John Ringo, Tom Kratman
Rating: Buy, ARC
Tom Kratman's books aren't a favorite of Mrs. Bugbear's perhaps it's the constant oozing of blood making a mess on the bookshelves. I quite enjoy them and despite Kratman's apologist tone in some of his books I quite like his afterwords. But, dammit, I wish that Kratman would include a bibliography. The author's afterwords generally have a warm and inviting tone even as Kratman (and Ringo in their joint works) humorously excoriate various sacred cows of the political left. The one fault of the afterwords is a lack of a recommended reading list.
What to say about the Tuloriad, the book was slow in parts but I often found myself laughing and occasionally teary eyed (not from laughter). Wait for the Kosher Posleen Joke!
Read it you'll likely enjoy the Tuloriad just for the Author's Afterword alone. It's interesting to read a Sci-Fi book that isn't flogging secular humanism for a change.
Showing posts with label Ringo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ringo. Show all posts
20 May 2009
25 March 2009
The Last Centurion
John Ringo
ISBN 1-4165-5553-6
Rating: Buy, Hardcover, New
I've been trying to open most of my reviews of John Ringo's books with the statement that I like his books. It's intended to be a bit of a disclaimer since I may be a bit positively biased towards his books overlooking flaws that I should be mentioning.
I also should mention that I don't always have a good opinion of first person narrative. My complaints about first person narrative are legion perhaps, but let's focus on the positive. There are a few books written employing first person narrative that I've enjoyed. Those few books include the Moon is a Harsh Mistress which, as I mentioned in a prior review, uses dialect in the first person narrative, irritating dialect. Strangely it's the dialect that makes the narrative style more effective because the book comes across as someone telling his own story in his own words rather that some author stuffing prose in the narrator's mouth. Since this blog is an informal medium of communication I tend to write much the same way I speak, I use contractions, vernacular, idiom, colloquialism which is what Heinlein does in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.
The Last Centurion is a first person narrative.
Ringo referred to The Last Centurion as be written blog style. Really I think he just tore a page out of Heinlein's book and used the aforementioned vernacular, idiom and colloquialism to make the book seem like someone telling their own story. Blog style or not Ringo uses the first person narrative very effectively and managed to write an interesting standalone book.
There might be some spoilers below:
The Last Centurion is the story of a farmer's son that joins the US Army. The events in the book take place from 2018 to 2021. The format is that a Bandit Six (our main character) has decided to blog on the events that gave him his notoriety. The first 200 pages could be barely veiled tirade against the theory of anthropogenic global warming. Or the first 200 pages could the introductory object lesson in uncritically accepting the 'facts' the mainstream media peddles to western society. Given that most of the book engages in scathing attacks on the honesty and integrity of western mainstream media I feel that the first 200 pages is perhaps serving double duty.
The book goes on to introduce a viral plague with high mortality leading into a year with no summer. Against this backdrop The Last Centurion plays.
Overall I enjoyed the book. The scaremongering about the cold and plague I can accept in fiction where I can't in journalism. I gave Make Room! Make Room! a scathing review because although similar in scaremongering it didn't have a good story playing on that background but rather was all about the background or setting. To an extent The Last Centurion falls in the same trap but to a far lesser degree. The book isn't just a condemnation of western media but is an engaging and interesting story of one man being in the right place at the right time.
Overall I think this is one of Ringo's better books and I hope that his upcoming books make the same grade.
ISBN 1-4165-5553-6
Rating: Buy, Hardcover, New
I've been trying to open most of my reviews of John Ringo's books with the statement that I like his books. It's intended to be a bit of a disclaimer since I may be a bit positively biased towards his books overlooking flaws that I should be mentioning.
I also should mention that I don't always have a good opinion of first person narrative. My complaints about first person narrative are legion perhaps, but let's focus on the positive. There are a few books written employing first person narrative that I've enjoyed. Those few books include the Moon is a Harsh Mistress which, as I mentioned in a prior review, uses dialect in the first person narrative, irritating dialect. Strangely it's the dialect that makes the narrative style more effective because the book comes across as someone telling his own story in his own words rather that some author stuffing prose in the narrator's mouth. Since this blog is an informal medium of communication I tend to write much the same way I speak, I use contractions, vernacular, idiom, colloquialism which is what Heinlein does in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.
The Last Centurion is a first person narrative.
Ringo referred to The Last Centurion as be written blog style. Really I think he just tore a page out of Heinlein's book and used the aforementioned vernacular, idiom and colloquialism to make the book seem like someone telling their own story. Blog style or not Ringo uses the first person narrative very effectively and managed to write an interesting standalone book.
There might be some spoilers below:
The Last Centurion is the story of a farmer's son that joins the US Army. The events in the book take place from 2018 to 2021. The format is that a Bandit Six (our main character) has decided to blog on the events that gave him his notoriety. The first 200 pages could be barely veiled tirade against the theory of anthropogenic global warming. Or the first 200 pages could the introductory object lesson in uncritically accepting the 'facts' the mainstream media peddles to western society. Given that most of the book engages in scathing attacks on the honesty and integrity of western mainstream media I feel that the first 200 pages is perhaps serving double duty.
The book goes on to introduce a viral plague with high mortality leading into a year with no summer. Against this backdrop The Last Centurion plays.
Overall I enjoyed the book. The scaremongering about the cold and plague I can accept in fiction where I can't in journalism. I gave Make Room! Make Room! a scathing review because although similar in scaremongering it didn't have a good story playing on that background but rather was all about the background or setting. To an extent The Last Centurion falls in the same trap but to a far lesser degree. The book isn't just a condemnation of western media but is an engaging and interesting story of one man being in the right place at the right time.
Overall I think this is one of Ringo's better books and I hope that his upcoming books make the same grade.
25 February 2009
Eye of the Storm
John Ringo
ISBN: 978-1439132739
Rating: Buy, Hardcover, New
I might as well start this review with some disclaimers. I like John Ringo's books. There are a number of reasons but the two most important are his ability to write convincing battle scenes and his sheer output. Ringo is catching up to Weber in terms of number of books in print and has been writing about half as long.
Mrs. Bugbear hates John Ringo though, mostly because when I stick my nose in one of his books I only stop for washroom breaks. Yesterday at noon I started the Advanced Reader's Copy of Eye of the Storm. I finished at 9:30 last night after taking time out to drive home and eat supper.
Eye of the Storm picks up shortly after the end of Honor of the Clan which is his last collaborative effort with Julie Cochrane. With the exception of the Empire of Man series I think that Ringo works better as a solo writer than in collaboration. Eye of the Storm has its faults but it is far and away a better book than Honor of the Clan.
First the strengths, Ringo is a past master at providing gripping battle scenes and does some excellent work at the open and close of the book. He also nicely ties in all the books that he has co-authored in the Posleen universe with the exception of The Hero (with Mad Mike Williamson) which I'm given to understand is no longer canon. The tie-in neatly continues a couple of the most interesting concepts that Ringo and Kratman introduced in Yellow Eyes and Watch on the Rhine. A gripping story and good believable characterization are among the hallmarks of Ringo at his best and Eye of the Storm is no exception.
Now the weaknesses. I generally consider Ringo a good author but he's generally weaker on the emotive side of his stories. The grief that characters should feel in the event of inevitable death (especially in Ringo's Universes) is generally of extremely brief duration, mentioned almost in passing. I feel that in a sense Ringo generally (but not always) squanders the opportunity for the intense scenes that these periods of grief represent. There are exceptions to this rule, Mike O'Neal of course is still grieving the deaths of his wife and all the soldiers he's lost over the years, but O'Neal's grief is more a matter of character than of plot or drama. As I noted its a weakness not a glaring flaw in an otherwise great book.
Still Eye of the Storm was a very good book and has earned definitely earned a place on my bookshelf when it comes out in hardcover in July.
Now I have to finish Storm from the Shadows which I started reading last night.
ISBN: 978-1439132739
Rating: Buy, Hardcover, New
I might as well start this review with some disclaimers. I like John Ringo's books. There are a number of reasons but the two most important are his ability to write convincing battle scenes and his sheer output. Ringo is catching up to Weber in terms of number of books in print and has been writing about half as long.
Mrs. Bugbear hates John Ringo though, mostly because when I stick my nose in one of his books I only stop for washroom breaks. Yesterday at noon I started the Advanced Reader's Copy of Eye of the Storm. I finished at 9:30 last night after taking time out to drive home and eat supper.
Eye of the Storm picks up shortly after the end of Honor of the Clan which is his last collaborative effort with Julie Cochrane. With the exception of the Empire of Man series I think that Ringo works better as a solo writer than in collaboration. Eye of the Storm has its faults but it is far and away a better book than Honor of the Clan.
First the strengths, Ringo is a past master at providing gripping battle scenes and does some excellent work at the open and close of the book. He also nicely ties in all the books that he has co-authored in the Posleen universe with the exception of The Hero (with Mad Mike Williamson) which I'm given to understand is no longer canon. The tie-in neatly continues a couple of the most interesting concepts that Ringo and Kratman introduced in Yellow Eyes and Watch on the Rhine. A gripping story and good believable characterization are among the hallmarks of Ringo at his best and Eye of the Storm is no exception.
Now the weaknesses. I generally consider Ringo a good author but he's generally weaker on the emotive side of his stories. The grief that characters should feel in the event of inevitable death (especially in Ringo's Universes) is generally of extremely brief duration, mentioned almost in passing. I feel that in a sense Ringo generally (but not always) squanders the opportunity for the intense scenes that these periods of grief represent. There are exceptions to this rule, Mike O'Neal of course is still grieving the deaths of his wife and all the soldiers he's lost over the years, but O'Neal's grief is more a matter of character than of plot or drama. As I noted its a weakness not a glaring flaw in an otherwise great book.
Still Eye of the Storm was a very good book and has earned definitely earned a place on my bookshelf when it comes out in hardcover in July.
Now I have to finish Storm from the Shadows which I started reading last night.
31 January 2009
Honor of the Clan
John Ringo and Julie Cochrane
ISBN 1-4165-5591-9
Rating: Buy, Paperback, Used
Mrs. Bugbear isn't a big fan of John Ringo. It might have something to do with having to pry my nose out his books to get me to take out the garbage. Maybe it's the conversations where I ask her what she said, about five to ten minutes after she stopped talking and fed the dog herself. Thank the Lord she has a streak of tolerance a mile wide in her nature or I'd still be single.
While Mrs Bugbear may not be a fan of Ringo, I am. For one large reason, the man has a truly prodigious output. His first work A Hymn before Battle was released in 2000. Ten years and thirty or so books later out comes Honor of the Clan. Julie Cochrane seems to be an up and comer that Baen Books has paired with Ringo for a trilogy. Honor of the Clan is the third book in the trilogy which also includes Cally's War and Sister Time. I understand that Baen may be publishing a solo book by Cochrane but I don't see it on Baen's publishing schedule as of this posting.
The Cally books are subset of the Posleen Universe books, a series that began with A Hymn before Battle. The Cally series follows the adventures of Cally O'Neal, the daughter of the main protaganist in A Hymn before Battle, Mike "Ironman" O'Neal.
I prefer the Mike O'Neal books to the Cally O'Neal books for the simple reason that Ringo writes more to his strengths in the Mike books. Strengths which seem to be battles and lakes of blood and gore. By comparison the more up close and personal violence of Cally O'Neal seems to fall a bit flatter. The Cally books are more dominated by intrigue and the spiritual growth of the assassin, Cally. Despite that preference I still quite enjoyed the first two Cally books and to a lesser extent the third.
Possible Spoilers Below, read at your own risk.
Cally is a member of a family group that has come to be called the Clan O'Neal by the subversive galactic organization the Bane Sidhe. The book begins with the discovery of the Clan O'Neal by the galactics who assign none other than her own father to destroy the clan. Like the prior Cally books it's not fast-paced but as Honor of the Clan is more about intrigue than battle that's not necessarily bad. I was interested enough in the book to keep reading but part of that was Cally who is an appealing character despite her vocation.
Ringo's books generally should be sold wrapped in plastic so the Sci-Fi section in the bookstore doesn't look like a crime scene. Given his proclivity for blood and gore you shouldn't be surprised to see characters die (many characters) and Honor of the Clan is no exception. For some reason one of the many many deaths detracted from my enjoyment of the book. I knew it was coming from very early in the book, I even can see why it was necessary to plot advancement. I just don't feel it was handled well, that is to say Cochrane and Ringo could have done more with the death and with the aftermath. For me it was kind of a glaring flaw in the book. Of course it may factor into the forthcoming Mike O'Neal book Eye of the Storm to be released in July. Honor of the Clan is still strong on characters and storyline which seems to be characteristic of many of the books published by Baen.
So I've rated this one a Buy, PaperBack, Used for the simple reason that I had a sense of dissatisfaction or disaffection when I finished reading it. Used PaperBack is still far far better rating than Burn, Seek Damages from Author for MENTAL ANGUISH that I would assign to all but the most brilliantly written undead romance novels.
I've been looking forward to the next Mike O'Neal book since I finished Hell's Faire the first time. Now if Weber and Ringo would get off their collective firmaments and get the next Prince Roger book written all would right with the Universe.
I guess I better go clean up the blood under the Ringo and Kratman books again, I've read them so often that Mrs. Bugbear's starting to think I'm a serial killer rather than a bibliophile.
ISBN 1-4165-5591-9
Rating: Buy, Paperback, Used
Mrs. Bugbear isn't a big fan of John Ringo. It might have something to do with having to pry my nose out his books to get me to take out the garbage. Maybe it's the conversations where I ask her what she said, about five to ten minutes after she stopped talking and fed the dog herself. Thank the Lord she has a streak of tolerance a mile wide in her nature or I'd still be single.
While Mrs Bugbear may not be a fan of Ringo, I am. For one large reason, the man has a truly prodigious output. His first work A Hymn before Battle was released in 2000. Ten years and thirty or so books later out comes Honor of the Clan. Julie Cochrane seems to be an up and comer that Baen Books has paired with Ringo for a trilogy. Honor of the Clan is the third book in the trilogy which also includes Cally's War and Sister Time. I understand that Baen may be publishing a solo book by Cochrane but I don't see it on Baen's publishing schedule as of this posting.
The Cally books are subset of the Posleen Universe books, a series that began with A Hymn before Battle. The Cally series follows the adventures of Cally O'Neal, the daughter of the main protaganist in A Hymn before Battle, Mike "Ironman" O'Neal.
I prefer the Mike O'Neal books to the Cally O'Neal books for the simple reason that Ringo writes more to his strengths in the Mike books. Strengths which seem to be battles and lakes of blood and gore. By comparison the more up close and personal violence of Cally O'Neal seems to fall a bit flatter. The Cally books are more dominated by intrigue and the spiritual growth of the assassin, Cally. Despite that preference I still quite enjoyed the first two Cally books and to a lesser extent the third.
Possible Spoilers Below, read at your own risk.
Cally is a member of a family group that has come to be called the Clan O'Neal by the subversive galactic organization the Bane Sidhe. The book begins with the discovery of the Clan O'Neal by the galactics who assign none other than her own father to destroy the clan. Like the prior Cally books it's not fast-paced but as Honor of the Clan is more about intrigue than battle that's not necessarily bad. I was interested enough in the book to keep reading but part of that was Cally who is an appealing character despite her vocation.
Ringo's books generally should be sold wrapped in plastic so the Sci-Fi section in the bookstore doesn't look like a crime scene. Given his proclivity for blood and gore you shouldn't be surprised to see characters die (many characters) and Honor of the Clan is no exception. For some reason one of the many many deaths detracted from my enjoyment of the book. I knew it was coming from very early in the book, I even can see why it was necessary to plot advancement. I just don't feel it was handled well, that is to say Cochrane and Ringo could have done more with the death and with the aftermath. For me it was kind of a glaring flaw in the book. Of course it may factor into the forthcoming Mike O'Neal book Eye of the Storm to be released in July. Honor of the Clan is still strong on characters and storyline which seems to be characteristic of many of the books published by Baen.
So I've rated this one a Buy, PaperBack, Used for the simple reason that I had a sense of dissatisfaction or disaffection when I finished reading it. Used PaperBack is still far far better rating than Burn, Seek Damages from Author for MENTAL ANGUISH that I would assign to all but the most brilliantly written undead romance novels.
I've been looking forward to the next Mike O'Neal book since I finished Hell's Faire the first time. Now if Weber and Ringo would get off their collective firmaments and get the next Prince Roger book written all would right with the Universe.
I guess I better go clean up the blood under the Ringo and Kratman books again, I've read them so often that Mrs. Bugbear's starting to think I'm a serial killer rather than a bibliophile.
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