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Posleen War #1
A Hymn Before Battle
With Earth in the path of the rapacious Posleen, the Galactic Federation offers help to the backward humans -- for a price. You can protect yourself from your enemies, but God save you from your allies!
474 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 1, 2000
515 people are currently reading
4556 people want to read
About the author
John Ringo
98 books1,820 followersJohn Ringo is a prolific author who has written in a wide variety of genres. His early life included a great deal of travel. He visited 23 foreign countries, and attended fourteen different schools. After graduation Ringo enlisted in the US military for four years, after which he studied marine biology.
In 1999 he wrote and published his first novel "A Hymn Before Battle", which proved successful. Since 2000 Ringo has been a full time author.
He has written science fiction, military fiction, and fantasy.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
In 1999 he wrote and published his first novel "A Hymn Before Battle", which proved successful. Since 2000 Ringo has been a full time author.
He has written science fiction, military fiction, and fantasy.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 385 reviews
September 16, 2011
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!!!
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!!!
September 15, 2008
In full disclosure, I've bumped into the author a couple of times online as we have certain interests in common. I hope he remains willing to talk to me after this review.
The biggest problem with the book is that it’s not really to my taste. Along with Jerry Pournelle, John Ringo is one of the main figures in the pulp military science fiction. You might think that's right up my alley, but really not so much. I just can't get into it. Whether it denounces the horrors of war or it glamorizes the glory or war or even just promotes the necessity of martial virtue, I just have a hard time getting into war fiction. I can and sometimes do enjoy it, but never at the level of light reading that the 'pulp' style promotes.
I didn't have a lot of problem reading 'A Hymn Before Battle'. The prose is reasonably good and the story is fast moving and generally quickly paced. But on the other hand, while it wasn't painful to read neither could I really enjoy it or get excited by it. There were just too many problems in the way. Sure, the characterization was generally shallow, but that's to be expected of pulp fiction. The bigger problem I had was with the ultra-technology, which is both over the top and not at all well realized in my opinion. The actual implications of technology like hand held missile launchers that can reach a significant fraction of the speed of light, hand held surface to orbital weapons and so forth just didn't seem well considered. In particular, it is a well known dictum of military theory that the more lethal the weapon the further the units must be dispersed when in battle. But the tactics of the book seem more rooted in modern tactics at best and at worst table top ancient war gaming than in anything actually implied by consideration of the theoretical technology. It was like reading 'Ender's Game' where Ender never realized that "the enemies gate was down", and instead defeated his enemies by inventing formations.
There are large numbers of instances where the technology seems to possess the power of plot. We can tell the protagonist from the expendable red shirts because their ultratech battlesuits provide only a tiny fraction of the protection granted to main characters. Ordinary humans end up surviving things that would kill most superheroes outright, and I couldn't for a second believe the technology and not the writer was what saved the protagonist. At one point, a main character survives a 10 megaton explosion from a distance of 30 meters.
Additionally, the story has a bad case of the 'Humans are Special' trope which is exaggerated to such a degree it’s just about monkey ego porn. Now, in this Ringo is hardly the only science fiction author at fault, as we can site similar instances by Niven, Brin, and others (otherwise it wouldn’t be a trope). However, in 'A Hymn before Battle' the 'Humans are Special' trope is achieved by making all the other races in the galaxy fundamentally flawed to such an incredible degree it feels like humanity versus the galaxy's special ed. Students. In ‘A Hymn before Battle’, every other species in the galaxy is riding the short bus, and at best could be considered a sort of idiot savant. But even worse, the idiot savant warrior race isn't even particularly good at it.
The non-linear structure does nothing really to enhance the story. The backstory it provides isn't really interesting enough to serve as a story on it's own, and the non-linear structure seems little more than the author's recognition of that. The only reason to shuffle the story around is to parcel out the boring parts into smaller peices.
The story isn't all bad and there are some juicy hints of cleverly crafted interstellar intrigue that are likely to play out in the sequels, but there isn't enough here that is consistently good to make me want to slog through the sequels for the big payoff - especially when I have some pretty good ideas about what some of those big payoffs are going to be.
The biggest problem with the book is that it’s not really to my taste. Along with Jerry Pournelle, John Ringo is one of the main figures in the pulp military science fiction. You might think that's right up my alley, but really not so much. I just can't get into it. Whether it denounces the horrors of war or it glamorizes the glory or war or even just promotes the necessity of martial virtue, I just have a hard time getting into war fiction. I can and sometimes do enjoy it, but never at the level of light reading that the 'pulp' style promotes.
I didn't have a lot of problem reading 'A Hymn Before Battle'. The prose is reasonably good and the story is fast moving and generally quickly paced. But on the other hand, while it wasn't painful to read neither could I really enjoy it or get excited by it. There were just too many problems in the way. Sure, the characterization was generally shallow, but that's to be expected of pulp fiction. The bigger problem I had was with the ultra-technology, which is both over the top and not at all well realized in my opinion. The actual implications of technology like hand held missile launchers that can reach a significant fraction of the speed of light, hand held surface to orbital weapons and so forth just didn't seem well considered. In particular, it is a well known dictum of military theory that the more lethal the weapon the further the units must be dispersed when in battle. But the tactics of the book seem more rooted in modern tactics at best and at worst table top ancient war gaming than in anything actually implied by consideration of the theoretical technology. It was like reading 'Ender's Game' where Ender never realized that "the enemies gate was down", and instead defeated his enemies by inventing formations.
There are large numbers of instances where the technology seems to possess the power of plot. We can tell the protagonist from the expendable red shirts because their ultratech battlesuits provide only a tiny fraction of the protection granted to main characters. Ordinary humans end up surviving things that would kill most superheroes outright, and I couldn't for a second believe the technology and not the writer was what saved the protagonist. At one point, a main character survives a 10 megaton explosion from a distance of 30 meters.
Additionally, the story has a bad case of the 'Humans are Special' trope which is exaggerated to such a degree it’s just about monkey ego porn. Now, in this Ringo is hardly the only science fiction author at fault, as we can site similar instances by Niven, Brin, and others (otherwise it wouldn’t be a trope). However, in 'A Hymn before Battle' the 'Humans are Special' trope is achieved by making all the other races in the galaxy fundamentally flawed to such an incredible degree it feels like humanity versus the galaxy's special ed. Students. In ‘A Hymn before Battle’, every other species in the galaxy is riding the short bus, and at best could be considered a sort of idiot savant. But even worse, the idiot savant warrior race isn't even particularly good at it.
The non-linear structure does nothing really to enhance the story. The backstory it provides isn't really interesting enough to serve as a story on it's own, and the non-linear structure seems little more than the author's recognition of that. The only reason to shuffle the story around is to parcel out the boring parts into smaller peices.
The story isn't all bad and there are some juicy hints of cleverly crafted interstellar intrigue that are likely to play out in the sequels, but there isn't enough here that is consistently good to make me want to slog through the sequels for the big payoff - especially when I have some pretty good ideas about what some of those big payoffs are going to be.
September 16, 2015
There is no leap of imagination, no stretch that I could make, no possible way that I could rank this as anything other than a solid three star book. Don't get me wrong. This book falls solidly in the "fun" category. I picked it up for free on Amazon and had low expectations. (No idea why). And I enjoyed every damn minute of it. It was a guilty pleasure.
The premise is pretty straight forward. It is the near future (well, actually 2000) and aliens have arrived on Earth. Yay! Unfortunately, they bring some really bad news. Another alien race - very warlike and savage carnivores - will be here in five years too. The other galactic races are very peaceful. They need the primitive humans to fight off the Polseen. Veterans are called up, the nations of Earth gear up for war and there ya' go. In just a few pages we're on alien planets fighting it out with the bad guys.
The whole thing just kind of works - if you like your military SF. There are plenty of guns, plasma rays, missiles, bombs, mech-suits, space ships, etc. And the bad guys are a bad guy we can all get behind. They want to kill and eat all other sentient species. Finally! We can truly feel good about blowing this enemy away. When they die by the tens of thousands it is a good thing!
So why not more than three stars? Not entirely sure. I think maybe it has to do with the barrage of semi-developed characters that I had a hard time keeping track of, the stereotypical bad commanding officers, the overdone gun-love, and the almost laughable plot line. Still, I really enjoyed it. Worth the read if you enjoy your military SF and blasting away super bad aliens! To go beyond three stars I just want a little bit more.
Now, back to my mech-suit. There are more Polseen to kill.
The premise is pretty straight forward. It is the near future (well, actually 2000) and aliens have arrived on Earth. Yay! Unfortunately, they bring some really bad news. Another alien race - very warlike and savage carnivores - will be here in five years too. The other galactic races are very peaceful. They need the primitive humans to fight off the Polseen. Veterans are called up, the nations of Earth gear up for war and there ya' go. In just a few pages we're on alien planets fighting it out with the bad guys.
The whole thing just kind of works - if you like your military SF. There are plenty of guns, plasma rays, missiles, bombs, mech-suits, space ships, etc. And the bad guys are a bad guy we can all get behind. They want to kill and eat all other sentient species. Finally! We can truly feel good about blowing this enemy away. When they die by the tens of thousands it is a good thing!
So why not more than three stars? Not entirely sure. I think maybe it has to do with the barrage of semi-developed characters that I had a hard time keeping track of, the stereotypical bad commanding officers, the overdone gun-love, and the almost laughable plot line. Still, I really enjoyed it. Worth the read if you enjoy your military SF and blasting away super bad aliens! To go beyond three stars I just want a little bit more.
Now, back to my mech-suit. There are more Polseen to kill.
October 23, 2018
”War! What is it good for?”
Military Science Fiction does come to mind…
A Hymn Before Battle is the first in the Posleen War saga. The series is also referred to as the Legacy of the Aldenata, which has a nice ring to it. In essence, it’s all about war. The aliens are coming! This theme, of course, isn’t new. Not by a long shot. There are different aliens involved too, some are nicer than others. Some are treacherous. Some are just plain evil. Not having much of a choice (with Earth being next on the menu), humans are pulled into the war on the side of the Galactic Federation, who are being owned by the Posleen in a war of rather extreme proportions. Thankfully, the bad guys in this instance are not bugs. Wow!
So, long story short, humans get handed some nice tech and are sent into the far reaches of space to bite some heel and… guess what? It seems we are better at making war than other aliens in general. Didn’t see that one coming, did you? Mild sarcasm aside, the book is actually pretty darn cool. It has all the tropes, of course. Such as: the top brass in the military are criminally incompetent and short sighted. Sigh. There is power armour of course. The ACS suits, as they’re called, are really cool, so if you’re a Halo (or other mil-SF with heavy suits) fan you might want to feast your intellect on these.
In the end, the story is far from over. The main arc plays out over four novels. The novel takes some time setting up the back story and introducing the players, but when the action starts is as compelling as you would expect from cutting edge military SF.
Now: I didn’t want to make a comment about the cover design of this novel. Who wants to be a nasty bastard all the time? However, since I know that some people will be giving this a skip based on the cover (to say nothing about the sequel: Gust Front) I should probably just, at the very least, say the following: don’t judge a book by its cover. It’s not that the art is bad, or anything, it just doesn’t seem to suit the epic-ness of the novel at all.
Military Science Fiction does come to mind…
A Hymn Before Battle is the first in the Posleen War saga. The series is also referred to as the Legacy of the Aldenata, which has a nice ring to it. In essence, it’s all about war. The aliens are coming! This theme, of course, isn’t new. Not by a long shot. There are different aliens involved too, some are nicer than others. Some are treacherous. Some are just plain evil. Not having much of a choice (with Earth being next on the menu), humans are pulled into the war on the side of the Galactic Federation, who are being owned by the Posleen in a war of rather extreme proportions. Thankfully, the bad guys in this instance are not bugs. Wow!
So, long story short, humans get handed some nice tech and are sent into the far reaches of space to bite some heel and… guess what? It seems we are better at making war than other aliens in general. Didn’t see that one coming, did you? Mild sarcasm aside, the book is actually pretty darn cool. It has all the tropes, of course. Such as: the top brass in the military are criminally incompetent and short sighted. Sigh. There is power armour of course. The ACS suits, as they’re called, are really cool, so if you’re a Halo (or other mil-SF with heavy suits) fan you might want to feast your intellect on these.
In the end, the story is far from over. The main arc plays out over four novels. The novel takes some time setting up the back story and introducing the players, but when the action starts is as compelling as you would expect from cutting edge military SF.
Now: I didn’t want to make a comment about the cover design of this novel. Who wants to be a nasty bastard all the time? However, since I know that some people will be giving this a skip based on the cover (to say nothing about the sequel: Gust Front) I should probably just, at the very least, say the following: don’t judge a book by its cover. It’s not that the art is bad, or anything, it just doesn’t seem to suit the epic-ness of the novel at all.
July 11, 2021
This is my first Ringo book. Apparently, this is his first book too.
It is also the most realistic depiction of how the military actually works (circa 1990) I have ever read.
Many of the things that other reviews complain about:
- Characters split up and separated.
- Having to learn esoteric specification of your weapons
- So much emphasis on training
- Casual misogyny
Are what gives it verisimilitude. It's a slice-of-life military style.
Having said that, a book shouldn't feel like an entire enlistment.
The pacing could have been improved, and judging by other reviews, the author has learned that lesson in future books.
It is also the most realistic depiction of how the military actually works (circa 1990) I have ever read.
Many of the things that other reviews complain about:
- Characters split up and separated.
- Having to learn esoteric specification of your weapons
- So much emphasis on training
- Casual misogyny
Are what gives it verisimilitude. It's a slice-of-life military style.
Having said that, a book shouldn't feel like an entire enlistment.
The pacing could have been improved, and judging by other reviews, the author has learned that lesson in future books.
May 4, 2012
This, the first book in a series focusing on the character Michael O'Neal, is perhaps the best of them. It provided me with some hours of amusement, and for that alone it deserve its score.
The problem, as with the rest of the series, is that of Weberisms, so named in my mind after David Weber who - at his worst - tend to do the same. First, infodumps. These are frequent, and detailed; terribly, terribly detailed. So much detail is presented that one get the impression that a publishing agent has asked for "more! more!" and got his wish. In military SF there is, of course, a requirement for some bits and pieces on technology, strategy and so forth - but it is exaggerated. Contrast this to the in-story dumps done in Tanya Huff's "Confederation" books.
Second, the thinly veiled loathing for civilians - much more prominent in later books, but still present here - and particularly civilians on the left of the political spectrum. This, of course, is a writer's perogative, just as it is mine to dislike.
The problem, as with the rest of the series, is that of Weberisms, so named in my mind after David Weber who - at his worst - tend to do the same. First, infodumps. These are frequent, and detailed; terribly, terribly detailed. So much detail is presented that one get the impression that a publishing agent has asked for "more! more!" and got his wish. In military SF there is, of course, a requirement for some bits and pieces on technology, strategy and so forth - but it is exaggerated. Contrast this to the in-story dumps done in Tanya Huff's "Confederation" books.
Second, the thinly veiled loathing for civilians - much more prominent in later books, but still present here - and particularly civilians on the left of the political spectrum. This, of course, is a writer's perogative, just as it is mine to dislike.
September 10, 2016
-Literatura bélica con la Ciencia-Ficción como vehículo, no al revés.-
Género. Ciencia-Ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. Una federación de civilizaciones extraterrestres está sufriendo los embates de la guerra contra una raza conocida como los Posleen y las perspectivas son muy negativas. Esa es la razón por la que vencen sus reticencias previas a contactar con la civilización humana, que parece encontrarse en la ruta de avance de las fuerzas Posleen, buscando ayuda para enfrentar al enemigo común intercambiando fuerzas armadas por tecnología. Primer libro de la serie Legacy of the Aldenata.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
Género. Ciencia-Ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. Una federación de civilizaciones extraterrestres está sufriendo los embates de la guerra contra una raza conocida como los Posleen y las perspectivas son muy negativas. Esa es la razón por la que vencen sus reticencias previas a contactar con la civilización humana, que parece encontrarse en la ruta de avance de las fuerzas Posleen, buscando ayuda para enfrentar al enemigo común intercambiando fuerzas armadas por tecnología. Primer libro de la serie Legacy of the Aldenata.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
May 19, 2018
I have been meaning to read this book for quite a while, as it is now free on Amazon I decided to give it a try. I’m really glad I didn’t pay for it!!!!
The start of the book was interesting, but packed with far too many acronyms for different agencies. As the story develops I was hoping it would concentrate on just a few characters, but it jumped all over the place and new characters were thrown in and then never seen again. As for the story, this got bogged down in technical information, politics etc. After nearly two hundred pages I took an hour’s break, when I came back to the book I couldn’t really remember anything.
At the start of the book I assumed Mike was going to be one of the main characters, he did appear a few times, but I never understood why he was so important as he didn’t really do anything. Then he was sent off to train the idiot Colonel Youngman. Why do all these type of book have a moronic commander?
The insurgence group made occasional appearances and they provided the only action at this point, but even then the author starts something with them, then jumps somewhere else right in the middle of the action. I was quite looking forward to following the only female soldier in the group, but then the author kills her off!! Has this author got something against women?
The second half of the book has more action, but even then it is full of technical descriptions and every time the action gets interesting the author shoots off to some meeting or training camp problem.
The book reminds me of David Weber at his worst, it’s a pity, but at least it didn’t cost anything.
The start of the book was interesting, but packed with far too many acronyms for different agencies. As the story develops I was hoping it would concentrate on just a few characters, but it jumped all over the place and new characters were thrown in and then never seen again. As for the story, this got bogged down in technical information, politics etc. After nearly two hundred pages I took an hour’s break, when I came back to the book I couldn’t really remember anything.
At the start of the book I assumed Mike was going to be one of the main characters, he did appear a few times, but I never understood why he was so important as he didn’t really do anything. Then he was sent off to train the idiot Colonel Youngman. Why do all these type of book have a moronic commander?
The insurgence group made occasional appearances and they provided the only action at this point, but even then the author starts something with them, then jumps somewhere else right in the middle of the action. I was quite looking forward to following the only female soldier in the group, but then the author kills her off!! Has this author got something against women?
The second half of the book has more action, but even then it is full of technical descriptions and every time the action gets interesting the author shoots off to some meeting or training camp problem.
The book reminds me of David Weber at his worst, it’s a pity, but at least it didn’t cost anything.
March 31, 2010
Intergalactic politics and a bloody war (yellow blood as well as red...but hey that's variety, right?) Not a bad start.
July 13, 2010
This book sucks. It's like it was written by a 7th grade boy who really, really likes the military. Boring and unbelievable. Good thing I got it for free.
March 27, 2011
Alien invasion stories have been done before, but to my knowledge never quite with this much desperation, lack of hope, or heroism on the part of the defenders. This is rich military SF with a keen eye for the strategic dimension and human psychology as well as kick-ass fun. The “original” series consists of the following.
* A Hymn Before Battle
* Gust Front
* When the Devil Dances
* Hell’s Faire
The first novel is a sort of “eve of the war” story. I was put off by the cover for quite a while but eventually decided to give it a shot. Good thing too. Aliens have contacted Earth and told them of an ongoing war, and that the Posleen, a very powerful race with a behavior like a cannibalistic Mongol horde, is only five years out from Earth. The Galactics will help, if humans help them fight. The other races are pacifistic in the extreme. There is action (of course) in the form of skirmishes and the defence of an allied planet, and we are introduced to Mike O’Neal, later leader of an elite Armed Combat Suit unit and the main hero of the story.
The second novel covers the assault on Earth. As before, Ringo has a knack for describing the political and strategic dimensions, and is not afraid of throwing disastrous screwups, unexpected developments and plain old bad luck into the mix. The United States is hunkering down, but the question is: Will the line hold for the defenders to marshal their forces?
The third novel of the series is a middle book to bridge the gap between the first Posleen assault on Earth (covered in “Gust Front”) and the climactic conclusion to the war (covered in “Hell’s Faire”). Characters are developed and the stage is set for a whopping showdown. The action scenes are great, as in all Ringo’s work, and the humor just keeps getting better. It’s quite ironic that a story about alien invasion and massive destruction, suffering and pain can make me laugh out loud so much. Ringo is good at capturing the inner essence of characters. This three-dimensionality is welcome, and few authors pull it off so well. He is also very good at developing his characters as they go through events in their lives. Masterful.
The fourth novel picks up exactly where When the Devil Dances left off. In the afterword, Ringo says that the last two should only have been one, but 9/11 gave him serious writer’s block and plans had to change. He even suggests gluing them together. The conclusion is very exciting and satisfying. While many loose ends are tied up, other fundamental questions about the various aliens, which were only hinted at in the earlier books, are now dredged up and given new focus. Why didn’t the Galactics warn Earth earlier? Why did they give intelligence to the Posleen? To answer these questions the Universe is already much expanded, with several more novels written solo and in collaboration.
http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=271
* A Hymn Before Battle
* Gust Front
* When the Devil Dances
* Hell’s Faire
The first novel is a sort of “eve of the war” story. I was put off by the cover for quite a while but eventually decided to give it a shot. Good thing too. Aliens have contacted Earth and told them of an ongoing war, and that the Posleen, a very powerful race with a behavior like a cannibalistic Mongol horde, is only five years out from Earth. The Galactics will help, if humans help them fight. The other races are pacifistic in the extreme. There is action (of course) in the form of skirmishes and the defence of an allied planet, and we are introduced to Mike O’Neal, later leader of an elite Armed Combat Suit unit and the main hero of the story.
The second novel covers the assault on Earth. As before, Ringo has a knack for describing the political and strategic dimensions, and is not afraid of throwing disastrous screwups, unexpected developments and plain old bad luck into the mix. The United States is hunkering down, but the question is: Will the line hold for the defenders to marshal their forces?
The third novel of the series is a middle book to bridge the gap between the first Posleen assault on Earth (covered in “Gust Front”) and the climactic conclusion to the war (covered in “Hell’s Faire”). Characters are developed and the stage is set for a whopping showdown. The action scenes are great, as in all Ringo’s work, and the humor just keeps getting better. It’s quite ironic that a story about alien invasion and massive destruction, suffering and pain can make me laugh out loud so much. Ringo is good at capturing the inner essence of characters. This three-dimensionality is welcome, and few authors pull it off so well. He is also very good at developing his characters as they go through events in their lives. Masterful.
The fourth novel picks up exactly where When the Devil Dances left off. In the afterword, Ringo says that the last two should only have been one, but 9/11 gave him serious writer’s block and plans had to change. He even suggests gluing them together. The conclusion is very exciting and satisfying. While many loose ends are tied up, other fundamental questions about the various aliens, which were only hinted at in the earlier books, are now dredged up and given new focus. Why didn’t the Galactics warn Earth earlier? Why did they give intelligence to the Posleen? To answer these questions the Universe is already much expanded, with several more novels written solo and in collaboration.
http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=271
October 30, 2013
A few years ago I burned myself out on military sci-fi by binge-reading David Weber. I think I still have a rant I wrote about that. I have since been looking of Mil Sci-Fi authors I can stand because the sub-genera itself it very mature and exciting. John Ringo just didn't make the cut. I put the book down about 3/5 of the way through and skimmed to the end. I don't regret it. Saved me a lot of time and told me I wasn't missing anything. Part of the attraction to this book was the enticement that it would have a more than monochrome cast of characters. It didn't deliver. Good guys are at most annoying and bad guys have no redeeming value. No colors at all. A few interesting points not followed up on. The alien's viewpoint. The inter-federation espionage. A few totally trite and overplayed tropes played into. Exhaustive battle tactics nobody can visualize. Introducing characters and killing them expecting us to care.
My quest to find a unique MilSciFi continues.
My quest to find a unique MilSciFi continues.
May 17, 2020
[Review covers first three books in Ringo’s “Aldenata” series.]
How is it possible there are about nine books in this series? Earth invaded; tough solders respond with cool weapons; yet haven’t killed and cooked the Aliens by the end of book three. And (with a minor exception) we’re not even off planet yet.
This Space Opera splintered by Act I. I was too tired to make it past Act III.
As usual, Ringo is better in characterizing misfit men and (surprisingly) most women. But there are (essentially) no women in book one, and one in book two (one that survives anyway), three in book three…you take my point. True, the animals in Noah’s Ark went two-by-two. Yet, thereafter, all were expected to be fruitful and multiply (to be fair, there is a point in book two where every human female is pregnant, but never mind). This series struggles with a geometric progression. Surely Ringo knows non-linear algebra.
How is it possible there are about nine books in this series? Earth invaded; tough solders respond with cool weapons; yet haven’t killed and cooked the Aliens by the end of book three. And (with a minor exception) we’re not even off planet yet.
This Space Opera splintered by Act I. I was too tired to make it past Act III.
As usual, Ringo is better in characterizing misfit men and (surprisingly) most women. But there are (essentially) no women in book one, and one in book two (one that survives anyway), three in book three…you take my point. True, the animals in Noah’s Ark went two-by-two. Yet, thereafter, all were expected to be fruitful and multiply (to be fair, there is a point in book two where every human female is pregnant, but never mind). This series struggles with a geometric progression. Surely Ringo knows non-linear algebra.
January 31, 2015
A really good apocalyptic hard sci-fi series. Earth faces alien invasion without time to prepare adequately, and allies who may or may not be trustworthy. The series details the brutal struggle against an encroaching canninbalistic horde, on other planets, in space, and finally on Earth. The series predictably gets darker as it progresses, and it is definitely hard/military sci-fi. The books refer to the R&D, training, and brutal combat involved in the struggle, but also contain vivid characters and well-detailed alien societies, including a view of the attacking civilization and Earth's erstwhile "allies."
Highly recommended to fans of hard sci-fi.
Highly recommended to fans of hard sci-fi.
January 9, 2023
05-18-17 re-read. Very good, even for the 3rd time.
August 12, 2015
ومن الجدير بالذكر ان واحد من نخبة النخبة في الجيش الامريكي بيتهته فى الكلام و تم اختيارة في اخطر مهمة في تاريخ البشرية
و من الجدير بالذكر ايضا ان عصام حجي خد اعفاء من الجيش عشان بيتهته فى الكلام
و من الجدير بالذكر ايضا ان عصام حجي خد اعفاء من الجيش عشان بيتهته فى الكلام
August 5, 2019
This book is supposed to be a hard military science fiction epic. Ringo, nailed the very first word. It’s hard. Hard to read. Also it is far too long. This is just the first in a trilogy and I am not recommending to anyone ever that you read the first so I am going to assume the second and third are not any more worth it.
I’ll try to summarize this the best I can but honestly this book goes all over the place and is seriously confusing at times. The basic premise here is that earth has made contact with a federation of alien species. This federation needs help from humans because one type of alien from one planet or system or whatever is decimating the population of the rest of these aliens. The federation aliens are more or less pacifists so they decide to go to the warlike species of humans to, you know, kill stuff. Humans have a vested interest in doing so because in five years or so, the murdery aliens will be at earth and that ain’t gonna be good.
As far as a plot that doesn’t seem so bad to me and given a more talented author (paging Orson Scott Card for this one) might turn out to be good. While Ender’s Game took a decent idea and made it brilliant through memorable characters, a menacing threat and one major stunner of a surprise, A Hymn Before Battle decides to completely ignore that playbook. Instead we get heavy military jargon, a confusing set of timelines, characters that are nearly impossible to remember or keep straight and some of the oddest descriptions of aliens I have ever read.
The weird descriptions of aliens come later in the book but we get going early with an odd description of a human. One of the main characters, Mike O’Neal, is described this way, “his face fixed in a perpetual frown from weight lifting”. Weight lifting? Weight lifting gives you a frown??? Okay, Mikey, buddy, you are either lifting weights incorrectly or you are trying to make your jowls stronger by lifting with them.
A little more about Mike our weight lifting, scowling hero. He is the most fleshed out character in the whole book and that’s not saying much. We do get a little bit of background on him before the big reveal of aliens happens. He works in a tech office and seems to write military science fiction on the side, because, obviously this guy is a stand in for Ringo’s ego. He does feel a bit overlooked at the start of the book and laments not being a company commander because he wishes he could do something, “…important, useful, I don’t know, something more than building a really boss web page for the country’s fourth largest bank!” This ignores the fact that boss web pages for the country’s fourth largest bank totally rule. Non-boss web pages for the country’s third largest bank totally suck, so at least he isn’t doing that.
Other descriptions of humans get pretty clunky in this book too. Here’s a small sampling of the description of an officer. “Erect of carriage, his Battle Dress Uniform fit as if, contrary to regulation it was tailored. With closely cropped silver hair and glacial blue eyes he appeared to be exactly what he was: an iron-clad modern scion of the Prussian warrior class.” Say what now? I mean I get what the description is going for but did I start reading War and Peace or Gone With the Wind and not realize it? Clearly this guy doesn’t spend his time on building boss (or non-boss) websites.
The President in this book is basically a cookie cutter version of the one from Independence Day but he does say one line that stood out to me as super ridiculous, “We’ll fight in our boxer shorts before we’ll fight as slaves”. Are those really the only two options? Or maybe the President just really likes walking around in his boxers.
These weird descriptions continue, only more so once we are introduced to the enemy aliens, the Posleen. This is how they are initially described, “In general they are four legged sort of centaur-looking omnivores that lay eggs.” Not sure what they are in specific but I am going to assume, single legged sort of unicorn-looking carnivores that drink milk. The only real further description we get is when a video is shown of an attack made by these aliens. “Moments later leprous yellow-scaled legs with eaglelike talons entered the view.” Yeah, lots of centaurs with those… Later they are describe this way, “The aliens were Arabian-horse-sized centauroids. Long arms ending in four-digit talons, three “fingers” and a broad, clawed thumb, protruded from a complex double shoulder. The legs, ending in elongated talons, were longer than a horse’s, and sprung on a reverse double knee that seemed arachnid… Their long necks were topped with a blunt crocodillian snout. ” Thanks, Ringo, that clears it up in my mind a ton. It’s basically a menagerie of weird animals on a horse I guess? Maybe I’ll make a boss web page about it.
Now, the Posleen, obviously are not the only alien race in this book. There are more friendly aliens and here’s a little description of one of them. “The Indowy, those greenish dwarf-looking bipeds”. So we’ve got centaur-looking and dwarf-looking. Was this supposed to be a fantasy novel?
And if you are thinking that hey these centaur-looking menagerie creatures sound kind of cool and that could work, you haven’t had to slog through the few parts told from the aliens’ perspective. I’ll just leave you with one quote to demonstrate how bad this is. “Tele’sten, take your oolt to the lefto to support Alllllnt’s and prepare to recieve his oolt’os.” I think that quote pretty much explains itself don’t you? Seriously, if you are going to write about aliens, please don’t just mash a keyboard to come up with names. It never works.
Alright, I lied to you. I have to give you a second quote here, one that shows the dialogue more capable of readability but amps up the cartoonish aspect of these creatures to eleven. “And the structure of my enemies shall burn beneath my claws. I shall reap the blood and sear the bone. They will burn until the burning sends word to the demons of the sky that none shall oppose the A’al Po’oslena’ar!” I don’t know about you but I imagine this alien wringing his talons and cackling like Dr. Evil after that.
There’s also pretty poorly defined and often times nearly magical technology that the human soldiers get to use in their fight against the bad aliens. Seems no one in any military thought maybe inspection and adjustment of this stuff was a good idea. In one part a character named Sergeant Duncan is testing out this device that is more or less Jarvis from Iron Man and he literally cuts his roommate’s legs off with it. After this idiot does that, he tells his roommate “Forget it. They can regrow them now.” As if that wasn’t callous enough, Duncan then mopes about because he gets in trouble for it. Dude, you cut a person’s legs off, feel a little freaking remorse. Despite all that, this dude gets to keep right on soldiering.
Now, don’t ask me how these aliens knew how to make tech that would work for humans or why it sometimes is awesome and sometimes is pointless. But if this book teaches us anything, it’s that military officers are all idiots and no one would want to actually try and use this equipment prior to battle. It’s completely ridiculous. The enlisted guys basically have to fight with the upper brass just to train in these military suits that clearly are new to everyone. And the one guy who can use them (and did not cut anyone’s legs off with it) is shut down at every turn when he tries to show others how to. I mean, I know the military can be full of people that might make bad decisions and certainly mistakes are made but show me a military person who gets a new weapon and DOESN’T want to freaking test it??
Also, while the humans are flying to these planets they are on a spaceship that is totally unsuited to human size. Except for boss web page makin’ Mike’s room. So another officer asks him about it. This officer is specifically described as being about Mike’s size. Mike says he is able to have everything the right size because is about the size of the aliens so they listen to him. Then the officer says they don’t listen to his requests. Well then it isn’t the size thing is it Mike???
Then, even after a battle has begun where the soldiers pretty much get ripped apart, the officer who was against testing this stuff doesn’t want to take a call from scowling, weight lifting, Mike because he doesn’t want to hear, “I told you so.” The battle is still going on and this guy is too dumb to listen to the guy he realizes he should have listened to in the first place? That’s beyond stupid or incompetent.
The military jargon in this book is dense. There’s more TLA’s than you would find in a seven volume series of text books telling you how to design boss websites. And even when the acronyms don’t get in the way, what’s going on is about as clear as mud. Here’s a little sample, “Our mission is as follows: Task Force 2nd 3-2-5 Infantry has been tasked with defense of the III Corp flank in the area of the Deushi megalopolis where it is contiguous with the Nomzedi massif. The S-2 will brief on the threat situation.” Got it. I think that maybe there are some people defending some stuff in a place?
As an added bonus there is rampant sexism in this book. Women are close to non-existent. There are two women that actually get a description of any kind beyond what they are wearing and only one that does anything of action in the story. One is Mike, the scowling weight lifter’s wife. The other is a deadly assassin sniper named Ellsworthy. But here’s what the author wants you to know most about both of these women. They have perfect breasts. Ellsworthy has seriously cringe-y lines too. She’s out in space about to fight these murderous aliens and her comment is,”Damn, I wish there was a nail shop on this ball.” And that’s one of the least cringe-y things she says. Personally, I think the author needs to stop looking at boss web sites and maybe interact with an actual woman once in a while.
The end of the book gets a little better with a sort of epic battle going on. But this battle goes on for more than ten chapters so it’s a bit long winded. There’s also a side plot story about another group of soldiers that go to Indiana and have to clean up a riot at the army base. I imagine this will have something to do with the future books but I really could not care less about it. If you have to subject yourself to some really bad military science fiction I recommend just watching Starship Troopers instead of subjecting yourself to Ringo’s Posleen garbage.
In fact, this whole series is something I really couldn’t care less about. What I care about is making boss web pages for the country’s fourth largest bank!
If you liked this review, check out my blog at Slick Dungeon's Dusty Tomes and Terrible Films where I review books that I'd rather not read and review films that no one should see
I’ll try to summarize this the best I can but honestly this book goes all over the place and is seriously confusing at times. The basic premise here is that earth has made contact with a federation of alien species. This federation needs help from humans because one type of alien from one planet or system or whatever is decimating the population of the rest of these aliens. The federation aliens are more or less pacifists so they decide to go to the warlike species of humans to, you know, kill stuff. Humans have a vested interest in doing so because in five years or so, the murdery aliens will be at earth and that ain’t gonna be good.
As far as a plot that doesn’t seem so bad to me and given a more talented author (paging Orson Scott Card for this one) might turn out to be good. While Ender’s Game took a decent idea and made it brilliant through memorable characters, a menacing threat and one major stunner of a surprise, A Hymn Before Battle decides to completely ignore that playbook. Instead we get heavy military jargon, a confusing set of timelines, characters that are nearly impossible to remember or keep straight and some of the oddest descriptions of aliens I have ever read.
The weird descriptions of aliens come later in the book but we get going early with an odd description of a human. One of the main characters, Mike O’Neal, is described this way, “his face fixed in a perpetual frown from weight lifting”. Weight lifting? Weight lifting gives you a frown??? Okay, Mikey, buddy, you are either lifting weights incorrectly or you are trying to make your jowls stronger by lifting with them.
A little more about Mike our weight lifting, scowling hero. He is the most fleshed out character in the whole book and that’s not saying much. We do get a little bit of background on him before the big reveal of aliens happens. He works in a tech office and seems to write military science fiction on the side, because, obviously this guy is a stand in for Ringo’s ego. He does feel a bit overlooked at the start of the book and laments not being a company commander because he wishes he could do something, “…important, useful, I don’t know, something more than building a really boss web page for the country’s fourth largest bank!” This ignores the fact that boss web pages for the country’s fourth largest bank totally rule. Non-boss web pages for the country’s third largest bank totally suck, so at least he isn’t doing that.
Other descriptions of humans get pretty clunky in this book too. Here’s a small sampling of the description of an officer. “Erect of carriage, his Battle Dress Uniform fit as if, contrary to regulation it was tailored. With closely cropped silver hair and glacial blue eyes he appeared to be exactly what he was: an iron-clad modern scion of the Prussian warrior class.” Say what now? I mean I get what the description is going for but did I start reading War and Peace or Gone With the Wind and not realize it? Clearly this guy doesn’t spend his time on building boss (or non-boss) websites.
The President in this book is basically a cookie cutter version of the one from Independence Day but he does say one line that stood out to me as super ridiculous, “We’ll fight in our boxer shorts before we’ll fight as slaves”. Are those really the only two options? Or maybe the President just really likes walking around in his boxers.
These weird descriptions continue, only more so once we are introduced to the enemy aliens, the Posleen. This is how they are initially described, “In general they are four legged sort of centaur-looking omnivores that lay eggs.” Not sure what they are in specific but I am going to assume, single legged sort of unicorn-looking carnivores that drink milk. The only real further description we get is when a video is shown of an attack made by these aliens. “Moments later leprous yellow-scaled legs with eaglelike talons entered the view.” Yeah, lots of centaurs with those… Later they are describe this way, “The aliens were Arabian-horse-sized centauroids. Long arms ending in four-digit talons, three “fingers” and a broad, clawed thumb, protruded from a complex double shoulder. The legs, ending in elongated talons, were longer than a horse’s, and sprung on a reverse double knee that seemed arachnid… Their long necks were topped with a blunt crocodillian snout. ” Thanks, Ringo, that clears it up in my mind a ton. It’s basically a menagerie of weird animals on a horse I guess? Maybe I’ll make a boss web page about it.
Now, the Posleen, obviously are not the only alien race in this book. There are more friendly aliens and here’s a little description of one of them. “The Indowy, those greenish dwarf-looking bipeds”. So we’ve got centaur-looking and dwarf-looking. Was this supposed to be a fantasy novel?
And if you are thinking that hey these centaur-looking menagerie creatures sound kind of cool and that could work, you haven’t had to slog through the few parts told from the aliens’ perspective. I’ll just leave you with one quote to demonstrate how bad this is. “Tele’sten, take your oolt to the lefto to support Alllllnt’s and prepare to recieve his oolt’os.” I think that quote pretty much explains itself don’t you? Seriously, if you are going to write about aliens, please don’t just mash a keyboard to come up with names. It never works.
Alright, I lied to you. I have to give you a second quote here, one that shows the dialogue more capable of readability but amps up the cartoonish aspect of these creatures to eleven. “And the structure of my enemies shall burn beneath my claws. I shall reap the blood and sear the bone. They will burn until the burning sends word to the demons of the sky that none shall oppose the A’al Po’oslena’ar!” I don’t know about you but I imagine this alien wringing his talons and cackling like Dr. Evil after that.
There’s also pretty poorly defined and often times nearly magical technology that the human soldiers get to use in their fight against the bad aliens. Seems no one in any military thought maybe inspection and adjustment of this stuff was a good idea. In one part a character named Sergeant Duncan is testing out this device that is more or less Jarvis from Iron Man and he literally cuts his roommate’s legs off with it. After this idiot does that, he tells his roommate “Forget it. They can regrow them now.” As if that wasn’t callous enough, Duncan then mopes about because he gets in trouble for it. Dude, you cut a person’s legs off, feel a little freaking remorse. Despite all that, this dude gets to keep right on soldiering.
Now, don’t ask me how these aliens knew how to make tech that would work for humans or why it sometimes is awesome and sometimes is pointless. But if this book teaches us anything, it’s that military officers are all idiots and no one would want to actually try and use this equipment prior to battle. It’s completely ridiculous. The enlisted guys basically have to fight with the upper brass just to train in these military suits that clearly are new to everyone. And the one guy who can use them (and did not cut anyone’s legs off with it) is shut down at every turn when he tries to show others how to. I mean, I know the military can be full of people that might make bad decisions and certainly mistakes are made but show me a military person who gets a new weapon and DOESN’T want to freaking test it??
Also, while the humans are flying to these planets they are on a spaceship that is totally unsuited to human size. Except for boss web page makin’ Mike’s room. So another officer asks him about it. This officer is specifically described as being about Mike’s size. Mike says he is able to have everything the right size because is about the size of the aliens so they listen to him. Then the officer says they don’t listen to his requests. Well then it isn’t the size thing is it Mike???
Then, even after a battle has begun where the soldiers pretty much get ripped apart, the officer who was against testing this stuff doesn’t want to take a call from scowling, weight lifting, Mike because he doesn’t want to hear, “I told you so.” The battle is still going on and this guy is too dumb to listen to the guy he realizes he should have listened to in the first place? That’s beyond stupid or incompetent.
The military jargon in this book is dense. There’s more TLA’s than you would find in a seven volume series of text books telling you how to design boss websites. And even when the acronyms don’t get in the way, what’s going on is about as clear as mud. Here’s a little sample, “Our mission is as follows: Task Force 2nd 3-2-5 Infantry has been tasked with defense of the III Corp flank in the area of the Deushi megalopolis where it is contiguous with the Nomzedi massif. The S-2 will brief on the threat situation.” Got it. I think that maybe there are some people defending some stuff in a place?
As an added bonus there is rampant sexism in this book. Women are close to non-existent. There are two women that actually get a description of any kind beyond what they are wearing and only one that does anything of action in the story. One is Mike, the scowling weight lifter’s wife. The other is a deadly assassin sniper named Ellsworthy. But here’s what the author wants you to know most about both of these women. They have perfect breasts. Ellsworthy has seriously cringe-y lines too. She’s out in space about to fight these murderous aliens and her comment is,”Damn, I wish there was a nail shop on this ball.” And that’s one of the least cringe-y things she says. Personally, I think the author needs to stop looking at boss web sites and maybe interact with an actual woman once in a while.
The end of the book gets a little better with a sort of epic battle going on. But this battle goes on for more than ten chapters so it’s a bit long winded. There’s also a side plot story about another group of soldiers that go to Indiana and have to clean up a riot at the army base. I imagine this will have something to do with the future books but I really could not care less about it. If you have to subject yourself to some really bad military science fiction I recommend just watching Starship Troopers instead of subjecting yourself to Ringo’s Posleen garbage.
In fact, this whole series is something I really couldn’t care less about. What I care about is making boss web pages for the country’s fourth largest bank!
If you liked this review, check out my blog at Slick Dungeon's Dusty Tomes and Terrible Films where I review books that I'd rather not read and review films that no one should see
September 21, 2017
I invested 7 hours (out of a total 14 hours) in this one but finally gave up. Boooooooooooring.
In the entire first half of the book there is precisely ONE firefight, which lasts all of about two minutes in the audio version. The rest of that 7 hours is mostly filled with complaining about how most of the officers are incompetent idiots, about how most of the military industrial complex is corrupt and self-serving, about how even the races that the humans are supposed to be saving are trying to screw the humans over, and the noncoms are the only guys in the entire military who can actually get things done.
Yeah, life is too short. This may end up getting interesting eventually, but I've got better things to do.
In the entire first half of the book there is precisely ONE firefight, which lasts all of about two minutes in the audio version. The rest of that 7 hours is mostly filled with complaining about how most of the officers are incompetent idiots, about how most of the military industrial complex is corrupt and self-serving, about how even the races that the humans are supposed to be saving are trying to screw the humans over, and the noncoms are the only guys in the entire military who can actually get things done.
Yeah, life is too short. This may end up getting interesting eventually, but I've got better things to do.
April 19, 2016
I can't help but feel a little guilty for enjoying much of this book. The level of Misogyny was palpable at first then the buddy action war story begins after it effectively kills off the only female in the story, other than the nagging wife. The alien descriptions were laughable. I had a hard time picturing what the enemy looked like without scratching my head. Basically we were given the image of a minotaur with a crocodile head and raptor talons? Only reason I can think of for enjoying such a work? "Die Hard"! Yes there is an over the top quality to the constant action and dialog. When there wasn't action, well that's when everything collapsed and I found myself zoning out, or worse getting angry at the politics. Luckily action was never too far away and the military critique had a Catch-22 quality to it, mostly in regards to the stupidity within the military hierarchy command structure and bureaucratic decision making that hinders military effectiveness and disregards life. Yes Ringo's writing in this book is extremely socially Darwinian, which is problem. Remember the Nazi's? Trampling the weak and survival of the fittest is not the answer. It's almost like Ringo is saying in order to defeat your enemy, you must become more ruthless than them. He even begins justifying the use of WMD's as a strength that humanity brings to the table. Rock 'Em Sock 'Em ' Shoot 'Em Up baby, with some added lyrics of oh I forgot the songs he had the solders listening to while butchering the retarded Posleen's, controlled by God King's dispersed between the mass's of mostly infantry. I suppose the Posleen are the pulpiest element. I'll also mention that it's probably never good when the best written elements of your book are quotes from another author. In this case is Kipling's eloquence that was dispersed throughout this book that made me wonder why I didn't just go read some of his poetry at times. And yet the allusions did help a bit and the American pop cultural add-ins are probably why I seen people include this as pulpy. After all this shit talking, why do I feel the need to read the next installment? I guess it's like the "Private Parts" quote:"Pig Vomit: But... if they hate him, why do they listen? Researcher: Most .... do they listen? Researcher: Most common answer: "I want to see what he'll say next."."
June 3, 2012
I have generally liked the works of John Ringo so far. This one I didn’t really like. The story seemed quite interesting. First contact, Earth is enlisted to help defend the peaceful races of the galaxy, lots to learn, design new weapons etc. Sounded good to me.
Well it all slowly turns into a bloody mess. [Minimal spoiler ahead] It turns out that one of the alien races holds all the decision making power over the other ones. These are political vendetta makers which would make the political bullshitters in EC and UN put together green of envy. Despite their part of the galaxy being threatened the literally sabotage the entire war effort to prevent the humans from being “too powerful”.
The entire book as just one incompetent officer appointed by equally incompetent politicians, sabotage, fuck-ups, and anything else infuriating and annoying that you can think of after another. And of course a few good men suffering and trying to pick up the shit spreading from more places than the fan.
I was arguing with myself whether or not I should give it a single star rating and move it to my rubbish shelf but there were a few chapters in there that made the book worth reading. I am still arguing with myself if I should have a go at the next one in the series. On one hand I didn’t like this one very much but on the other hand I want to see if this obnoxious alien race gets the spanking it deserves and of course if the alien invaders get their butts kicked.
Well it all slowly turns into a bloody mess. [Minimal spoiler ahead] It turns out that one of the alien races holds all the decision making power over the other ones. These are political vendetta makers which would make the political bullshitters in EC and UN put together green of envy. Despite their part of the galaxy being threatened the literally sabotage the entire war effort to prevent the humans from being “too powerful”.
The entire book as just one incompetent officer appointed by equally incompetent politicians, sabotage, fuck-ups, and anything else infuriating and annoying that you can think of after another. And of course a few good men suffering and trying to pick up the shit spreading from more places than the fan.
I was arguing with myself whether or not I should give it a single star rating and move it to my rubbish shelf but there were a few chapters in there that made the book worth reading. I am still arguing with myself if I should have a go at the next one in the series. On one hand I didn’t like this one very much but on the other hand I want to see if this obnoxious alien race gets the spanking it deserves and of course if the alien invaders get their butts kicked.
September 14, 2012
An impressive middling-hard-sci-fi war novel. Earth gets good news and bad news on the same day. The galaxy is full of sentient life, most of it peaceful and friendly. But the nasty ones are headed our way and will arrive in a bare 5 years! Solution: become the "good guys'" mercenaries. Basically, the federation of peaceful species transfers a boat load of tech and some good interstellar cash to the humans, who use it to build a competitive fighting machine and the men to use it. The hope is that the humans will earn enough money and experience fighting the "Centaurs" to have a fighting chance of defending their own planet a few years down the line. Of course, everything does not go as planned.
Ringo in this book reminds me strongly of a less wordy, less idealistic David Weber. Technology is well described, but not exhaustively. Most of the time is spent on character development, and said characters are very well drawn. The plot moves well, and the battle sequences are quite compelling.
My sole complaint: it was clear from the get-go that a 350 page book would by no means be capable of developing the entire story. But when I looked up the sequels afterwards, I found there are at least 10! I wasn't quite mentally prepared for that level of commitment!
Still, I'm happily reading #2 as we speak... I'll probably make it through them over the next year or so. And most are available as free downloads from Baen.
Ringo in this book reminds me strongly of a less wordy, less idealistic David Weber. Technology is well described, but not exhaustively. Most of the time is spent on character development, and said characters are very well drawn. The plot moves well, and the battle sequences are quite compelling.
My sole complaint: it was clear from the get-go that a 350 page book would by no means be capable of developing the entire story. But when I looked up the sequels afterwards, I found there are at least 10! I wasn't quite mentally prepared for that level of commitment!
Still, I'm happily reading #2 as we speak... I'll probably make it through them over the next year or so. And most are available as free downloads from Baen.
August 6, 2008
This book is the beginning of the Legacy of the Aldenata. It lays out a very plausible different future for humanity than the path we are on now. Right about the time the global war on terror is starting in our universe, earth finds out that a cannabalistic, carniverous alien race known as the Posleen are on their way to make serve man. On rye with a side of bacon that is. These vicious aliens have advanced technology, a voracious appetite, and they breed like, well rabbits. It will take everything mankind has to stop them. This will also call for a little help from man's newly discovered celestial neighbors. The Galactic Federation. But wait, it turns out the neighbors aren't as benevolent as they first seem either. What ensues is a story that is at turns graphic, violent, hilariously and darkly funny and one of the best damn books (and series) I've ever read.
March 21, 2008
An excellent combat series. This guy can write realistic military fiction. He uses the jargon of the military forces with such accuracy, he must be a former soldier. His portrait of the SF mentality is spot-on. The book takes a bit to get going and the science is pretty much skipped over (interstellar travel, galactic weapons tech, etc). But the battle scenes are vivid and how the missions are carried out seem very realistic. Last half of the book is great.
October 18, 2018
I'm sorry, but when EVERY physical description of a woman includes a loving, nay, ogling, description of her breasts, I just can't do it.
September 11, 2021
Notes:
Currently on Audible +
Overall, decent setup for the series.
I really like the aliens and most of the characters. The political parts were dry, and some of the military aspects sounded like over inflated tech details that could have been cut down.
On a whim, I already got the second audiobook when it was on sale. Diving into it now! It's probably going to be ok? Heh
Currently on Audible +
Overall, decent setup for the series.
I really like the aliens and most of the characters. The political parts were dry, and some of the military aspects sounded like over inflated tech details that could have been cut down.
On a whim, I already got the second audiobook when it was on sale. Diving into it now! It's probably going to be ok? Heh
May 10, 2016
Fun if a little uneven first entry in a series about an alien confederation that reaches out to Earth because they’re being conquered and literally eaten by a race of yellow lizard-centaurs called Posleen. Turns out that these races either can’t kill or literally don’t have the ability to, and given that killing shit is kinda humanity’s wheelhouse they logically hit us up for help. Giving us just a tiny bit more motivation to help them out is an impending invasion of Earth by the Posleen. The confederation graciously agrees to hook us up with super-cool combat suits that can do all kinds of awesome shit and their attendant over-the-top firepower like “grav guns” and shoulder-mounted rocket launchers.
This is extremely hardcore and detailed military sci-fi as you might have guessed, which honestly got a little bit annoying. The amount of faceless NCOs and soldiers was staggering and there was a lot of unnecessary military routine bullshit, the most glaring piece of which was the entire storyline of Gunnery Sergeant Pappas. Unfortunately, this entire significant section of the book was boring and rote and seemed ultimately kind of pointless. I’m sure Ringo will develop said arc in later entries but to be honest I really don’t even want him to at this point. Setting a story about a dude dealing with frustrating and patience-crushing military bureaucracy and base life against stories about badass recon teams on enemy-held planets gives almost a comedically staccato pace to the entire book, which was a drag.
Really nothing to write home about in total, but Ringo’s action scenes are the shit and more importantly, I didn’t pay a fucking cent for this book! Both this and the next title Gust Front are available for free online from Baen (an awesome thing this publisher does) and I gotta be honest, when you’re broke that’s an easy reason to give an extra star, because Everyone Loves Free Shit. I’ll certainly be reading the next book but I’m hoping there’s less of the mind-numbingly boring shit. I will admit that the level of detail does give it a helpful layer of realism that keeps it from becoming too cartoonish and goofy...but it just needs to be integrated more smoothly into the narrative and not just fucking smashed against the reader’s head every couple chapters.
This is extremely hardcore and detailed military sci-fi as you might have guessed, which honestly got a little bit annoying. The amount of faceless NCOs and soldiers was staggering and there was a lot of unnecessary military routine bullshit, the most glaring piece of which was the entire storyline of Gunnery Sergeant Pappas. Unfortunately, this entire significant section of the book was boring and rote and seemed ultimately kind of pointless. I’m sure Ringo will develop said arc in later entries but to be honest I really don’t even want him to at this point. Setting a story about a dude dealing with frustrating and patience-crushing military bureaucracy and base life against stories about badass recon teams on enemy-held planets gives almost a comedically staccato pace to the entire book, which was a drag.
Really nothing to write home about in total, but Ringo’s action scenes are the shit and more importantly, I didn’t pay a fucking cent for this book! Both this and the next title Gust Front are available for free online from Baen (an awesome thing this publisher does) and I gotta be honest, when you’re broke that’s an easy reason to give an extra star, because Everyone Loves Free Shit. I’ll certainly be reading the next book but I’m hoping there’s less of the mind-numbingly boring shit. I will admit that the level of detail does give it a helpful layer of realism that keeps it from becoming too cartoonish and goofy...but it just needs to be integrated more smoothly into the narrative and not just fucking smashed against the reader’s head every couple chapters.
September 16, 2008
A bit jumpy, and mildly entertaining. Insufficient character development, excellent military empathy.
The deeper into the book I got, the more I empathized with the main characters. I found myself cursing under my breath at the politicians, the underhanded dealings, the insecure, power-mongering higher-ranked military personnel and the questionable motives of our new alien benefactors. The author does an excellent job in portraying the foolishness that costs lives, the greed that takes lives, and the ego, arrogance and apathy that destroys us all from the top (ranked) on down.
The tech in the book is very fun. I had a hard time picturing most of the races and the tech from the author's descriptions. That ended up being a boon, though because it forced me to focus more on the strife of military personnel being hampered in every way by higher ranks, material, training, egos, politicians, money, and the innumerable other things that prevent a soldier from doing his job to his best ability. That said, I am a tech geek, so the unclear details and explanations were still a bit frustrating. What I did get made me excited for--and fearful of--future tech.
All-in-all a good read. I'm not buying the book or its successors, but I do have them ordered at the city library.
The deeper into the book I got, the more I empathized with the main characters. I found myself cursing under my breath at the politicians, the underhanded dealings, the insecure, power-mongering higher-ranked military personnel and the questionable motives of our new alien benefactors. The author does an excellent job in portraying the foolishness that costs lives, the greed that takes lives, and the ego, arrogance and apathy that destroys us all from the top (ranked) on down.
The tech in the book is very fun. I had a hard time picturing most of the races and the tech from the author's descriptions. That ended up being a boon, though because it forced me to focus more on the strife of military personnel being hampered in every way by higher ranks, material, training, egos, politicians, money, and the innumerable other things that prevent a soldier from doing his job to his best ability. That said, I am a tech geek, so the unclear details and explanations were still a bit frustrating. What I did get made me excited for--and fearful of--future tech.
All-in-all a good read. I'm not buying the book or its successors, but I do have them ordered at the city library.
March 4, 2009
This person definitely has a military background with minute detail included about military organizations and strategies. However, the otherwise very action-packed novel gets lost in that very detail. He not only describes an action (such as lots of liquid traveled through some large plumbing pipes which the characters had to navigate through), but he describes everything from the circumference of pipes (in specific meters) to the volume of liquid (in liters or gallons) that can be passed through them at any given particular place/point in time and how the viscosity of the fluid in question affected the speed and whether it had pressure/current behind it or was simply affected by a specific gravitational pull. It is like he describes a weapon firing but then continues to describe the specifics of the ammunition to include the construction of the primer, the composition of the powder, and the physics involved with sending the projectile down the barrel. Some detail is necessary of course, but when it ceases to be germane to the story it becomes distracting filler. This is the first of a series. I have a later one also. It will be interesting to see if he continues to think he's being paid by the word.
August 24, 2010
I just finished 'A Hymn Before Battle' and I have to say I greatly enjoyed the book.
The first half was beyond slow. Not much happened other than character introductions and a lot of people talking, which bugged the crap out of me since it rode along on the rule about never doing 'info dumps' in fiction. The action in the last half more than made up for the slow start/info dumping. Granted it wasn't done like a new author's info dumps, but still... On the other hand, I can understand why Ringo did it, there was a LOT of info needed to set up the series, and this book did that well. (But it was still -slow- reading.)
Without giving spoilers, I will say there are character deaths, near deaths and some people you might wish -would- die who don't. (Irritating politicos and others of those ilk.)
Some of my favorite--and characters obviously not among the 'main' ones--died, but this is John Ringo, you sort of expect casualties in the story. It's about war, and in war people do die.
In summary, great book! If you're a military scifi fan then this is right up there with the 'must reads' in the genre.
The first half was beyond slow. Not much happened other than character introductions and a lot of people talking, which bugged the crap out of me since it rode along on the rule about never doing 'info dumps' in fiction. The action in the last half more than made up for the slow start/info dumping. Granted it wasn't done like a new author's info dumps, but still... On the other hand, I can understand why Ringo did it, there was a LOT of info needed to set up the series, and this book did that well. (But it was still -slow- reading.)
Without giving spoilers, I will say there are character deaths, near deaths and some people you might wish -would- die who don't. (Irritating politicos and others of those ilk.)
Some of my favorite--and characters obviously not among the 'main' ones--died, but this is John Ringo, you sort of expect casualties in the story. It's about war, and in war people do die.
In summary, great book! If you're a military scifi fan then this is right up there with the 'must reads' in the genre.
July 16, 2020
Having read this in 2020, I can see it's importance to the genre.
This book seems like an important step between the military sci fi of old (Starship Troopers, Forever War, etc) and new (Frontlines, Expeditionary Force, etc). It has a lot of technology, military background and aliens.
What it lacks, however, is relatable characters, compelling struggles and, well, anything to hold my interest. This book is the epitome of "meh".
The main characters are barely likeable, not relatable, and boring. A short, but strong enough to lift a jeep, former air born Sgt, who becomes a programmer and is married to a body building former navy officer and has 2 kids, ain't exactly the "every man" this book could have used. Who can relate to that? In a book like Starship Troopers, we are presented with a guy who struggles his way through his army career and sees some amazing things while on tour. It's easy to get to know the main character and either see one's self as him or see him as a friend. In this book, however, we have "brick s***house", "super solder Sgt" building a team of super soldiers, and a retired "super Sgt" training and getting the home gard in place.
Now I know some people (mainly Veterans) can relate to these rolls, but the rest of us cannot.
Also, there is WAY too much military doctrine in this book. I get that this is a military sci fi, but the it is supposed to be fiction. I feel this book was 1 step away from having a list of rules and regulations printed right in the pages, or at least as an appendix. It was too dry and catered too much to people who actually served in the American military.
The alien environments were lack luster, at best. Travel to a distant world, be in amongst sky scrapers or in a swamp, take your pick. I assume the subsequent books have more varied environments, but this book does not.
The plot is a bit weak but not specifically awful. Aliens need us to fight an enemy, cause they don't know how. Not super compelling but not the worst premise I've read. The problem is, it just doesn't work. There are some paper thin explanations as to why they can't fight but they make little sense.
The voice acting by Marc Vietor, isn't great either. He has a limited range of voices and his female voices are just missing. Not that theirs many females in the book, total sausage fest.
In the end, I can see its importance to the genre, which is the only reason I gave it 3 stars (rather than 2). It's a stepping stone in the evolution of military sci fi, but on its own its just not very good. Maybe if I read it 20 years ago, it would be different, but as it stands it's just not very good.
This book seems like an important step between the military sci fi of old (Starship Troopers, Forever War, etc) and new (Frontlines, Expeditionary Force, etc). It has a lot of technology, military background and aliens.
What it lacks, however, is relatable characters, compelling struggles and, well, anything to hold my interest. This book is the epitome of "meh".
The main characters are barely likeable, not relatable, and boring. A short, but strong enough to lift a jeep, former air born Sgt, who becomes a programmer and is married to a body building former navy officer and has 2 kids, ain't exactly the "every man" this book could have used. Who can relate to that? In a book like Starship Troopers, we are presented with a guy who struggles his way through his army career and sees some amazing things while on tour. It's easy to get to know the main character and either see one's self as him or see him as a friend. In this book, however, we have "brick s***house", "super solder Sgt" building a team of super soldiers, and a retired "super Sgt" training and getting the home gard in place.
Now I know some people (mainly Veterans) can relate to these rolls, but the rest of us cannot.
Also, there is WAY too much military doctrine in this book. I get that this is a military sci fi, but the it is supposed to be fiction. I feel this book was 1 step away from having a list of rules and regulations printed right in the pages, or at least as an appendix. It was too dry and catered too much to people who actually served in the American military.
The alien environments were lack luster, at best. Travel to a distant world, be in amongst sky scrapers or in a swamp, take your pick. I assume the subsequent books have more varied environments, but this book does not.
The plot is a bit weak but not specifically awful. Aliens need us to fight an enemy, cause they don't know how. Not super compelling but not the worst premise I've read. The problem is, it just doesn't work. There are some paper thin explanations as to why they can't fight but they make little sense.
The voice acting by Marc Vietor, isn't great either. He has a limited range of voices and his female voices are just missing. Not that theirs many females in the book, total sausage fest.
In the end, I can see its importance to the genre, which is the only reason I gave it 3 stars (rather than 2). It's a stepping stone in the evolution of military sci fi, but on its own its just not very good. Maybe if I read it 20 years ago, it would be different, but as it stands it's just not very good.
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