over how completely awful the cover art for this book is? I mean COME ON. How did that get the green light?! I can’t imagine Ringo liked it either. ANYway…
Almost the whole first half is setup, but wasn’t boring, and the rest was battle battle battle. So if you’re in the mood for crunchy military sci-fi this will scratch the itch.
While the enemy is scary and powerful, they are incredibly stupid to the point of unbelievability. It’s addressed in a hand-wavy fashion, sure, but you just need to get over it to enjoy this book. If the Posleen had even a slight inkling of adaptability or creativity, humanity wouldn’t have stood a chance.
Gust Front’s storytelling was much better than the first entry in the series. Tighter. Less misogyny (though it’s still there). Some odious political opinions distracting thrust in there a few times. Product of the times, I suppose, pre-9/11 turn-of-the-century US had common attitudes now old enough to be rather dated and less accepted.
Almost the whole first half is setup, but wasn’t boring, and the rest was battle battle battle. So if you’re in the mood for crunchy military sci-fi this will scratch the itch.
While the enemy is scary and powerful, they are incredibly stupid to the point of unbelievability. It’s addressed in a hand-wavy fashion, sure, but you just need to get over it to enjoy this book. If the Posleen had even a slight inkling of adaptability or creativity, humanity wouldn’t have stood a chance.
Gust Front’s storytelling was much better than the first entry in the series. Tighter. Less misogyny (though it’s still there). Some odious political opinions distracting thrust in there a few times. Product of the times, I suppose, pre-9/11 turn-of-the-century US had common attitudes now old enough to be rather dated and less accepted.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, War, Blood, Violence, and Gun violence
Minor: Rape
pjonsson's review
3.0
This is one of the books that I read just because I really want to finish what I have started and since I started the Posleen War series, I wanted to finish it even though I didn’t really enjoy the first book that much. There are very few series that have been so bad that I have decided not to finish them.
Having said that, I did enjoy this book in the series more than the first one. This is probably due to the fact that the ratio of actual fighting and political bullshit is in favor of the fighting in this installment.
The Darhel and their scheming is not at all as much present in this book as in the previous one although they still lurk around and throws sand in the machinery every now and then. Sure enough there’s a fair amount of political nonsense which is preventing the book from getting anything more than 3 Goodread’s stars.
Again, humanity is on the verge of being invaded and the survival of humanity itself is in question and the politicians repeatedly makes strategical decisions based on the perceived impact on the administrations ratings in the next election instead of sound military reasoning. What the f… is that? I think not even the European Union plonkers in Brussels would be that stupid and these people are more disconnected from reality than most.
Luckily the non-political (read combat) parts of the book manages to weigh up the bullshit enough in this book to make it a reasonably enjoyable read. John Ringo is quite good at writing marine combat scenes. As in the first book are a few interesting “hero” characters which spices things up nicely. The author also dives a little bit more into the thinking of the Posleen which opens up some interesting avenues for the following books.
In all I think I might have made a good decision not to ditch this series after the first book.
Having said that, I did enjoy this book in the series more than the first one. This is probably due to the fact that the ratio of actual fighting and political bullshit is in favor of the fighting in this installment.
The Darhel and their scheming is not at all as much present in this book as in the previous one although they still lurk around and throws sand in the machinery every now and then. Sure enough there’s a fair amount of political nonsense which is preventing the book from getting anything more than 3 Goodread’s stars.
Again, humanity is on the verge of being invaded and the survival of humanity itself is in question and the politicians repeatedly makes strategical decisions based on the perceived impact on the administrations ratings in the next election instead of sound military reasoning. What the f… is that? I think not even the European Union plonkers in Brussels would be that stupid and these people are more disconnected from reality than most.
Luckily the non-political (read combat) parts of the book manages to weigh up the bullshit enough in this book to make it a reasonably enjoyable read. John Ringo is quite good at writing marine combat scenes. As in the first book are a few interesting “hero” characters which spices things up nicely. The author also dives a little bit more into the thinking of the Posleen which opens up some interesting avenues for the following books.
In all I think I might have made a good decision not to ditch this series after the first book.
wetdryvac's review against another edition
4.0
Ob right, that's this book. Well, OK then.
It is an utterly fascinating hodgepodge, with some serious good bits.
Contains rape.
It is an utterly fascinating hodgepodge, with some serious good bits.
Contains rape.
dray's review against another edition
5.0
These books grow on you. this second book is delicious. You know, from reading the first, how he is building up the tension to a long climactic battle, this time set on earth. Im not a super knowledgeable military person but Ringo portrays the military life fairly well, at least to my uneducated eye. Certainly readable and Im on to the third.
vailynst's review against another edition
3.0
Notes:
- Ringo has a good idea of where places are and how to use that in the story.
- I like the way snippets of family life and the way kids act.
- Still, even if women are shown as strong, the overall attitude is male dominated blah blah. There's the one rape incident that seemed to have zero after affects on the woman. That's rather ridiculous as a portrayal, but it also had to do with that being a minor character that isn't as well developed within the large scope of things.
- Ringo has a good idea of where places are and how to use that in the story.
- I like the way snippets of family life and the way kids act.
- Still, even if women are shown as strong, the overall attitude is male dominated blah blah. There's the one rape incident that seemed to have zero after affects on the woman. That's rather ridiculous as a portrayal, but it also had to do with that being a minor character that isn't as well developed within the large scope of things.
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