Rating: 
Summary: Worth the time
Review: The author of this book has a good understanding of tactics, command strcutures etc. and tells a good and pretty believable story, If you like detailed Military SciFi a very good read.2 issues: Details, which at times become overwhelming, others might appreciate this more though so it's more a sense of style. If I could change one thing it would be to tone down this area maybe by 30% or so. The other issue is a bit more serious. The super patroit mentality about places and things is something I have never seen or heard of except from politicians. If 4 million raging aliens landed in your back yard and wanted you as a snack would you really care about the statue of Paul Revere in one of your parks? Doubtful. If our world were really being invaded I doubt we would give a rip about a monument or two, soldiers may join out of patriotism, more likely family and culture, but they fight in the heat of battle for themselves and their buddy's. Still one of the better hard Military SciFi's
Rating: 
Summary: Very repetitive, with fairly lame subplots
Review: The criticism of the first book was fair, but I did enjoy the fighting in the first book. In the second book the hero is kind of depressing, his wife got killed, one daughter has become a robot and the other a crazy killer. In this book humans are losing big time and the battles are not very enjoyable. That subplot in the underground city was almost as bad as the couple of chapters in Key West in the first book. Then, all the women in the book are white trash psichos. This book stinks, try reading instead White Wing by Kendall, or the Paratwa series by Hinz.
Rating:
Summary: The Posleen Gust Cometh
Review: The invasion of Earth is on, and the human gets its ass handed to them by a recon patrol. The battle sequences are vivid and the reaction to the invasion is realistic (some people do absolutely nothing, not accepting the reality of the war). As with the last one, if you enjoy alien invasion books this is for you.
Why only four stars? Ringo does military personas well, but he's weak on other kinds of characterization. One character suffers a terrible loss at the end of the book, and his reaction is less than convincing. Still, it is passable and easily overlooked given the rest of the book. Gust Front is very worthwhile.
Rating:
Summary: Not worth the time
Review: This book demonstrates one of my pet peeves of the industry: writing a follow up book, but not putting the fact that it is a follow up anywhere on the book. I bought this not realizing that I needed to first read 'A Hymn before battle'. It was like walking in on the middle of a movie. This is a long, long book, but can be condensed down to very little:
1. Infantry and ground war are all that matters
2. Any difficulties can be overcome with 'Alien Technology'
3. Smoking is good
4. Characters are irrelevant. The plotting moves along, but the lack of interesting characters means that it really doesn't matter. The author conveniently wipes out the idea of air war, but does so in an artificial and unbelievable way. One would think that a civilization that can produce smart and virtually indestructable infantry armor, could produce descent airpower. He writes of massive ground battles only. His characters are as flat as the paper they are written on. Good guys are heroically so. Politicians can be counted on to get in the way of the military. Women have no place in the officer corp. When the crunch time comes the heroes always move forward and step up to the plate. And they smoke alot, it seems to be the sign of a real man. Like the handling of air war, alien technology has conveniently eliminated the health hazard of smoking (if only they could do something about the fact that it is dirty, stinky and offensive). He writes battles pretty well, but again, the lack of compelling characters means that you don't care if anyone lives or dies. The background politics and diplomacy are murky and never meshes with the rest of the tale. It could be skipped entirely. His writing of aliens is 'human in a different body' (think robber-baron with scales and rooster crest). If you like to read blood and guts and massive destruction, and think that story and characterization are a waste of paper, then this may be the book for you. Otherwise, skip it.
Rating: 
Summary: Better than the first book, but better editing, please
Review: This book, the second in Ringo's chronicle of humanity's war against the invading alien Posleen, is an improvement over the first book in the series, A Hymn Before Battle. Although some of Ringo's expositions can get tiresome, for the most part the action carries the story quite well. Fans of the first book and military SF in general will enjoy this sequel.
Still, this book disappoints in some ways because the final product had the potential to be a lot better than what reached the bookshelves. Incongruously for a military Sci-Fi novel, the civilian characters are much more memorable (and distinct from each other) than are most of the characters in the military. The characters also (with a few exceptions) tend to be either almost superhuman or complete idiots (and virtually all of the politicians mentioned fall into the latter category). And Ringo again could have used an editor with an eye for story continuity: the chapters are not necessarily arranged in chronological order, and although there are sometimes good reasons for the lack of synchronicity, the jumps are for the most part unaccompanied by enough of a description to give the reader a good sense of where and "when" he is, which, combined with the large number of characters involved, sometimes makes for a very confusing jumble. One final complaint (OK, it's a whine): the maps in the back of the book showing the scenes of various battles are so small in the paperback edition as to be illegible. If you don't want to fork over the extra bucks for the hardcover version, you can track down larger versions on the internet.
For all the qualms I have about this book, there's no question it's a good read. Ringo's writing style is easy to read, and the plot is compelling enough that you'll plow through the rough spots because you will want to know what happens next.
Rating:
Summary: Good follow-on to his first novel
Review: This continues the story begun in the first novel (A Hymn before battle) and looks a little more deeply into the characters introduced in that book. The characterization is getting better (they're no longer all 2-dimensional) but the constant foreshadowing of things that may not be resolved until the 3rd or (possibly) 4th book in this series is truly annoying!
Rating:
Summary: Military SF with mucho gusto
Review: This is a good continuation of the saga started in A HYMN BEFORE DYING, and I do urge you to read that book before this one. The first book deals with preliminary battles aimed at slowing down the dreaded Posleen before they land on Earth. In this book, they indeed land on Earth and the armed forces battle them and also rather muddled military bureaucracy. The main characters are of course largely carry-overs from the first book: Michael O'Neal, Duncan, Pappas, and others. Some new characters are introduced including two or three that are only very briefly introduced but who will undoubtedly play much larger roles in the third book. Music is introduced in this book and specific music is recommended for both the fictional characters and for the reader to listen to while reading. Also noticeable in this installment is the author's use of dialogue. Several times, a scene ends with a piece of dialog from one character and is followed by the same piece of dialog from another character's mouth in a very different scene. Interesting technique. The reader is credited with intelligence. In at least one instance, a couple of characters are mentioned, but not by name. Yet, you do know of course who they are, and do realize that they undoubtedly will be more important characters in the next installment. One more thing to notice here is that we get a better look at the enemy which was largely faceless in the first book and will probably become even more of the next book. I'm inclined toward being a dove and not into military fiction, but this book is well written and kept me interested all the way through. Those who really are into the military frame of mind should really love it.
Rating:
Summary: Military SF with mucho gusto
Review: This is a good continuation of the saga started in A HYMN BEFORE DYING, and I do urge you to read that book before this one. The first book deals with preliminary battles aimed at slowing down the dreaded Posleen before they land on Earth. In this book, they indeed land on Earth and the armed forces battle them and also rather muddled military bureaucracy. The main characters are of course largely carry-overs from the first book: Michael O'Neal, Duncan, Pappas, and others. Some new characters are introduced including two or three that are only very briefly introduced but who will undoubtedly play much larger roles in the third book. Music is introduced in this book and specific music is recommended for both the fictional characters and for the reader to listen to while reading. Also noticeable in this installment is the author's use of dialogue. Several times, a scene ends with a piece of dialog from one character and is followed by the same piece of dialog from another character's mouth in a very different scene. Interesting technique. The reader is credited with intelligence. In at least one instance, a couple of characters are mentioned, but not by name. Yet, you do know of course who they are, and do realize that they undoubtedly will be more important characters in the next installment. One more thing to notice here is that we get a better look at the enemy which was largely faceless in the first book and will probably become even more of the next book. I'm inclined toward being a dove and not into military fiction, but this book is well written and kept me interested all the way through. Those who really are into the military frame of mind should really love it.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Miltary Sci-fi
Review: This is excellent, hard-core military sci-fi. It's a good yarn to boot. It sucked me in and I read it over the Memorial Day weekend, appropriately enough. Ringo does a much better job of character development in this novel than he did in the prequel. (The prequel is good too). Those of you who enjoy Weber and Drake, try Ringo.
Rating:
Summary: Superb combat scifi
Review: This series strongly reminds me of a long-time favorite, Starship Troopers (the book, not the movie)in its exploration of infantry action in a high-tech environment, and I doubt that it is a coincidence that Heinlein's term "Mobile Infantry" is used to describe soldiers in powered combat armor. Gust Front is a strong narrative, with several well-developed characters and a terrific plot, for those who enjoy combat scifi. It happens that Gust Front is a sequel, and I have since read its predecessor, A Hymn Before Battle, which I also recommend.
One suggestion - have Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song available to play when the MI goes into action. The multimedia experience is rewarding.
I can't wait for the next book.
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