Customer Reviews

Citadel

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

John Ringo is hands down my favorite author. With such a prestigious position comes a great deal of responsibility. This means that A) I buy every single one of his books and B) I'm more critical of him than any other author. My favorite work of his would be the Legacy of Aldenata, specifically Gust Front. My least favorite of his works is Live Free or Die. I can understand how some people are inclined to the more technical aspects of hard science fiction, but I'm not one of them. That being said, I view Citadel as a vast improvement over Live Free or Die. There is still plenty of science but there is also a good but more character development.

The main protagonist of the first book, Tyler Vernon, takes a back seat in this edition. In his place we are introduced to Dana and Butch as well as some supporting characters. Dana is a strong willed female in the "new navy", not an easy accomplishment given that she has contracted Johanssen's Disease due to the Horvath attacks in the first book. Dana is a tough and sympathetic character at the same time, having lost family to the war and faced personal challenged to get to her current position as an engineer residing on the Troy. Butch is less compelling but still interesting enough, and both characters give perspective from a lower point of view on the human hierarchy than multi-billionaire Tyler Vernon.

Another good addition is the inclusion of a POV on the side of the enemy. In human vs. alien stories it is always interesting to see humans from a different angle and insight into Rangoran society is an extra bonus. This is a brief part of the book but a benefit to the reader for sure.

There is of course action, done as only Ringo can do it. Enormous space battles, high powered laser beams, volleys of missiles, and the like. Basically the cover art is a true representation of the world Ringo has crafted.

Citadel is a fantastic book, diehard Ringo fans will be pleased and anyone interested in some hard sci-fi and a good ol' fashion space romp are bound for a treat. I am eagerly awaiting the third and final entry in the series!

I'm a tad bit nervous writing this review as everyone before me seems to unconditionally love this book, while I found there were parts that I preferred not included. Anyhow, ignoring that, the book is pretty good and I finished wanting the next installment to be written NOW.


When we finished book 1- Live free or Die, Tyler Vernon had dedicated much of his fortune to rescuing Earth and readying it for the inevitable cofrontation with the Horvath and the Horvath allies, the Rangara.

Imagine my surprise when instead of continuing along this vein, we spend about a third of a book on two bit player, Butch and Dana, which soon become mostly Dana, since the small players dont really seem to add anything much, besides telling us what is happening groundside on Troy. But devoting two thirds of the book to that isn't necessary imho. In fact Tyler, the main driving force behind Earth's fortification, is nowehre to be seen until about a third way through, whence he takes a main role again as if we never left. It makes the book seem somewhat inconsistent. There are some behind the scenes narative from the bad guys from time to time, which I think would have been a more interesting plot development than Dana and Butch. The politics of the bad guys allows Earth to unknowingly have slight respite, as the bad guys use less force than they should have in their attack on Earth towards the end of the book.

Should you read Citadel?

Not if you haven't read book 1- Live Free or Die first :) Well, what are you waiting for- grab it now!

I concur with the reviewers who found the inclusion of new bit players asubstantial waste of time since they were really not that important to the overall story arc, at least the one that I was interested in. I am referring to the Butch/Comet storyline which seemed to be a total waste of time and added little to what I wanted the author to concentrate on.

Some people prefer that additional character development, I thought it wasted many pages and ultimately didn't add to the overall plot or air of the book. I found myself skipping entire sections related to them and not feeling like I missed anything vital to the story.

In any event, despite that minor complaint, it still is an interesting story line and I will continue it to the end.

I do wish that the author and publisher would consider offering kindle versions but it is a free country and nothing requires them to do so.

Reviews on this book are rather odd.

If you read the sample chapters at Baen's web site and still want to buy it I would be rather surprised. The first 1/3 of the book is about minor characters and takes place during the previous book Live Free or Die. This section honestly reads like it was cut from the first book and dropped into this one as filler. It just waters down the story for no reason. Best parallel would be replacing about 1/2 of Empire Strikes Back with an in-depth story on a shuttle pilot and a couple maintenance techs.

To be blunt if this was a new author I would say it is a pretty good book. But he is not. I have a hard time understanding why about ½ of this book was not left on the editing room floor. The quality is no where near even his early books.

My recommendation is to just get the book from the local library or borrow it from someone who bought it just because it was a Ringo book. There is, after all, about 150 odd pages of good story burred in the filler.

I bought the Kindle in part to save paper and to eliminate a book shelf. But now I find a great series worthy of the Kindle and must buy an audio version for twice the price. No can do! I'll wait for the Kindle version or give up the series. Bad choice Amazon.

This book was great. I loved the character development and I think one of the characters that was being developed was not worth while and for the most part was fringe to the main plot but it wasn't bad and gave a perspective on how things looked from the outside. When I purchased the book I was worried that the author had moved away from the main character of the previous book and that wasn't the case, though he wasn't the focus anymore he was still tied to the story line in a very effective way. This is not something I have seen done in books to any good effect.

The book wrapped up or rather didn't wrap up the story line but left it open ended, knowing that there was another book coming out made this less irritating but I still feel that most major plot threads should be wrapped up at the end of the book with sub plots left open ended for continuation. The first book did this nicely. This one didn't wrap up everything as well.

Overall if you liked the first book you will love this book.

That's RIGHT! This book is a HASSO (Highly Addictive "Sciency" Space Opera)!!!

It is the second book in the Troy Rising series that has the potential to out do Edgar Rice Burroughs (Barsoom series) and E. E. "Doc" Smith (The Lensman series) in both volume and quality!

What has it going for it?
o Big Space Opera with Hard Science
o A positive view of human can do spirit
o Historical approach to Sophant behaviors
o A plausible near future divergence given the McGuffin of a 10 km diameter warp-gate plopped into our Solar system
o Homages and literary Easter eggs for those weary enough to catch them
o Realistic space battles and use of space marines
o Wonderful character development of both human and alien sophonts!

A small warning to those few SciFi readers that believe Keynesian Economics works or Karl Marks is just misunderstood... the series doesn't support these flights of fancy.

The Series started with another HASSO, Live Free or Die: Troy Rising I, and book three, The Hot Gate: Troy Rising III, is taking preorders... I am hoping for an early release!

Buy it for yourself and your friends... but label it Danger: HASSO read at your own risk..

Not bad, just boring.
The first 100 pages read like a technical manual on how to build a space station.
I'm sure there are many who find this fascinating but I was expecting a SEQUEL to the first book. Not a parallel story line with minor new characters.

Disappointing.

I am very disappointed of this book as a sequel to the first book, Live Free or Die.

The book choose to focus on two very uninteresting characters, a shuttle pilot and a welder, whose action has zero effect on the main story line. About half the book, which is already short by Ringo standard, is taken up by character development of these two, in my opinion, rather annoying characters. I really hope they would be de-emphasized in future books.

The book is very light on science. John Ringo explained in the beginning that he doesn't have a coauthor that's well versed in science. Most of the characters from book 1 became minor characters and some of them disappeared completely. People that were sent to Glatun for training were never mentioned. I would have like some of them come back and effect improvement in technology. Someone who crack the AI code to discover the hidden backdoor could also make an interesting character.

The book had some Rangora characters that gives a better view of the conflict, which is a plus. Overall 3 stars.

I found myself unable to put this book down until I had finished. A classic Ringo style epic space story of human ingenuity and determination pitted against the Rangora, a galactic empire that just crushed Earth's only ally.

The story is told via a blend of perspectives and Ringo's excellent narrative. At the top of the command chain we have Tyler, the billionaire owner of the solar powered laser that's given Earth a fighting chance, working hard to keep a step ahead of the invaders. Rounding out the picture are Dana and Butch, front line workers who help tell the story from their perspective. For me, these characters worked. For some others, not so much.

It's hard to be clever if you don't have an audience. What makes this story really work is the addition of To'Jopeviq, an officer of the Rangora military. To'Jopeviq is charged with taking care of the planning to defeat a minor annoyance who call themselves Humans. He suspects these Humans are more than they seem but must walk a fine line to be taken seriously.

A slightly different style from the first book, Live Free or Die, but still a great read.