Rating: 
Summary: Solid but not spectacular??
Review: All things considered, Battle Born was an enjoyable book but, in my opinion, not among Brown's best efforts. The novel is set in the period following Brown's previous work, Fatal Terrain. The premise itself of reunification of the Korean Peninsula was an interesting one that flowed naturally from the geopolitical and economic situation in place at the end of Fatal Terrain. With many of Brown's usual characters back again, there is a sense of familiarity for the fans of Brown's high-tech military thrillers. The setup for the story was well conceived and certainly held the reader's attention. The only thing holding back a higher rating for Battle Born was the way the conclusion itself unfolded.....seemingly out of proportion to the build-up. The ending seemed to happen all to quickly, leaving the reader with gaps in the resolution of certain characters which, if included, would have made for a more compelling work overall.
Rating: 
Summary: "One Heck Of An Intense Ride . . . I Mean, Flight."
Review: Brown knows how to keep you rivited. His battle scenes were written so well I didn't want to put the book down when I got to them. The entire downfall of North Korea takes 80-90 pages to get through, but with missiles flying, a "true-believer" Commie missile battery commander trying to preserve the spirit of the revolution and the US Vice President caught in the middle, you can't help but keep reading until the whole thing's over. Good job with the characters again. Many familiar faces in this one, including Becky Furness, the lady bomber pilot we last saw in "Chains of Command." The most intersting character has to be Rinc Seaver. He is a bit of an enigma when it comes to his motivation and his relationships with the rest of the cast, but that's what makes him so interesting. He also spends much of the book dealing with a training accident that killed two crew members. Creates quite a bit of tension among the people in his B-1 squadron. As usual, Brown throws a whole lot of way cool high tech weapons at you. I will agree with one point some have made. I think Brown glossed over the impact of using nukes and chem weapons on the Korean Peninsula. Besides the obvious political ramifications, all the fallout would severely effect the whole of Korea, and most likely surrounding countries. I wish that and the actual devestation they caused to Korean cities was touched on a lot more. But that's really my only big complaint with this novel. Other than that, total thumbs up.
Rating:
Summary: Another Korean War?
Review: Dale Brown returns with another aerial techno-thriller, after delving into a James Bondish yarn in Tin Man. This book, Battle Born, was not his best, but it wasn't bad either. 500+ pages and most of it was spent in building up a crew in Nevada to fly modified B-1Bs against ballistic missles. The main storyline has South Korea coming into possesion of a nuclear weapon. Then after months of infiltrating North Korea with spys and helping to fight their poverty situation, the South Koreans attack, and most N. Koreans revolt against their fellow Communists to overthrow that form of government, effectively uniting Korea. Meanwhile, in the U.S. a dysfunctional Air National Guard unit is being tested by Gen. Patrick McLanahan over the Nevada deserts in B-1B's. Dreamland is testing plasma-yield weapons as well as antiballilistic missles. Back overseas, a United Korea has found a stockpile of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), i.e. chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. A leftover crew of loyal North Koreans, still with some WMD's launch an attack on the Southern part of Korea. The defense minister, Kim of United Korea, believes China launched the attack, and wants President Kwon to retaliate against the Chinese with nuclear weapons. Hence, lies the political and military struggle for the rest of the book. China invades the northern part of Korea, while the
B1-B crews get their act together to keep Northeast Asia from becoming a nuclear wasteland. Most of the book is dialogue, both normal and technical as only Brown can deliver. Some good aerial sequences, especially near the end.
Rating: 
Summary: TENSION FILLED READING
Review: For those who like their thrills laced with military action here is vintage Dale Brown. A former U.S. Air Force Captain who knows his subject well, Brown is recognized for his adroit delivery. Reprising his hero in former works, Patrick McLanahan, the author puts him in the thick of it immediately - leading a squadron of B-1 bombers into combat over Korea. The fragile Asian peace has been placed in jeopardy. Descriptions of weaponry and flying tactics abound, as is routine for Brown. If techno-thrillers are your meat - here's a hearty helping. Reader Purdham is especially convincing in relating an aerial dogfight - he renders the melee succinctly and suspensefully.
- Gail Cooke
Rating:
Summary: TENSION FILLED READING
Review: For those who like their thrills laced with military action here is vintage Dale Brown. A former U.S. Air Force Captain who knows his subject well, Brown is recognized for his adroit delivery. Reprising his hero in former works, Patrick McLanahan, the author puts him in the thick of it immediately - leading a squadron of B-1 bombers into combat over Korea. The fragile Asian peace has been placed in jeopardy. Descriptions of weaponry and flying tactics abound, as is routine for Brown. If techno-thrillers are your meat - here's a hearty helping. Reader Purdham is especially convincing in relating an aerial dogfight - he renders the melee succinctly and suspensefully.
- Gail Cooke
Rating: 
Summary: Did I read the same book as everyone else?
Review: I hate to say it, but I found this book painfully SLOW. Yes, the plot moved along smartly, but not in a way that I cared about. The primary conflict doesn't arise until quite late in the book and our "heros", and I use the term loosley because I care not a whit about the charaters Mr. Brown created, see no real action until VERY late in the book. For my taste, he spent FAR too much time setting up the scenario and not enough time making me care about the characters. Tin Man, while admittedly hokey, at least saw the main character actively involved in fighting the bad guys from an early chapter. I struggled to finish Battle Born.
Rating: 
Summary: Battle Boring
Review: I have always been a fan of techno/military novels from The Cruel Sea to Kilo Class, but this one just left me cold. I've read a couple of books by this author and found some of the early ones quite entertaining. Things have gone downhill. Each successive book is a flawed clone of its predecessor, and this one reached new lows in character development and plot. I got half way through the book and found I didn't like a single character in it and didn't care about the outcome. This is the first book that I have not wanted to read to completion in about 5 years
Rating:
Summary: Fizzle
Review: I've loved Dale Brown's previous books, mainly because of the incredible detail he puts into the flying parts - it almost feels like I'm in the cockpit. But this one spent so much time setting up the political situation, that when it come to the flying scenes, it's all done in about 10 pages at the end. On its own, it is fairly decent. But as part of the Patrick McLanahan saga, this one bombs.
Rating:
Summary: Armegeddon as Soap Opera
Review: If you prefer your tales of blood and slaughter served up with plenty of jaw-jutting angst, this book is for you. Dale Brown is to be saluted for getting this into print. I wouldn't publish it. The heros are monodimensionally combative with everyone, even each other. There's plenty of bombastic machismo dialogue. Still, the audio version is great for washing dishes. You can miss whole chapters while vacuuming and still follow the plot. And we get to focus on radio-transimitting microchips while thousands fry as the tactical nuclear weapons fly. Doesn't get any better than this for dissassociated mayhem. But hey, I listened to all of it, didn't I?
Rating:
Summary: Patrick McLanahan returns in "Battle Born"
Review: Military fiction novelist Dale brown has finally published,after a long wait mind you, his newest novel called "Battle Born". I personnaly received the book on last Thursday from the publisher. I hasten to say that this is the best Dale Brown novel to date. It only took two days to read this 390+ page novel. I just could not put the book down. Patrick McLanahan, Dave Luger and the rest of the Megafortress crew rejoin in this novel performing operations at the relatively new Elliot Air Force Base. And yes the rumors are true, this is new "Megafortress-2". It is a bigger and badder HAWC creation. I wont ruin anything from the book, but war erupts over Korea again and here comes the new EB-1C. As always, Elliot Air Force Base runs the risk of being shut down. Like I said earlier, this is my favorite military fiction novel of all time. I guess I can I am kinda bent toward this novel because I am currently a memeber of the 28th Bomb Wing of Ellsworth A.F.B., South Dakota. Dale came here last spring to get source material for this book. He kindly gives some hearty kudos in the book to the people here at Ellsworth. I will close this review with three words, "BUY THIS BOOK". Take care all and read books!
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