The Hero (Posleen War Series #5) [Hardcover]

John Ringo (Author), Michael Z. Williamson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2004

The human was an expert sniper-and a psychopath. He had never failed in the past when he stalked human prey. But now he is on an enemy planet, and his prey is anything but human. The Darhel are a race with a highly developed empathic sense. Long ago, they learned that they cannot deal death to another intelligent being without being destroyed by the death agonies of their victim. Even though they have been manipulating other species behind the scenes for millennia, including the humans of planet Earth, they cannot bear to kill another being, and depend on other, less sensitive beings, to do their dirty work. But now one of the Darhel must kill or be killed. And the fate, not only of his own race, but all of humanity, is riding on his survival. The course of the next thousand years will be determined by whether or not he can learn to fight back. If he cannot, it will be too late . . . for the entire galaxy.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Ringo has become one of the writers whose work I jump first to when books arrive. . . ."

From the Author

I've noticed a lot of confusion over the nature of the device. The following is a spoiler, so if you've read the book and didn't grasp the significance of the artifact, here it is:

Hardcover, page 310 bottom and 311 top Paperback, page 390 top to 2/3 down.

The device is a Lindal, an artificial means of initiating Lintatai--catatonia--in an empathic Darhel. This is the psychological danger Tirdal faces throughout the book. This genetically engineered trait is called Lindai.

Obviously, the Aldenata needed some way of keeping a race as dangerous as the Darhel from rebelling, and this was the extra safety--a psionic device to prevent them from entering controlled areas. Naturally, it would be disastrous to allow humans to study this device and possibly gain control of Darhel.

Which left as the ending of the story: which one of the three was the hero?

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Baen (June 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 074348827X
• ISBN-13: 978-0743488273
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,114,133 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not worth the time., March 31, 2005

By 

Frederic Civish III "SF Lover" (Utah, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Hero (Posleen War Series #5) (Hardcover)

I read all of John Ringo's 'Posleen War' books, and loved every one of them. THIS book was a big disappointment to me. The trouble is, it is marketed as `Military Fiction' and it takes place in a military environment, but it is definitely a CHARACTER STUDY, not Military Fiction as most people would define it. Set in the same general universe as the `Posleen' series, but at some unspecified future date, it is about an alien `The Hero' who works with a Human Combat Team. They are sent on a Recon mission. Lots of strife, tough environment, but no significant combat. Then, VERY late in the book, we get some combat action, mostly between "The Hero" and a renegade human. Mano a Mano on a wild, dangerous alien planet. Big deal. You can guess the rest. I give it 2 stars, because it was technically well written, and Ringo certainly seems to understand military characteristics, but I REALLY think I am being generous. I don't think it will appeal very much to the `target audience.' It didn't satisfy ME. If I am going to read military fiction, I want strife and battles and bravery and cowardice in a larger context, and I want it to mean something. This book just seemed like they were exploring character relationships for future books in the series. If that sounds like your cup of tea, then go for it. Personally, I felt cheated.

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Williamson's First Outing with Ringo: Okay..., July 28, 2004

By 

Walt Boyes "Walt Boyes" (Aurora IL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Hero (Posleen War Series #5) (Hardcover)

Mad Mike Williamson followed a terrific first novel (Freehold) with a collaboration with John Ringo that is only so-so. It suffers from the old Hawaiian disease lakaeditin and should be about 100 pages shorter. There was a terrific opportunity to delve further into the psychology and physiology of the Darhel, hereditary enemies (maybe) of humanity, aka the Elves, and it was a little disappointing to see how superficially Williamson and Ringo treated it. Overall, the book was good, just not up to Williamson or Ringo's previous best.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Divided Loyalties, January 5, 2007

By 

Arthur W. Jordin (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Hero (Posleen Wars Series #6) (Mass Market Paperback)

The Hero (2004) is a singleton SF novel in the Legacy of the Aldenata universe. It takes place about a millennium after the Posleen War. In the aftermath of the war, Terrans had rebelled against their Darhel masters and ran amuck on many planets. Yet there were still some Darhel survivors in the Solarian Systems Alliance and the Fringe Worlds.

In this novel, a Deep Reconnaissance Team is tasked with the recon of a suspected Blob forward base. A flyby probe has picked up some indications of a facility on the planet, but the data is scant and vague. Several other teams have vanished recently, so extra care will be taken in the planetary insertion and movement to the area of the possible base.

The DRT gains a new trooper, a Darhel named Tirdal San Rintai. He is a sensat -- a trained psionic -- with the ability to sense the Blobs within a fairly short range. Based on Intel analyses, a sensat may well be needed to successfully complete the mission. Tirdal also has a secondary skill of medic.

The DRT unit is commanded by a captain, nicknamed Bell Toll. The senior NCO is Shiva. The Darhel is third in the command hierarchy, followed by the sniper Dagger. The rest of the team includes the weapons specialist Gun Doll, the sensor specialist Gorilla, and the grunts Ferret and Thor.

In this story, the insertion is rough, but successful, and the movement is tedious, yet uneventful. The suspected base, however, turns out to be something else entirely and the team quickly moves toward their pickup point. On the way, the DRT unit uncovers an Aldenata object of great significance and value. The sniper decides to take the object for himself and only Tirdal and Ferret survive his attempt. Tirdal takes the object with him as while leaving the area, Dagger follows him, and the wounded Ferret follows both of them.

Tirdal is a city boy and knows nothing about moving through the countryside without leaving a trail. Dagger can easily follow his signs and Ferret has no difficulties following both of them. Moreover, unknown to Tirdal, the object has been tagged with an irremovable tracer and Dagger has the tracking device.

Ferret initially believes Dagger and the Darhel to be working together and Dagger encourages his misunderstanding. Also, Tirdal recognizes the nature of the object and cannot trust Ferret with the information. So Ferret is put in the position of having to trust Tirdal despite the lack of essential information. Nonetheless, Ferret comes to distrust Dagger more that the Darhel.

Both Terrans believe Tirdal to be incapable of killing. They are not aware, however, that this inability was genetically imposed on the Darhel by the Aldenata. Still, Tirdal is a Bane Sidhe Darhel and has been thoroughly trained in controlling this imposed limitation; under the right conditions and at great risk to himself, Tirdal can kill.

This genetic modification produces some interesting quirks in Darhel psychology. Killing causes a rush of endorphin equivalents that produce euphoria leading to a state of immobile bliss. Since they are totally unable to defend themselves in this condition, the Darhels have been struggling to delete these genes.

Although the Darhels were originally carnivores, the genmods have resulted in behavior more akin to that of herbivores. Darhels have to use other people to do their killing. Moreover, Darhels try to prevent others from learning their vulnerabilities and from duplicating their weapons. Thus, Darhel behavior patterns have become manipulative and secretive, leading to the Terran anger that has killed off so many of them. Of course, this is evolution in action, with only the most susceptible being killed, so the Terrans are really helping the Darhels to eliminate these genes.

While this books has plenty of action, it is really a novel about Darhel xenopsychology. Anyone not interested in character studies of aliens should avoid this book. But, to those who wondered about Darhel motivations, this book is a must read. The hints about the Aldenata are also fascinating.

The novel also provides some insights into the psychology of soldiers. Dagger displays many of the characteristics found in successful snipers. He also shows some of the traits found in many frontline troops. Nonetheless, Dagger is an abnormal rogue -- with the symptoms of a full fledged Amoral Personality -- and should not be considered as typical of either snipers or combat troopers.

Highly recommended for Ringo & Williamson fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of close combat, covert reconnaissance and alien psychology.

-Arthur W. Jordin