Even though this book was written in 2012 and is fiction, it is almost like it has been pulled from today's news. The internal and external threats seems very real. It is a real page turner.
Let me start with the fact that this book had lots of near-future or cutting edge tech sprinkled through out it. I really liked those parts of the book.
OK, now I can tell you the biggies about the book that turned me off. There is only one woman in a position of authority (the US President) and she is a bad guy; a stupid bad guy at that. No, that is not spoiler as you learn this early on. All the rest of the women are meek, mild mannered, most of them are wives and mothers. Sigh Often the author was patronizing in his admiration of the quiet strength and fortitude of the female side of the species.
I disagreed with nearly all the politics. If you happen to agree with them, then this book probably wont be such a drag for you. Basically, the gist of the book was that Christian, heterosexual, white males rule. *quirked eyebrow*. Can you hear me sighing again? I am not male or Christian, so perhaps that limits my sympathizing with the main characters. Also, there were some lines about gay marriage contributing to the decline of the US (Im for marriage equality). Then there was that part about Islam being inherently evil (raises both eyebrows). I think organized religion, any religion, in general can be unhealthy for a person. But singling out a major world religion as inherently evil seems simplistic to say the least.
So, there you have the biggies. There were some other bits like so much of the book seems to be a regurgitation of some military procedure or another, making what would otherwise be an exciting rescue scene something you may doze through. This book probably could have used just one more round of editing to trim these parts down. There was a plethora of acronyms in this book and some were not explained, and some were (usually a knowledgeable male was explaining them to some helpless female). The ending of the book was a bit sudden, left some side plots unfinished, and wasnt fully satisfying; it left me with a sense that the author started to suffer from Lazy Author Syndrome, relying too heavily on deus ex machina.
But, hey, there was cool tech.
OK, now I can tell you the biggies about the book that turned me off. There is only one woman in a position of authority (the US President) and she is a bad guy; a stupid bad guy at that. No, that is not spoiler as you learn this early on. All the rest of the women are meek, mild mannered, most of them are wives and mothers. Sigh Often the author was patronizing in his admiration of the quiet strength and fortitude of the female side of the species.
I disagreed with nearly all the politics. If you happen to agree with them, then this book probably wont be such a drag for you. Basically, the gist of the book was that Christian, heterosexual, white males rule. *quirked eyebrow*. Can you hear me sighing again? I am not male or Christian, so perhaps that limits my sympathizing with the main characters. Also, there were some lines about gay marriage contributing to the decline of the US (Im for marriage equality). Then there was that part about Islam being inherently evil (raises both eyebrows). I think organized religion, any religion, in general can be unhealthy for a person. But singling out a major world religion as inherently evil seems simplistic to say the least.
So, there you have the biggies. There were some other bits like so much of the book seems to be a regurgitation of some military procedure or another, making what would otherwise be an exciting rescue scene something you may doze through. This book probably could have used just one more round of editing to trim these parts down. There was a plethora of acronyms in this book and some were not explained, and some were (usually a knowledgeable male was explaining them to some helpless female). The ending of the book was a bit sudden, left some side plots unfinished, and wasnt fully satisfying; it left me with a sense that the author started to suffer from Lazy Author Syndrome, relying too heavily on deus ex machina.
But, hey, there was cool tech.
