Air Battle Force

Rating:
Summary: Military Drudgery in the [Tarnished] Name of Clancy...
Review: Dale Brown can't decide what he wants to do: Either be a military writer, or be a fiction writer. Frankly, in both arenas, he fails. Quite miserably. There is virtually no plot development in this book, and the endless drudgery of military and technological description becomes mind-numbing, even to the most adherent military fiction fans. His writing is far from fluid, rather he utilises a blocky, counter-intuitive way to write, which makes this book doubly hard to get through.

He attempts to formulate some sort of character development between Daren and Rebecca Furness, both characters in this novel. Rather than adding dimension, however, it merely makes the characters even more cardboard-y: All Brown seems good at is describing missiles and aeroplane fuselage. Which is fine, if you're writing a military guide. And not so fine if you're writing fiction.

The premise of the story is simple enough: Taliban fighters are invading Turkmenistan. In the great name of Clancy, Brown can't help but to throw in some malevolent Russian forces to take a low jab at our Gulagian friends. Additionally, he throws a General (P. McLanahan) into the mix, a General who has faced his share of trials and tribulations, as well as military drama. Finally, there is a political twist: There are two candidates running for presidential office of the United States.

Truth be told, though, after five hundred+ pages of this book, and upon its finishing, I couldn't help but ask: What, exactly, happened? One never finds out the outcome of the political race, you don't quite find out what happens to any of the characters besides in their military circumstances...The characters accesorize the guns, rather than vice-versa.

It seems that Brown tries to do too many things at once, and as a result, doesn't even marginally succeed at any of them. I bought this book as a 'beach read' and figured I'd blow through it in about three days. Wrongo. It took me upwards of two weeks to finally finish it. The novel drags its feet in all the wrong places, and doesn't have any real plot development. I'm *not* looking for a literary masterpiece in the name of "The Red Badge of Courage," I was simply looking for an entertaining read.

Not really worth your time, unless you like to read an aircraft manual thinley veiled with what seem to be the threads of a plot line.

Rating:
Summary: this book stinks
Review: I've read every Dale Brown book published. This is not the same old Dale Brown we are used to. Hope it gets better from here, or I am done.

Rating:
Summary: Not the best but still good
Review: I've read every single one of Mr. Brown's books and this one is by far the weakest. Still good though but not his best. It was nice to see old characters like General Furness and Colonel Mace. But Thorn has to go. Hopefully he gets ousted from office in the next book. The plot in this one is kinda a weak but it seems to set up the next book nicely. (A war with Russia?) The robot planes are totally unbelieveable though. It breaks my heart to see Mr. Brown, a former navigator himself, take the real heros out of the picture. Whats the fun in flying if your gonna do it from the ground? A lot seems to be missing from Air Battle Force. But hopefully its just a set up for the next one.

Rating:
Summary: Still Keeps You Turning Pages - But The Story Is Uneven
Review: This is more like 3 1/2 stars. I have read them all - From Flight of The Old Dog to this one and while I always enjoy reading of flying of any kind, the more interesting aspect of this story to me was that of the Taliban incursion into Turkmenistan. The characters are interesting, believable and command your attention. However, you don't read Dale Brown without getting your regular dose of Patrick McClanahan and his latest additions to the United States ariel arsenal. Given the realities of todays military and politicians, it is doubtful that McLanahan would still be wearing a uniform unless it was orange, however, in Dale Brown's world he is the Energizer Bunny of the Air Force. The technological explanation of the weapons systems can get a bit daunting and the repeating of past stories to explain current situations and characters gets a little old, but Mr. Brown clearly likes the genre and continues to do it well.