There Will Be Dragons

Rating:
Summary: Camouflaged Fantasy
Review: After the debacle with Hell's Faire, I had decided to give Ringo one more chance. Well...this book is just fantasy, nothing more. I can't say if this is Ringo's idea or if his publisher is making him do this, but regardless I am done with Ringo.

Fantasy readers will love this, I'm sure, but Military SF readers should stay away. And even you fantasy fans shouldn't pony up the $25.00 for this. Maybe if Ringo was released in paperback for five or six bucks a copy one could tolerate his excesses in drawing out a story in order to make another book out of it. Sorry Ringo, I loved Hymn Before Battle, but this is the last book of yours I read.

Rating:
Summary: And how about that bikini-clad elf on the cover?
Review: For a thousand years, Earth has been almost paradise. A computer artificial intelligence, 'Mother,' keeps track of everything, prevents explosions, and supplies enough energy and nanite technology for everyone to live in plenty. A few recreators dream about the romance of medieval life, but for the most part, they enjoy the long lives that nanite technology allows. There is one problem in paradise. Despite the long lives, humanity is under-reproducing itself. According to some calculations, it will die out entirely if trends don't change. And a faction of the ruling council has come up with a scheme to change everything. That faction is essentially fascism. When the council splits, war breaks out and all of the energy produced by 'Mother' is suddenly drawn into the conflict.

Edmund, a smith and medieval recreator, gathers an increasing group of refugees into a town. Since Mother doesn't allow steam engines, let alone internal combustion, they need to recreate medieval technology. But not everyone is content to live in peace--bandits are becoming increasingly organized--and supported by the fascist council members. Former recreator and recently healed Herzer joins the town, gets to work in timber cutting, then joins Edmund's brain-child. A Roman legion. Legions, Edmond reasons, stayed a Republic as long as it did because of the legion. Peasant levies and heavy cavalry, in contrast, lead to feudal serf/noble societies--something that Edmund wants to avoid but that he can only prevent in his own section of the world.

THERE WILL BE DRAGONS starts a bit slowly, although the world-building is interesting and convincing. The background, AI wars, Mother, and energy currenty all make for a well-conceived future (I'm not sure that a world where reenactors stop around the beginning of the 20th century really makes sense for the 50th century, nor that 50th century citizens would be more aware of the evils of Pol Pot than we are of the evils of particular old kingdom Egyptian phaeros, but hey, we have to give authors a bit of leeway on the cultural things. Parts of Herzer's life also read like an adolescent male's fantasy--how about that bikini-clad elf-warrior on the cover, anyway.

I found myself getting angry at author John Ringo's strange belief that arming the people does much good (it certainly didn't keep Iraq or Afghanistan from totalitarian evils), but in the end, his story convinced me. The Roman legion training and the battle sequences which make up the final third of the book were a great payoff for the reading investment. Naturally, DRAGONS leaves a lot of loose ends hanging--plenty of material for sequels, but I'm looking forward to reading more.

Rating:
Summary: Offputting
Review: From the synopses of "There Will Be Dragons," I wasn't sure I'd like it and so decided to wait for the paperback. I then read very positive reviews of "Emerald Sea" (next in the series) and decided I couldn't wait for the paperback. When I received the book, I was first disgusted by the dust jacket (supposed to meet men's sexual fantasies?). I don't know who decided on this jacket, which was illustrated by Clyde Caldwell, not John Ringo. It needs to be eliminated. I'm surprised the dust jacket has generated little comment.

I did start reading and considered the plot so-so (jumped too much from one character and locale to another). I kept expecting to be drawn into the story, but that didn't happen. After Ringo introduced Bast, the wise, long-lived elf, I became irritated by the continued references to her incredible understanding of humans and, apparently, of sex. I definitely didn't like Bast's intimation to Daneh that it's okay to be a submissive and to reach orgasm when Daneh relives (in dreams) her rape. I had to stop reading. I'm not sure what Ringo intended--and am aware that what an author writes does not necessarily reflect his/her views. But, this was too much.

I also felt that the book supported rather right-wing views regarding the environment (mentioned by at least one other reviewer) and the right to bear arms (also mentioned by other reviewers). The gung-ho military aspect comes through in other Ringo novels, but more acceptably--and entertainingly--so (at least for me).

I'm not going to try "Emerald Sea" since I find it hard to imagine that the nature of the series changes that dramatically in the second book.

I've enjoyed John Ringo's Human-Posleen series (although I think the quality of the series has declined in the last couple books); I've especially liked the Prince Roger series co-authored by David Weber and am eagerly awaiting the next installment.

Rating:
Summary: A Promising Start
Review: I first found John Ringo through his co-authored works will David Weber. They both write "hard" military science fiction, and this one is no differerent. Except its not so much military science fiction as medievial military fiction. True, there exists high techonology, including AIs and genetic engineering, most of the action of this book takes place with swords and bows. A well crafted work of fiction and well worth the read but mostly not sci-fi, but then it didn't claim to be.

Rating:
Summary: A little knowledge is a dangerous thing...
Review: I'm really only reviewing content in chapter 26. In this chapter, Mr. Ringo gives enough information to make a horse sick or die. In this chapter, the protagonist sets out on an all day ride to learn techniques of herding other animals. The horses are pushed hard frequently cantering. At rides' end the riders play a modified game of polo, which also works the horses hard. At some point, fresh horses are supplied and the riders continue on their merry way learning more riding techniques-without learning how to take care of their mounts. It would be easy for Mr. Ringo to state that the techniques used to care for a horse are no longer necessary because of gene modification. But he can't say that because one of the first things he states is that the gene pools for horses haven't been modified: Cross-breeding, yes, gene modification, no. Thus all the frailties a horse has still exist in this time-frame. At the end of this training day, the riders are encouraged to ride their horses down to the baths (to get even more riding experience) and get cleaned up. Meanwhile, the protagonist's horse is staked out to graze while his rider bathes.

First of all, if you ride hard, you must balance the workout with an equal amount of cooling off period-even humans today are trained to do that in their own workouts. A cooling off period means that the horse is walked until dry and certainly is not given access to food. Otherwise, the horse is in danger of foundering, which can kill a horse-especially in a society that doesn't have access to veterinary tools and medicines. Also, last we knew the horse was bridled, and not equipped with a hackamore. Grass can catch in a bridle and cause a horse to choke; horses can't throw up and so would suffocate.

Second, you never take care of yourself first. You always take care of your mount currying, brushing, and feeding (after cooling off) before you take care of yourself. Learning to ride in a virtual game doesn't train your muscles. Most of riding is training your muscles to move in different ways to give signals to your horse. This cannot be accomplished in a few rides. It takes training and time. Horses are not easy to ride; especially horses whose spirits haven't been "broken." When being ridden, horses are constantly thinking and making decisions based on their observance of the territory around them and their confidence in the rider's decisions. Some horses feel responsible for the safety of their riders and are on the alert throughout the ride. This can make it more difficult for the rider to stay on the horse's back because a tense horse causes a jagged ride.

This lack in the content about horses and riding is in contrast with the details Mr. Ringo adds to the content. For example, the horse owner, Kane, suggests that the protagonist, Herzer, saddle his own horse. Herzer hesitantly states that he doesn't know how, so Kane tells Herzer to watch so he can saddle his horse the next time. It's unlikely that watching without training is likely to teach a new rider how to handle a saddle. I'm not suggesting that Mr. Ringo describe how to saddle a horse properly. I am suggesting that he add a few sentences something like this:

[Kane called Herzer over to where he was about to saddle his horse. "I'll show you some techniques to saddling a horse that are true regardless of which riding technique you use." Herzer brought Diablo and the saddle over to Kane and imitated the steps Kane went through in saddling his horse.]

Little things like mentioning a "hackamore" and other details are too defined for the lack of description about riding and caring for horses. Again, a few little sentences here and there would not give the reader the wrong impression of horses. For example:

[Kane stopped about halfway through the day. "Ok folks, an important rule about horseback riding is taking care of your horse. We've ridden hard today. You never take a horse back to his stall lathered or wet or breathing hard. When the day is done, walk your horse home, never let him run. If he's still not dry, take the saddle and blanket off, cover him with a light horse blanket and walk him till he's dry. And never feed him till he's cooled off and dry."]

Those two little paragraphs teach the reader respect for the being that becomes a partner in your job.


Rating:
Summary: An interesting Fantasy/Sci Fi mix
Review: It's not often I read a book where the author mixes low-tech fantasy with high-tech science fiction and makes it interesting. But John Ringo does a darn good job of it in this book. He takes a future Utopia, where all the work anyone has to do is say "Genie, another beer", and asks the age old question, "What is the worst thing I can do to these characters short of killing them?"

The result is a high-tech war between feuding Council members using Clarkian level technology (indistinquishable from magic), while the rest of the world is suddenly denied the energy net that provides just about everything in their lives, and has to fight a low-tech war with nothing more advanced than cold steel, just to survive.

I highly recommend this book to any fans of sword-and-sorcery fantasy, as well as anyone else who likes Baen's style of books.

Rating:
Summary: Badly Staged Setup From The Beginning
Review: Ringo ends this book with his heroes battling bandits, but the entire book is a kind of robbery. First come the opening setting, a couple thousand years uptime, a paradise with virtually unlimited energy and computing power available, teleportation, and nanotechnology to build or change anything on command. Then he pulls the rug out from everything with a ludicrous "war" between ruling council members. The entire population is dropped into fourteenth century technology, except for said council members who still have all their techno-magical means. Firearms aren't allowed due to a lame excuse he has, but elves, dwarves, orcs, dragons and unicorns are provided on an equally lame basis. Even Sluggy Freelance gets dragged in! The characters are shallow, and the plot is nothing more than a series of little episodes. Some of the main characters don't even rise to the level of being "shallow". Finally everything culminates in a battle that is so baldly staged and manipulated for the author's convenience that its offensive to the reader.

If you want a sword and sorcery tale, pick one that is at least honest with itself.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting Start
Review: The book is an interesting beginning to a series that bridges the gap between Science Fiction and Fantasy. The future of the Series would seem to be predictable but the way the author attacks the situations will be the telling part.

I to have enjoyed the "Posleen" series and the "March To" series and also found that they ran out of steam towards the end. I hope that this does not happen in this series.

The series seems to be developing on two tracks, one track with the people displaced by the war (read the Mortals) and the other track with those causing the war (read the Gods), with people who talk with the "Gods" being the leaders of the "Mortals" possible future "Wizards".

If the author can keep the action going without being bogged down in detail, like "The March to the Stars" this could be a great series, but I have been burned by the author before.

Rating:
Summary: Another great John Ringo story
Review: There will be dragons is another great book by John Ringo. This is his first foray into more of a classical fantasy world from his previous series of Mil-scifi. It is a great amalgam of the Fantasy, Alternate history, and Mil-scifi genres. It has a great combinatio of settings and characters to please the lover of any type of Scifi.
Gods (but not), Elves and mere humans (mostly) fight to save humanity, survive the fall of Utopia and more mundane things like learn to work again and be merely human.

I recommend this book to anyone who likes scifi. The only bad thing is John isnt writing fast enough...

Rating:
Summary: VERY GOOD START
Review: THERE WILL BE DRAGONS is the first episode in a new series by John Ringo. To be honest I really didn't want to like this book. I am so angry with Ringo for what he has done, or better yet not done, to the MARCH and the Posleen series, that is take a wonderful story and drive it straight to hell!

As much as I wanted to trash it I can't. It is a truly good story with exciting, vibrant characters, great storyline (not very original, see EARTH ABIDES, THE STAND, ALAS BABYLON, etc.) but when your dealing with a high tech civilization being reduced to pre-industrial revolution levels it's a darn good one. Although the basic storyline isn't original the way he gets there is.

Do I RECOMMENDED it? Yes, it's too well written not to. I enjoyed it, but I'm still afraid that about two books into the series good ol' Mr. Ringo is going to get bored again and leave us hanging with either no follow-up, or even worst a pathetic thrown together ending like that crud in HELL'S FAIRE. But, where there's life there's hope...