Customer Reviews

Into the Looking Glass

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

That was my impression when I finished this novel. Other than that, perfect.

It starts with a bang, about 60 kilotons, and goes on from there, as a physics experiment gone wrong ends up opening multiple "gates" to other worlds. Some of them connect to hostile aliens, and earth is fighting for its life against invaders with superior technology, physical and biological.

Meanwhile, there's a little girl that lived when she should have died; an alien something that looks like a stuffed toy, communicates telepathicaly, and can taser those who mess with it; "the Charge of the Redneck Brigade;" a more or less friendly alien species; talking cats; Cthulhu; and a phycisist in the middle of everything because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time -- or was it the right place?

Lots of fun, and the start of a new Ringo series. Fans of military SF can't go wrong with this one. And if you're not a fan of military SF, try it anyway for the characters, humor and ideas.

John Ringo pulls off a major juggling act in this one. The take a story of military invasion by particularly nasty aliens and embellishes it with high energy physics and straight forward infantry combat. Just to keep things unpredictable, he throws in some theology with a personal appearance by none other than God. That's a pretty ambitious undertaking. What's amazing is that he manages to pull it off in a credible manner.

This is certainly not Ringo's best work but it is readable and entertaining. That's why I buy the book. It was worth the price.

The story begins with a physics experiment gone wrong. The result is a portal opened up to another world. It's a particularly nasty world and the inhabitants there are delighted at the prospect of another place to conquer. The fight against the aliens is led by, surprise - a physicist, with the help of a Navy SEAL. Along the way, they manage to enlist the help of another race threatened by the same obnoxious aliens. So too do they get a helping hand from God. I'm not kidding. In the context of this story, it worked but it would surprise a lot of the profs from my seminary.

I will state up-front that you will have to suspend your disbelief to read this book. I decided to go ahead and read this book even after I was very disappointed in another Ringo book, Von Neumann's War. While I had thought that book unbelievable, it was also a bad read (boring) and didn't have as much of Ringo's trademark military sci-fi battle scenes, so it was hard to not notice. I started reading Into the Looking Glass a bit uncertain what I'd find (but unlike the other book, Ringo wrote this book entirely on his own, consulting Taylor for the science), and I found this book very entertaining and kept me riveted to the page. Definitely an entertaining alien invasion read!

The main character of the story is a physicist named William Weaver who is called in by the U.S. government to look into the gates, how they formed, what are they, and how to control them. I got the feeling Ringo based this character off the real scientist that Ringo consulted, Travis Taylor (if you read the author blurb on the back of Von Neumann's War you'll understand why I think this.heh).

From the very beginning, this book is loaded with action and fighting from the military against the aliens that have come through the gate from another planet in the universe (or another universe entirely!). I was able to put away thoughts of "This couldn't happen", despite the fact there were some pretty unbelievable scenes in this book. For example, the way the military and scientists just get in Hazmat-type suits to go exploring the planets on the far side of the gates (hello?! Hazmat suits? Like that is adequate protection from a foreign planet?)

Anyways, the initial gate formed on the campus of a university in Florida and at first the U.S. government believes it is a nuclear attack, but when people are sent on the ground to test radiation levels, they realize it was no nuclear weapon that was detonated. It is learned that the center of the explosion was a experimental physics lab and that this was the cause of the explosion. Eventually, gates start popping up everywhere in the U.S., connecting to different planets and universes, and then spreads to the rest of the world as well. Soon, there are hordes of aliens coming through the gates.

Oh, about the aliens, Ringo has a few scenes that show the perspective of the hostile aliens bent on colonizing Earth. They are a collective mind and "grow" their foot soldiers and army. Not much background info on these aliens, where they come from (although you do get an explanation about why they attack other worlds). I thought the descriptions of the aliens in battle brought to mind the bug aliens in Starship Troopers, (there was one flying alien described as shooting lightning from its rear end and a few other aliens that had the same type of "weapon" shooting from other areas of their anatomy).

What I really liked about this book was the action. Wow, it kept me reading and turning the pages. One of my favorite scenes is when Weaver and the SEAL team he's with are trapped in a house near another gate that opened up. They need back-up badly, so they send out a distress call on the radio asking for help from anyone. A few locals at the bait, tackle, and ammunition shop hear the call and the owner of the shop goes to the "back room" and starts loading all the weapons he has stored back there (many that aren't supposed to be for sale to people) into pick-up trucks. Soon they have a little army heading over to where Weaver and the SEALs are holed up and come to save the day. It left me rolling with laughter, it struck me as hilarious.

Of course, the small annoyance I did have was (like in Von Neumann's War) everything comes together too easily. All the smooth coordination of the various arms of the government to face this disaster, without questions or panic or fear. You also don't get a detailed picture of what occurs outside the main cast of characters (Weaver, a NAVY Seal named Miller, and the head honchos like the secretary of defense, President, etc).

Although, there are a few scenes of the media reporting on the events happening elsewhere and so you get a little of the larger picture. Plus, Ringo did mention what happened in the MIddle East (in particular Iran) when gates started popping into existence over there and I couldn't help but roll my eyes about what some of the characters say about that. Just to warn those not of a conservative bent, it is quite clear where the author lies politically speaking.LOL.

One really interesting event that occurred (that I wish Ringo had wrote more about) was what happened in Boca Raton when a gate showed up there. People died or became insane from an alien presence there (different from the hostile aliens everyone is fighting) and he kept it mysterious, hinting at what could have happened, but since no one could approach the area without going insane you don't learn what happened at that gate and why people went insane.

This is the first book in a series (I think there are 2 other books published already), and I recommend reading it for the pure mindless fun! No deep or serious thinking required. =)

Before reading this book I was not a fan of John Ringo. Having been in the military, I am somewhat familiar with what he writes about, but I definitely do not have "NCO mentality", and do not identify with most Ringo's characters. Also, I never cared for aliens who attack Earth for completely illogical reasons and use weapons ridiculously below their technology level. Hence Posleen books left me cold -- I tried to read first and second one, and could not finish either one. Not so "Into the Looking Glass."

The characters in this book are much more varied and sympathetic, the aggressive aliens are much more believable, the references to various SF books and role-playing games are very clever, and spoofs of government bureaucracies are understandable by everyone, not just by soldiers. The "OSHA safety briefing" given to a man about to step through a dimensional gate is absolutely priceless.

Yet I give the book only 3 stars -- because sometime in the second half it ran out of steam. First, bigger and bigger bangs got repetitive. I would prefer a more subtle way of closing the gates. Second, leaving the alien "Tuffy" in care of an ordinary family with no government oversight is completely implausible. Third, the device friendly aliens give to humans in the epilogue is not connected to the plot, serves no purpose other than "WOW" factor, and breaks more laws of physics than the rest of the book put together; you'd think the physicist protagonist would at least mention THAT. And fourth, the book leaves a huge loose end. How huge? About the size of Boca Raton, FL. Or, you could say "Cthulhu-sized" :) Even if that loose end is a hook for the sequel, again, someone should at least mention it after main alien threat is defeated.

A fun "cowboys vs space" book. This book has a refreshing and thoughtfully conservative "if they bother you, blow them up" kind of attitude--which I enjoyed. When the aliens invade, these characters don't negotiate the world, they use nuclear weapons! At the end of the book, daring do and heavy weapontry have defeated the aliens, ended terrorism and made the world a better place for the average American! G.I. Joe isn't dead, he just got better guns!

Into the Looking Glass (2005) is the first SF novel in the William Weaver series. One Saturday morning on a calm, cool spring day, the University of Central Florida campus was disturbed by a 60 kiloton explosion. The university grounds and beyond were enveloped in a fiercely bright light and a huge mushroom cloud rose into the sky.

In this novel, troopers of Charlie Company, Second Battalion, 53rd Brigade, Florida Army National Guard, are performing maintenance when the flash catches their attention. Those who remember their training drop to the ground and put their arms over their heads. Others run into the armory.

Specialist Bob Crichton is comparing protective masks on hand against the inventory lists and making internal comments about the folly of the average trooper. Sooner or later the riffs are going to use nuclear, biological or chemical weapons against them and those without protective garments are going to die. As glass begins to shatter around him, suddenly the chances of dying seem to be imminent. He dives under his desk, clamps his hands over his ears and listens to the big windows in the armory crashing to the floor.

After the shockwave passes over the building, Crichton climbs out from under the desk and starts organizing the company to respond to a nuclear attack. Then he sets up a radiological station. His instruments do not detect any increase in background radiation and there isn't any evidence of an electromagnetic pulse, so the explosion probably had not been caused by a nuclear weapon. Moreover, it did not appear to have been caused by a meteorite strike.

Meanwhile, satellites noticed the flash and categorized it as a nuclear explosion; a FLASH priority message is sent to the National Military Command Center in the Pentagon. The President of the United States has a phone conference with the National Security Advisor and the Secretary of Defense. The Army Chief of Staff reports that the local NBC specialist does not believe the explosion to be either nuclear or meteoric in origin.

In this story, Crichton finds a dark sphere at the presumptive center of the explosion. A military survey team discovers that the sphere is penetrable, but instruments sent through the interface do not report back any information. A trooper is sent through and returns to report that the other side is a close-knit tropical forest.

While the central interface is being explored, aliens come through another gate and attack an old couple. The 911 operator has a conversation with the wife while her husband is firing a shotgun at the invaders. When the phone goes dead, the Orange County Sheriff's department sends a SWAT team to investigate. They find the new interface, but the aliens also find them.

The contact grows into a large scale battle, with tanks fighting against oversized rhino-like aliens throwing balls of fire. Then a recon team on the other side of the interface fires on a strangely shaped creature. The resulting explosion closes all known gates.

The National Security Council calls in a physicist with appropriate clearances. William Weaver has advanced degrees in physics, optics, aeronautical engineering, electronic engineering, and other stuff. He is sent to Florida to investigate the phenomena, taking the first of many rides in a F-15.

Weaver is a polyglot genius in many fields. He also doesn't need much sleep and has kept up his physical conditioning by mountain biking, SCUBA diving and martial arts. He is just the person to assign the task of dealing with the aliens and the multiverse gates.

By happenstance, the government selects Weaver as the point man in this investigation. He is a country boy, but never was much of a hunter. Now he learns a lot about firearms and killing aliens. He also becomes friends with the various police and military personnel fighting the aliens.

Weaver also spends much time on the other side of the gates and meets several aliens, including some who are nonhostile. He begins to understand these aliens to some extend. Some aliens also begin to understand him.

BTW, some reviewers have commented on the author's political opinions. They should be aware that the armed forces do not include many Liberals, for the Liberal platforms often include reducing the military forces. Most persons within the military believe that it takes two to have a war, but only one to have a massacre, so why would they support the unilateral pacifists?

Highly recommended for Ringo fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of aliens, military tactics, and the unknown.

-Arthur W. Jordin

I read most of the reviews of this book, and then re-read it itself. The thing I can't help noticing is that the bad reviews posted so far on Amazon are not reviewing the book itself, they are reviewing the political leanings of the reviewers.

Now, I took "Physics for Poets" in college, but I don't necessarily see anything wrong with JR's physics.

This isn't supposed to be factual, it is science fiction.

What the book is, is a great yarn that reminds me of 1950's SF that was well done, before the concept of dystopia and the anti-hero took over. Back when scientists and engineers were admired, and not reviled.

Good storyline, great lines, interesting characters.

I think it is well worth buying, and up to Ringo's best work. His characters keep getting better and more dimensioned as he writes more.

Walt Boyes
The Bananaslug. at Baen's Bar

I can see why some people are saying "laughably bad", or "awful awful awful". This is not Proust's "Remembrances of things Past" or "Crying of Lot 49". This is a military science fiction over the top invasion of earth story. If you enjoyed Independence Day, chances are you will like this book as well.

Over the last year, I have stumbled across a sub-genre of the science fiction field. In my mind, it is apparent over the last decade or more that two forks of the science fiction branch are thriving. Romance and Military. I got into the work of Fortschen and his 'Lost Brigade' series (about a brigade of civil war soldiers that end up on another world). And I read a long series where Ringo worked with another author also in the military mold. 'Into the Looking Glass' is one of the best of this emerging genre.

This book is way over the top. You cant come into it with the mind set of old school sci-fi where something could possibly occur. This is an excuse to have a war at a grand scale. The characters are flat, the writing is ok, and the plot is goofy as all heck. But it works for some reason that is difficult to pin down.

The main character is a super brain, Weaver. He brought in to take a look at a gate that opens up into another world. An alien invasion starts to occur as hostile beings start pouring out of this passageway. The next 200 pages are all fighting. Ringo takes a very right wing stance. He is constantly bashing liberals with snide remarks and making fun of their ideals. This is a pure NRA story.

Needless to say, the aliens keep coming, Weaver tries to figure out how to defeat them, and its a question of 'will they save the earth', or 'will they defeat the aliens'.

You want a fast fun read, this is a book for you.

Well this is definitely better than Doc Travis's two book. I found this to be a darn entertain'n read boys and girls! Definitely one for the collection. There are of course the parts of the book I would have done differently, but JR manages to pull off yet another great yarn.

I especially liked the StarShip Troopers reference and I'm sure you will too once you read the tail and figure out what its all about. This tale has it all science experiment gone terribly wrong, alien invasion, allies and back-stabbers, new tech showcased, and a possible sequel hinted at, another good read from Baen Publishing.

I do appreciate the authors realism as opposed to Doc Travis. Yes, I'm a proud American, but even I don't think the boys in uniform are gonna kick those nasty aliens back off planet without a single lose... Something Doc Travis for all his enjoyable tails needs to take to heart.

I definitely recommend this, pretty darn good!

I was truly disappointed with this. This novel starts out mildly interesting but quickly heads south, literally and figuratively. Ringo does a weak job of presenting the physics, lifts the antagonists right out of early Starcraft (think ZERG), tosses in some very Trekkie-type aliens as human allies, and draws upon a DOD contractor to provide the protagonist and his gear -- which is (as demonstrated in the text) ripped straight from Battletech.

There's simply nothing original or imaginative here -- the story and its telling are both very canned. The selling point seemed to be Ringo's purported mastery of "military sci-fi", but the battle narration has absolutely no soul to it. It's as if the author drew a map, scored some battle lines and some highway references from across the southeastern U.S., slapped down the labels "Us" and "Them", then attempted in print to describe what he was looking at -- and failed.

I'd give this two stars, had it not been for the self-indulgent French- and Arab-baiting. The reference to Arabs not being able to fight seems especially obscene, given the grim casualty count among the good American men and women being killed and wounded in Iraq just now. But, considering that the good guys all seem to be good ole' boys working for the Bush Administration (that seems clear from the 'tween-line references), you'd have to expect that sort of thing.

You want a great alien invasion book? Try Footfall by Niven and Pournelle. Want hard sci-fi? Try Accelerando by Stross. Want action sci-fi? No one is doing that better than Neal Asher right now. Westerfield's Succession (The Risen Empire & The Killing of Worlds) series is also a much more imaginative and vivid portrayal of sci-fi warfare. Alistair Reynolds can write hyperglobes around this particular novel.

But some people like the sound of machine-gun anthems in their sci-fi, and there's enough testosterone between these pages to satisfy the easiest-to-please reader.