A Hymn Before Battle (Posleen War, Book 1)
by John Ringo
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 176)
A really good apocalyptic hard sci-fi series. Earth faces alien invasion without time to prepare adequately, and allies who may or may not be trustworthy. The series details the brutal struggle against an encroaching canninbalistic horde, on other planets, in space, and finally on Earth. The series predictably gets darker as it progresses, and it is definitely hard/military sci-fi. The books refer to the R&D, training, and brutal combat involved in the struggle, but also contain vivid charac...more
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Read in May, 2007
I kept reading this and hoping it would get better. It did, but it didn't get better until far after the point where I usually would give up on a book; only the fact that I was stuck in an airport with a delayed plane and no other reading material kept me going on it.
There's the gem of a good story here, underneath all the military abbreviations, rapid and nonsensical shifts of PoV, and unclear-antecedent descriptors instead of names. Unfortunately, the gem of a good story is about five thou...more
There's the gem of a good story here, underneath all the military abbreviations, rapid and nonsensical shifts of PoV, and unclear-antecedent descriptors instead of names. Unfortunately, the gem of a good story is about five thou...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommends it for:
Military SF fans
An excellent combat series. This guy can write realistic military fiction. He uses the jargon of the military forces with such accuracy, he must be a former soldier. His portrait of the SF mentality is spot-on. The book takes a bit to get going and the science is pretty much skipped over (interstellar travel, galactic weapons tech, etc). But the battle scenes are vivid and how the missions are carried out seem very realistic. Last half of the book is great.
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Read the whole series to get the author's message. I don't know that it was initially intended as such but the series turned into a commentary about how to live with an enemy that has to kill you for its own survival. Now I won't say that I agree or disagree with his viewpoint, but I do believe that he created a well illustrated allegory. Plus, it's a good sci-fi, military, adventure kinda book.
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Read in August, 2006
It's about soldiers, future-weapons, duty, aliens and kicking butt. It's the kind of book that you would like if you like movies like "Predator" and "Total Recall." It's the only book that I have read that has and a classic-rock soundtrack. Fun.
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Read in June, 2007
The Posleen War series are my favorites pure and simple. I have read them 5 times now and could (and most likely will) read them a hundred more.
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Read in June, 2008
Start of a good series, I can tell I'm going to like this one.
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Read in January, 2008
Good characters, somewhat disconnected storyline.
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 4.02 (151 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 4.03 (145 ratings) number of reviews: 9popular shelves
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"Peace through superior firepower."
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