Rating: 
Summary: I LOVED this book
Review: Aliens attack earth. It's been done before, I hear you say. Not like this it hasn't. Dayton Ward has broken any mold there may have been with The Last World War.
The book starts with a group of Marine reservists, in Missouri, who are doing their annual two week training. Things quickly move from training to discovering the aliens to an all out battle that comes to have global consequences.
The aliens don't arrive on earth via space ships. Their arrival is a mistake. The aliens have been at war with one another for years on their home planet and "teleporters" were developed to help end the war. The hope was that these "portholes" would allow the aliens to travel around their own planet so that troops could regroup and be sent into the enemies most vulnerable areas. They had no idea that the "portholes" would lead them to a new world.
The first 10-20 pages of the book is a little slow but from there is picks up the pace and never slows down. The author gives us insight into not only the "good aliens", the Blues, and humans as the battles rage on but also into the enemies, the Grays, minds. He lets us in on what everyone is thinking and it is sobering. Everyone believes that they are fighting on the side of right and justice. You begin to feel not only for the humans and Blues but also for the Grays.
I have no idea how anyone could give this book less than 5 stars. I read the complaints about the ending and I just don't see what they're talking about. Sure things were left hanging but this leaves the door open for sequels, which I hope are forthcoming. And if it is the end? That's fine with me.
I plan on buying this book for all of the readers on my Christmas list.
Rating: 
Summary: The Last World
Review: At best this is a "fair" read. For anyone with some military experience it is even less so. The characters tend to be stereotypical and not realistic in most cases. The plot "twists" are obvious from early on and don't really twist that much. What I found most frustrating was that the author didn't take the 20 seconds needed to do some simple research in various areas. For example, Tornados (or any aircraft) would not attack a ground target with Sidewinder missiles since they are air-to-air missiles. Such sloppiness in details is apparent throughout the book.
If you get frustrated with people who try to demonstrate their knowledge of a particular area and then wind up showing you how little they really do know, you will want to throw this book against the wall at various times.
If you are looking for something to pass boring hours in the airport this book may just keep you mildly entertained.
Rating:
Summary: The Last World
Review: At best this is a "fair" read. For anyone with some military experience it is even less so. The characters tend to be stereotypical and not realistic in most cases. The plot "twists" are obvious from early on and don't really twist that much. What I found most frustrating was that the author didn't take the 20 seconds needed to do some simple research in various areas. For example, Tornados (or any aircraft) would not attack a ground target with Sidewinder missiles since they are air-to-air missiles. Such sloppiness in details is apparent throughout the book.
If you get frustrated with people who try to demonstrate their knowledge of a particular area and then wind up showing you how little they really do know, you will want to throw this book against the wall at various times.
If you are looking for something to pass boring hours in the airport this book may just keep you mildly entertained.
Rating: 
Summary: Well Written
Review: Dayton Ward did an excellent job with "The Last World War". Not only is it well written and a smooth read, but the characters and imagery are excellent as well. This book tends to remind me of William Dietz's "DeathDay" and "EarthRise" books (which was written from a human and alien point of view), but with a much better storyline.The only downfall this book has, as mentioned in a previous review, is the lack of a concrete ending. The book just sort of ends without concluding what it started. While I do hope that another book follows to fully conclude the story, it shouldn't have to. This book was not created with an "epic storyline spanning multiple books" being advertised, so it should conclude the story it began. However, I'm willing to overlook the minor flaws overall and say that this was an excellent book. I do hope Dayton Ward continues to write books in this genre, as this one was excellent.
Rating: 
Summary: DOESN'T SEEM LIKE LAST WORLD WAR!
Review: Dayton Ward's novel to me started very well but deteriorated into mediocre storytelling. The aliens were just too much like humans to me. The action and adventure abound here though, carrying along at a good pace, but though world-spanning, read very much the same.
A group of Marine reservists run into an alien race war that are teleported to earth accidentally by a portal from another world. Humans then are caught in the middle of an alien civil war, aptly named by the humans of the 'grays' and the 'blues'.
Now, the aliens themselves are not described well here, leaving an all too portrait of humans in this reader's mind.
Though creative, Mr. Ward's story bogs down in the middle of the book. There is no clear-cut protagonist to follow along on this epic-scaled alien invasion novel, leaving it up to the reader to pick and choose one.
I chose one in the form of DiCarlo, a Vietnam vet who is trapped - along with a younger woman Marine - and marooned on the alien's planet. This was the best part of the book for me.
It was a much needed change of pace, but the alien world again was too much like earth. The much younger Marine woman and DiCarlo start a love affair as they traverse the alien planet, making friends and fighting the gray alien enemies.
The ending screams of sequel, but I don't know if I can go another round.
It was a good try and a pretty fun and action-packed read, but too much of the same sounding scenario throughout the book for me.
Rating:
Summary: DOESN'T SEEM LIKE LAST WORLD WAR!
Review: Dayton Ward's novel to me started very well but deteriorated into mediocre storytelling. The aliens were just too much like humans to me. The action and adventure abound here though, carrying along at a good pace, but though world-spanning, read very much the same.
A group of Marine reservists run into an alien race war that are teleported to earth accidentally by a portal from another world. Humans then are caught in the middle of an alien civil war, aptly named by the humans of the 'grays' and the 'blues'.
Now, the aliens themselves are not described well here, leaving an all too portrait of humans in this reader's mind.
Though creative, Mr. Ward's story bogs down in the middle of the book. There is no clear-cut protagonist to follow along on this epic-scaled alien invasion novel, leaving it up to the reader to pick and choose one.
I chose one in the form of DiCarlo, a Vietnam vet who is trapped - along with a younger woman Marine - and marooned on the alien's planet. This was the best part of the book for me.
It was a much needed change of pace, but the alien world again was too much like earth. The much younger Marine woman and DiCarlo start a love affair as they traverse the alien planet, making friends and fighting the gray alien enemies.
The ending screams of sequel, but I don't know if I can go another round.
It was a good try and a pretty fun and action-packed read, but too much of the same sounding scenario throughout the book for me.
Rating:
Summary: Nothing New Here
Review: I agree with some of the previous reviews this is just your average aliens invade the earth book. There hundreads of these types of book and virtually everybody eles that I can think does a better job. Two main problems 1. The aliens are too human-Whatever happened to just plian old bloodthristy aliens? The bad guys can't make up there mind one minute they want to be our friends the next they want to kill us. 2. The writting style is just crap, as much as I wanted to like the book the writting style prohibited that. As a result you can't really get involved in the story. If you can't do that than you can't get to know the charecters and therefore you have wasted your money. One last thing-most of these soliders reminded me of the reservists from "Southern Comfort" for some reason.
Rating:
Summary: Nothing New Here
Review: I agree with some of the previous reviews this is just your average aliens invade the earth book. There hundreads of these types of book and virtually everybody eles that I can think does a better job. Two main problems 1. The aliens are too human-Whatever happened to just plian old bloodthristy aliens? The bad guys can't make up there mind one minute they want to be our friends the next they want to kill us. 2. The writting style is just crap, as much as I wanted to like the book the writting style prohibited that. As a result you can't really get involved in the story. If you can't do that than you can't get to know the charecters and therefore you have wasted your money. One last thing-most of these soliders reminded me of the reservists from "Southern Comfort" for some reason.
Rating:
Summary: An exceptional book
Review: I have just finished reading Dayton Wards The Last World War. It is an awesome read. It is one of those books that you don't want to put down until its finished. What impressed me is getting to see the aliens points of view. That is both the good ones and the ones considered bad. All is not in black and white and we can really sympathize with all sides . There definately needs to be a follow up to this storyl
Rating:
Summary: An exceptional book
Review: I have just finished reading Dayton Wards The Last World War. It is an awesome read. It is one of those books that you don't want to put down until its finished. What impressed me is getting to see the aliens points of view. That is both the good ones and the ones considered bad. All is not in black and white and we can really sympathize with all sides . There definately needs to be a follow up to this storyl
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