Amazon Customer

Infinite bullets

Revisado: 03-26-24

I wanted to like this series, and it was worth a single listen. Rather than a realistic exploration of a post-disaster world, this turned out to be an action book with a plot-formula (I won't share it because awareness of it ruined the series for me).

Suffice it to say that I don't find the infinite amount of bullets available to be realistic at all, especially considering the amount of shooting being done in the book. There are a number of types of characters, but that is what they are...types. There is the cowboy type, the gangmember type, the tattooed felon type, the smart scientist type and others. And they become predictable as the series progresses.

if you want action, loosely set into a post-disaster world, listen to this. If you're looking for a more thoughtful series, such as the book "10 Seconds After", this is not it.

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Action point of view on Iwo Jima

Revisado: 11-09-23

I wanted to understand combat on Iwo Jima, from one who had been there. This has it, the perspective of a member of the 5th division, a machine gunner, who landed in one of the red landing zones.

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History of Firearms Innovations

Revisado: 07-17-23

This book is touted as having content that supports the second amendment, and there is some of that. However it is more a book of firearms history.

One area I find useful: it touches on the innovations of John Browning. Includes the Browning Automatic Rifle (the BAR), which allowed soldiers to carry an automatic while moving forward ("walking fire").

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Series comes to an end

Revisado: 07-28-22

Unlike the first two books of the series, this takes place in Egypt and the story explores Egyptian culture and God's.

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Good story

Revisado: 07-20-22

This proved to be a good story, performed well. It might be better read than listened to, as the quantity of names and details was sometimes overwhelming.

I think this could be compared to Homer's Odyssey. It has a man traveling, unable to get home and spends a good deal of time exploring the Greek world. Like Odysseus, he meets gods/ goddesses and the encounters reveal something of their character.

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Read Gates of Fire first for context

Revisado: 07-17-22

If you know nothing of Greek history, you might need more information to really enjoy this book. I had difficulty with this book when I was younger. Since then I have listened to the audio book "Gates of Fire" by Steven Pressfield. That book presented enough history to provide context to the world of "Soldier in the Mist."

Now, "Soldier in the Mist" is proving to be an entertaining read.

Readers follow a soldier who has suffered a head injury and who is trying to make sense of the world he's living in. His travels reveal Greek culture in the time of the Persian invasions, predating some of the the Greek philosophers so prominent in our thinking of Greece today. Plato and Socrates were in the future; this was a time of cultural wars, real wars, soldiers, heroes, gods and slaves.

The main character's quest to understand the world around him presents an ongoing puzzle for readers as well. I already know I'm going to listen a couple of times to find things missed on the first reading.

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Listen as sequel to Ender's Game

Revisado: 11-02-21

This adds emotional emotion and detail to Ender's Game. Makes story much more complete.

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Alternate history with fantasy element

Revisado: 07-10-21

The story apparently takes place in the 1950s, with the future imagined (for the 1970s/1980s).

The author takes the reader through racial themes (and a mixed-race romance) and political themes (examining the Commonwealth, the Crown, dirty politics, conservatism and socialism).

The story was well done, but a bit slow. The language/performance was a bit stilted (in common with the other two books by this author that I've read). It took a little patience at times to make it through slow sections and there was some repetition that I found distracted from the story.

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Great story

Revisado: 10-10-20

This was a well written book, and the reading was also fine. As a fan of Ricky Skaggs’ music, it was great hearing his story!

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Great story with pulp aspects

Revisado: 11-06-19

Researching during World War II, George R. Stewart created a story about what fighting fires was like through much of the 20th century. The book was good overall, although some aspects of the book distracted from the story.

The author excelled in description about fire and ecology as it was understood in the early 20th century, the story of the forest, how fires were fought, how men can be their worst enemy, the brotherhood of firefighters, and old forester vs new forester. Where the author failed was in conversations...I found these to be awkward, either from old-fashioned attitudes or language, or because the conversations were simply written awkwardly. Thankfully, these were not the bulk of the book. If I were using this book in an English literature class, there is a great deal of material to show old attitudes toward women in a man's world, race relations (in a white man's world), patriarchy, old racial stereotypes and language.

An aspect of his writing that you will either love or hate...he writes narratively, focusing on ecology, on the interactions between events and organisms and man. For me, this is part of what makes his books worth reading. Donald M. Scott (biographer) called it Stewart's "holistic ecological approach."

If you like his book "Earth Abides" you will probably find something to like in this book as well, although it is not nearly as profound as that book. I pair this book with "Young Men and Fire" by Norman Maclean, another book about the men who fight fires in the mountains.

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