Juls D. (dragynlady) reviewed A Hymn Before Battle (Legacy of the Aldenata Series) on + 10 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
Ruthless aliens are on their way to Earth to eat us...
Ok - there's more to it than that but that's the basic idea. Earth has 5 years to get ready for the wave of hell on earth that is about to descend. The concept is basic but the author gets very bogged down in a lot of needless detail. There are so many acronyms in this book it gets distracting and unless a reader is very, very familiar with military terms and acronyms it can get tedious. This story-telling style is reminiscent of some of the later books in David Weber's Honor Harrington series where the word for word war room detailed discussions bore readers to death. Almost - but not quite. For a writer's first book, there are too many side plots and too many characters to pull off smoothly. There are loose ends and it is obvious that the writer intended this book to be the first of a series which is something I think only seasoned writers should do. Another issue is that though there is a woman warrior on the cover of the book, there is evidently only one minor female character in John Ringo's military and she is more concerned about her manicure than anything else. As a female reader, I wasn't pleased about her portrayal. Plot devices are thick in this book - the galactic technology in this story occupies the same niche as Merlin's magic in the story of Arthur.
All this having been said, I am interested in seeing what will happen when the Posleen get to Earth. I have hopes for this story and think it can get better. I will read book 2 of the series and see if it does. After all, I'm rooting for an Earth victory here!
Ok - there's more to it than that but that's the basic idea. Earth has 5 years to get ready for the wave of hell on earth that is about to descend. The concept is basic but the author gets very bogged down in a lot of needless detail. There are so many acronyms in this book it gets distracting and unless a reader is very, very familiar with military terms and acronyms it can get tedious. This story-telling style is reminiscent of some of the later books in David Weber's Honor Harrington series where the word for word war room detailed discussions bore readers to death. Almost - but not quite. For a writer's first book, there are too many side plots and too many characters to pull off smoothly. There are loose ends and it is obvious that the writer intended this book to be the first of a series which is something I think only seasoned writers should do. Another issue is that though there is a woman warrior on the cover of the book, there is evidently only one minor female character in John Ringo's military and she is more concerned about her manicure than anything else. As a female reader, I wasn't pleased about her portrayal. Plot devices are thick in this book - the galactic technology in this story occupies the same niche as Merlin's magic in the story of Arthur.
All this having been said, I am interested in seeing what will happen when the Posleen get to Earth. I have hopes for this story and think it can get better. I will read book 2 of the series and see if it does. After all, I'm rooting for an Earth victory here!
Brandon H. (bhall) -
Helpful Score: 3
When i first saw this book, to be honest, I was on the fence. So I went to Amazon and clicked the 'look in side' link and read the first several pages of the book. If for no other reason, the idea of a computer nerd that spends his days working on websites getting called back to action to fight aliens is what compelled me to order this book.
And I'm glad I did. Even if the title makes no sense, I really enjoyed it. It was a very good book with enjoyable characters (except for the idiots, but its okay because they die eventually).
If I have any real complaint, its that there is too much going on in this book. I understand that a lot has to go on, what with Earth finding out about Aliens on the same day they find out about the war thats coming. There is a lot to prpare for, but some of it just seemed to be for word count.
On the other hand, that fluff will probably be dealt wtih more heavily in the sequential books. At least I hope so. :D
And I'm glad I did. Even if the title makes no sense, I really enjoyed it. It was a very good book with enjoyable characters (except for the idiots, but its okay because they die eventually).
If I have any real complaint, its that there is too much going on in this book. I understand that a lot has to go on, what with Earth finding out about Aliens on the same day they find out about the war thats coming. There is a lot to prpare for, but some of it just seemed to be for word count.
On the other hand, that fluff will probably be dealt wtih more heavily in the sequential books. At least I hope so. :D
Helpful Score: 1
Very happy to have discovered a new author. have run through most of his stuff and been very pleased. A little hard core. Not pretty in the end where all of your favorite characters live...always has and often needs a go-to-hell-plan. Which I'm sure is part of the plan, but so much more realistic than many sci-fi's, and the heroes have their demons. They are not all shiny paladins. I should spend some time at Baen's Bar. I just can't wait for the next installment - on about 5 series. I'm hooked.
