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Book Review of The Last Centurion

The Last Centurion
shaft avatar reviewed on + 7 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1


John Ringo has outdone himself with this departure from science fiction. Told from the perspective of the main character Bandit Six, this bio-thriller is highly opinionated social commentary from a military common sense point-of-view. If youre looking for political correctness and non-biased commentary, this is not going to be your book. However, if you frequently wonder what those people in charge are smoking, and you suspect decisions are being made by people with no experience in the subject matter at hand, you wont be able to put this book down.

The story takes place 10 to 20 years in the future. We are still fighting in the Middle East, but now its in Iran. Bandit Six is a former company commander (where the call sign came from) and is serving in a staff position (that he hates) when the dirt hits the fan. He learns two months in advance that the long range weather forecast is COLD (as in almost no crops cold) and that a flu epidemic is coming.

Both forecasts are correct and half of humanity is wiped out. But that is the average, and Bandit Six tells us the good, the bad and the ugly about who did and did not cope in the midst of the twin crises. Hang in there through the tough military language and you will enjoy many chuckles. You will want to refer to people as grasshoppers and ants to simplify the descriptions of lazy takers and productive workers. And you will wish that every politician reads this veterans war story and political commentary.