World War Z Review

Author: Max Brooks

Quick sketch: The potted history of the zombie apocalypse, in the survivors' words

Quick review: The most disturbingly believable zombie book you'll ever read

It's safe to say that the zombie has had something of a comeback in recent years. Whether it's in gaming (Valve's masterful Left for Dead is a shining example, Plants vs Zombies is a more bizarre example) or films (the remake of Dawn of the Dead or Shaun of the Dead) zombies are very 'in' these days. It's perhaps no surprise that someone would publish Max Brook's The Zombie Survival Guide. What made it so surprising was the absolute conviction within. There was no 'may' or 'possible' to it, just a simple logical exploration of the zombie's behaviour and how best to deal with it. The real magic, however, was the ending, a historical account of zombie attacks, leading from prehistory to the modern day, chock full of cultural training and experience.

To follow it up, Brooks wrote the fantastic World War Z, a survivors' account of a world-wide zombie apocalypse. It takes the format of the author's interviews with survivors from all around the world, going from a doctor's encounter with the possible patient zero, to the final efforts to reclaim the planet. The result is a fantastic digression into humanity and its ability to cope with adverse situations.

Synopsis: A zombie infection races across the world, decimating the population and resurrecting them as the usual mindless eating machines. The book collects survivors accounts, painting the picture of a world under siege by the living dead.

The survivors come from all over the world, although there is a large focus on America (it should however be pointed out that the book's coolest character is a gloriously insane Japanese gardener). There's tales from Cuba, South Africa, China, The Middle East, France, etc. There's even a character talking about his experiences on the International Space Station. Their experiences run the gamut from the truly tragic (there are several heart-breaking tales from those survivors who really had no clue what they were doing) to the entertaining to the rage inducing (One memorable plot point revolves around the company that marketed an anti-zombification medication, which never worked and was never expected to).

The real trick to World War Z, is in its lack of zombie slaying. While there are several brilliant action sequences (did I mention the gardener? He kills thirty, solo. He's blind! And eighty!), much of the book is really about surviving the horror. Much is made of the efforts to find safety and some semblance of sanity in the insane world of WWZ. There's tales of the efforts of government and survivors to eke out some semblance of civilization. There's one harrowing tale of the efforts of a radio information group, trying to get accurate information out across the world. This isn't a book about kicking ass and taking names, it's about survival and hanging onto civilization when barbarism calls. There's a real sense of human tragedy in the book, with many of characters noting what it is they've lost, beyond merely their family and friends.

WWZ also holds much of our society up to the mirror and its not easy to like what you see. There's a memorable story involving a group of celebrities holed up which they turn into a reality TV show. There's explorations as to why the government didn't do anything (the only country that comes off smelling of roses is Israel). There's brutal moments of sheer horror that are solely propelled by incompetence (the battle of Yonkers may be one of the greatest military fuck-ups in literary history). There's other moments where nationalism and fundamentalism cause unnecessary agony.

It's hard to find any issues with World War Z. There's very little padding and many of the stories are so involving, you can freely imagine them as a stand-alone novellas or films (there is a World War Z film in production). Much of it is inspired, with fabulously original and inventive characters, illuminating corners of the story that you're not really expecting. My only real niggle is the portrayal of China within, but I suspect that that's more a reflex reaction than anything else.

World War Z is a gloriously fun book, with surprising depth and humanity to it. Many of the stories and concepts within will stick with you after reading, giving an occasionally odd perspective. There's a real sense of hope to its finale, rare in such apocalyptic tales and I do love the epitaph one character proposes: 'Generation Z, they cleaned up their own mess'.

1632 Review

Author: Eric Flint

Publishers: Baen Books (available free on their website)

Quick Synopsis: American town sent back in time recreates the American Revolution in 1700's Germany.

Quick Review: The book that'll make you believe in American Exceptionalism

It's a hard time for America these days. Regardless of your opinion as to the cause, the country's prestige and reputation has disintegrated over the last decade. American Exceptionalism is an ideal dying in the streets, fatally injured by war, greed and corruption. The concept has been distorted and twisted, until the very idea is under debate. No longer is the US the ideal every other country looks too for inspiration and encouragement

Perhaps that's why I find myself returning to 1632, by Eric Flint. While 1632 may be, by definition, a science fiction story, in reality it's an exploration of what America means when it's placed against the ropes, when its prestige and power are destroyed and forgotten. 1632 sits down and explores how hard it is to be what America believes itself to be. And frankly, it works very well.

Plot: The town of Grantville, a small mining town in West Virginia, is sent back in time by a cosmic accident (called the Ring of Fire by the witnesses), to 1630's Germany, mired in the midst of the Hundred Year War. The populace are forced to adapt themselves to this new world as they try to maintain their own beliefs against the powerful empires that surround them.

The core of 1632 is the argument between the various characters of Grantville as they try to forge their own opinions into a coherent government as they face the severe challenges of living in the midst of a sprawling war. Core to this is their relationship with their downtime German neighbours (in 1632 parlance, downtime refers to someone from the 17th century while uptime refers to the immigrants from the 21st century), with the debate revolving around how much influence the German populace should be allowed within the government. Basically the argument devolves to whether this new America will be run by the uptimers or whether it should be open to all. Flint's opinions on this are fairly clear (option two) with the opposing faction being shown to either racist or afraid. Where the book really works though is in the difficulties shown. Being the multicultural society is never portrayed as easy or calm and the challenges are clearly portrayed. Most notably, being an open society is portrayed as far, far harder than the safer alternatives.

It helps that 1632 is written with a clear knowledge of history and politics. Flint's a historian and it shows constantly. I suspect that 1632 may have to be one of the most accurate alternate-history books ever, which is all the more impressive when you realise it's set in a very unknown area of history (seriously, how often does 17th century politics and leadership come up in daily conversation?). Famous historical figures like Cardinal Richlieu and Gustav Adolf are integral to the plot and allowed to be both characters and famed historical figures. Indeed, one of the most horrible moments in the series is the moment when the down-time Jews discover about the Holocaust.

Another delight is the characters. Flint allows himself a number of liberties in the composition of the cast (the Ring of Fire occurs during a wedding with the wedding guests trapped in Grantville) and the resulting diversity definitely adds to the story. There's a likeable set of easily recognisable characters from both timelines in the novel and they all receive the attention and time they need to develop over the course of the novel. Among my favourite characters has to be the town's token liberal activist Melissa Mailey who spends much of the novel scathingly eviscerating the male cast. The other fun one has to be Julie Simms, the head cheerleader of the local school and potential ski-and-shoot olympiad, who takes the role of chief sniper for the proto-US military. In addition most of the villain characters are allowed to be human beings, rather than capering cliches. About the only one who fails in this regard is the token up-time villain, who manages to be consistently dislikeable throughout the book (it should be noted that he gets a believable re-write in 1633 and onwards, becoming one of the country's top military leaders).

1632 features a wide and inventive story line that really hits the ground running. While much of the story revolves around Grantville's efforts to remain independent and free, it doesn't shirk on the personal development. There are several weddings, political conversions and unintended consequences for all the cast with much debate revolving around them. The internal debates of how to organise and rule are given a lot of credence during the course of the story. One of my favourite elements is the amount of time given to the Grantville constitutional convention (frequently a lot more than the battles are given). Flint's clearly interested in the morality of these political positions and likes to emphasis the difficulty of doing the right thing. A consistent theme is the 'American Aristocracy', the idea that, because the Grantvillians have so much more future knowledge, they should be protected and served by the down-time Germans. Flint's opinion of this is fairly pungent.

Despite the seriousness of the novel, there's plenty of fun to be had within. There's a strong vein of culture shock humour on both sides, a lot of which is due to American incomprehension of the relative tech/ culture levels. There's also a consistent array of hill-billy jokes, mostly cracked by the hill-billies themselves. Much fun is made of American and German mores as well as dress styles. There's a screamingly funny moment involving music as psychological warfare and a great scene where a number of up-time characters compare which one of their relatives was the most villainous.

1632 is a good novel for a number of reasons. Firstly, it's a good novel, with a host of interesting and fun characters facing a number of intertwining dilemmas. Secondly, it's a good sci-fi novel, with a clever and intriguing premise that the author handles well. Finally, and most importantly, it speaks to the reader. This is a book that is about who you want to be. The Up-time Americans have to face the sudden loss of all that makes America powerful and have to decide how to get it back. It's a tribute to Flint's writing and passion that you find yourself fully believing in his opinion of what makes truly America great.

Goodbye 2009

Looking back on 2009, it's relatively easy to compose a mental list of some of the best and worst of the year. So saying that, let's take a look at some the highlights:

Worst book of the year: The Last Centurion (John Ringo)

Techincially, this is a 2008 book, but I read it in 2009 and that makes it a contender for this year. However, it's here because it simply blows all other contenders out of the water. The Last Centurion is characterised by the worst first-person writing I've seen in a published book, hectoring, offensive partisanship and an author avatar that pushes the boundaries of the Mary Sue. The book starts with a ten chapter screed against seemingly everything, including a chapter-long NHS bashing and a stunning moment of Bush-shilling. The rest of the book is little better and the finale is so far-out stupid that my eyes actually glaze over every time I try and read it. It is a measure of how bad The Last Centurion is that I was openly wondering all the way through the novel as to whether it had actually seen an editor during its creation. Empirical evidence says no.

Runners-up: Claws That Catch (Ringo & Taylor)

Biggest Disappointment of the Year: Torch of Freedom and Storm from the Shadows (David Weber and Eric Flint)

I've been looking forwards to the new Honorverse novels since the events of At All Costs. Unfortunately, Weber's obviously waiting for Mission of Honor to start the new plot. As such Torch of Freedom and Storm from the Shadows were mere holding pattern books. Both fleshed out exactly what's going on with Mesa, with Storm taking the strategic side and Torch taking the human side, but as a result, they weren't the greatest novels. In particular Storm suffered horrendously with very little action happening during the course of the novel.

Runners-Up: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Micheal Bay), My Warriors of Chaos Army this summer

Best Series of the Year: Mahou Sensei Magister Negi (Ken Akumetsu)

I'm a big fan of Akumetsu-Sensei's Negima and this year has been simply brilliant. The year started with the trapping of the cast on the magical world and several volumes later, they're almost all together finally. Their varying adventures have been original and interesting. There's been loads of development of the characters and the relationships. Incredibly, the action scenes have gone from strength to strength, opening with the epically mental battle for the gateport and simply sky-rocketing from there. Many questions that have been in the story are finally being answered (like exactly what is going on with Asuna and why?) with fresh ones being posed constantly. Those new characters being introduced are likable and multi-dimensional. I'm probably never going to stop admiring the skill that's going into juggling the forty-odd characters in the series. Negima may be the best action manga currently being published and it's been a constant priority purchase for me over the last year. Even better, the new OVAs are excellent, finally showing just how awesome the battles in the manga could be if animated.

Runners-Up: Codex Alera (Jim Butcher), Full Metal Alchemist (Hiromu Arakawa),

Surprise of the Year: Star Trek (J.J. Abrams)

I'm going to be honest. I wasn't looking forwards to this movie. I've never been the biggest fan of Star Trek, but this film was impressive. The central ideas and themes were strong, the characters were well-done and the visuals were awe-inspiring. Sure, the plot was a little thin and the time-travel elements weren't stunning, but the film was full of charisma. Both Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine dominate the film with their performances. There's some wonderfully funny moments, courtesy of the other characters (Simon Pegg's Scotty is a constant supply of hilarity, especially in the wonderful nod to the Enterprise series). Over all, I was hugely impressed.

Runners-Up: X-Men: Misfits (Dave Roman, Raina Telgemeier and Anbu)

Book of the Year: Fruits Basket 23 (Natsuki Takuya)

The finale of the incredible Fruits Basket series is effectively a volume long epilogue. That's not to knock it. I've always enjoyed a well written epilogue and this is definitely one. It's got the requisite tying up of loose ends and the taking of new paths. It's both sad and happy at the same time as the cast confront their inevitable separation. There's a brutal moment where it is made clear that there are some scars which aren't healed yet. There's still a plentiful amount of FB's trademark humour, mostly thanks to Yuki and his friend Manabe. There's an almost elegant brutality to this finale, with the cast accepting the minor sadness of losing each other as the price for their new found freedom. Over all, it's a wonderful ending to the series and a great excerpt from it.

Runners-Up: Too many to mention

Anime of the Year: To Aru Kakagu No Railgun (A certain scientific railgun)

Railgun is the sequel to the relatively blah To Aru Majutsu No Index (A certain magical index). Unlike its predecessor, Railgun is far better scripted and characterised. The central four girls are each likeable and unique with a good group dynamic defined far more by personality than power. The art and action is top-notch with several stand-out powered battles towards the end. Best of all is the gloriously fun storyline, where almost every moment has something to do with the whole part. It all simply works.

Runners-Up: Basquatch, Gurren Lagann

And now a few notes about what I'm looking forwards to:

First Lord's Fury

The final novel in Jim Butcher's excellent Codex Alera, I've been looking for this for the last month. It's not hard to list the reasons why I'm looking forwards to this. We're finally going to see the battle for Alera between Tavi and the Vord. We're finally going to see the last moves from the Aquitanes. And then there's the big question of exactly what Tavi met at the very end of the previous novel. Given the general excellence of the previous novels, it's not hard to imagine how much I'm going to enjoy reading it.

Mission of Honor

Given how much I complained about Storm from the Shadows and Torch of Freedom above, you might be surprised to know I didn't regret buying them. At their most basic level, they've set up an incredible avalanche to come. Manpower and Mesa are coming and no one's ready for them. The sheer epic nature of the coming story arc is awe-inspiring. Weber is looking at the breaking up of the Solarian League, the sole superpower of the Honorverse stories. The changes that are coming will be insane.

Iron Man 2

I've only recently seen the first trailer from this, but I've got to admit I'm interested. It retains the glorious madness of the first and Mickey Rourke's Whiplash looks he's going to kick butt as well as provide a certain stalkerish pathos to the story. After all who can't love a guy who can freely boast 'I have successfully privatised world peace!'?

Merry Christmas all.

Crown of Slaves Review

Author: David Weber & Eric Flint

Publishers: Baen Books

Quick Synopsis: Slaves in a sci-fi future capture their own world with the help of a few unusual characters.

Quick Review: Simply magical. One of the best books by either author

I've written a lot of reviews criticising some of Baen's more dreadful novels and ideas, so it only seems right that I actually be nice about one of their books. Crown of Slaves is one of the best novels I've read and may simply be my favourite Baen book. It's an incredibly intelligent story about nation-building and is a welcome addition to Weber's excellent Honorverse story universe.

Plot: A number of individuals (including a Manticoran princess who wants to be a spy and the galaxy's most wanted terrorist) from the Honorverse come together for the funeral of a famed anti-slavery advocate on the planet Erewhon, foremost among them Victor Cachat, a 'troubleshooter' for the Republic of Haven. Seeing an opportunity to advance his own star-nation's interests, he co-opts the local powers (including Manticore, the main good guys of the Honorverse) into helping him steal the nearby slave-plantation planet Congo from its owners, the delightfully hissable Manpower Corporation. In doing so, his allies lay the groundwork for a sane nation by the creation of their very own Crown of Slaves.

Like any good book, Crown Of Slaves is complex and has many parts. What starts as a state funeral segues into an assassination attempt then two separate hostage rescues before ending with the stealing of an entire planet and the foundation of a new nation. The impressive part of this story is that it works. There is an underlying logic to the entire business that works and the groundwork for every element is laid well in advance. The concept of a ex-slave nation and its myriad difficulties is well laid out early on with an emphasis on how hard it is for the ex-slaves to actually be independent and successful with a passel of pissed of ex-owners on their case, as well as how hard it is to subliminate their understandable anger into constructive purposes. The political scientist who creates this nation (the excellent W.E.B Du Havel, ex-slave and owner of more academic prizes than any one mad should really have) comes up with a doozy of a solution and it is a tribute the the characters involved that you don't doubt it for a moment.

It helps that the characters involved are extremely well written. Some of them are Flint regulars from his earlier Honorverse short-stories, in particular Anton Zilwicki, Victor Cachat and Jeremy X. Others existed before in an almost implied fashion in the universe (Princess Ruth for example, the princess who wants to be a spy, is the child of a relationship from an earlier Honorverse short story), while others are entirely new (Berry, Thandi Palane and Web being prime examples). None of them are merely one dimensional with often brilliant personal issues that show up on a regular basis.

The stand-out has to be Victor Cachat, Havenite master spy. Victor is obviously one of Flint's favourite creations (he's the only character to star in two Honorverse short stories) and the reason shows. He's at once an incredibly scary secret agent, one far more ruthless than Daniel Craig's awe-inspiring Bond of recent years, and a good man, almost as horrified by his acts as his allies. This is best exemplified by the interrogation scene part way through the book, where he thoroughly intimidates three very dangerous men and gets information out of them in about a minute. One of them is still utterly terrified of him two weeks later. In a later scene, he is selected to impersonate a religious fanatic because he is the best at acting like one. These scenes of incredible threat and intimidation are tempered by his burgeoning relationship with Thandi Palane, an incredibly dangerous Marine with heavy-world ancestry. It's an awkward, believable romance that makes a genuine impact on the reader.

The other great character is Anton Zilwicki's daughter Berry. She's inveigled into the plot when she is convinced to be disguised as Princess Ruth for security reasons. A rescued orphan from the slums of Old Earth, she's wonderfully described as 'specialising in sanity'. She quickly becomes central to the plot and showcases incredible courage, in particular volunteering to be a hostage with the solid knowledge that she's probably going to be raped. In doing so, she manages to be adopted by a shipload of slaves and a central part of the plot to steal Congo. Her eventual promotion at the end of the novel is entirely believable and one of the best parts of the novel. A particular favourite scene of mine is the scene when she's discussing her historical epitath. The mixture of teenage pride (she objects to both the royal 'we' and 'the great' on the basis that she has enough issues about her weight as is) and clear-eyed determination is simply magical.

It helps that Crown of Slaves is at times extremely funny. The scenes around Thandi and Victor's eventual hooking up are utterly hilarious, going from Victor waking up guilty about the night's debauchery to he and Thandi discovering that a number of characters were spying on them. The moment when Ruth tries to parse a threat of 'regicide' by pointing out that she isn't a sitting royal is surreally hilarious. Jeremy X is possibly the funniest terrorist in fiction (he was designed to be a jester and it worked, Manpower just epically pissed him off first), needling and mocking his friends with massive panache. One great moment come from near the end, where Thandi's superiors list the reasons why she shouldn't be eliminated for quitting. One of them then proceeds to list the people who would be irritated about her death. The last name is Jeremy X and is wonderfully explained with the following line: 'Talk to Manpower. Ask for their bodycount department'.

The only problem with Crown of Slaves is that it comes with a degree of baggage. While it is a stand-alone novel, set as it is in a series with something like eleven previous novels and four short story compilations does mean that there are a few plot points that only really make sense if you've read the rest of the series. You're unlikely to know why Anton and Victor get on when they are on either side of a bitter war unless you've read the story where they first met. Nor are you likely to know exactly why the High Ridge Government in Manticore is so incompetent if you haven't read War of Honor. These are really minor quibbles as the book does a good job of defining exactly what is going on and why. Reading them will just give you a bit of extra colour.

Crown of Slaves is a thoroughly excellent novel with a cracking story, interesting characters and some wonderful scenes that will stick with you for quite a while. Its story is a constant surprise and I've tried to keep as much of it back as possible for your reading pleasure. The best word to define the book is simply 'magical'.

A Watch On The Rhine

Author: Tom Kratman and John Ringo

Publisher: Baen Books

Quick Synopsis: Germany is forced to reform the SS to stave off alien invasion

Quick Review: An idea with potential mutilated by the wrong author

I have to admit that the idea behind A Watch on the Rhine is an original one: can the German SS really be redeemed? Are they the monsters of history, or are they misunderstood, patriots fighting for an evil regime? Unfortunately, the authors don't really manage to answer these questions. They go into the book with their own preconceived notions and don't manage to make them convincing. Worse, they let their own prejudices colour the story, further damaging their efforts by trying to score cheap points with hollow characterisation and weakarguments.

Plot: Set in John Ringo's Legacy of Aldenata universe, the book follows Germany's defence against the Posleen hordes (an alien species that considers all animal life food, up to and including their own dead and young). Aware that their army stands little chance, their government decides to rebuild the SS, using alien technology to regenerate the few survivors and give them fresh recruits to train (Just to be clear, by SS, I mean the Schutzstaffel, the paramilitary force within Nazi Germany infamous for running the concentration camps as well as several other atrocities). While the intention is to use the new units up in the coming conflict, they prove far more useful than that.

It's a measure of AWOTR that I'm still unsure on the central theme of whether or not the reputation of the SS can be redeemed. Quite simply, there is very little of the book devoted to this argument. Those few characters who make the argument that they are irredeemable and that Germany shouldn't resurrect them, regardless of the alien threat, are generally classed as at best misguided or at worse, villains (indeed the primary opposition is from one of the book's biggest villains). Kratman (Ringo appears to have been very hands-off on the novel, going from the authorial afterword included with the book) ultimately seems uninterested in this argument, consistently portraying every SS character as mostly apolitical, with little interest in any aspect of Nazi ideology (the exception would have to be the vile Kreuger, who openly celebrates his service in the Totenkopf brigades, those parts of SS who served in the concentration camps). Most memorably, this occurs early on in the novel, when one of the old SS encounters an Israeli army officer. It is the Israeli who is portrayed as being out-of-line, not the SS officer who barely seems to care. The few references to the SS's crimes are simply waved away with either a distinction of the Totenkopf's responsibility or the excuse of 'everyone did the same thing', an argument best saved for the schoolyard. To be blunt, Kratman simply doesn't care about the SS's crimes, paying mere lip-service to the pain that they have caused.

Unfortunately, if a mere inability to make a decent argument was the biggest problem with AWOTR that probably wouldn't have made the book as bad as it is. No what really picks the book up and slaps it out of the park is Kratman's political axe-grinding on top of the sensitive subject matter. Remember that villain I mentioned above, the one opposed to the resurrection of the SS? He is the leader of a cabal of left-wing and green (he's the leader of the Greens in the Bundestag)politicians who assist in an alien conspiracy to weaken Germany's defences in before the invasion, in an effort to ensure humanity's downfall. His explanation for this when confronted? He's 'protecting' the Earth by using the Posleen to wipe out the excess population, planning to return with his evacuated family and do things 'right' after the Posleen have been eradicated. The entire speech where this is admitted is gloriously over-the-top and ridiculous, sounding as if he's ad-libbing the villain from Moonraker. What of course makes this all the more laughable is that the Posleen are known for destroying the worlds they conquer, breaking out into nuclear infighting as their population spirals out of control. The protests he organises earlier on are just as ridiculous, with SS characters musing about the hypocrisies evident within the crowds and the protesters being portrayed as brain-washed and clueless(crowning this is the protester who is so impressed by the SS riot police that he immediately goes off to a recruiting station). Most disturbingly, this gives a creepy moment in one scene, where the German chancellor orders the SS to arrest all of the members of the conspiracy to weaken the defences, implying to the reader that the SS are occupying the same quasi-political position they had in the Third Reich, acting as the muscle for those hunting 'enemies of the state'.One cannot help, but get the feeling that Kratman views the liberal characters as more evil than the Posleen, who are often treated with more empathy than the humans (please note that these are the aliens who make use of human shields and make a quilt of human hair during the course of the book).

These issues unfortunately overshadow the book's actual plot. Not that that isn't a good thing. There's very little coherence to the book's set up and Kratman is very bad at setting the scene for all of the action sequences. The narrative is spread over about five years, covering the preparation for the first and then second waves of invasion as well as the battles fought during them, but there seems to be little development during the time-skips (most notably, the few 'new' SS characters don't seem to receive any sort of promotions during the book, despite being veterans of the first wave). The book is also achingly non-canonical, frequently violating many of the setting's rules (Ringo constructed an alien force for which the best counter is infantry supported with artillery, while Kratman instead plants the SS forces in supertanks). Perhaps worse is the actual reason given for the necessity of resurrecting the SS. The stated rational is that Germany needs everything it can get, that its own military lacks the training cadre needed for the massive expansion necessary. It all rings a little hollow. Kratman consistently portrays the regular German army as weak and cowardly, crippled by political correctness. The SS are necessary because Kratman makes them necessary, effectively writing them in by authorial fiat. There's little consideration given to the repercussions, nor are the German opposition portrayed as anything other than clueless. Grotesquely, the book's epilogue has the surviving characters engaging in what is implied to be genocide in the future, deliberately attacking a planet of the alien species which has been playing the Posleen against the humans with the intention of destroying their entire species.

Most laughable is Kratman's big theme of 'Survival overrides programming'. He tries to make the argument that the modern military is not ruthless enough and that modern sensibilities are to blame. Unfortunately, the theme is shoehorned into the book, primarily with a French woman who is a liberal stereotype as only Kratman can write them, ie clueless. In a poorly thought out scene near the end, her son fails to demolish a crucial bridge during battle. Kratman would like you to believe that it his liberal 'programming' that is to blame, but unfortunately that's about the last conclusion the reader is likely to draw. The boy in question is a child soldier in his first battle, who's placed in a position of utmost importance. The bridge in question is packed with human refugees at the time, being used by the Posleen as human shields. As far as can be seen, Kratman decides that mere human compassion is an obstacle that can be blamed on liberalism. Disturbingly, his authorial afterword suggests that he considers this to be a major problem in the War on Terror.

Watch on the Rhine is not a good book. The arguments made within are hollow and self-serving, the story is instantly forgettable and the characters are weak. Kratman seems to think that the SS's talent for ruthlessness forgives all of their sins, when he is not drawing false equivalences between their crimes and the Allies'. His personal politics colour the narrative, with left-wing politics being made out to be the biggest threat to the cast. This is unfortunate, given that he is essentially writing in support of one of the greatest right-wing perversions in history. Watch on the Rhine is at its core a poorly thought out polemic which, given its sensitive subject matter, is all the more appalling. One of the worst books I've ever read.

Legend

I kind of promised myself I wasn't going to review John Ringo's 'Kildar' series. Thankfully I found this and there is no way I can top it:

Hradzka is awesome.

money quote:

Also, to take care of the trainers' needs, he brings in whores.

LOOK, I TOLD YOU. HE ADOPTS THEM. LIKE CATS.

Little Brother

Author: Corey Docterow
Quick sketch: Young boy finds his destiny when fighting the forces of his government
Quick Review: good, if unsubtle

When I first started reading Little Brother, the quickest image that jumped into my head was my personal bugbear: The Last Centurion by John Ringo. They're both American novels about the collapse/ disintegration of the normal rules with a distinct political bias. In addition, both use the first person perspective and are heavily inspired by the Bush Era. That's about where the similarity ends, as I greatly enjoyed Little Brother (My opinion of TLC is a lot more pungent).
Firstly, Plot: Marcus and his friends find themselves caught up in a terrorist attack in San Francisco(for which there are never any suspects). In an attempt to get help after one is stabbed, they flag down a military vehicle and are instead arrested. After several days of imprisonment and punishment, Marcus and his two uninjured friends are released, leaving his injured best friend in prison. Discovering the city transfigured by the new security laws put in place (by the Department of Homeland Security) while he was imprisoned, Marcus finds himself almost accidentally leading the rebellion against the DHS.
The majority of Little Brother revolves around Marcus' efforts to disrupt the DHS' tracking systems and their efforts to find him. These various strategies generally revolved around the technology involved, including internet encryption, mathematics, RFID tracking and a load more. These strategies are non-violent and frequently funny, more about pointing out the inadequacies of the systems and their over-reach. The science/ maths behind these strategies is well described and clear, at least to my level of comprehension. The phrase 'little brother' itself is coined by an anonymous ally, to describe any attempt to record the actions of the DHS and show up their own incompetencies.
Little Brother's emphasis is on the little guy. Marcus does not do that much, physically at least. Instead it is his example and leadership that propel him. Early on, he founds the Xnet, a semi-underground network of hacked-Xbox users from which his rebellion grows. It is his efforts on here to rally civil disobedience that propel him forwards, whether it's to invent new ways to cause trouble or simply to build a coherent ideology behind his disobedience (Doctorow bases much of the novel's arguments around several excerpts from the Constitution).
The great element in Little Brother is the contrast between Marcus and his online persona 'M1k3y'. M1k3y quickly becomes this fearless, intelligent international celebrity, being interviewed by the BBC and other international news groups. However, Marcus is this scared kid, growing up very fast as he begins to realise how deep he's gotten. The distinction becomes very evident when Marcus begins to take a personal stand, rather than working out of his bedroom and in secret. Doctorow captures the mixture of fear and determination here very well, as Marcus finds himself being gradually sucked into the DHS' overgrowing insanity, frequently without any real effort on his part.
Doctorow does a good job of capturing the various personalities Marcus interacts with. A big element is his slightly crazy girlfriend Ange, who provides a degree of humour and support when Marcus needs it. Their growing relationship is one of the joys of the book and something that definitely showed up my cynicism. Other characters are believable and clearly distinct in their own right. Marcus' parents in particular make a great duality, with his mother clearly against the increased surveillance and his father for it, giving a kinda glimpse at the average person's perspective. Marcus' friends also have their own Meta-roles, with the two who are released dropping out of his rebellion as they begin to realise exactly how dangerous it is becoming.
My only complaint with Little Brother is that the portrayal of the DHS is a little heavy handed (whether or not it is true, is perhaps another question). The sole face of the DHS is a woman, known through out the book as 'Severe-Haircut Woman' by Marcus. She's cruel and brutal to him and keeps his injured friend for little or no reason. The DHS also reacts to all challenges to its authority with heavy-handed violence (in one scene they tear-gas and baton charge an illegal concert). One sequence involves Marcus seeing footage of the initial meeting between the DHS and the White House, in which the DHS representative (severe haircut woman) is given clear permission to to whatever she wants as 'the country sees this place as a Sodom and Gomorrah of fags'. There's also a suggestion the President's advisors are allowing terrorism to keep their man elected, which pretty much defines not subtle.
Little Brother is an interesting mixture of rebellion and maturation. You find yourself living the story of Marcus and M1k3y to a surprising degree. His dual instincts to survive and to fight back make the story a constant contrast, as he is never the fearless rebel. The book as a whole is an interesting take on a technological police state, if taken a little too far. Most of the digressions into the tech are informative rather than interesting and generally give you an idea of the history and just why something is happening rather than 'because'. Anyone interested in the relationship between freedom, technology and security could do well to read this.

The Last Centurion

Author: John Ringo

Publisher: Baen Books

Quick Sketch: Narrator overcomes political stupidity while surviving an end-of-the-world near-miss

Quick Review: Avoid like the plague, unless you're an American conservative (actually not even then)

It's not often I walk away from a book swearing. It's even less often it'll make me do it within the first ten chapters. That's what happened with me when I read the preview of The Last Centurion on Baen Books' website (www.baen.com) in the summer of '08. It actually took me two goes to read the nine chapters available and I'll be honest: I finished it in a morbid desire to see just how bad it could get. I then (not very) quietly steamed to my friends about it and did my level best to forget about it. Nine months of denial later (with muchous venting), I downloaded the full version (legally). My opinion fell even further. I not just disliked the plot and ideas, I actually found the entire thing to be mind-numbingly bad from almost every viewpoint.

Let's start with a statement: I am not a conservative, especially not the American version of the same. I'm a liberal. In the last few elections I've found myself leaning towards Liberal Democrat, but I haven't made my mind up who I'm voting for in the next election (David Cameron has made a positive impression on me, but then again so has Nick Clegg). As such, I am not TLC's target audience. I am not supposed to like this book.

The Last Centurion is written in an autobiographical/ blog style. It recounts the main character(Bandit Six as he calls himself)'s experiences during what he delightfully terms 'The Time of Suckage'. This is around 2019, when bird flu goes pandemic (the Plague) and global cooling (the Big Chill) thrashes the world's eco-system. The damage (30%-60% of the world's population, see later) is further exacerbated by the titanic failures of the Democratic US President. Bandit Six recounts his story of being abandoned in the Middle East and fighting his way back home, only to have to fix the US when he gets there.

Ringo's biggest failing here is writ large across the whole book. Quite simply, he can't do the first person perspective. Only three characters leap off the page at you: Samad, the leader of the Nepalese troops Bandit Six ends up with, President Warrick, the Democratic President who is simply stunning in her outright caricature of Hillary Clinton (it verges on libel, to be blunt), and of course Bandit Six himself. Unfortunately, this isn't to suggest that they're good characters. Samad comes of as a confused British Empire copycat, Warrick is one-dimensionally insane and Bandit Six is a hyper partisan know-it-all. Every other character is barely named and little more than a cipher (his entire chain of command is reduced to their ranks and Bandit Six's opinion of them).

This is one of the real irritants of TLC: Bandit Six. I can to be frank, kinda of ignore his screaming partisanship, but his know-it-all nature just drags and drags and drags. TLC is divided into three books. In book one, he explains (in nine chapters of progressively more irritating detail) how the world and the US collapses, via his knowledge of farming (he's the son of a farmer). Book two details his experiences of in the Middle East as it all collapses. Book Three finishes with his exploits in the US as he rebuilds the agricultural system and then deals with some of the worst hit areas.

Problem is, he comes off as somewhere between Superman, Einstein and God. During the course of the book he lays the ground work for an independent Kurdistan and a Persian nation allied to the US, creates two hyper-popular TV shows, saves the US agricultural system, saves Detroit from Islamic servitude and shatters the US media's liberal bias. He constantly dumps massive amounts of information at you, all of which seems to have passed the government by. The book comes of as a massive amount of 'I-love-me' which is just shocking. By the end you're waiting for Bandit Six to pull another massive save out of his ass.

Another element that just falls over is his TV show 'The Centurions'. Basically, as Bandit Six is passing through Baghdad, Rupert Murdoch (humourously, Ringo seems not to have noticed that A) Murdoch is Australian, and B) he also owns Fox), in an attempt to up his ratings, drops a camera crew on him to get some real info on what he's up to (Bandit Six's unit having become a bit of a cause celebre by now, thanks to being abandoned). Bandit Six then forces them to show what he's really doing, rather than being the usual liberally-biased media. It becomes a smash hit almost over night.

Ringo writes TLC as if the reader is familiar with the TV show. This simply does not work. A particularly good example is an episode called 'Cam(P)ing' which Bandit Six describes how funny it is to watch afterwards but how steamed he was at the time. Problem is, you never get told why he was so steamed (All you know is that the Nepalese manage to accidentally blow up one of his support vehicles). 'Cam(P)ing' is referred to several times, but it's never actually explained what happens. Thus you are left with this confused question in your head for the rest of the book.

The political bias within TLC is frankly stunning. Every chance Ringo gets, he blames one of three groups: The liberals, the media or the State Department (though mostly the liberals). He cheerfully details case studies, which show liberals being less able to deal with difficult situations (during this he just devolves to calling them tofu-eating grasshoppers. I hate Tofu, by the way), being less competent and more selfish. Whenever the sensible option isn't available, it's the fault of one of the three. It's plot by numbers, giving you the feeling the book was sponsored by the Republican National committee or the NRA.

This bias comes across most blatantly with President Warrick. He characterises her from the beginning as ideologically bound, clueless and a micro-manager. In fact she's so incompetent, I just kept thinking she was inspired by Bush, but even he's not that bad (A particular favourite of mine is the emergency powers act her mindless Congress passes which allows for the removal of habeus corpus. Remind me again which President and party actually did that in the last decade?). What bothers me the most here is that this book was release in July '08. This book was clearly intend to influence the election as Warrick is very obviously Hilary Clinton. There's one bit where Bandit Six is discussing the 'temporary king' concept of presidential power and he mentions the 'Bush, Warrick, Bush, Warrick' dynasty. Given that the time line (TLC starts in 2019) makes the above set up impossible: there's only two elections between now and then with you needing to some how fit in four elections, even assuming three single term presidencies, the only real conclusion is that he's really referring to 'Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton'.

It doesn't help that Bandit Six rabidly hates her (he generally refers to her as 'The Bitch'). There's one bit when he's detailing the messed up vaccination plan for the US and he describes the transcribed meeting between her and her advisors. She sides with her female (civilian)advisers, not her male (military) advisers. Ringo characterises this as militant feminism with the strident phrase 'Men had testicles and therefore were Wrong' (direct quote).

A final issue is the huge hammer aspect of the book. Nothing is subtle. His examples of media bias are more reminiscent of Soviet propaganda (near the end, he talks about a news report about civilians massacred where CNN has carefully avoided recording the manacles that held them in place while the bad guys used them as a human shield. Did I mention the media blames the US military?). Ringo has a huge problem in this respect. He simply doesn't seem to grasp convergence or individual bias. Instead, he constantly ascribes a sense of conspiracy to everything.

Frankly, I could go on and on about the sheer awfulness of The Last Centurion. There are dozens of other points I could make like his shilling for Bush, his yen for made up statements and some decidedly questionable racial statements. The ending makes the usual USA-USA hollywood movie ending look well written and original (it's less of a send-off and more an embarrassing rant), the book is disjointed and poorly plotted and the characterisation is paper-thin. Ringo has always allowed his politics to influence his writing, but this book simply removes the veneer of his usually excellent ideas, characters and laugh out loud dialogue. In its place we get a masterclass in how not to write in the first person and a sperm-soaked display of Conservative masturbation.

A final note: The Last Centurion most reminds me of the excellent Max Brooks novel World War Z. It's written in similar style (WWZ is a collection of interviews with survivors) and details the global collapse under the pressure of incoming apocalypse (due to a zombie invasion) and civilization's gradual resurgence. Problem is, WWZ is more believable. And it has zombies.