Julie Cochrane

This book is much less than I expected from Ringo. The opening chapter describes the heroine allowing herself to be captured--and then tortured: gouging, cutting, blood, bones breaking, etc. And then, when they finally decide she's had enough and cut her loose before they kill her, she jumps up to kill the one man with a round-house kick to his head and then grabs his gun to kill the other. When her backup finally arrives there's no mention of her wounds...or of any healing measures. The story then evolves into a feminine wet-dream as Cally goes about killing bad guys and screwing other bad guys so she can get info on them to kill them also. Okay, this story is for the teen women who read Sci-Fi; and who aren't too interested in plot--setup, execution and resolution. The plot of finding the spy/traitor on Titan Station is so lame I can't figure it out in order to describe it. Maybe if I had read the earlier books in the series it would have been easier to follow. As it is, the story, and the characters, left me cold. My presumption is that Julie Cochrane was responsible for the feminine slant, but I can't excuse Ringo for contributing to a weak story.… (mais)

Let's be honest, this book has not reviewed well over the years. However, I had a long flight, and figured I'd give it a go. It wasn't actually all that bad, and was certainly massively better than some other share cropped books I have read. The writing is competent and the plotting reasonable. I think the biggest problem is that the start of the book would be quite shocking to some people (it certainly bothered me), and Cally's character is so out of line with where I wanted her to be 40 years after the last book. I can see how it would be possible for her to end up like she is in this book, but it was a disappointment to me. The pretty much constant shagging is distracting from the rest of the plot too.

Overall, I am left wanting to know more about the Darhel plot, and the book did help further that story line, if only a little. I don't regret reading the book, even though it isn't the strongest in the series.

http://www.stillhq.com/book/John_Ringo/Callys_War.html… (mais)

I delayed checking this book out from my local library because of the lurid cover. (You say "lurid" like that's a bad thing.) I read a lot while I ride public transportation to and from work, and soon found out that I could start some of the coolest conversations when I found people staring at the cover.

This novel, however, and like the Cally character, sucks. Literally and figuratively, if you know what I mean.

A reviewer who described the sex scenes as "monochromatic" is being WAY too generous. Some guys can write believable women. Ringo can't. I recommend more decapitations, cannibalistic aliens, and over the top violent battle scenes (which Ringo does supply in the books that follow this one).

But I do love the cover!… (mais)

With most of the DAG mutineers, Cally and Papa O'Neal are facing serious problems - what to do with all the surplus manpower for one thing. And they might just have nailed that. But unfortunately the Darhel are up to their old tricks, and when the DAG dependents start dying, it's time to take action. Of course, that means counteraction. And who better to call in than Mike O'Neal.

Hauled back from squashing Posleen in the blight to deal with a homegrown terrorist threat - the Bane Sidhe, Iron Mike has a plan. What do you get when an immovable O'Neal meets and unstoppable one? A very large body count. But the carnage isn't up to Ringo's usual par. Over numerous volumes I've come to expect a lot of recurring characters, a lot of technical detail, and a lot of bouncing around. But this installment felt particularly muddy, and I don't think it was entirely due to the fact that I haven't read the series in a while. A bit choppy and disjointed for at least the first third, but as always there are some new characters that I can't wait to read more about - Pinky, for instance.… (mais)