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Title: The Road to Damascus by John Ringo, Linda Evans ISBN: 0-7434-7187-3 Publisher: Baen Books Pub. Date: 01 March, 2004 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.17 (6 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Good military, way too much social commentary
Comment: Sonny, a tracked weapon system (Bolo) as large as apartment building, is sent to the planet Jefferson as his last home. Humans are hardpressed by two alien species and the Bolo represent their one great hope. Although Sonny is aging, even an aging Bolo is a terrible weapon of destruction. When the Deng attack, fleeing from even more rapacious aliens, Sonny, together with the effective military of Jefferson and some farmers armed with beehives, is able to kill all of them with no survivors. But the effort and its attendant destruction saps the Jefferson economy and rabble-rousing populists blame the planets problems on Sonny, the farmers who bore the brunt of the fighting, and on evil profiteers. Their election victory leads to continued encroachments on liberty--including dreaded efforts to disarm the citizens.
Stripped of his human officer, Sonny is left under the control of the newly elected President of Jefferson. Sonny's artificial intelligence recognizes the falsities in the Poppa Party program, with its slave labor for farmers and dole for unemployed gang members, but he is unable to ignore the President's orders that he engage in riot suppression. And the Bolo's efforts lead to greater violence against the Poppa Party leading up to an insurection. Where the Poppa once reveiled Sonny, they soon come to depend on him as their primary defense against well armed and well led rebels--especially as they've eliminated virtually all of the disloyal Jefferson army.
Authors John Ringo and Linda Evans provide a mix of exciting military/Bolo action (the Bolo construct was initially introduced by Golden Age SF author Keith Laumer) and heavy-handed social commentary. The Poppa platform is a strange mix of pre-World War II Soviet anti-farmer genocide and work camp, anti-Viet Nam war peace activism, environmentalism, and pure stupidity (even the Soviets weren't stupid enough to completely destroy their warmaking ability although they certainly damaged it enough to make things easy for Hitler). Ringo's apparent belief that the right to bare arms can secure freedom certainly flies in the face of recent experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq where armed populations were nevertheless terrorized into docility.
There are plenty of great SF books that include strong political statements and I don't begrudge Ringo's use of the soapbox of a novel to send his own right-wing/libertarian message (although I do think that lumping environmentalism with the Soviet genocide of Ukranian farmers is way over the top). From the story perspective, however, Sonny's long cogitations about the internal logic and factual problems in the Poppa program distracted from any plot and also made Sonny seem stupid.
A couple of hundred pages of tightening and this could have been a first-rate military SF thriller.
Rating: 5
Summary: The purpose of Military Might
Comment: The legendary Bolos have returned!
In a departure from the classic history of the Bolo John Ringo and Linda Evans have wrought a full length novel where before we had been given only short stories and novellas. It is in this setting that we see the mind of the Bolo laid open.
Political wrangling takes hold of a world that stood on the brink of destruction and thrusts it into cultural de-evolution. The Bolo sent to defend the planet is used to enforce an agenda of totalitarianism upon a free people, leading them down to the very gates of Hell.
But the Bolo was given a mind of its own. A time for choosing will arise . . .
This tale takes the Bolo and its limitations through a fantastic tale sure to grab the hearts and minds of all of the fans of the Bolo.
Worth buying!
Rating: 4
Summary: exciting military and post military science fiction
Comment: The ET Volkswanderung has arrived to conquer the residents of planet Jefferson, cut off from the rest of the Concordant. Nothing survives the devastation of these marauding interplanetary travelers once they engage in their usual hostile activities. To battle the Volkswanderung, Commander Simon Khrustinov and his Surplus on Loan (SOL) Bolo prepare for one final onslaught yet they successfully vanquish the enemy.
However, much of Jefferson is in ruins from the war. Infrastructure either no longer exists or so feeble it might as well not be there. To rebuild the planet means a major influx of capital (both money and people), but few are willing to pay the cost. When the unpopular government tries to make tough decisions, it gains no support and collapses. Narrow vision Utopians take over with a special agenda to use the powerful Bolo to ethnically cleanse their enemies, not understanding the moral dilemma imposed on this thinking war machine with a conscience.
This is an exciting military and post military science fiction novel that would make Keith Laumer proud of what John Ringo and Linda Evans has done with his Bolo. The story line is at its best when the audience observes the reconstruction options and the ethics issues, none of which are easy or cheap. At times harsh and condemning those foolish enough to believe that no one besides the soldier and his or her family have to pay for war and its aftermath, readers will get the no free lunch message that there is a price to pay when conflict, even in the case of defense, is deployed.
Harriet Klausner
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Title: 1634 : The Galileo Affair by Andrew Dennis, Eric Flint ISBN: 0743488156 Publisher: Baen Books Pub. Date: 01 April, 2004 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: There Will Be Dragons by John Ringo ISBN: 0743471644 Publisher: Baen Books Pub. Date: 01 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Ring of Fire by Eric Flint ISBN: 074347175X Publisher: Baen Books Pub. Date: 01 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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Title: The Course of Empire by Eric Flint, K. D. Wentworth ISBN: 0743471547 Publisher: Baen Books Pub. Date: September, 2003 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
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Title: Crown Of Slaves by David Weber, Eric Flint ISBN: 0743471482 Publisher: Baen Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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