Unfriendly Neighbors

Von Neumann's War, Baen Publishing, $7.99 Paperback

Burbrink's Library Rating 3/5

Something is happening to Mars, the little red planet is not as red anymore. John Ringo teams up with Travis Taylor in a possible alien invasion scenario in their book, “Von Neumann's War”.

In the book Ringo combines his signature military writing and character development with Taylor’s scientific expertise to write a short novel that is not only scientifically plausible, but has enough human aspects that your brain does not hurt from all of the scientific talk. 

Scientists and amateur star-gazers alike notice that the color of Mars is changing at a rapid pace.In response to this a team of NASA scientists, along with a Hooter’s waitress, come up with a plan to launch a satellite to investigate. 

The satellite is completed in record time, but moments after arriving at its destination, it is destroyed.The small amount of data the team is able to recover is troublesome, there is a new arrival in the neighborhood, and they don’t seem friendly.

This book is a wonderful example of a scenario where humanity is not prepared to face a new threat and needs to temporarily halt fighting each other to face the new enemy together.

This new enemy takes the weapons and structure greedily, absorbing metal without being harmed. With no weapon to face this enemy, the human race must use the one thing they have left: their mind.

The book starts out slow, with plot and character development taking priority. The wait has its benefit when the book hits its stride around 100 pages in. The reader is drawn into the developed plot and the prior character development makes it easier for the reader to have a connection to the characters.

Science fiction lovers will enjoy the material in the book that discusses what they have to do to try to develop a defence. The average reader can enjoy the characters developed in this book and the human feel of being defiant against overwhelming odds. Personally, I enjoy the development of the final defensive line, summarised in the book as; “If Hooters fell, for all practical purposes the world was lost.”

Amateur science fiction readers should pick this up to have a feel for military science fiction. The paperback book is relatively short, at 576 pages. This book had many positives, however, the occasional lecture-like sections of this book and slow build up hurts the effectiveness of this book.

War is Childs Play

Enders Game, Tor Books Publishing, $6.99 Paperback

Burbrink’s Book Rating: 4.5/5

In the far future there is a tentative peace on earth. After the Formics attacked, Earth’s three ruling parties the Hegemon, Polemarch and Strategos, agreed to form an International Fleet to fight this alien force. Times have changed, the fleet needs the next great commander to lead the fleet against the next wave. Humanities fate lies on the prepubescent genius, Andrew Wiggin.
In the opening book of the Ender Saga, “Enders Game,” Orson Scott Card writes about a world where Earth’s powers must hold peace and work together to fight an alien force. To do this the International Fleet was formed to train soldiers for war in space. 
Training is a lengthy process, lasting upwards to 10 years. These soldiers must then be trained from an early age. The fleet created a program where they could select prime candidates from children to train for this fleet. In order to prevent overpopulation, a program was also put in place where only the first 2 children in the family would receive free education. After the 2nd child taxes would be placed on the family for every additional child. This caused many people to renounce their religion that called for multiple children. 
Two of these individuals, John and Theresa Wiggen were commissioned to have a third child to hopefully give them a soldier that would lead them to victory. This novel follows the child, Andrew “Ender” Wiggin throughout the battle school and beyond.
Orson Scott Card writes in a style that incorporates multiple points of view. Throughout the book the point of view of Ender’s Sister, Commander Graff, and Ender are shown. During the sections depicting Ender’s Sister, Valentine Wiggin, the reader is shown life on Earth while Andrew is in the battle school. During the sections depicting Commander Graff the reader is shown how the leadership is preparing Ender for the future. During the sections depicting Ender the reader is shown the struggles Ender goes through as his isolation crafts him into the next leader.
The strategy in this book is so well written that the U.S. Marines Corps Professional Reading List made this book  recommended at several lower ranks, as well as Officer Candidate. This is because the book provides allegories explaining why militaries do things in an effective shorthand way.
Science fiction readers will enjoy how this book depicts futuristic technologies, seen in the battle room scenes. Average readers can appreciate how this book pulls people from multiple backgrounds to cover a single issue. Even those who do not normally read books should check this book out. This book is in the process of being made into a movie that will star such actors as Indiana Jone’s Harrison Ford as Commander Graff and Zombieland’s Abigail Breslin as Valentine Wiggin. I enjoy this book for the idea for the skilled use of multiple perspectives that drive the plot line.
This book should be in anyone’s library that enjoys the story of the underdog. The drawback of this novel is that at times the jump between the first, second and third points of view can confuse the reader. That saying, this book is a quick read at 336 pages and deserves a chance. You can purchase this book from your local book store or at Amazon by following this link.

Ratings Rubric

It occurred to me after posting the first review that I did not say how I reach the rating that I post. This post is dedicated to laying out the system that I use for my ratings.
While I am reading the book I make sure to take note of the main plot line as well as major characters. I then look at the author's writing style and how that effects the book. Finally I pull out the RT Book Reviews rating system to post the rating for each book. The full system can be found by clicking this link but the basic description is posted below.

RATINGS DESCRIPTION

5: Phenomenal. In a class by itself
4.5: Fantastic. A keeper
4: Compelling. A page-turner
3: Enjoyable. A pleasant read
2: Problematic. May struggle to finish.
1: Severely Flawed. Pass on this one

Last Resort

A Hymn Before Battle, Baen Publishing, $7.99 paperback edition

Burbrink Book Rating: 4/5

As an intergalactic war goes on, the Darhel must look towards the last line of defence, a group that does not even know the war is going on. To survive, they must call upon the most dangerous species they know of besides the Posleen: Human Beings.

In the beginning book of the Legacy of the Aldenata series, “A Hymn Before Battle,” John Ringo tells the story about Earth being introduced to extraterrestrial life just in time to prepare for the invasion of Posleen, reptilian centaurs that view all other species as “thresh,” which in their language is translated literally to “food.” 
The peaceful races of the Galactic Federation agree to help the Terrans prepare, for a price. Meanwhile, Michael O’Neal, former gunnery Sergeant is recalled from his job as a web designer to help develop technology to deal with this new alien threat.
John Ringo uses his signature military writing to write a story with captivating human elements. How does a planet prepare to fight a force of aliens when they can not agree politically. This novel shows the problem when the so called good old boys of the military are in charge of an operation that caters to the younger generation.
The book starts out with O’Neal being stolen away from his cushy job as a web designer to go help plan for this new war. The beginning includes a lot of plot development with showing the preparations for the war but does not bog the reader down with details surrounding the planning. Rather, Ringo focuses the planning around how it is affecting individuals, and how mankind reacts to seeing that they are not alone in this universe after all.
Science fiction readers will enjoy this book for the technology developed to fight the alien threat. Military novel enthusiasts can enjoy how Ringo uses his military background to make the ranking and military aspect as accurate as a science fiction novel can be. Personally I enjoyed how Ringo used individual characters to drive the plot line rather than relying on mechanics. This book should be picked up by anyone who wants to see how politics can interplay with military action.
The main drawback of this book is that some of the technology may be too far out for many readers to understand how it can be done in as quick of a timeline that Ringo sets out. You can buy it from your local bookstore or at Amazon by following this link.

War is an Orphanage

Orphanage, Aspect publishing, $7.99 paperback edition

Burbrink's Library Rating: 4.5/5

Jason Wander stands in front of the Judge; behind him is a military officer. After a destructive streak that started with his last living parent being killed in a massive explosion that destroyed Indianapolis, he is now given the same choice as many who came before him. Go to jail, or join the Army. Robert Buettner writes the captivating story of Jason Wander in the beginning of the five book series, “Orphanage.”

In the book Buettner uses his military intelligence background to write a novel that combines accurate military formations with a deep human aspect to it. After joining the military, Wander begins a series of adventures that takes him from the brink of despair to the heights of glory. As a last resort to the projectiles, foot soldiers like 18-year-old Jason Wander are put on a ship scavenged from scrapyards and armed with weapons from wars past on a voyage to fight an enemy that does not know the concept of defeat.

The format of the novel is one that draws in readers from the start. Buettner uses the first person narrative to have Jason Wander tell the story to the reader as if he is the one writing the book. Page one opens the story halfway into the book’s plot line, then throws the reader to how it all started in the closing of the chapter. The end of the book holds a twist for the reader by how the format of the writing changes.

The character development in this story is very quick, Buettner forges feelings in the reader for characters in a way that personally made me tear up a bit when anything bad happened to them. Buettner balances this with action so that the entire novel is not just character development.

Military novel lovers will enjoy the accuracy of the military elements that are included and how Buettner uses his own military background in the story. The average reader can enjoy reading about the characters that are brought forward, laughing and crying with the main character. Personally I enjoy how Buettner pays homage to another favorite novel of mine, “Starship Troopers.”

Pick up this novel if you are interested in hearing what happens when countries set aside war to work together to fight an enemy that threatens to send Earth into an ice age. The book is a very quick read at 336 pages.

This book is so full of positives that the only negative that I was able to find was when it got into story matter that may be too dark for some readers. If you like war stories that may hit too close to home at times, go out and pick this book up immediately. You can buy it from a local bookstore or on Amazon by following this link.