Gust Front

This was author John Ringo's second book, and in the dozen or more he's done since, he's yet to come close to surpassing it. The premise isn't new - alien invasion - and neither are any of the concepts, but Ringo's handling of them is well-informed and contemporary. Essentially, the US military is set against carnivorous aliens. Ringo did some time in the Army and knows it well; it's a great look at how the Army really works, the types of people you find there. He knows the real-world tech as well as Tom Clancy but doesn't overburden us with detail; nevertheless, the science of the alien technology is well thought-through and consistent. The characters are mostly three-dimensional and realistic, and - as important - *interesting*. With the exception of one gung-ho hero who seems that way, nobody's perfect. Plot moves fast and intelligently towards a great climax. This is what good SF should be; it's intelligent, fast-moving, contemporary and gripping. What good SF should be.

Aliens have invaded the Earth before...but dammit! John took it to new levels.First, as an military engineer veteran, it was gratifying to see the Engineers given prominence. Prominence? Hell! They taught the Posleen PAIN! There's very few alien invasions that can't be resolved by the suitable application of a few million tons of claymores and C4. But there's more than that. He managed, technically, to portray combined arms interestingly and accurately, explain the frustration of dealing with political sandbagging, while letting us see why the politicians feel equally hamstrung. He let us feel the gut-wrenching fear of troops who know they're going to die, but get the job done anyway because sometimes there's no point in giving up.The Posleen are an alien it's hard to feel empathy for. Reptilian centauroids that are immune to most toxins, are hatched knowing how to shoot, and slice anything animal including slow-moving children into sushi as they run, they just beg to be killed. And yet, they do have a culture and are grasping at an understanding of their first real enemy, the human race. By their own standards they are moral, and they have individuality and quirks.Add in some hysterically entertaining NSTIW stories that are axioms among vets ("This is the USS Missouri, twenty miles offshore. Glad to help, Army!") that fit into the story without being cliche while still causing one to want to pop a beer, and you have riotous entertainment, gripping action and an ancient plot that holds up amazingly well through his telling.And the engineers get to blow up whole DIVISIONS of Posleen.You might want to read A Hymn Before Battle first, because it's also good. But this one ROCKS.

Aliens that act (mostly) alien, intrigue, conspiracy, dastardly back-stabbing, bureaucratic SNAFUs, good soldiers and armies hung out to dry by (and for) politics, overwhelming odds, and humanity's back now squarely up against the wall... Yup! Ringo still has all the right stuff. Ringo makes the most of his material, and while he still makes a few jarring mistakes along the way, and his characterizations are still fairly weak, this is a much-improved story over the previous book, A Hymn Before Battle.First, the flaws, to get them out of the way:Ringo's characters are still mostly caricatures, though he has improved in this area to a degree. Mixed motivations, angst, realistic reactions to heartbreak and loss, and so on, are still weak. His soldiers, from the enterprising street kid-found-a-home to the old-timer Gunny sergeant, to the overwhelmed generals in charge, to 'Mighty Mite' O'Neal himself, are all better developed but still are fairly shallow. There are fewer physics goofs in this one, accepting and carrying forward the goofs made in the first book as a given. "GalTech," or Galactic Technology, is still treated like a magic wand for making anything happen in any way that seems to fit the story, but it receives much less attention in this story save for some of the results of scarcity: Misappropriation of ?GalTech? into a largely unexplored black market.The addition of a 'suggested soundtrack' is something entirely new in my experience, and marks Ringo's inventiveness and desire to create an immersive experience. I'm not sure, entirely, how I feel about that level of manipulation, however mild it might be. I'm much more used to allowing my own mind to create the mood when I read, and I find myself rather ambivalent towards this unique innovation.To the good, one of my pet peeves from the first book has been avoided: The deux ex machina rescues are gone from this book, and good troops are allowed to die when overwhelmed. Sympathetic characters die in heroic stands, and in less heroic ways too. One character in particular, a resourceful young mortar platoon leader I'd hoped would survive, just vanishes into the battle, presumed dead, completely out-of-scene. I find that rather effective and refreshing close to what happens in the real world. Human resourcefulness in the face of overwhelming odds shows up all over the place.This is a more fully realized story than A Hymn Before Battle. Black markets in 'GalTech,' bureaucratic screw-ups, personal agendas, cowardice, incompetence, malice, and simple happenstance are mixed liberally into the story, and it *works*. The suggestions of conspiracy and hidden alien AND human agendas are now emerging in the open, and it?s clear that Earth's allies are playing their own very nasty game, in which humanity is a pawn. The problem for the Darhel is that this particular collection of pawns are plotting their own moves within the larger scheme of things, and that tends to de-rail millennia-old schemes. Somet

For all of those who quibbled about things like smoking , you obviously have no idea what the life of a soldier is like. As a former 82nd airborne trooper, a lot of what he writes stikes a cord in me. This is a very well paced series with well developed characters, and the posleen basic ineptitude is more than made up for in sheer overwhelming numbers. I am eagerly awaiting Hell's Fair and any follow on books. Weber and Drake are both good, but Ringo has a very unique aura of authenticity to anyone who has been there.

Considering Mr. Ringo is from my neck of the woods, this might seem a bit biased. However, "Gust Front" (like the "A Hymn Before Battle" before it) is a great read. It is a well crafted book that brings the reader into almost instant empathy with the characters. Combine that with a fairly realistic grasp of tactics and a knack for describing them, and you get one marvelous read. If you like Military Science Fiction, I heartily suggest reading this series.