Rating: 
Summary: Hit the brakes
Review: .
If you enjoy Military SF Ringo is great. The first book sucked you in, the second was a little slower but good and you said "Hey it'll pick up again" but then the long awaited final installment arrives and... it just creeps along, still good but a lot of hand waving in my opinion, you almost feel like the story is on hold for some reason. Still if you liked the first one then your hooked, and well... your hooked! Now we have to wait another year for the next "Final" installment! The only other criticism is he hasn't let us in on the behind the scenes conspiracy. Who are behind the Posleen? Who are the players in the galatic chess game? Come on John add some meat here! I dont think he can apply the richness that subplot deserves in that last installment, unless this is going to be another 15 book series ala a certain roman alternate history series (Every one of which was suppoesd to be "Wrapping things up") Anway, he is still better than 80% of the Military SF Wannabee's so take the plunge and buy all 3 (4,5,6,7?) Ringo actually knows the difference between tactics and strategy so if you like technically correct and interesting military stuff he's your guy. Don't get me wrong he also has a pretty good handle on military culture and his stuff is anything but a dry read...
Rating: 
Summary: Need to finish the story line
Review: A recent trend among writers is to create the never ending story. If you can keep them coming back for the next installment, then you have them hooked.
John Ringo has written several books with David Weber. I had hoped that the 'Suits' series would be more in line with the 'Honor Harrington' series.
Tell a story well and end it well. Than continue new plot lines and adventures in the next book.
I like the series to date, but come on, how any I supposed to remember that Mike's wife is dead / ?missing? in space (book 2) or what are the relationship between all the various people or the status of the cliff hangers in this book.
Please lets end this plot line, end it well and continue on with the next book with new plot lines and stories.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: After reading Gust Front, I was really excited to get into the next chapter. Well, my expectations were never realized. I had a few problems with the book. First, outside of the early chapters, the ACS batt was not really the focus that it had been in the past. Granted, this was an opportunity to expand a wider set of characters. The only problem is that they began to melt into each other, and I really didn't care much for most of them. Second, I grew tired of his trick of repeating quotes, where one character will quote, say, Marvin the Martian, and within that chapter, a second, unrelated character makes the same quote. You do it once, it's funny. After that, it becomes overkill and unnecessary. I also did not like the multiple references or in-jokes that I didn't get. Example, I am not familiar with the Bun-Bun world, and therefore my eyes glazed over when the SheVa crew would banter using the Bun-Bun context. For me, the worst instance was the developing of the Big Surprise. (Spoilers ahead.) We know the Himmit following Cally has some important part to play, but it is only barely mentioned in a few spots. And the Darhel; what about their master scheme? There was nothing on that. And the secret lab in the basement of the Sub-Urb. They stumbled into it, left, and that was that. I understand that it is a style to bring up questions and answer them later, but there are threads from the first book that haven't been tied up, or even expounded upon. This book needed more "covert" story. If you want to write about fighting, fine. But if you want to include intrigue, please, supply it.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: After reading Gust Front, I was really excited to get into the next chapter. Well, my expectations were never realized. I had a few problems with the book. First, outside of the early chapters, the ACS batt was not really the focus that it had been in the past. Granted, this was an opportunity to expand a wider set of characters. The only problem is that they began to melt into each other, and I really didn't care much for most of them. Second, I grew tired of his trick of repeating quotes, where one character will quote, say, Marvin the Martian, and within that chapter, a second, unrelated character makes the same quote. You do it once, it's funny. After that, it becomes overkill and unnecessary. I also did not like the multiple references or in-jokes that I didn't get. Example, I am not familiar with the Bun-Bun world, and therefore my eyes glazed over when the SheVa crew would banter using the Bun-Bun context. For me, the worst instance was the developing of the Big Surprise. (Spoilers ahead.) We know the Himmit following Cally has some important part to play, but it is only barely mentioned in a few spots. And the Darhel; what about their master scheme? There was nothing on that. And the secret lab in the basement of the Sub-Urb. They stumbled into it, left, and that was that. I understand that it is a style to bring up questions and answer them later, but there are threads from the first book that haven't been tied up, or even expounded upon. This book needed more "covert" story. If you want to write about fighting, fine. But if you want to include intrigue, please, supply it.
Rating: 
Summary: outstanding
Review: An outstanding book in a great series. I cannot wait until the next episode--John Ringo Please write quickly!
Rating:
Summary: More yellow goo everywhere!
Review: As you might expect, Posleen die in massive numbers. The big threat in this book comes from changing tactics.
As usual, the attention to details is evident. I have tromped all through much of the area where the action in this book takes place. So it was with a bit of delight that I was able to actually picture what much of the action would have done to the landmarks.
This volume is a bit lacking in doing much more than merely moving the story along. It does that quite well. But since John PROMISED this would be only a trilogy, I was a bit disappointed to have the book end abruptly.
Still, well worth reading. And it is an interesting set-up for the fourth in this series.
Rating:
Summary: 3..2..1 BLAST O--it's over
Review: I agree with most of what people have said in the other reviews but I think that they give the book more credit than it deserves. My main problem with this book is the ending. The second half of the book keeps building up to a huge event and the damned book ends before it happens! It is obvious that, in the last 30 pages or so, Ringo is scraping things together to end this book ASAP. His excuse is 9/11. BUT YOU SURE HAD PLENTY OF TIME TO GO THROUGH THE MANY HURDLES OF GETTING THE BOOK PUBLISHED. Shame on you! Next time, set the book aside and pick it up when you have time... and FINISH IT! For anyone who has seen Saving Private Ryan, this is equivalent to the movie ending right when the tanks pull into view at the bridgehead. Or ending Independence Day when Will Smith and Jeff Goldbloom take off for the "Mother Ship" in Earth orbit. Please Mr. Ringo, don't leave us hanging again; you are not Asimov, or Cherryh--you haven't earned that level of trust yet. Please note that I thoroughly enjoyed this book until the "end"; I am just upset at the amatuer slap-job that is the final few chapters of this book.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT ACTION BOOKS
Review: I dont know if these get read but, if your looking for buttkicking,earth invaded alien hordes these books are for you.It is a starderd setting for scifi but usally not done this well. if it says John Ringo on the cover buy it!
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding vision
Review: I have been waiting for this book for a while now and I was not
disapointed.However I did find the story really slowed down in the middle.I am also getting fed up with all these authors who
leave us with cliff hanging endings.But barring my personal
hang ups it is a fine edition to the series and when is the next installment due ?
ps Mr Ringo what has happened to the British forces in your books
as an ex squaddie i'm sure we would be up in the Welsh mountains
kicking the ... Possies.
Rating:
Summary: Mixed Emotions--and a downgrade!!
Review: I have very mixed emotions about this book. I greatly enjoyed Ringo's two prior efforts in this series (Gust Front and a Hymn Before Battle) and bought this as soon as it come out. Catch is that it's just not as good. Sure there's all the military techno-babble that any SF fan would want--though this time around there's a marked lack of any real action. But, beyond that you get the sense that Ringo is simply playing a PC war game with an AI. Characterization was never his strong point but, this time around, they are all paper-thin cutouts--and it's impossible to empathize with even characters brough over from earlier books that one had liked back then. Everyone is one-dimensional! What's more, Ringo seems to delight in killing off fairly leading characters in just a sentence or two and while that his perogative, he owes faithful readers more than just "Despite finding XXX's body, she was still having a hard time believing he was gone." Ringo had been on my list of authors to buy in hardback. No longer.
| 
