More books about wars in Virginia
Who was I kidding? Within 2 weeks of writing that I might not finish A Hymn Before Battle bc the military stuff was too confusing, I finished all but the last book in the series. oops.
It was interesting to alternate between historical accounts of Bull Run and Manassas and fictionalized futuristic battles on the same ground. There's a part of me that feels like Ringo set up a situation where you can refight the Civil War: on the one side you have the alien invaders with strange morals, better technology, and way more bodies; on the other is the poor determined souls who know the country better, aka the good guys.
I love any sort of story that involves limited supplies and human ingenuity to overcome that problem so the first few books were great. I don't love the backstory. In the afterward to one of the books, Ringo writes that the good guys always win in the end, which to my mind, is an excellent credo for the authors I read to bear in mind, but I don't like where things stand even after they "win".
I liked Cally's War so much, I immediately started re-reading it within a day of finishing it. Cally's War:the Posleen series::A Civil Campaign:the Vorkosigan series. And I say that despite the fact that 2/3rds of the way through the book, I wondered when the plot would begin.
Watch on the Rhine was a fascinating thought-process, esp. since I felt When the Devil Dances was a little too jingoistically American dismissing the Europeans. I think if cannibalistic aliens were invading the planet, even the French would stop protesting and maybe support the war effort. I also disbelieve the Chinese and the Indians would fail so badly against the hordes: personally, I'd suspect they'd do better than the Americans bc they'd have fewer issues with condemning cities and more bodies to throw at the problem.
I'm very disappointed with The Hero. Michael Z. Williamson pretty much created another Freehold-like dichotomy. Which I might forgive, except that parts of the book were ridiculous. I might know nothing about the military, but even I would suspect that a deep reconnaissance team in Injun country would not stop to discuss the socio-political structure of their universe just bc the author hadn't found another way of working it in. And, also, it doesn't really matter to the story, unless of course you're a series-addicted crack fiend. Not that I know any of those. um.
It was interesting to alternate between historical accounts of Bull Run and Manassas and fictionalized futuristic battles on the same ground. There's a part of me that feels like Ringo set up a situation where you can refight the Civil War: on the one side you have the alien invaders with strange morals, better technology, and way more bodies; on the other is the poor determined souls who know the country better, aka the good guys.
I love any sort of story that involves limited supplies and human ingenuity to overcome that problem so the first few books were great. I don't love the backstory. In the afterward to one of the books, Ringo writes that the good guys always win in the end, which to my mind, is an excellent credo for the authors I read to bear in mind, but I don't like where things stand even after they "win".
I liked Cally's War so much, I immediately started re-reading it within a day of finishing it. Cally's War:the Posleen series::A Civil Campaign:the Vorkosigan series. And I say that despite the fact that 2/3rds of the way through the book, I wondered when the plot would begin.
Watch on the Rhine was a fascinating thought-process, esp. since I felt When the Devil Dances was a little too jingoistically American dismissing the Europeans. I think if cannibalistic aliens were invading the planet, even the French would stop protesting and maybe support the war effort. I also disbelieve the Chinese and the Indians would fail so badly against the hordes: personally, I'd suspect they'd do better than the Americans bc they'd have fewer issues with condemning cities and more bodies to throw at the problem.
I'm very disappointed with The Hero. Michael Z. Williamson pretty much created another Freehold-like dichotomy. Which I might forgive, except that parts of the book were ridiculous. I might know nothing about the military, but even I would suspect that a deep reconnaissance team in Injun country would not stop to discuss the socio-political structure of their universe just bc the author hadn't found another way of working it in. And, also, it doesn't really matter to the story, unless of course you're a series-addicted crack fiend. Not that I know any of those. um.