Gust Front (Legacy of the Aldenata Book 2) by John Ringo. Baen Books. 721 pages.
Those who know me know I have a weakness for military science fiction, and somewhere I read that John Ringo’s series about the Posleen Wars was one of the best. I concur. John Ringo comes from a military background, himself serving in the Airborne, and this particular volume paying homage to his father, who served in Europe in World War II as an Engineer.
The basic premise is this: humanity is approached by a Federation of alien races who have been fighting the Posleen for centuries–and losing. They have the technology to win. The trouble is, they just don’t have the will and capacity to fight. That’s where we come in. And we have the added incentive of knowing that Earth is on track for invasion in five years. So they sell us the technology to fight the Posleen–half horses, half alligators–in exchange for going to their planets and fighting the invaders.
That was book 1. Book 2 is when the Posleen get to Earth. I will have to admit that John Ringo falls into the trap that his friend David Weber falls into. The first half of the book is full of too much technobabble and backstory, and is pretty slow. But about halfway through…hold onto your hats! The invasion comes, and with it, the 721 pages of this book disappear quickly.
John Ringo knows military, and if you want the details of how stuff works in the Army, Air Force or Navy, he will tell you. But there were times when I felt I got TMI. In addition–and I heard this from other reviewers–he is trying to tell a massive story from the perspective of 20 or 30 people, and it’s easy to get lost. I did notice him switching POV at least one in a scene, which I always thought was a no-no, but apparently he thought it was all right.
The excitement is off the charts, once the invasion begins. If you like military sci-fi, this is a series you won’t want to miss.
I give it four stars out of five.
The Great Adventure 