Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: After reading Gust Front, I was really excited to get into the next chapter. Well, my expectations were never realized. I had a few problems with the book.First, outside of the early chapters, the ACS batt was not really the focus that it had been in the past. Granted, this was an opportunity to expand a wider set of characters. The only problem is that they began to melt into each other, and I really didn't care much for most of them. Second, I grew tired of his trick of repeating quotes, where one character will quote, say, Marvin the Martian, and within that chapter, a second, unrelated character makes the same quote. You do it once, it's funny. After that, it becomes overkill and unnecessary. I also did not like the multiple references or in-jokes that I didn't get. Example, I am not familiar with the Bun-Bun world, and therefore my eyes glazed over when the SheVa crew would banter using the Bun-Bun context. For me, the worst instance was the developing of the Big Surprise. (Spoilers ahead.) We know the Himmit following Cally has some important part to play, but it is only barely mentioned in a few spots. And the Darhel; what about their master scheme? There was nothing on that. And the secret lab in the basement of the Sub-Urb. They stumbled into it, left, and that was that. I understand that it is a style to bring up questions and answer them later, but there are threads from the first book that haven't been tied up, or even expounded upon. This book needed more "covert" story. If you want to write about fighting, fine. But if you want to include intrigue, please, supply it.
Rating: 
Summary: "They shall not grow old..."
Review: Five years post the Posleen invasion, America's coastal plains are overrun - the center remains under seige. The majority of America's population is gone. Politicians and political Generals remain a curse on America. Those that investigate Galactic politics turn up dead.
But the Warriors of Earth refuse to become extinct.
In America, Major Mike O'Neil, Cmdr, 1Bat/555 must hold Rabin Gap, entry to Cumberland Basin & the Ohio Valley; if he fails, America becomes snack food for the Posleen. John Ringo continues to astound with his grasp of Military and American life and culture. While his "March" Series (joint with David Weber) is focused on one individual, this series expounds on the various American military sub-cultures, their best people, their interaction and the all-out effort for the survival of America. This will be read from the wilds of Montana to the Point. You will not put down this book until you finish.
Rating:
Summary: S'wonderful, s'marvelous
Review: I'd been avoiding When the Devil Dances because it was the third book in a series, but every where I went there it was begging me to buy it. So I did and I can't say enough about it. I haven't been a big fan of military sci-fi but this book kept me up and wouldn't let me put it down till I finished and now I can't wait for the next one. I do have one complaint though, for those of us silly enough to start in the middles I would have liked to have known what an ACS was (for sure) before I got to page 402. I'd come up with a lot of possibilities but none of them right, but then again the scene where Elgars drapes Mueller over her shoulder and takes him to bed had me laughing so much. This is a great book, even if I started in the meddle of the series and with the exception of the ACS I had most of the other stuff - even knew about the Barrett, course my NRA magazing had an article in it this month and that helped me remember. Way to go John Ringo. More, more, more!!
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent, but incomplete
Review: I've read all three books in this series, and I think they're fantastic. I read a lot of SF and military SF, and I think Ringo rates right up there with Drake and Pournelle. The writing in When the Devil Dances is consistent with the rest of the series, with tight action scenes, plenty of mystery and suspense, and good character development. The returning characters have changed somewhat during the five years that elapse between the close of Gust Front and the beginning of When the Devil Dances, adding layers of complexity and maturity. The new characters are entertaining, especially the crew of SheVa Nine ("Bun-Bun"). My only quibble with the novel is where it ended. A Hymn Before Battle covered the entire arc of events of first contact and Diess, and Gust Front covered the first Posleen landings on Earth. When the Devil Dances moves forward to the lowpoint of the war for the humans -- the only human-held territory left aside from the Ohio, Cumberland, and Tennessee Valleys are areas too mountainous, heavily jungled, or cold for the Posleen to conquer. The story begins with a huge battle in and around Rochester, NY, and then the action shifts down to Rabun Gap in Georgia. A massive blitz by "smart" Posleen is threatening the last free lands in America. The action is heavy in the final 2/3 of the book, and there is a desperate fight to prevent the Posleen from cutting off retreating and relieving human forces. However, this battle does *not* involve the ACS/Mobile Infantry forces commanded by Mike O'Neal. They are moving into position when the novel ends, but the question of stopping the Posleen is far from answered. I'm not sure if this was done under pressure from Baen to make the third novel smaller than the second or just a pacing decision by Ringo, but I found myself stopped short by the end of the novel; wishing that the battle would be resolved so that the next novel in the series would move on (hopefully) to the human reduction and elimination of the remaining Posleen on Earth and the inevitable confrontation with the Darhel. At any rate, the book is an excellent addition to the series, and now I just have to wait another year for the next installment.
Rating:
Summary: When the Devil Dances
Review: In short, Earth is a total write off regardless if humanity survives. It takes humans close to 20 years to produce a new crop of warriors, it only takes the Poseen 2 years to replace thier losses. Based on the previous boooks, I expected a better sequal than what I ended up purchasing. If you intend to read this book be prepared to buy the fourth book for the finish of this book. In other words Ringo comes off as incompentent as the leaders of the Earth he has created to destroy. Out of 700+ pages, most of which is geographic description rather plot advancement description, could have been removed to make room for Hell's Faire. The Posleen are granted a higher level of intellegence than previously seen. The leaders of the humans on the other hand, seem to be fighting a war of survival/extinction while playing serious Political Correctness. While the Posleen get to develop new weapons and the ability to hack into the human, computer netwook as well as the AIDs from the Galactics. This also includes the ACS units. We on the other hand seem to think it is unfair to use nukes on the alien invaders, even under the worst situations. There may be a possible way for humanity to survive; but; I doubt Ringo will be capable enough to pull it off. He is too married to the ACS units concept to permit the full development of this potential.
Rating: 
Summary: keeps getting worse
Review: Just terrible- A Hymn Before Dying was decent, the second book was mediocre this one was just wretched. You cannot call this military scifi-this was the script for a crappy B-movie. It doesn't matter if he left you hanging with this book because it isn't worth the effort to keep reading his stuff.
Rating:
Summary: When The Devil Dances
Review: Rinngo's Posleen series, best so far which is very good; only negative is that for a book that depends so much on geography for presentation there is no attempt to supply maps of any type; for instance, the number of people reading the book that know the difference between the Rabun and Unicoi gap areas of Northern Georgia is going to be very small
Rating:
Summary: Getting stronger!
Review: The aliens are less alien seeming in this book, and more like very extreme examples of human archetypes. The humans are still mostly two-dimensional, but that doesn't manage to damp the enjoyment of reading this rocket sled-ride-to-doom! Looming extinction, back-stabbing 'superiors,' feckless bureaucrats, logistics SNAFUs, good soldiers and bad, and the fabulous GalTech all still mix together to create a fast-paced read. My complaints from previous books in this series remain: The deux ex machina rescues are back, and the technology still has magic performance. Now, I realize that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic," but a little explanation of how, for instance, soldiers can wield what are, in essence, heavy-duty mass-driver hoses yet not suffer recoil forces would be interesting. Some fairly obvious tactical screws-up exist, too. For instance, the GalTech Aid (personal computer/secretary/librarian/etc.) can produce an impenetrable reactionless shield, but yet no one bothers to use them as such in combat. What's with that? Instead, they use them as pop-up land mines, with the force field flipping on and off in unrestrained mode to slice the Posleen into gobbets of dripping yellow meat. Now that's a nifty, nasty, and believable innovation, but how come everyone's forgotten to use these same screens in their originally-intended mode? One especially jarring element is the Rah-Rah cheer leading for the online comic Sluggy Freelance, and in particular, for Bun-bun the homicidal mini-lop rabbit. While I enjoy Sluggy very much, and have been reading it for years, I find the over-the-top evangelical enthusiasm of Ringo for Sluggy to be annoying and distracting. To the good, many of the stronger points of the previous books are retained. Sympathetic characters still die. Human resourcefulness in the face of overwhelming odds is still the order of the day, and shows up all over the place. There is more focus on the civil effects of living under the threat of extinction, and it's not pretty. Ringo has done a nice job of showing the Law of Unintended Consequences here, where pre-invasion political considerations & shortsightedness come back to haunt humanity. People, who relied upon their politicians to be wise, instead find themselves squarely in the path of danger due to "politics-as-usual." The Posleen are no longer complete cyphers, and show that they *can* learn. This isn't at all good for humanity, and the entire book revolves around what happens when one brilliant and innovative Posleen commander intersects with the defects of human foresight. There is a widening of scope that moves the focus somewhat away from the principle characters of the first two books, and sharpens the focus on some previous bit-players. New characters are introduced, and hints of schemes within schemes begin to surface. It seems that humanity isn't without allies against the treachery of the Darhel, even though the Darhel appear to be playing a deeper game than has before been shown. This is a more fully realized story than A Hymn Before Battle, and probably better than Gust Front. Ringo is maturing, and despite some quibbles, shows every sign of being David Drake's equal. If you like stories about good heroes, really 'bad' bad guys, and realistically rendered blood-n-thunder, pick this up and give it a read!
Rating:
Summary: Good continuation of a great series
Review: The series as a whole is excellent and the universe it represents deserves a continuing very detailed rendering by Ringo. The action starts immediately while allowing for continued character development. One finds oneself wanting to know more about the characters and the universe they reside in. The book continues the themes contained within previous books, while developing more nuances in the Posleen, showing deeper glimpses into the politics between Galatics and the Earth, etc. I find the series believable in a way much military sci fi isn't as this series shows the conflicting drivers within leadership versus a one dimensional "us vs them" which is prevelant in other series. John Ringo joins such recent Sci Fi heavy hitters as David Weber and Eric Flint and joins the ranks of such military SF'ers as David Drake - Hammer's Slammers, Pournelle - John Christian Falkenberg, and Keith Laumer - Bolo's. This series is highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Good continuation of a great series
Review: The series as a whole is excellent and the universe it represents deserves a continuing very detailed rendering by Ringo. The action starts immediately while allowing for continued character development. One finds oneself wanting to know more about the characters and the universe they reside in. The book continues the themes contained within previous books, while developing more nuances in the Posleen, showing deeper glimpses into the politics between Galatics and the Earth, etc. I find the series believable in a way much military sci fi isn't as this series shows the conflicting drivers within leadership versus a one dimensional "us vs them" which is prevelant in other series. John Ringo joins such recent Sci Fi heavy hitters as David Weber and Eric Flint and joins the ranks of such military SF'ers as David Drake - Hammer's Slammers, Pournelle - John Christian Falkenberg, and Keith Laumer - Bolo's. This series is highly recommended.
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