Cally's War

Rating:
Summary: Not vintage Ringo...
Review: Another popular writer who makes good, who then promptly subs out his books. Decent book, she's a talented writer, but it's not Ringo, and that's whose name is on the cover and that's what I paid for. "Posleen carnography" it isn't...pardon me for expecting a book with "John Ringo" on the cover, set in the Posleen universe, and about 'Cally O'Neil" to not only be written by Ringo, but be more of the same ol'carnage we know and love.

Slightly different vein...Ringo has a bad habit of writing series, getting you involved, then dropping them out of boredom. Leaving us, his loyal readers, hanging in the wind. Or worse, subbing them out to any and all assorted wannabies to butcher up. This isn't the first time, but, sadly, for me it'll be the last.

Mr. Ringo wants to write books that he enjoys, that's fine...I'm all for job satisfaction. Flip side of that, he can buy them as well. I won't in the future, period...to many other authors and books out there to read. If he's going to put his name on it, is it to much to expect that he'd at least write it?

Rating:
Summary: anticipation dashed and trashed
Review: I awaited this book with salivating anticipation, and was truly horribly disappointed. The explicit sex [...] scense really were awful. Cally seemed to spend a lot of time either in bars to pick up strange men, or having sex with various targets. As an asassin, she is excellent, but do we really need all this trash stuff?? It's as if the authors were afraid the book might not sell well without lots of sex. Also, it is not a "stand alone" book. You must have read at least one or two of the previous books, which were excellent. This book does not explain just why the B.S. are against the human military, why the aliens are suspect, or just who are these aliens and what is their ultimate goal. I look forward to further Posleen books, not to mention Mr. Ringo's other series. Please, though, leave Cally and her sexual exploits out of any further books. NOT for young readers, which is too bad.

Rating:
Summary: Good idea, terrible execution!
Review: I was looking forward to this book and am not objecting to the story line the authors picked. However, I think they did a really lackadaisical and sloppy job of it.
The book needed an editor to tell the authors to go back and do some major rewriting to connect the episodes and to rebalance the lengths of the different episodes relative to their importance to the story. The cross country trip with the character Reefer is much too long and redundant with too many scenes of Reefer's minor drug deals. I can't imagine anyone cares and they don't further the story. Cally's free-lance assassination should have been mostly eliminated from this book and made the (much expanded) central episode of another book. As they're written both take up too much space and contribute to the book failing to hold together as a coherent whole. This left the central episode, with the supposed love story, rushed and unconvincing. The ending was obviously an after thought with no logical coherence.
Read Robert Heinlein's Friday instead.


Rating:
Summary: Too Much Sex Interfering with a Good Adventure Novel
Review: I've read this book and "The Hero," both spin-offs from the Posleen wars. I'm personally glad that the Posleen carnage is over. There is only so much you can do with ravening aliens and last-ditch defenses.
This was a good read, except for a lot more sex than was needed to sell the story to me. Cally's efforts to deal with her own persona remind me a lot of the problems seen with long-term Special Ops folks. They all get a little ragged around the edges. The Special Ops aspects of the book are great.
I must be getting old, but the sexual aspects of Cally's life are very much overdone. I can live without the graphic details. They don't add anything to the story.

Rating:
Summary: Wait for paperback if you have to have it
Review: It defintely is a change from the previous posleen books. They were all action and violence, while this one is more subtle and delves into the main character's psyche a lot more. The major problem i have with it is the cost. It's just not long enough to justify spending 25 or even 16 dollars on it. And I just couldnt get into this idea of having a spy take the role and the body of another person. Its too convient.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing Character
Review: Ok, I'll admit it, I've had a crush on Cally since she was introduced. This book hasn't changed that. In fact, it made me really feel for what she went through. As another reviewer said, I can't think of a better rendition of a female assassin ever. What was going through her mind, how she pushed aside emotions for the job...amazing.

I can see where people who are attracted to Ringo's military books won't find this one as exciting. It doesnt have the massive battles or sweeping scope. Rather it takes place over a few weeks, and focuses on the battles, both internal and external faced by one human being.

Read it!

Rating:
Summary: A good look at the post Posleen war world
Review: The main shooting war is over, so no massive battles with power armor. This is a good Cold War story, where the primary agent is more jaded than James Bond ever got, joys of regeneration technology...

A good read. I enjoyed the different. This provided good insight into the post war Earth and the politics involved. Good fodder for the RPG game based on this Universe in production.

Rating:
Summary: After the war, winning the peace
Review: The Posleen invaders have been driven back, but Earth has not recovered--and humanities enemies continue to seek ways to undermine the one carnivorous species which has joined the anti-Posleen alliance. The Bane Sidhe exists to battle against humanity's enemies, but also against the Darhel--one of the races of the Galactic Confederation who have achieved a near-monopoly on power in the anti-Posleen alliance. Although the Posleen remain as constant threats, other threats must also be fought--and the most dangerous enemies are sometimes our closest friends.

Cally O'Neal is the top assassin in the Bane Sidhe organization. When the Bane Sidhe learns of a potential leak, Cally is sent to Saturn's moon, Titan, in the guise of a Fleet Captain (an especially curvatious Fleet Captain as the book's cover attests). But Bane Sidhe intelligence is more deeply damaged than anyone had realized and Cally's team becomes endangered.

Authors John Ringo and Julie Cochrane take a break from Ringo's usual militaristic stuff to delve into the undercover war. With alien medical technology, physically surviving decades of assassination and spy-craft is possible, but emotional survival is more challenging--and it's interesting to see Ringo and Cochrane deal with these more subtle issues.

From time to time, the story got confusing--the whole purpose of the Titan investigation was never clearly explained, nor were the structures of the Fleet/Fleet Strike and the Galactic Confederation laid out in as much detail as I would have wanted to make this story stand alone. Still, the story delivers non-stop action, enough sexual titilation to appeal to readers who might be captured by the graphic cover, and also highlights the ever-present danger that mobilizing to defeat an external enemy may just result in a loss of liberties and of all the reasons the battle was initially joined.


Rating:
Summary: Too Girly
Review: There was way too much attention paid to her changes of clothes, and not enough action, like other Ringo books. The ending was very anti-clamatic, and lackluster. Please John no more of this type, get back to action.

Rating:
Summary: Caly is all grown up now - Her daddy would be proud!
Review: This story is all about Cally. If your used to the various twisty subplots related to the human-polseen war series, you might be disappointed. This book is not a part of that series, but set in that world, and is not part of a multibook series. John Ringo has had to keep the focus tight and the extreme subplotting to almost normal levels.
In Short: This book is excellent for a one-book story. Cally is a very complicated person with quirks and hangups like everyone else. It would be a compliment to both to say that this reminded me of the Television show Alias first and second season. Very complicated lives these women lead, facing death and pain everyday - at one level or another.

Read it, you won't be disappointed.