David

Could have been better

Revisado: 11-28-24

Lots of missed opportunities if a Jack Ryan Jr novel is going to take place in Vietnam. Mr. C could have given this novel more had the writers chose to go down that path instead of making a quick buck. Definitely some storyline gaffs and some plot points that just don't add up.

Scott Brick as narrator ....Jeez, he has become the voice for this series but to often he lapses into the worst qualities of James Woods cadence and William Shatner's acting

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Meh...

Revisado: 11-04-22

A chest thumping bro-fest. Amateur recording and narration ..sounds like it was done with a smart phone.

If you think the dialog in Call of Duty is great script you will enjoy this book.

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Dietz can spin a good tale

Revisado: 08-13-21

A fanciful, but good story overall. It was refreshing to see a writer of military fiction not fall into the well worn "liberals bad/conservatives are patriots" narrative that plagues so many novels in this genre. In this series, a natural disaster destroys the national framework and a corporatist cabal of libertarian (ish) oligarchs fire up the old Confederacy in the 2nd Civil War. Overall an fun story, but it very much a work of fiction in its improbable narrative.

If you're a diehard conservative you'll probably want to skip this one. There is no Obama bashing. Multi-culturalism, Antifa and Muslims are not vilified as the core reason for American decline and moreover, this novel series features several strong female characters in combat leadership roles.

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Not too bad, but the clichés are cringe worthy

Revisado: 07-13-21

Geo-politics are a hobby of mine and I really enjoy novels that do the "what if" game of fiction. This novel is set about 20 years in the future, but it is so detached from the real world tether it could be considered a work of science fiction. This isn't necessarily a negative criticism, but perhaps setting the story 100 years into the future and owning the science fiction label would better inform the potential reader.

The novel begins in a world that is trying to recover from the long range climate impacts of a limited nuclear exchange. While not civilization ending, the impact on the world economy and food supply is well thought out and very original place to set the stage for the story. It really allowed the authors to take the story into some far out speculation of what serious environmental stress could do to reshape the geo political map. 4 stars just for this.

What I didn't like in the book was the overt sprinkling of right wing talking points and tropes so many authors in this genre are addicted to such as, Obama bad, poor people are just lazy, Muslims are all closeted fanatics that want to establish Shari'ah Law in North America....yada yada yada. These tropes have become quite tiresome and hackneyed at this point and undermine the story's originality. The story has the usual collection of bad guys who are prone to having "wicked grins" and "evil smiles" like mustache twirling villians of the Batman TV series....yawn. Moreover, there are a segment of readers who cannot tell fiction from non-fiction who take these notions as confirmation of their fears, prejudices, and biases. Pick any one of the many novels in this genre and read the 5 star comments and you'll see what I mean.

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Meh

Revisado: 07-08-21

Just one more book in this genre that is a thinly vailed right wing political screed masquerading as a novel.

There used to be great stories in the military thriller genre like Team Yankee that avoided the political lecture and just told a great story.

This novel is a dystopian future where a PMC is fighting against former NATO allies who have formed a globalist alliance against nationalist forces in Europe. The American military has been too infiltrated with godless liberals so a Christian PMC has been charged with doing the hard wet work. All the right notes to give right wing fascists a serious boner and feed into their delusions of persecution. Just check out the 5 star reviews and you'll see what I mean.

There are some interesting projections on the evolution of military tech that are in line with real world experimental kit. I just would prefer my military fiction without the political BS.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

If you like your steak cooked well-done

Revisado: 04-18-21

In the WWIII genre of military thrillers this is by far the grimmest version of that story that I've come across. It is quite literally a take no prisoners, no holds barred, don't bother looking for the ejection handle telling of war in Europe between the US and Russia. There are no protagonists with a central narrative, rather more a stream of vignettes of characters who give their worm's eye view of their piece of the war. Overall, not a bad story, but for those who like insights into how technology will shape the battlefield in the next major peer to peer land war this story just glosses over and omits too much. I keep having the thoughts, "Hey, what about the..." "Why aren't they using...."," Where are the..." I'll leave you to fill in the blanks.

The novel seems set in the 2020's, but the author seems rooted in a 1980's version of how the war would have played out. The Russians are using the now obsolete doctrine of Soviet land war of the time that really doesn't make much sense in the modern context. The pretext of the war is ridiculous and lacks any understanding of modern geopolitics of Europe. The author in this case would have been better served by doing a "Team Yankee" and not bother with too much detail with why the war started rather than the course he chose.

Overall, it is worth listening to, but it lacks the depth of a truly great story. I wish the author had done more homework before firing up the word processor. As is, it is like a fine steak prepared by a mediocre chef.

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Very slow and hard to follow

Revisado: 04-04-21

I was hoping for a fast paced, smartly done modern techno-thriller in the vain of Mark Greaney, but this is like the worst of James Michener in its plodding glacial pace. The author's style is very dated with overwrought flowery vocabulary that obscures the plot. I guess Poyer is attempting to make the banality of life aboard ship poetic in his word craft, but it falls miserable short of the mark. Most of the first 10 hours of the book is dedicated to describing in repetitive and painful detail just how boring life aboard a Navel vessel can be. In this the author has succeeded masterfully as I am thoroughly bored.

I can give Poyer some praise in attempting to address the racism and classism that was the dark underbelly of Navy tradition. However the authors portrayal of black characters in the book is so stereotypical of what white people thought what black people are like it is the literary equivalent of blackface minstrel show 70"s style. Black characters are portrayed as seething with racial resentment that bubbles up in passive aggressive indolence, salted with malcontent behavior such as petty theft and drug use. If you have seen the films Boys of Company C or Hamburger Hill you'll know what I'm speaking of. I hope at least in this case Poyer also portrays the heroism to rise up through a racist system and triumph. The narrators attempt to do black voices is painful to hear and comes off as mocking...but I honestly believe it is just incompetence and poor decision making in directing the voice talent. If black characters have a significant level of dialogue in the story, hiring a black narrator is a better choice than trying to imitate (poorly) black voices.

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Where's the Action?

Revisado: 03-19-21

I was hoping for a good military techno-thriller written and researched smartly. I just can't understand how a novel co-authored by an Admiral would leave out the dramatic details of battle at sea.

I have been a huge fan of this genre since reading Red Storm Rising in the 80's. The topic has a lot to offer in terms of political intrigue, action, new technology and plausibility. This novel just leaves out too much of those key ingredients and follows what is now a well-worn cliche path. 1) China or Russia has somehow leaped ahead technologically 2) US has been complacent and is caught by surprise 3) US is shocked and awed and has to claw its way back. The novel before this the new tech was SAMs that were impervious to stealth technology, and the novel before that was drone swarms, this one has the Chinese....well I'll let you find out.

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A worthy homage to Red Storm Rising

Revisado: 12-19-20

I applaud the author for taking the Red Storm Rising task of trying to novelize something as complex as WWIII. They really did an excellent job in creating a plausible scenario and working the details in the technology. This is the meat and potatoes of any good techno thriller series and it is well done here. I really look forward to the next in the series.

That being said, there are a number of logical inconsistencies and clichés. The Russian and Chinese military leaders come off as something akin to Boris Badanoff and Dr. No. The authors attempt to tie the story into current events also falls a bit flat. The American president is a thinly veiled sketch of what conservatives hoped Trump would be, which just comes off as naively comical considering the actual facts. Likewise, the attempt at depicting liberal/left leaning politicians and citizens is cartoonish and comes off as "what conservatives like to think liberals are like". To be fair Tom Clancy had the same lack of craft to do it too. Honestly much of this aspect of the book is ham-fisted and can be skipped without loss to the story.

Unless you have military jargon, info and equipment memorized keep a laptop handy to Google up what you need. It is worth it to get a visual on the latest in 21st century next gen kit.

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It is what it is....

Revisado: 07-10-20

I enjoy reading history from "the other perspective" however, that doesn't mean that the tellers biases should not be acknowledged. As a wargamer this book provides a lot of insight to German armor and tactics.

On the other hand old Otto views the German army through rose tinted glasses. He is a holocaust minimizer if not out and out denier. In the end one can reasonably conclude that he is an unrepentant Nazi with an interesting story to tell.

Worth a read, but I would recommend a deep dive into the role of the German army in the Holocaust as well as atrocities on the Eastern Front before reading this.

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