Customer Reviews

Crisis In The Ashes

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

 

 

I have been a avid reader of the Ashes series since the early 80's and always look forward to a new release. This particular book though left me wanting. Ben Raines is getting awful soft in his old age. After the SUSA are bombed Ben does not retaliate in kind and after his men are betrayed by his old flame he lets her go? This is not the Raines I have come to expect. Mr. Johnstone has been hinting at a better Airforce for the Rebels and something of a Navy. Where is it?, in the combat passages there is no mention to the type of jets the Rebs are flying, this, like the last few books really glosses over the hardware and doesn't have the same type of detail the earlier books had. And I am still waiting for the forays into Asia and South America still to come. Mr. Johnstone, let the US alone for awhile so the Rebels can get back to kicking totalitarian behind. I for one, cannot believe the Democratic Socialists in the US have the kind of fight you keep giving them credit for, that they should keep coming back.

In the latest saga of Ben Raines and his do-or-die Rebels, they find themselves fighting along their borders against the Socialistic-Democrats. They is a spy among the Rebels. Can Ben stop the Socialistic-Democratic attack on his borders? Read the latest by Johnstone. He is truly a great writer for these types of books.

This latest installment in the series looks deeper into what makes up the Tri-state mentality. It looks into what they would do if there was a attack with deadly results, greater than just a attack with troops. It also deals with what people will do when they get tired of a government that oppresss them. Overall this installment in the series is good but, not quite up to par with some of the other books in the series.

As an avid reader of the Ben Rains and the "Ashes" series, this is the last book I will buy! It is a retread of an earlier book where an epidemic/plague was caused by fleas and the destruction of civilization. This time, fleas and mad scientists cause it. The last few books written in the "Ashes" series have not been up to the standards of earlier books. The writing has lost its zing and they have the feeling of being formula stories. It is my impression that Mr. Johnston has lost his compelling desires to write!

This book had huge inaccuracies. Has Mr. Johnstone ever heard of research? I personally work with some of the weapons used in this book by Ben Raines and his followers, and their were huge discrepicies on how to operate the weapons and deployment in the field. Other glaring mistakes such as the battles looked to me like this book was thought up by a five year old. It is in my opinion that this is waste of money and paper.