Customer Reviews

The Last World War

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Dayton Ward's novel to me started very well but deteriorated into mediocre storytelling. The aliens were just too much like humans to me. The action and adventure abound here though, carrying along at a good pace, but though world-spanning, read very much the same.
A group of Marine reservists run into an alien race war that are teleported to earth accidentally by a portal from another world. Humans then are caught in the middle of an alien civil war, aptly named by the humans of the 'grays' and the 'blues'.
Now, the aliens themselves are not described well here, leaving an all too portrait of humans in this reader's mind.
Though creative, Mr. Ward's story bogs down in the middle of the book. There is no clear-cut protagonist to follow along on this epic-scaled alien invasion novel, leaving it up to the reader to pick and choose one.
I chose one in the form of DiCarlo, a Vietnam vet who is trapped - along with a younger woman Marine - and marooned on the alien's planet. This was the best part of the book for me.
It was a much needed change of pace, but the alien world again was too much like earth. The much younger Marine woman and DiCarlo start a love affair as they traverse the alien planet, making friends and fighting the gray alien enemies.
The ending screams of sequel, but I don't know if I can go another round.
It was a good try and a pretty fun and action-packed read, but too much of the same sounding scenario throughout the book for me.

Dayton Ward did an excellent job with "The Last World War". Not only is it well written and a smooth read, but the characters and imagery are excellent as well. This book tends to remind me of William Dietz's "DeathDay" and "EarthRise" books (which was written from a human and alien point of view), but with a much better storyline.

The only downfall this book has, as mentioned in a previous review, is the lack of a concrete ending. The book just sort of ends without concluding what it started. While I do hope that another book follows to fully conclude the story, it shouldn't have to. This book was not created with an "epic storyline spanning multiple books" being advertised, so it should conclude the story it began.

However, I'm willing to overlook the minor flaws overall and say that this was an excellent book. I do hope Dayton Ward continues to write books in this genre, as this one was excellent.

I have just finished reading Dayton Wards The Last World War. It is an awesome read. It is one of those books that you don't want to put down until its finished. What impressed me is getting to see the aliens points of view. That is both the good ones and the ones considered bad. All is not in black and white and we can really sympathize with all sides . There definately needs to be a follow up to this storyl

What the first few reviewers say is correct, but only to an extent. The auther has a great idea that hasn't been done before in this manner. Yes, there are minor glitches but none are fatal. There is the big governmental that tries to hide Alien contact but it is logical and never devolves into the X-files concept.
With this idea, I can forsee a whole series of books, not only in the war genre but but classical SF in that the gates are used for exploration and colonization.
All in all I found it a good read and look forward to the next book from ward. I would recomend it.

I just finished reading a copy of this book loaned from a friend. I should have listened to his warning "don't read this unless you are desparate" but had to take an unexpected businness trip so what the heck.

The writing is sloppy - similar to what I would have written if I were still in High School. Little character development, little plot and almost no closure. Apart from the aliens having better infantry weapons, they exhibit no sense of tactics, organization or military dicipline.

There were several miliary mistakes - like the sidewinder missles and a mention of a CH-53 as an "attack" helicopter. Simple simple fact checking that wasn't done.

My issue is that WW3 really was a bunch of isoilated skirmishes using only light weapons and squad tactics. Even those were not well described. No mention of weapons other than rifles, apparently our armed forces cannot bring standoff weapons to bear so when the aliens show up we revert to pre-artillery warfare. Don;t waste your time

The book is written very unevenly. It almost seems like its a compilation of two separarate manuscripts. The first part contains mediocre character development, but then for a good section in the middle, all of those characters are gone and the new characters have zero development. I was intrigued enough about the general idea to finish, but there was no ending, so even if you bother to make it through, there is no reward at the end. I'd advise a pass.

While Dayton Ward may have been a Marine, it doesn't show in his work.

It attempts to be a fast paced military thriller, with the twist of aliens in our own backyard, it devolves quickly in touting the superiority of the alien invaders, and the ineptitude of the human resistance. Choppy at best, our heroes are mired without anything looking like a spark of creativity. Marines, when faced with an incursion, and a lack of reliable communication opt to not make for anything looking like a population center to make any sort of report. That is but the start of an avalanche of poor decision making and lack of logic for decision trees. It is an exercise in brute force in plotting, and the lack of imagination by the characters was frustrating in the face of the reader. While there are moments of promise, our Dear Author quickly quashes them in favor of what I suspect he thinks as "gritty" storytelling, that only illustrates that lack of imagination. Characters continually make poor decisions, fail to make to make intelligent choices, and none are terribly bright, both on the human and alien sides of the fence.

The premise held some promise, but the hammer and anvil approach to plotting force the characters to make poor choices, and continue to do so, again and again. While our Dear Author may have some experience in small squad tactics, the larger picture of his war effort shows a weakness in strategic planning by all forces. In the end, the book is sort of like watching a really bad hockey game, with plenty of just poor plays scoring goals, but in such a kludged and inept fashion that you can't take any satisfaction for the game.

As previously stated, his lack of technical knowledge in the area of military affairs is quickly evident. His lack of strategic knowledge, and only basic understanding of small squad tactics are glaring. Worse, the book lacks structure to draw a reader in, and keep them there. The plot meanders and often expends itself on matters that don't actually impact the greater plot. In no way, shape, or form can I recommend this book for fans of military or science fiction. Or simple fans of fiction. This is simply not a well constructed story, and the holes in his plot and structure will make any reader with any technical or military background wince.

At best this is a "fair" read. For anyone with some military experience it is even less so. The characters tend to be stereotypical and not realistic in most cases. The plot "twists" are obvious from early on and don't really twist that much. What I found most frustrating was that the author didn't take the 20 seconds needed to do some simple research in various areas. For example, Tornados (or any aircraft) would not attack a ground target with Sidewinder missiles since they are air-to-air missiles. Such sloppiness in details is apparent throughout the book.
If you get frustrated with people who try to demonstrate their knowledge of a particular area and then wind up showing you how little they really do know, you will want to throw this book against the wall at various times.
If you are looking for something to pass boring hours in the airport this book may just keep you mildly entertained.

Aliens attack earth. It's been done before, I hear you say. Not like this it hasn't. Dayton Ward has broken any mold there may have been with The Last World War.
The book starts with a group of Marine reservists, in Missouri, who are doing their annual two week training. Things quickly move from training to discovering the aliens to an all out battle that comes to have global consequences.
The aliens don't arrive on earth via space ships. Their arrival is a mistake. The aliens have been at war with one another for years on their home planet and "teleporters" were developed to help end the war. The hope was that these "portholes" would allow the aliens to travel around their own planet so that troops could regroup and be sent into the enemies most vulnerable areas. They had no idea that the "portholes" would lead them to a new world.
The first 10-20 pages of the book is a little slow but from there is picks up the pace and never slows down. The author gives us insight into not only the "good aliens", the Blues, and humans as the battles rage on but also into the enemies, the Grays, minds. He lets us in on what everyone is thinking and it is sobering. Everyone believes that they are fighting on the side of right and justice. You begin to feel not only for the humans and Blues but also for the Grays.
I have no idea how anyone could give this book less than 5 stars. I read the complaints about the ending and I just don't see what they're talking about. Sure things were left hanging but this leaves the door open for sequels, which I hope are forthcoming. And if it is the end? That's fine with me.
I plan on buying this book for all of the readers on my Christmas list.

Make no mistake; this has been done before, albeit with different characters, technologies, and styles. And, yes, Mr. Ward does need to bone up on his military technology, especially during a time where the reader is likely to know that Sidewinders are air -to-air missiles just from watching the nightly news.

That having been said, I, for one, am eagerly awaiting the next installment of this series for the sheer entertainment that this book provides. Grognards (you know who you are) will not like this book for its military inaccuracy, but this book was written for the general Sci-Fi public, and will keep them entertained quite well.