The invaders are coming: the Posleen, a seemingly unstoppable horde who have conquered one star system after another, literally feeding on their conquests. Earth's dubious allies, the Darhel, have given the humans a number of highly-advanced technological devices, including a process for rejuvenating the aged, which has returned to service trained and proven soldiers who otherwise would be too old to fight. In the dark days after the initial Posleen attack, but before the primary invasion, the Chancellor of Germany faces a critical decision. Over the years, with military cutbacks, the store of experienced German military personnel had simply dwindled. After the destruction of Northern Virginia, he realized that it was necessary to tap the one group he had sworn never, ever, to recall: the few remaining survivors of the Waffen SS. Has he made a bargain with the devil, or is this a chance for the reviled SS at last to fight the good fight, and, perhaps, gain redemption? "Watch On the Rhine", is a new chapter, and a "side-story", in the best-selling Posleen War saga.

Cally O'Neal is officially dead. In her over forty years of being an active secret agent she hasn't used her real name, much less spoken to her sister. So when Michelle interrupts an important mission, by seemingly appearing out of thin air, it's an unexpected reunion. This highly anticipated sequel to the New York Times best seller Cally’s War features the return of Michelle O'Neal, the first human Sohon mentat. Sister Time is about life, love and covert operations amongst the universe's ultimate dysfunctional family.

Cally O'Neal was trained from childhood as a premier killer. Officially listed as dead, for the past forty years she has lived a life of aliases, random lovers and targeted assassinations. This has led her to become the top in her profession, undefeatable, invulnerable. And in the process, she has lost her soul. Now she, and the man she loves, must battle to reclaim it. But Cally will find that leaving her dark world of shadow identities, murder-for-hire, and deadly secrets will be more difficult than any of the many lethal operations she carried out in the past. Her employers think she knows too much to live, and the scores of enemies she has made still have her at the top of their hit lists. The real question is, will she win her soul only to lose her life?

Prince Roger MacClintock was an heir to the galaxy's Throne of Man-and a self-obsessed spoiled young brat . . . until he and the Royal Marines sent to protect him were stranded on Marduk with only their feet to get them half way around the entire planet. So far, they've traversed a continent, crossed a sea full of ship-eating monsters, taken over an enemy spaceport, and hijacked a starship. But they're not home-free yet, because home is no longer free. In Roger's absence, a palace coup by enemies of the MacClintock family has seized control of the Empire. His mother the Empress is a captive in the palace and even in her own body, drugged so that her will is not her own. Roger's bother, the heir to the throne, is dead. And Roger himself has been branded an outlaw and traitor. Roger and his faithful band of human marines and native alien warriors have beaten the barbarian planet Marduk. Now they must re-conquer an interstellar empire. But they aren't about to give up, and with the help of those on the throne planet who are still loyal to the Empress they will infiltrate (under cover of a restaurant specializing in exotic Mardukan dishes, no less), they will make anyone who gets in their way (such as local mobsters who make the mistake of kidnapping Roger's fiancé) very sorry that they did, and they will not rest until the rightful ruler has been restored. Once again, a lot of power-hungry people are going to learn a hard lesson: You do not, ever, mess with a MacClintock!

The Posleen are coming and the models all say the same thing: Without the Panama Canal, the US is doomed to starvation and defeat. Despite being overstretched preparing to defend the US, the military sends everything it has left: A handful of advanced Armored Combat Suits, rejuvenated veterans from the many decades that Panama was a virtual colony and three antiquated warships. Other than that, the Panamanians are on their own. Replete with detailed imagery of the landscape, characters and politics that have made the jungle-infested peninsula a Shangri-La for so many over the years, "Yellow Eyes" is a hard-hitting look at facing a swarming alien horde with not much more than wits and guts. Fortunately, the Panamanians, and the many veterans that think of it as a second home, have plenty of both.

Intense. The Darhel are not too happy about the "deletion" of the Epetar group and they are striking back. DAG dependents and Indowy are being slaughtered, the Bane Sidhe are on the run, and Clan O'Neal is under the gun from enemies and allies alike. Even "Iron Mike" O'Neal is brought back to Earth to fight this particular fight but does he realize whose side he's on?? Even Cally's husband, Stewart, is needed but can his need to wheel-and-deal be used to help or hurt the O'Neals?Tragedy runs amuck in Honor of the Clan and, although some of the issues which arise are settled, the big conflicts brought up remain unsettled. I'm not sure how I can wait for The Eye of the Storm.

In an instant the world changed for Lieutenant General Michael O'Neal. Having reached the end of their usefulness his beloved Corps, the last remaining ACS, are destroyed at the order of the Darhel, by their own Fleet. His staff are shot before his eyes, and he is arrested on the charge of war crimes. He faces a short, one-sided, trial, a trip to the Fleet Penal Facility and a bullet to the back of the head while trying to 'escape'. Yet all is not lost. Just as O'Neal faces certain death an entirely new and more powerful alien enemy threatens the galactic status quo, including the dominant Darhel themselves. This new threat requires that O'Neal take command of all military forces and wage war to save his enemies and humanity.

Military SF and combat. Is it just me or is this like a bad TV sci fi show? Actual quote from page 424After reading A Hymn Before Battle, I knew that Ringo could write great combat scenes and fun, cheesey characters. In Gust Front, the quality of the large scale battle is compromised by too frequent and poorly executed changes in perspective. In When the Devil Dances, Ringo takes the main weakness of the previous book and applies it to the entire book switching back and forth among multiple and unrelated story lines, not just among different vantage points of a large engagement. The effect on combat scenes is disruptive. The worst part of changing to a different story line during a battle is that when Ringo returns to it, large portions have transpired. Why would anybody read this except for the battle scenes? Apparently Ringo has become such an accomplished writer that now his books can carry themselves without the action. With that in mind things get odd while going downhill.Ringo delivers a story line centered on Elgars, a minor character from Gust Front. She now has amnesia so complete she can't speak correctly yet retains her combat skills. The writing of her speech impediment is so incomprehensible that it shouldn't have been written at all. This is an example of an idiotic idea coupled with a corny cliche. These mashups were entertaining and humorous in A Hymn but this is just plain stupid. Later the reasons for Elgar's condition are revealed. It's a SF idea that can be tolerated if it serves a purpose but Elgars doesn't ever do anything significant military wise to justify such a ridiculous premise. Ringo writes unlikely family scenes and delves into girl talk including how to know when it's the right time to have sex for the first time and how to put on make up. It reads like a 12 year old boy made these conversations up. Awful! In addition to taking on feminine topics, things get a little sloppy. O'Neal is now 5'4" instead of 5'2". The consequences of sniping God Kings has changed, or has it? The Elgars group has access to a repair, rejuve, upgrade machine and ignore poor Kelly who has been shot in the leg. Kelly's wound isn't even mentioned again. I guess she walked it off. The extremely disorganized narrative gets more disorganized with chapter breaks in unnecessary places while missing breaks where needed. What seemed like a minor subplot became a major plot and in fact becomes the center of the so-called climax and the end of the book. There is no actual climax just a handy place to end the book. This is a rambling account not a novel.Ringo apologizes for this book's flaws in the afterword of Hell's Faire. At least he realizes there is a problem. The only reason this is 2 stars instead of 1 is because I enjoy the combat scenes when Ringo sticks with them. Hopefully the next book picks up seamlessly from when this ends because obviously it just isn't finished. If there is backstory and explanation I don't know if I can bear to read it. 

With the defenses of the Southern Appalachians sundered, the only thing standing between the ravening Posleen hordes and the soft interior of the Cumberland Plateau are the veterans of 555th Mobile Infantry. Dropped into Rabun Pass, with a couple of million Posleen behind them and fourteen million to the front, the only question is which will run out first: power, bullets or bodies. But they have a hole card: far to the north the shattered SheVa Nine is undergoing a facelift. Rising from its smoking ashes is a new weapon of war, armed with the most advanced weaponry Terra has ever produced, capable of facing both the Posleen hordes and their redoubtable space-cruisers. Capable of dealing out hell as only SheVa Nine can. If Mike O'Neal and the other members of the 555th are going to survive, it will come down to how much Posleen butt Bun-bun can kick. Prepare to eat antimatter, Posleen-boy.

Crikey...talk about overcoming steep odds with gusto, verve and quality execution, Mr. Ringo somehow succeeded in making me “really like this” book despite its having some serious obstacles holding back its rating potential:First: Bean books, without doubt, have the dumbest, most "short bus" looking covers of any publishing company I have ever read. Just picking one up makes you feel very duuuuuuh. They are so bad you have to treat them like porn and wrap them in brown shelf-paper to read them in public (thank you e-books and my iPad for the nice camouflage). Second: Military SF is not generally my bag...baby... and so it has to be really interesting to keep my attention. I hate stories that are nothing more than an endless serious of battle sequences fought by idiotic meatheads against evil idiotic meatheads. Third: A 750 page Military SF story…are you kidding me? This could have been more painful than a sandpaper loofer on a third degree burn. However, despite the above, Gust Front succeeds very well and turns out to be among the best examples of military SF I have yet come across. I thoroughly enjoyed it. BACKSTORY:This is second installment of [???] in the Posleen War series (aka The Legend of the Aldenata). In short, a Galactic Federation of pleasant seeming, but ulterior motive-hiding, pacifist aliens recruit the human race to be their cannon fodder soldiers in a war against an aggressive race known as the Posleen. In exchange for humanity’s help, the aliens provide us with advanced technology (rejuvenation serums, battle armor, artificial intelligence devices, etc.). Since the Posleen are on their way to Earth anyway, we have little choice but to accept the aliens help and agree to fight for them. Rather than do a full repeat on both the Galactic Federation and the Posleen, I will now pimp out my previous review for book one which you can check out at right now, go read it right now your leisure: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/.... PLOT SUMMARY:Book 2 begins with the Posleen advancing towards Earth with an ETA of about 2 years. The nations of Earth have, for the most part, put away their nationalistic pissing contests and childish flag waving in favor of staying alive and are cooperating in a global mobilization and military preparedness campaign. Meanwhile, select divisions of battle-armored soldiers have begun engaging the Posleen in hopes of giving Earth more time to prepare for the inevitable invasion. It is all very 300-like and quite well done. SOME THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THIS BOOK:In deciding whether this book is right for you (assuming you have gotten by the cover, the military SF sub-genre and the 750 pages), here are a few elements to consider:1. This book is laid out with a very “epic” feel to it and the scope of the story is vast. This is one of the elements that sold me on the book as I would much rather read about the planning and the background than the actual battles which I generally find chaotic and hard to follow. Thus, a big bonus for me was that almost two-thirds of the 750 pages are taken up preparing for the Posleen’s arrival on Earth. With the panic and breakdown of society that occurs as a result, and the hoarding of food and equipment, there is a certain post-apocalyptic/survivalist vibe to story which adds a nice element to the plot. 2. This book is gung ho. Really gung ho. As GUNG HO as gung ho gets. The military, especially the sergeants and grunts, are definitely the heroes, and there is a very eye for an eye tone to the story. Killing the bad guys is the mission and there shall be no further discussion about that. Peace will be achieved when the last Posleen is a smoking corpse over which we roast marshmallows and drink whiskey. This is Patton meets Rambo meets Inglourious Basterds meets Independence Day meets Aliens meets some other movies that I can’t think of right now. For example, when asked how best to attack the Posleen, one character responds, “nuke em till they glow and then shoot 'em in the dark.”You get the idea. 3. While not burdened (or enhanced depending on your viewpoint) with the heavy techno-detail of your typical Tom Clancy novel, there is a significant amount of time devoted to strategy and tactics to be employed against the invading aliens. As I mentioned in 1 above, this was some of the most interesting parts of the story. However, if you could care less about hearing the various responsibilities of the global fighting force and how they undertake to prepare for the Posleen, you may find this a bit of a plod. 4. There is significant time spent getting to know a fairly large group of characters (mostly soldiers) as they carry out their little piece of the puzzle. While I would not say deep, emotional character development is one of this story’s strong suits, we do get to enough to at least be able to cheer for them. THOUGHTS:This is the second volume is a large, epic story-line and I thought Ringo does a great job of keeping his story interesting while really doing little more than “stage setting” for future novels. The last 150-200 pages move extremely quickly as the opening salvos of the invasion begin and the battle scenes are very well done without becoming overly bogged down in minutia. I also thought the writing was effective and struck the right balance of macho and rah rah without falling into groan-inducing: \
  Mueller paused, his face hard as he remembered the results of following incompetent orders. The general whose bright idea it had been had never even commented, not even obliquely apologized. Just handed out the medals, tapped them on the shoulders and went on to his next star.\
…Ringo peppered the narrative with a lot of slick phrases like “went on to his next star” and that was something that added to my enjoyment of the tale. Overall, I was very pleasantly surprised. The writing was engaging…The enemies are ruthless but interesting…The good guys are tough and intelligent…The federation races are well-drawn and compelling in their hidden nefariousness…The technology is fascinating and complements to plot…andThe scope of the overall storyline is epic and a lot of fun. For someone who needs something extra to become engaged in military SF, I thought Ringo did exactly what he needed to do. He also won me over as a fan of this series and I look forward to continuing it the next time I am up for some well done, gung ho action. 4.0 stars. Highly Recommended.

MILITARY SF that hits the G-SPOT and causes a FULL ON HAPPY!! Interesting POLITICS, unique ALIEN CULTURES, intelligent PLOTTING, engaging CHARACTERS...oh yeah, and lots and lots of: \
  \
4.5 stars. I’ve said before that I like military SF, but it is not the sub-genre that I intend to settle down with and spend the rest of my life. Therefore, I am fairly prudish and selective about the books I engage with in this category. Well book bachelors and bachelorettes, this book is definitely ROSE WORTHY as it is among the best military science fiction I have ever come across. The reason I don’t read much military SF is that it is usually lacking in creative world-building/back story, interesting aliens and cultures and three dimensional characters. These are all things I enjoy. This book does a righteous job of being a high octane, shoot em’ up battle saga while at the same time introducing and setting up the series with a kick-glute back-story, some unique alien cultures and a highly evolved political dynamic. BACK STORY:The novel concerns humanity being recruited by a Galactic Federation of alien races in order to assist them in battling a powerful and belligerent race known as the Posleen. Most of the other alien races are extreme pacifists with no ability to engage in warfare despite their high degree of technology and intelligence (kind of buying in the theory that once a culture reaches a certain level of technology and growth, they are more likely to be peaceful). Thus, they want to recruit humanity, with all of our saucy, neat-o-rrific killing skills, to get our WAR ON and be their soldiers***. ***Note: This is very similar in theme to A Call to Arms by Alan Dean Foster. As for as the aliens, the Galactic Federation is made up of some pretty interesting societies which include:Darhel: The bankers and de facto rulers of the GalFed who may not be as nice guyish as they would have the humans believe….Hey just like on Earth, Indowy: The engineers and technicians who supply most of the equipment and technology to the GalFed, Tchpth: The philosophers and scientists of the federation; and Himmit: An extremely secretive race that may be MUCH more powerful than they let on. I thought the descriptions of the aliens and their “less than altruistic” motives and political maneuvering made for interesting reading and added a depth to the story that is sorely lacking in other books of the genre. In addition, the Posleen make really nasty bad guys which makes for a better story. They are described as large, reptilian centaurs that are bred to fight and mentally controlled by a select number of powerful “God Kings” which make up the ruling hierarchy of the society. Somewhat reminiscent of the “bugs” from both Ender’s Game and Starship Troopers. Overall, I really enjoyed this and look forward to reading the sequel. While having all of the extensive discussions of tactics and training and battle details that are the hallmarks of military SF, the narrative managed to stay engaging, fun and compelling with a wonderful back story. Highly Recommended!!! 

The Legacy of the Aldenatta series by John Ringo (aka The Posleen War)

Books - Legacy of the Aldenatta by John Ringo

book

Xander Snyder

Galaxy's Edge series by Jason Anspach and Nick Cole (NOT STAR WARS)

Books in the Honor Harrington universe by David Weber

Books - Honorverse

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The Empire of Man series by David Weber and John Ringo

About Prince Roger Ramius Sergei Alexander Chang McClintok heir tertiary to the Throne of Man. 

Books - The Empire of Man series by David Weber and John Ringo

1986-1989 Japanese anime television series

Anime

Adventure

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Books, Movies, and Shows that fit the Military Science Fiction genre

American science fiction and military fiction author

Mil-SciFi

Troy Rising series by John Ringo

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