Books - Troy Rising series by 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.

The sequel to Into the Looking Glass. William Weaver, PhD. and SEAL Chief Adams are back and Bill got himself a ship! The former SSBN Nebraska has been converted, using mostly garage mechanics and baling wire, into a warp ship ready to go "out there." But as everyone knows, the people who really are going to bear the brunt are the poor Security guys, Force Recon Marines who are kept in the dark and fed manure all day. That is until they land on an alien planet, get partially wiped out and then load back up again. Ranging in topics from the best gun to kill armored space monsters to particle physics to cosmology to health and beauty tips, Vorpal Blade is a return to the "good old days" of SF when the science problems were intractable and the beasts were ugly. The monkeys are out in the space lanes and ready to rock. As soon as they get another roll of duct tape.

\ A Bad Neighborhood\ "Always Faithful." That was the IMC motto, and the Marines of Bravo Company, Bronze Battalion, of the Empress' Own Regiment, lived by it...even if they did occasionally wonder why they bothered. After all, Prince Roger MacClintock, Tertiary Heir to the Throne of Man, was a real piece of work. A spoiled rotten, arrogant, whiny, terminally handsome, thoroughly useless young pain in the butt. But that was before the Royal Brat and his body guards were marooned on Marduk by an assassination attempt. Before they found themselves facing 120° heat in jungles where it rained five or six hours a day...during the dry season. Before they had to march half way around the entire planet, through damnbeasts, Capetoads, killerpillars, and atul-grak. Before they encountered treacherous local potentates, barbarian migrations, and an ocean full of sea serpents that could swallow a topsail schooner whole. Under the right circumstances, even the most spoiled brat can grow up fast, and it turns out that under his petulant, spoiled exterior, Prince Roger is a true MacClintock, a scion of the warrior dynasty which created the Empire of Man a thousand years before. The Marines assigned to guard him have discovered a new belief in him — and in their motto — and they're determined that they will get him off of Marduk aIive. Of course, the planet has other ideas...

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 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.

Books 3 and 4 in the New York Times best-selling Empire of Man series: March to the Stars and We Few, both New York Times bestsellers.Prince Roger MacClintock was an heir to the galaxy's Throne of Man and a self-obsessed spoiled young brat—that is, until he and the Royal Marines sent to protect him were stranded by an assassination attempt on the wild and dangerous planet of Marduk. After much travail, Roger has developed into a competent and compassionate leader of men. That competence will be tested when Roger and the Marines face an even greater challenge. The Throne of Man has been usurped. With his brother dead and the forces of an interstellar empire arrayed against him, Roger must avenge his family and fight for the just rule of a thousand stars.At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).About The Empire of Man Series:"Will fascinate sophisticated readers (the manual of arms for a four-armed, ten-foot soldier is a thing of beauty) . . . [and] grip straightforward action lovers."—Publishers Weekly"Coauthors Weber and Ringo excel in depicting the lives and times of soldiers both on and off the battlefield."—Library JournalDavid Weber is the science fiction publishing phenomenon of the new millennium, with over 7.8 million copies of his books in print and 17 titles on the New York Times bestseller list. Books in the Honor Harrington and Honoverse series have appeared on fourteen best seller lists, including those of The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and USA Today. Weber is also the creator of the Oath of Swords fantasy series and the Dahak saga. Weber has also written highly popular collaborations, including his Starfire Series with Steve White, the New York Times bestseller The Shiva Option among others. Weber’s collaboration with alternate history master Eric Flint led to the bestselling 1634: The Baltic War. His planetary adventure novels with military science fiction ace John Ringo includes the blockbusters March to the Stars and We Few. Weber has also emerged as a young adult New York Times best-selling author with his novels, A Beautiful Friendship and Fire Season. Weber makes his home in South Carolina with his wife and children.John Ringo brings fighting to life. He is the creator of the Posleen Wars series, which has become a New York Times best-selling series with over 3.3 million books in print and 10 New York Times bestsellers. The series contains A Hymn Before Battle, Gust Front, When the Devil Dances, Hell’s Faire and Eye of the Storm. In addition, Ringo has penned the Council War series: There Will be Dragons, Emerald Sea, Against the Tide, and East of the Sun, West of the Moon. Adding another dimension to his skills, Ringo created nationally best-selling techno-thriller novels about Mike Harmon (Ghost, Kildar, Choosers of the Slain, Unto the Breach, A Deeper Blue, and, with Ryan Sear, Tiger by the Tail). His techno-thriller The Last Centurion was also a national best seller.

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!!!

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?

Baen now launches an exciting new science fiction adventure series by the New York Times best-selling author: When a 60-kiloton explosion destroyed the University of Central Florida, and much of the surrounding countryside, the authorities first thought that terrorists had somehow obtained a nuclear weapon. But there was no radiation detected, and, when physicist Dr. William Weaver and Navy SEAL Command Master Chief Robert Miller were sent to investigate, they found that in the center of the destruction, where the University¿s physics department used to be, was an interdimensional gateway to . . . somewhere. An experiment in subatomic physics had produced a very unexpected effect. Furthermore, other gateways were appearing all over the world¿and one of them immediately began disgorging demonic visitors intent on annihilating all life on Earth and replacing it with their own. Other, apparently less hostile, aliens emerged from other gateways, and informed Weaver and Miller that the demonic invaders¿the name for them that humans could most easily pronounce was the ¿Dreen¿¿were a deadly blight across the galaxy, occupying planet after planet after wiping out all native life; and now it would be Earth¿s turn, unless Weaver and Miller could find a way to close the gateways. If they failed, the less belligerent aliens would face the regrettable necessity of annihilating the entire Earth to save their own worlds. . . .

Modder! this book is pocking awesome! --- that's Pinopan for "My goodness, this is indeed an awesome book!" If you're looking for sci-fi with intricate political intrigue and underlying subtext of mankind's search for meaning, you're not very likely to find it on planet Marduk where Prince Roger Ramius Sergei Chiang MacClintock Heir Tertiary to the Empire of Man (my fingers cramped typing this) crash-lands with his royal bodyguard The Empress's Own Bravo Company -- but stick with Roger and his space marines and you'll discover never-before-seen creative methods for killing hostile alien species...and how to cook them Prince Roger is an absolute delight. He's so adorable I want to grab him by the powered armor and slap some sense into his pretty blonde head. I also love other eccentric characters. No unit of space marines will be complete without a swearing pocking Pinopan! specifically one that goes by the name Poertena

BOOK 3 IN THE BLACK TIDE RISING SERIES FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING AUTHOR. Sequel to To Sail a Darkling Sea and Under a Graveyard Sky. A hardened group of survivors fights back against a zombie plague that has brought down civilization.With the world consumed by a devastating plague that drives humans violently insane, what was once a band of desperate survivors bobbing on a dark Atlantic ocean has now become Wolf Squadron, the only hope for the salvation of the human race. Banding together with what remains of the U.S. Navy, Wolf Squadron, and its leader Steve Smith, not only plans to survive—he plans to retake the mainland from the infected, starting with North America. The next step: produce a vaccine. But for do that, Wolf Squadron forces led by Smith’s terrifyingly precocious daughters Sophia and Faith must venture into a sea of the infected to obtain and secure the needed materials. And if some of the rescued survivors turn out to be more than they seem, Smith just might be able to pull off his plan. Once more, exhausted and redlining Wolf Squadron forces must throw themselves into battle, scouring the islands of the Atlantic for civilization's last hope.BLACK TIDE RISING SERIES:Under a Graveyard SkyTo Sail a Darkling SeaIslands of Hope and RageStrands of Sorrow (upcoming)

It's Not Over Til The Skinny Lady Sings . . .             Working off of a piece of intelligence from the alien Hexosehr, the Vorpal Blade is dispatched to investigate rumors of an ancient and powerful civilization that may have been the creators of the “black box” that drives humanity's only space ship. Any remnant technology would be nice but what the Blade finds is much more than they bargained for. Worse, the ship is infested by an alien species of scorpion-like arachnoids that has the potential to wipe out a world. Worst of all, instead of being Astrogator, Captain William Weaver is now the XO and he is not getting along with the new commander. And the new commander does not get along with Weaver, the ship's female savant-linguist or most of the rest of the original crew. And what is that weird noise the ship makes every time it's in hard maneuvers?               Leave it to the oddball geniuses of the Blade to sort it all out. And the Dreen are not going to like the answers.

A family of survivors who fight back against a zombie plague that has brought down civilization. Zombies are real. And we made them. Are you prepared for the zombie apocalypse? The Smith family is, with the help of a few Marines.When an airborne “zombie” plague is released, bringing civilization to a grinding halt, the Smith family, Steven, Stacey, Sophia and Faith, take to the Atlantic to avoid the chaos. The plan is to find a safe haven from the anarchy of infected humanity. What they discover, instead, is a sea composed of the tears of survivors and a passion for bringing hope.For it is up to the Smiths and a small band of Marines to somehow create the refuge that survivors seek in a world of darkness and terror. Now with every continent a holocaust and every ship an abattoir, life is lived beneath a graveyard sky.

New York Times best-selling series - Omnibus - March Upcountry and March to the Sea, Books 1 and 2 in the Empire of Man Series.Roger Ramius MacClintock was young, handsome, athletic, an excellent dresser, and third in line for the Throne of Man. It probably wasn't too surprising that someone in his position should react by becoming spoiled, self-centered, and petulant. After all, what else did he have to do with his life?  Then warships of the Empire of Man's worst rivals force his crippled vessel out of space and Roger is shipwrecked on the planet Marduk, whose jungles are full of deadly predators and barbarian hordes with really bad dispositions. Now all Roger has to do is hike halfway around the entire planet, then capture a spaceport from the Bad Guys, somehow commandeer a starship, and then go home to Mother for explanations.  Fortunately, Roger has an ace in the hole: Bravo Company of Bronze Battalion of The Empress' Own Regiment. If anyone can get him off Marduk alive, it's the Bronze Barbarians.About The Empire of Man Series:"Will fascinate sophisticated readers (the manual of arms for a four-armed, 10-foot soldier is a thing of beauty) . . . [and] grip straightforward action lovers."—Publishers Weekly"Coauthors Weber and Ringo excel in depicting the lives and times of soldiers both on and off the battlefield."—Library Journal

The Prodigal's ReturnNeither side having proved capable of pressing their conflict to a successful conclusion, the Human-Orion war to end all interstellar wars has collapsed into an uneasy peace. But it is a peace filled with fear, hatred and mistrust on both sides. Then from out of a warp point notorious for devouring space ships, appears a ship from the dim mists of half-forgotten history. It responds to hails from patroling Orion sentry using ancient human codes from a long lost colony. And it opens fire on the Orions, igniting the fires of interstellar war anew, in a quest to free Holy Mother Terra...

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.

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!!!

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...