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

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.

If you're a fan of the first two books you may or may not like this one. For all intents and purposes the Dahak series ended with the previous novel. Don't get me wrong, all your favorite characters are all here in this installment and they do have their own little story, but the book isn't really about them anymore. It's about their teenage kids who by way of some diabolical plot end up being lost in space with no means to communicate or get home on their small ship. They do however land on an uncharted 4th empire world, which has descended into a pre-industrial theocratic society with little to no technology, except for an existing computer which can let them send a message home. Unfortunately this computer is guarded fiercely since it has great religious significance and it's defensive weapons may still be intact to protect it. The kids are discovered by a village who have been long time rivals of the church and see them as "Angels" after witnessing what they can do. The governing power of the Church receives word of what's happening and sends an army to put down their long time enemy since they believe they've sided with demons. The kids believing they have caused all this feel guilty and decide to teach the villagers how to defend themselves and improve on their primitive flintlock weapons to beat off "mother church." When the armies of god are defeated, they send even more armies against them, and they defeat more enemies and do this again and again until they finally reach the HQ of the church. There's a huge plot hole which I won't bother to give away, but needless to say this story takes up 3/4 of the book and doesn't even end properly, although it was adequate. If nothing else you won't be bored reading this book, but it is a huge departure from the first two books in the series. Weber went from hardcore space opera to I don't know what. I would have much preferred it that he had a proper sequel to end out the trilogy and then somehow used this story for a fourth book.

This is an anthology of three short stories and a host of technical information (non-story, but about the story universe). The first story is a precursor to one of the David Weber spin-off series about Stephanie Harrington, Honor semi-famous ancestor who was first to befriend a tree cat. I found the story wonderful and it was one of those rare tales that was something I could share with my daughter. Tree cats, an 11 year old girl, and a mystery over celery and an adventure on a wilderness world. What more could you ask for. The second story, by David Drake, another space opera veteran, was also wonderful, but different. Drake's style is very similar to Weber's and the story blends well with the Honor-verse. The third story is actually the untold story of a coup attempt in the Peoples Republic of Haven. The event is referenced with scant details in the long Honor Harrington Series and told in greater detail here. The stile is slightly different than Weber's, darker, smoother and highlights a wonderful thing about the Honor-verse that Weber (with collaboration from others) has created.Weber's "Honor-verse" has room for other great writers to share. The stories from others, like Drake, aren't outside the main story. Where he can, Weber includes their work and allows it to influence his. The reason I stopped reading the first book of the Crown of Slaves trilogy is because it is about a character started by David Drake in a short story in the third anthology. Rather than re-telling it, Weber simply referred to it. I became frustrated looking for the character and where they came from until I found a wiki-Weber-info website that tracked down the story. That highlights one of the few problems with the Honor-verse and all of the stories. I really, really like the way Weber has all of the story plots intertwined with his main Honor Harrington story. I like the spin offs and thse short stories are fabulous for sci-fi shorts. The problem is that they do not fit together seamlessly. The first book might fit in between Honor 8 and 9 of a trilogy and then overlap the next two honor books. The stories use the short stories as background info and setting, or even as fodder for characters but that's hard to track down and requires extra effort to keep straight. Still these are three excellent short stories. You do not have to read any other story to enjoy them. (More the other way around.) I recommend them to anyone who enjoys short sci-fi stories. (Especially the first one.)

Of all the hosts of Eurotas the Troias were the most fell. For they were born of Winter.Between the Solar Array Pumped Laser and Troy, the two trillion ton nickel-iron battlestation created by eccentric billionaire Tyler Vernon, Earth has managed to recapture the Sol system from their Horvath conquerors and begin entering the galactic millieu.But when the Rangora Empire rapidly crushes humanity's only ally it becomes clear the war is just beginning. At the heart of nickel iron and starlight are the people, Marines, Navy and civilians, who make Troy a living, breathing, engine of war. Survivors of apocalypse, they know the cost of failure.If this Troy falls, no one will be left to write the epic.Citadel continues the saga begun in Live Free or Die, following the paths of several characters during the first years of The Spiral Arm Wars culminating in the First Battle of E Eridani.

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.

For eight bloody years, the Star Kingdom of Manticore and its allies have taken the war to the vastly more powerful People's Republic of Haven, and Commodore Honor Harrington has been in the forefront of that war.But now Honor has fallen, captured by the Peep Navy, turned over to the forces of State Security ... and executed on the interstellar network's nightly news.The Manticoran Alliance is stunned and infuriated by Honor's death and grimly resolved to avenge it. Yet their military is over-extended and the People's Republic is poised to take (he offensive once more, this time with a new strategy, new weapons, a new command team, and a whole new determination to win. The war is about to enter a phase of unprecedented ferocity . . . and the Alliance is on the short end of the stick.But even as powerful Peep fleets hurtle towards their objectives, neither they nor the Alliance are aware of events occurring on a distant, isolated, inescapable prison planet called Hell. For what no one knows, not even State Security, is that Honor Harrington is not dead. She and a handful of her people are trapped on Hell, and determined to disprove the Peep boast that no one can ever escape it. Honor Harrington is going home, and taking her people with her... even if she has to conquer Hell to do it.

The Star Kingdom has a new generation of officers! And this elite group hand-picked and trained by Honor Harrington herself is going to be needed immediately, as their first assignment turns out to be more dangerous than anyone expected. What was supposed to be a quiet outpost, far from the blazing conflict between the Star Kingdom of Manticore and the People's Republic of Haven has actually been targeted by an unholy alliance between the slaveholders of Manpower, the rival star kingdoms of Mesa and Monica, and the bureaucrats of the Solarian League. The alliance stands to benefit if the Havenites defeat Manticore, and are preparing for a surprise attack from the rear to divide Manticore's forces, which are already strained nearly to their limits. With their captain, the young Manticoran officers will risk their careers, if not their lives, on an unauthorized mission to expose and counter the threat to their Star Kingdom. Follow their journey as they show what they're made of as New York Times best-selling author David Weber begins a new series that will be a must for the hundreds of thousands of Honor Harrington fans.

AMERICAN FREEDOM AND JUSTICE VS. SEVENTEENTH CENTURY TYRANNY The new Confederated Principalities of Europe-an alliance between Gustavus,king of Sweden, and the West Virginia town, led by Mike Stearns, which was hurled back through time to the thirty years war - has big problems. As the greatest naval war in European history erupts, Cardinal Richelieu has created an alliance to destroy the CPE, and only American technology can save Gustavus from ruin. Meanwhile Mike's wife Rebecca is trapped in war-torn Amsterdam, and his sister Rita is imprisoned in the tower of London. And much as Mike wants to reform tyrannical 17th-century Europe by Sweet Reason, he finds comfort in the fact that Julie, who trained as an Olympic marksman, still has her rifle....

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.

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!

Imperial Intelligence couldn't find them, the Imperial Fleet couldn't catch them, and local defenses couldn't stop them. It seemed the planet-wrecking pirates were invincible. But they made a big mistake when they raided ex-commando leader Alicia DeVries' quiet home work, tortured and murdered her family, and then left her for dead. Alicia decided to turn "pirate" herself, and stole a cutting-edge AI ship from the Empire to start her vendetta. Her fellow veterans think she's gone crazy, the Imperial Fleet has shoot-on-sight orders. And of course the pirates want her dead, too. But Alicia DeVries has two allies nobody knows about, allies as implacable as she is: a self-aware computer, and a creature from the mists of Old Earth's most ancient legends. And this trio of furies won't rest until vengeance is served.In Fury Born is a greatly expanded new version of David Weber's popular novel Path of the Fury, which has gone through six large printings in its original mass market edition. David Weber has added considerable new material, revealing the earlier life of Alicia DeVries before she embarked on her mission of vengeance, and illuminating the universe of the original story. The result is a novel with almost twice the wordage of the original, and a must-buy for all David Weber fans.

Beginning a new blockbuster series set in the "Honorverse"-the universe of Honor Harrington. The Star Kingdom's ally Erewhon is growing increasingly restive in the alliance because the new High Ridge regime ignores its needs. Add to that the longstanding problem of a slave labor planet controlled by hostile Mesans in Erewhon's stellar back yard, a problem which High Ridge also ignores. Finally, the recent assassination of the Solarian League's most prominent voice of public conscience indicates the growing danger of political instability in the Solarian League - which is also close to Erewhon. In desperation, Queen Elizabeth tries to defuse the situation by sending a private mission to Erewhon led by Captain Zilwicki, accompanied by one of her nieces. When they arrive on Erewhon, however, Manticore's most capable agent and one of its princesses find themselves in a mess. Not only do they encounter one of the Republic of Haven's most capable agents - Victor Cachat - but they also discover that the Solarian League's military delegation seems up to its neck in skullduggery. And, just to put the icing on the cake, the radical freed slave organization, the Audubon Ballroom, is also on the scene - led by its most notorious killer, Jeremy X.

Honor Harrington - już jako pełnoprawny oficer Królewskiej Marynarki i dowódca eskadry - wypełniając rozkaz, wpada w zasadzkę urządzoną przez wyjątkowo uzdolnionego admirała. Ma dwa wyjścia: stoczyć bitwę, w której straci okręt i załogę, albo poddać jednostkę i uratować ludzi. Wybiera to drugie, na honorowych warunkach. Okazuje się jednak, że w Ludowej Republice Haven politycy mają więcej do powiedzenia od admirałów. Honor ląduje na pokładzie okrętu Urzędu Bezpieczeństwa, którego celem jest więzienna planeta Piekło, gdzie ma się odbyć jej egzekucja. Przyszłość rysuje się w czarnych barwach, ale Honor Harrington nigdy nie traci nadziei.

I didn't realize this was part of a series when I got it, and thus began in the middle of the action. That didn't turn out to matter - Weber does a great job of catching the reader up so that I could completely follow what was going on.The book reads much like Honor Harrington books. Sure there are different characters and different technology, but if I were to have picked it up without knowing who the author was, I'd have had a really good chance of guessing who the author was. This wasn't a negative for me, but if you like novelty in novels, then this may not be the book for you (Harrington is better as a series, so if you're choosing one, go for the Harrington series).There were nice touches in this - the alien enemy has twelve fingers instead of ten, and thus their math system is all in base twelve, which affects their language, technology, cultural organization, etc. Weber is consistent in applying that logic, and it works. Similarly, he has clearly thought through the implications of the tech he created and world builds around it in interesting ways. The biggest downside is a particular character who inexplicably speaks in archaic (i.e. Shakespearian jargon) and also is both whiny and overly emotional. I ended up skimming through every scene she was in, which made those parts more tolerable, but since she is a fairly major character, meant that I did more skimming than I'd like to do. I almost docked this a star for that character alone, but felt that was probably too harsh a reaction. In the end, I'm glad I picked this up, as it was a pleasant read. But I wasn't so enthusiastic about it that I'd recommend it to anybody, unless they were looking specifically for a series similar to the Honor Harrington series.

A space adventure with a strong female character in the tradition of Sassinak and Generation Warriors--by the bestselling author of Mutineers' Moon. The "invincible", planet-wrecking pirates made a big mistake when they raided ex-commando leader Alicia DeVries' quiet home world and murdered her family. The Imperial forces seem helpless against the marauders so Alicia decides to turn pirate herself--by stealing an Imperial ship to carry out her vendetta.

4.5 stars. The Dahak trilogy, which includes Mutineers' Moon, The Armageddon Inheritance and Heirs of Empire is superb military space opera. I believe it belongs on the "must read" list of all fans of the genre. One thing I found that set this apart from typical "military" based science fiction is the development of the main characters and the focus on their relationships and how much they respect and care for each other. I especially liked the growth of the relationship between Colin McIntyre (the main character) and Dahak (the sentient spaceship he commands). Therefore, don't let the military tag turn you off if you don't typically read that sub-genre as this is high quality science fiction. HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION!!!

The Star Kingdom of Manticore and the Republic of Haven have been enemies for Honor Harrington's entire life, and she has paid a price for the victories she's achieved in that conflict. And now the unstoppable juggernaut of the mighty Solarian League is on a collision course with Manticore. The millions who have already died may have been only a foretaste of the billions of casualties just over the horizon, and Honor sees it coming.She's prepared to do anything, risk anything, to stop it, and she has a plan that may finally bring an end to the Havenite Wars and give even the Solarian League pause. But there are things not even Honor knows about. There are forces in play, hidden enemies in motion, all converging on the Star Kingdom of Manticore to crush the very life out of it, and Honor's worst nightmares fall short of the oncoming reality.But Manticore's enemies may not have thought of everything after all. Because if everything Honor Harrington loves is going down to destruction, it won't be going alone.

There he was in his sailboat in the middle of the Atlantic, all alone and loving it. Well, there was a US Navy carrier group on his southern horizon, but he was US Navy himself, so he didn't mind. Then came the UFOs, hurtling in from the Outer Black to overfly the carriers at Mach 17. Their impossible aeronautics were bad enough - but then they started shooting at each other. And at the Navy. With nukes. Little ones at first, but winding up with a 500 megatonner at 90 miles that fried every piece of electronics within sight. Richard Ashton thought he was just a ringside observer to these now over-the-horizon events. Until the crippled alien lifeboat came drifting down and homed in on his sailboat; suddenly he had his hands full of an unconscious, critially wounded alien warrior - who just happened to be a gorgeous female, too. And that was when it began to get really interesting...