Notice the LARGE TYPE and top placement of "John Ringo" over the small type real author "Travis S. Taylor" name on the cover. This is a real insult to both the reader and the real author. I'm into guts-in-the-teeth, 50 cal. Barretts, and take-no-prisoners military sci/fi. This is exactly what you get from Ringo, Drake, and a host of others. (I'm an Airdale Korean War Vet and worked as a senior lab tech in a cutting edge Aerospace facility.) About fifty pages into this well written and thoughtful book I realized I had been snookered- no mayhem! (GASP!)
What this book is, (Shades of Saberhagen.), is a clever, slowly unfolding, ultimate disaster scenario- that appears unavoidable. Taylor obviously knows how the military and scientific communities operate, and how the government goes about obtaining weapon systems. (Believe me, he is really good. I've been there too.) Not my bag anymore, and the book's a couple of hundred pages too long in my not so humble opinon. It IS well written and moves right along. Just don't expect to find much Ringo until the final clash.
What this book is, (Shades of Saberhagen.), is a clever, slowly unfolding, ultimate disaster scenario- that appears unavoidable. Taylor obviously knows how the military and scientific communities operate, and how the government goes about obtaining weapon systems. (Believe me, he is really good. I've been there too.) Not my bag anymore, and the book's a couple of hundred pages too long in my not so humble opinon. It IS well written and moves right along. Just don't expect to find much Ringo until the final clash.
Clever book with an interesting story that occasionally gets hidden under a plethora of acronyms. It is more intellectual than action oriented in many ways through most of the book but is intelligent and well written. We get to follow the process from discovery that our solar system is under invasion through the almost hopeless battle for survival against robotic invaders. As ususual there are off the wall fringe characters who come up with last minute saving answers. First in a series. I agree with the previous reviewer that most of the John Ringo is saved for the end and the majority of the book is Travis Taylor.
Very creative. The setting is now, but the technology is a nice mix of current, future and fiction. Even if the "bad guys" have better technology, we have either more gray matter or more cunning. And we have had centuries of experience in fighting for survival.
