Rating: 
Summary: There Will Be War
Review: There Will Be Dragons is the first novel in the series of the same name. The Earth has been at peace for a thousand years since the AI Wars and the population is down to a billion people and shrinking. The ecological recovery project is ongoing under the supervision of Mother, the distributed operating system of the Net. The energy demands for ordinary usage are down, only requiring fourteen of the terawatt generators, although a surplus is being stored for future use in the Wolf 359 terraforming project.The population has engaged in all sorts of manipulations of body form, including body sculpting, genetic modification, Change via teleportation, or Transfer to a nannite cloud. Such manipulations have also been applied to plants and animals. One such genetic mod created the Elves long ago. In this novel, the only remaining governmental body, the Terrestrial Council for Information Strategy and Management, is called into special session by Paul Bowman, who proposes rationing of energy to force humanity to have to work (on what is unclear). Work is, in itself, liberating and should lead to an increase in population, thereby saving humanity from decline and extinction. A majority of those present reject his agenda. Sheida Ghorbani recognizes the fascist nature of Bowman's approach and suspects something underhanded is likely to happen to the Council members who oppose him. She solicits advice from Edmund Talbot, a reenactor and student of military history, and takes the advised precautions. Unfortunately, they are only partial successful and one of her supporters is killed at the next Council meeting. However, Sheida's group manage to recover all their Keys, talismans allowing them to vote on the Council, in the retreat from the Council chamber. Bowman's group start attacking their sanctuary with energy bolts, so Sheida has her supporters shut down the energy web and then physically occupy the power plants to deny them to Bowman's group. Then they start locking out subprograms in the Net. When the populace are denied access to the energy web and the Net, people begin to die. Scientists in the photosphere of the Sun are vaporized in an instant. Those investigating the magma underlying the continents are crushed almost as fast. Vessels and people fall out of the sky or are suddenly without power in the middle of an ocean. Those individuals who survive the initial shutdown are still faced with starvation. Food was grown in the central plains and distributed via the Net. Now the distribution system is gone and the available food supply is minimal in most locations. People lucky enough to be within a reasonable distance of a primitive living area, reenactors or anarchia, gather whatever supplies and equipment are on hand and start walking. In this story, the reenactors within Raven's Mill gather together under the leadership of Edmund Talbot and start preparing for an influx on refugees. They create a familiarization program that will provide experience in several key areas, including military skills. Since the Net is still prohibiting explosives, such skills are with various forms of clubs and edged weapons. This story is a post-utopian tale, similar to Heinlein's Beyond This Horizon. The discontented want to change society to suit their own taste and are willing to kill others to get their way. One of the first problems created by the shutdown is the formation of bandit gangs. However, the long term problem is feudalism. The story also has some of the flavor of Heinlein's Tunnel in the Sky. Individuals from a highly advanced technological society are suddenly left to their own devices and whatever primitive devices that they can build. However, this story has a nucleus of hobbyists who play at living in technologically primitive societies, some of whom are smiths with their own forges and other tools. On the other hand, the majority of the populace in this story have not had survival training prior to the shutdown. The survivors include Daneh Ghorbani, ex-wife of Talbot, and their daughter Rachel as well as Herzer Hertrick, a friend of Rachel and ex-patient of Daneh. For the most part, the Elves are neutral in this conflict, but Bast the Wood Elf insists on being involved. Angus Peterka the Dwarf is also supporting the people of Raven's Mill with refined metals from his reclaimed mine. This story depicts the expansion and defense of the town of Raven's Mill. The greater struggle is continuing and could go either way. Thus, there is plenty of opportunities for sequels; Emerald Sea will be released in July and Against the Tide has been written. Highly recommended for Ringo (and Heinlein) fans and for anyone else who enjoys tale of primitive combat and local politics in a fantastic (but possible) setting. -Arthur W. Jordin
Rating: 
Summary: Extremely interesting new series
Review: This book begins in a confusing manner for someone expecting more 'yellow gore'. But as I continued, it didn't take long to be drawn in and captured by Mr Ringo's fast-paced plots and interesting characters.
As always, his action scenes are first-rate, and plot twists well-planned.
As is true of all of Mr Ringo's books, BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE! If you want a fairy-tale, look elsewhere. But if you want a gritty story of people persevering against incredible odds, then this book will satisfy. By the end of this book, I was anxiously awaiting it's sequel.
Rating: 
Summary: Logic flies out the window
Review: This first book of yet another Ringo series ensures that I will avoid those to follow. I am astonished by the book's five star reviews. Ringo tries to write a "highly technical society gets knocked back to the 1700s" novel, but the absurdities abound. The original society has one billion people living on an idyllic Earth with virtual or real (but safe) adventures and experiences at everyone's beck and call. This society also has a pervasive artificial intelligence/worldwide net/coordinated nannites entity called "Mother" that can control weather and dampen chemical explosions. However, world power sources are independent of Mother and are controlled by a council of humans and modified humanoids. Disagreements within this council lead to war and the abrupt loss of power and technology all over the Earth. Fortunately, small groups of historical reenactors coordinate the development of local communities that farm, hunt, and provide for each other without electricity, oil, industry, motorized vehicles, etc. Due to their efforts, only 15% of the world's population dies in the calamity. Meanwhile, because of the dangers of roving bandit armies, local communities must learn to defend themselves. But, firearms won't work (because Mother detects and stops all chemical explosions). Hence, Roman-style legions, archers, and armored knights return. Much of the novel focuses on the development and use of strange combinations of armed forces.
This novel might appeal to people who ask questions such as "How would legions and long bows fare against light cavalry and crossbows?" If you don't ask such questions, don't buy this book. A much better book about going from high tech to a primitive environment is Robert Heinlein's classic "Tunnel in the Sky."
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining fluff
Review: This is a nice, entertaining piece of fluff. (Previous reviewers have outlined the plot, so I won't go deeply into it here.) I enjoyed the read much more when I stopped trying to take it seriously. The premise--"What happens when your super-advanced society gets busted back to Pre-Industrial Times?" is interesting--though I found it hard to believe that enough Ren-Faire enthusiasts would be around in the year 5 zillion to save everybody's bacon by growing food, hunting wild boar and hammering up weapons.
But the author combines Monty Python's 'Spanish Inquisition' skit with Bun-Bun from Sluggy Freelance, *in the same paragraph*...so it's all good.
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