Customer Reviews

East of the Sun and West of the Moon

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

 

 

The book I mean. I absolutely love this series and was immensely looking forward to reading this book. When I got it, I was shocked at how thin (in pages) it was. This is usually not a hang-up with me. I almost never check the amount of pages a book has. Especially with one of my favorite authors. This book was 320 pages, his other books in this series were up over 420-540 pages.

So what about the story? While the concept for the storyline was very cool, the writing and plot development could have been flushed out a lot more. A lot. There is a lot of time spent trying to develop Megan and her harem posse. Amusing, but too much frill without the meat of a good story. This book boils down to one plot line, the good guys going to get the ship. So much opportunity for more. I love Ringo, but man, his editor screwed up here, he/she should have thumped Ringo on the head before publishing this book.

To be completely honest, this feels like something thrown together to meet a deadline. So, even though I enjoyed the book, it was just good. It could have been and should have been great, just like all the previous books in this series.

Johm Ringo has an interesting habit. The first book in a series is excellent. Simply oustanding. The second is good. The third is mediocre. The fourth is horrible. This is seen in this series, and most strikingly "Legacy of the Aldenta" - A Hymn Before Battle being outstanding, and the series deteriorating from there. Hell's Faire was the fourth novel in that series.

Funnily enough, this is the fourth book in the series "The council Wars."

I cannot express my disappointment with Ringo's... odd behavior. We know, quite certainly, that he is a better writer than this. He is able to produce excellent military fiction - compelling characters, riveting combat, and epic worlds.

But the more he writes, the more it becomes clear that John Ringo prefers to write trivial trash than interesting fiction. This is one such example.

The plot is basic: Herzer, a character developed in previous books, is to lead an assault team onto a space ship and recover the fuel. We learned about the ship in previous books.

I don't know how Mr. Ringo manages to squeeze a book out of this.

The entire novel feels more as if Ringo was forced to churn out a novel in the series in short order, rather than taking the time to invent a credible plot with interesting twists.

I don't know if Ringo is unable or unwilling to craft comeplling novels. But either way, he certainly isn't doing it - and you certainly shouldn't waste your money.

I completely disagree with most of the reviews that have been posted. I thought that the book flowed well giving the reader developement of the major characters and driving the plot forward. While I was disappointed that we still haven't heard what has happened with the elves and Bun-Bun, it is not unusual for authors to have characters like these that are not in every novel.

Some of the remarks previously written are not only insulting, but poorly written. John Ringo has not in any way "riden" on David Weber's shoulders; he was picked up by Jim Baen and while he has collaborated with Weber on specific books, he has also written with many other authors that were just as well as the collaborations with Weber.
Thermite does leave Iron as a by product but it would have also: 1 burned up all the oxygen in the area, 2 produced minute particulate, and 3 requires a more advanced industrial structure than has been described. Additionally, being an explosive, Mother would have prevented its use.
Simple dart guns may have worked as described but how do we know that they would have even affected the Orcs? Only if the darts were actually Flechettes (which again would strain the industrial structure described) would they exceed the speed of sound to any significant extent and even have the possibility of harming the Orcs. However this also brings in the added likelyhood of it puncturing the hull (due to size and speed). As they wanted to CAPTURE the ship, this is contrary to the already specified objective.

I am severely disappointed that due to a few misguided and ill-thoughtout reviews here on Amazon.com that John Ringo has decided to not write the next novel. I can only hope that he will reconsider and not let a few bad apples spoil this excellent series for the rest of us.

John Ringo writes interesting books. Not, I think you would say fitting the mold of great literature. But who wants to read the classics all the time. Ringo writes good escapist literature. When you're sitting on a plane, or sitting around the house on a rainy day, Ringo is a good author to spend a little time reading.

This book is one of those. There is a rather thin plot, i.e. an automated space ship is returning to Earth with fuel for Earth's power plants. It's the job of our heros to go take over the ship for our power plants before the bad guys take it over for their power plants. Of course you know who wins.

The essense of the book is its characters. Megan is a former slave girl that has a lot of sexual hangups from her time as a 'pleasure slave.' She is also one of the thirteen 'key holders' that can talk to Mother, the computer that spans the world. Her boy friend, a hot shot soldier of course, is getting a little anxious to sleep with Megan. Ringo writes sexual scenes that bring a bit of crazy humor to the story.

All in all, a good read, especially if you've read the first novels in this series.

My first comment so I apologize if it's wrong. I love this series and could not wait for this book. However, after reading it I felt extremely disappointed. The plot is horrible, the fighting is dreadful and the ending is sure to put you asleep.

The basic plot of the novel is a space ship that carries fuel for the fusion reactors is headed back to Earth. Both the New Destiny and Coalition want control of the ship. That is about it, literally.

If any of you have read the Posleen series, this feels like another shafting that occurred with When the Devil Dances and Hells Faire. These two books were supposed to be one, but due to 9/11 and publishing dates the one book was split. It other words a way for Baen and Ringo to pocket some more money. At least in Hells Faire Mr. Ringo gave an apology. I truly hope one will be in the next novel. For those of you wanting to buy this novel, wait till it is a bargain book. You will not be lost for the next novel in this series if you skip this one.

I really enjoyed John Ringo's Council War Series. It was a very creative and interesting universe in which to set a story line. That made this book a bit of a disappointment. It was nowhere near as enjoyable and the previous 3 books.

The council ruling earth is still divided into warring factions. Both sides critically need energy and think it might be obtained by capturing an automated spaceship bring back fuel from the outer solar system. Both sides plan a mission. One side fights dirty. Both have bits of high tech to leven out a basically feudal society.

This book could have been much more. I hope that future installments will live up to the potential. This one did not.

This is well written and the space battle with the limitations was fun to say the least. However, sometimes the hubris of the bad guys is a bit unbelievable.
A great series and this is just not as good as others in the series or some of John's other books. Still, it is fun read and a good story.
If you are thinking of reading the series - DO!
If you have the series and like it - read this installment.
If you don't like the series this will not be a good purchase.

The book seemed a bit short to me, sort of like WTDD from the Posleen series, with the majority of the book being spent in preparation for the mission and a few chapters covering the action, which may be realistic for military ops but somehow isn't as satisfying as previous books in this series. Also like WTDD, it's apparent that the real action is just getting started when the book ends, although there's closure on the Icarus mission. I purchased the e-book version on Baen's web site and considered it worth the six bucks, but mostly I'm eager to read the next book and see how things turn out.

I could compare this book to /Yendi/ by Steven Brust--a good book in an excellent series which doesn't pull together as many angles as we're accustomed to. Temporary blip.

-Max Wilson

I read the reviews on this book and was actually thinking I might not bother, Lord was I glad I did. I think too many people have hidden goals to be some famous critic and have forgotten to just go with the story and enjoy the ride. I had some good laughs and was drawn in hard when the action hit the fan, and as for Herzer's sex life, well it was a part of all the others so why the heck not this one?
God I hope John Ringo keeps going with this, I am having too much fun to stop now! :)
BTW I would have given it 5 stars but Herzer should have gotten more nookie ;) LOL

I did not like the ending but I hope this is not the last in the series it would be a big disapointment but over all it was a good read but not my favorite in the series.