Invasion

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely chilling, very realistic
Review: For a hundred years we've been isolated from the conflicts. Americans have never seen the face of war. Now it's here. On our doorsteps, in our suburbs, right in your backyard. The Chinese are determined to dominate the world, and they've got a billion man army to do it with.

From the initial landing in Alabama to the final battle for Washington, Harry tells it all. This is war like we've never seen it before. Scared me witless. You won't be able to put this book down.

Rating:
Summary: Pure Excitment
Review: The novel was well written and it's one of the best novels written about communist armies invading American soil, which is not commonly seen in other war novels. But I was a little disappointed with the ending.

Rating:
Summary: An epic tale of war, conquest and courage
Review: Invasion was a very interesting novel, with the concept being a massive Chinese conquest of much of the world. Their prime target is America and their military plans include the physcial domination of the US. An excellent cast of characters people this book, ranging from the president's daughter in the infantry, a special forces officer (who has some thrilling missions to fulfill), various civilians and politicians on both sides make for a rousing adventure. The various phases of the Chinese attack is kept to the readers imagination, except for the actual assaults, which are very realistic and tense. There is a great ambush at a filling station that was awesome. I did, however, feel the ending was a bit flat with a weak wrap-up - unless a sequel is in the works. I did find a few inaccurate terms and a couple of blatant typos, but it never detracted from the story. Some of the major characters just seem to vanish towards the final scenes, but the incident on the damaged bridge over the Potomac River was superb. Otherwise, a terrific action adventure tale that would make a great TV film, if done correctly. A real page turner, check it out.

Rating:
Summary: needs more
Review: Very good book. Interesting all the way through. One of the first fiction books I have read that deals realistically with an invasion of america. The only problem is that I feel this book should continue. It need a trilogy or something along the lines of harry turtledoves worldwar series.

Rating:
Summary: Harry Does It Again
Review: Eric Harry is a master of the global war novel, but this time he doesn't take us to Russia or Korea. This time the battles take place on U.S. soil as the Chinese invade the Gulf Coast and work their way north to Washington, DC. The book focuses on a female infantryman who also happens to be the estranged daughter of the President, but there are plenty of other characters, both American and Chinese, that allow Harry to keep the action moving on mutiple fronts as well. Plenty of military details but also well-drawn characters to keep things on a human level. Harry's fans won't be disappointed and those new to his books will reach out for Arc Light and Protect & Defend as quick as they can

Rating:
Summary: Far from perfect, but nonetheless riveting.
Review: "I understand how. I do not understand why." writes Winston Smith in his diary in George Orwell's classic dystopian future novel, 1984. The same could be said for this book, in which the Chinese launch an overwhelming and highly disciplined attack on half the world before finally assaulting the United States. I understand that building motives is difficult, (I myself attempted to write about a war in the United States and gave up, lacking a suitable motive) for wars typically have complex reasons for getting started, with the notable exception of World War One, when there really wasn't any solid motive. However, perhaps Harry was correct in not putting any motive at all nstead of a flimsy one.
Thankfully, the battle scenes are so well-crafted, following the combat unit of Stephanie Roberts as they retreat from Alabama to Georgia to the Carolinas and keep retreating as the Chinese pour more and more troops into the battle. More scenes follow Stephanie's father, United States President Bill Baker, as he tries to man the defense of his country while silent enemies plan a coup in the name of America's future. Meanwhile, Special Forces Sniper Jim Hart stays behind Chinese lines, doing his best to disrupt the enemy and stay alive. A last story follows some of the higher-ups in the Chinese army and politics, and is not nearly as effective as the other stories. The narrative grinds to a halt whenever Han Wushi or Han Zhemin come into the story, which is not only boring but convoluted as Harry tries and fails to weave a rift between the Chinese civilan leadership and military.
Moreover, these four stories lead into an ending that is more along the lines of a soap-opera than a military page-turner, inducing more cringes than cheers of victory.
So how, asks the reader of this reveiw, could I have given this book four stars? Because the battle material is so well-written that it is easy to overlook the numerous holes in the narrative and poor characterization at times. When the novel ended I did not sit around and ponder the holes of the story; I sat around and wished it was two hundred pages longer.

Rating:
Summary: Enthralling read.
Review: Hmm... I've read nearly all the reviews of this book so far, and the main qualm everyone seems to have is that the plot is unrealistic. Well, of course it is, it's FICTION people!! You don't come out of watching, let's say, The Terminator, and complain ("There is NO WAY that could happen, what a dumb movie!") It should be taken for granted that improbability defines fiction as a genre in the first place. Just because the plot is unrealistic does not make 'Invasion' a bad or boring novel. I found it to be a real page-turner and wasn't able to put it down. I read one review which accused Eric Harry of being 'uneducated' and his book for uneducated people; meanwhile I counted no less than six spelling mistakes...sheesh. The nerve some people have.
I originally picked up 'Invasion' at an airport thinking it would be another 'Airport Trash' novel, but my prejudices were washed away. I remember the book came out around about the time when there was a big crisis with China over an American Intelligence plane that had been shot down over ocean claimed by China. I think I'm right in saying that the crew was held captive for a while, and all over the news there was talk about a conflict with China. I remember boycott groups cropped up all over the States pleading with people not to buy Chinese products. Please. As if people are going to stop eating Chinese food! But Eric Harry's novel does reflect a general fear of China by us Americans, a fear which is still present and ever-growing, especially with the booming Chinese economy. I therefore think the novel very appropriate to our time, and who knows what the future holds? A similar scenario is quite possible - after all there are three major geo-political timebombs waiting to go off in Asia:

1) First off there is the North Korean crisis. Are they building nukes? Do they have them already? Are they going to use them? Are we going to do anything about it?
2) Then there is the Taiwan problem. China is just waiting for an excuse to invade. And if so, would the US really be prepared to fight for a tiny island far away from home?
3) Finally there is the little-known but growing crisis between Russia's Siberian front and China's northern border. Russia and China share one of the longest borders in the world, and neither side can control the Chinese immigration into Siberia. The latter region is for the most part largely depopulated, but of the astonishingly small population which does live there, almost half of it is Chinese, and immigration from China is growing exponentially. Sooner or later this large minority is going to grow into a majority and then what? Does this not remind anyone of Lebanon in the 70s?

So those are three potential sources for a plot of 'Invasion II' if it ever does get written. However, a seque would desperately need to abandon its predecessor's sickly clichés. The President, a past movie star? It saddens me that a caricatured Ronald Reagan-type character should be representative of the American presidency. And then there is the President's stereo-typically sassy teenage daughter, fresh out of High School but who, it turns out, is the female equivalent to Rambo. The book already isn't politically correct (I believe the derogative term 'chink' is used several times) so I see Harry's effort of appeasing American feminists a lame attempt to show even the slightest vestige of political correctness. I mean seriously, Israel gets nuked! Anything Harry says to redeem his absolute UN-politically correct writing is fairly futile after that!
To conclude I think the book is fun, but I do not give it 5 stars for its mentioned flaws, and I do not give it 4 because no sequel is planned and I'm bummed out.

Rating:
Summary: Far from perfect, but nonetheless riveting.
Review: "I understand how. I do not understand why." writes Winston Smith in his diary in George Orwell's classic dystopian future novel, 1984. The same could be said for this book, in which the Chinese launch an overwhelming and highly disciplined attack on half the world before finally assaulting the United States. I understand that building motives is difficult, (I myself attempted to write about a war in the United States and gave up, lacking a suitable motive) for wars typically have complex reasons for getting started, with the notable exception of World War One, when there really wasn't any solid motive. However, perhaps Harry was correct in not putting any motive at all nstead of a flimsy one.
Thankfully, the battle scenes are so well-crafted, following the combat unit of Stephanie Roberts as they retreat from Alabama to Georgia to the Carolinas and keep retreating as the Chinese pour more and more troops into the battle. More scenes follow Stephanie's father, United States President Bill Baker, as he tries to man the defense of his country while silent enemies plan a coup in the name of America's future. Meanwhile, Special Forces Sniper Jim Hart stays behind Chinese lines, doing his best to disrupt the enemy and stay alive. A last story follows some of the higher-ups in the Chinese army and politics, and is not nearly as effective as the other stories. The narrative grinds to a halt whenever Han Wushi or Han Zhemin come into the story, which is not only boring but convoluted as Harry tries and fails to weave a rift between the Chinese civilan leadership and military.
Moreover, these four stories lead into an ending that is more along the lines of a soap-opera than a military page-turner, inducing more cringes than cheers of victory.
So how, asks the reader of this reveiw, could I have given this book four stars? Because the battle material is so well-written that it is easy to overlook the numerous holes in the narrative and poor characterization at times. When the novel ended I did not sit around and ponder the holes of the story; I sat around and wished it was two hundred pages longer.

Rating:
Summary: A good way to spend a few bucks and a few hours
Review: Harry wrote what I thought to be a good book. I picked up the book at a [local store]in Burlington, VT, and read it front to back over the next couple of days.

Here's why the book didn't get the elusive fifth star. There wasn't enough background information to suit me. I would like to have a few chapters, or even a half-decent website devoted to the timeline in which this book takes place. Like other reviewers, I would also like to see a sequel to this book.

Why wasn't more made of air battles? Well, in the book mention is made of advanced man-portable missiles that can destroy tanks and airplanes so easily as to make use of tanks & planes very costly.

Here's how much the book hooked me in. For a couple of days after I finished the book, I had dreams in which I was a character in this timeline, whether an infantryman helping to thwart the Red Chinese, or a researcher devising superweapons.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely idiotic.
Review: This is the worst book I have ever read in my life. Every aspect of this book ranks last in my mind. Its not thrilling, its not well written, its not well concieved at all, its not engaging, its not climactic, and I don't even like how the cover looks. However, it is suspenseful if you consider waiting and wondering what sort of rediculous garbage Harry is going to come up with next suspenseful.

This Harry fellow, who I can't rightly call an author, doesn't even give his book a chance because the whole basis of this collection of wasted paper is complete hogwash. Harry's book claims that China is able to conquer the whole world minus Europe and America because they control the sea. Apparently they converted merchant hulls in giant 300 plane "supercarriers" of which they can build a few a month. Even if this were possible, the US has stealth aircraft while China has a crude collection of vintage Migs(or copies of them) that belong in a museum, not the sky.

Furthermore, the US also has an infinently more advaced navy which would easily place the Chinese merchant-"supercarriers" on the bottom of the ocean.

Then there is the armies. Harry gives the Chinese an army of over 40,000,000 men and ample transports to send them about the Earth. The US has a few hundred thousand troops in the book. One should note that the US easily fielded over 10,000,000 troops in WWII. The number could only be more now. I won't even begin to discuss the technology discrepancies. Rather I will tell you of another appauling aspect of Harry's book. The Chinese are somehow able to fit plethoras of troops in the smallest areas. At Guantanamo Bay for instance the Chinese land 5,000,000+ troops. This wouldn't be possible even if they were stacked as if on slave ships not to mention the fact that in such a situation a few bombs would knock out hoards of Chinese and soon obliterate their whole 5,000,000+ man force.

The whole book is just way to ill convieved for anyone but the most uneducated to indulge in. I'd write more about this catastrophe but it's time for dinner.