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Well, since I seem to have myself a blog I figure I may as well use the bloody thing. What does one blog about.

Something that the author knows well enough to fool people into thinking “yes, Raiya in fact, does know what he is talking about”. A bit of passion on the flip side doesn’t hurt matters either. After pondering for a short while on the list of things that meet this criteria, short because the list really isn’t that long. I came to one conclusion.

Science fiction.

Ok so this is my stab at saying “Hello World” while trying at the same time to act so debonair about meshing it with a book review. Conclusion so far?

Fail. Perhaps the fact that I have been up for around 24hrs now has something to do with it. But nether the less, we press on.  Pun not intended.

I just want to say, before I pull the dagger, slip from the shadows and insert it between the fourth and fifth vertebrae, Mr. Ringo I’m sorry. I love John Ringo. I own all his books. If he wrote absolute poppycock on a beer stained, spew covered napkin while standing in a bar full of angry bikers I would still rabidly beat off the aforementioned bikers for the privilege of getting in line with money in fist to buy it.

The Last Centurian, John Ringo’s latest foray into military Sci-fi. It’s about a U.S army company left behind to safeguard equipment in Iraq, being effectively forgotten by the chain of command, then having to fight their way across a number of hostile islamic states, fight a full blown war or three just to get home to a country to fight a civil war.

Sound familiar?

Its remarkable similar to a series of books John Ringo co-authored with David Weber, the Empire of Man saga,  It’s about a imperial marine company stranded on a hostile planet, being effectively declared KIA by the chain of command, then having to fight their way across a number of hostile islamic alien states, fight a full blown war or three just to get home to a  country planet and fight a civil war.

There is nothing wrong with recycling ideas.  All authors do it. I’m sure if you sat down and examined the works of Arthur C. Clarke, may he rest in peace and Isaac Asimov you will find similar ideas or repeats of old ones.

Great. Excellant, no worries. Old story, new spin. The old story took four books to complete. The Last Centurion was written in one. ONE! Evidently some sacrifices were made… coughcharacterdevelopmentcough.

There is effectively ONE character in the book, and really you don’t even get to know him. Just a long litany of deeds, past, present and future. Ringo only ever refers to a couple of other characters by name, and we are lucky if they get treated to a sentence or two.

He really skimps over the trek across Iraq, Iran and Syria. Lots of marvelous points to expound upon in great detail. I personally really love that stuff, hardship, glory, valour. Good stuff, and Ringo writes it well. But what we do get is quite simply a tirade of conservative bias, as Ringo exercises his feelings over the general state of affairs in America today, his hatred of media bias and of course, the incompetance of interfering politicians.

Don’t get me wrong, I whole heartedly agree with what he alludes to against tabloid journalism and it’s taking over of the airwaves. I refuse to watch day time news as too me it no longer IS news, just a performatted excuse to shove shit into our eyes.

Saying that however, is like comparing a box of lipton tea to all the tea in China, India and…. well lets say Asia. Ringo uses The Last Centurion not as a novel, but as a political vessel. What he does have of actual story is quite a good concept really. He has quite evidently done his research on a number of topics. I’ve only just heard about the Sun and its sunspot activity decreasing, theoretically causing global cooling, and he already had that written as a main point in TLC (henceforth its TLC).

Bird flu is another, coupled with the scariness of international travel. Makes you think, just one person has to break quarantine and good bye Great Britain, hello desert landscape. Another major point he drives home with his writing that strikes a cord with me is how the media misrepresents what its reporting too often. Its not journalism any more, but fantasy fiction. This one I won’t spoil, but everytime he brought up the Centurions, I loved every word of it.

All in all, the book feels like Ringo was killing 5 birds with a single stone. Furfilling contractual obligations quickly with a book that seems rushed while sating his desire to vent about all that offends him. I really do wish he had taken the time and spread this book over 3-4, made a series out of it. What character concepts he does show are remarkable cool, and I wish I could have gotten to know Skygeek, or the British ex-SAS bodyguards to name a couple of characters.

I say these things with a heavy heart. This is not a book for the reader who is new to John Ringo, even I, a dedicated fan found it hard going.  However, this book is an Advanced Reader Copy, so who knows, he has been known to participate in Baen’s bar quite frequently, so perhaps there will be a rewrite. Be interesting to see if the final version differs markedly.

Final thoughts on this are this book is pretty bloody hardcore. Details are intense, the story loose with political fury enough for a presidential election. Even saying that, I still recommend this book, and not just because I’m a John Ringo fanboy, but because this book is the clearest window to the future I’ve seen, and it reminds me to take the blinkers off when I look at the world, and see that this is not an implausible future he sets down.