Customer Reviews

The Rings of Allah

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"The Rings of Allah" is a fascinating in-depth look into the world of radical Islamic terrorism. The technical knowledge of the author comes through in the minute detail of weapon systems and their use. The book, written in a chronological sequence of the development of the nuclear industry, gives the reader a detailed background of what we are faced with in the future. The plot was believable and the characters realistic as their lives were woven together in a tapestry of intrigue and human drama that pitted the beliefs of radical Islamic terrorists against mainstream American democratic values. The story keeps the reader connected to the real-life events as they unfold in a suspenseful battle to save America from nuclear holocaust. Even though this is a fictional plot, it is a must-read for those who are interested in what we are faced with from the radical terorists because it can evolve into a morbid reality. The ending is spell-binding and unpredictable, and will leave the reader with an unspoken sense of what can happen in our country if we don't take action.

This is very technical and I almost gave up on it more than a few times, but the premise is all too real and frightening and I wanted to continue reading the rest of the series. This is the first in the three book series. I just finished the second book, Behold An Ashen Horse, and you do not have to read the first to understand and get up to speed in the second. The second is simply awesome and I highly recommend it.

A frightening story. The possibility of terrorists actually being able to bring a nuclear weapon into the U.S. always seemed too far fetched to be taken seriously. I never related new articles about Iran, Iraq and North Korea enriching uranium to a specific danger to me. I never heard of a simple, uranium gun-type nuclear weapon. How easy it is to make one. After reading The Rings of Allah I am now concerned. Boyland show how it can be done, how we can be attacked with no warning. The first part of this book is written from the terrorists point of view. The reader sees the world through their eyes. A must read.

It is a pleasure to read a novel that has all its facts and technologies correct. The atomic bomb used does not require maintenance and a special fuze. The author describes how a simple gun-type atomic bomb, like the Little Boy, can be disassembled and brought into the U.S. as components, then reassembled. A devious scheme where the terrorists hide the weapons in plain sight. A page turning ending. The best techno-thriller since The Sum Of All Fears. This book gets it right.

Easily one of the best in this genre that I have ever read. Many reviewers have left their comments regarding the author's skill in tangental essays about nuclear fission, fissionable material, the history of Islam, the quran, history of Soviet nuclear weapons program, etc. I would add that one of the other pleasant surprises was the business acumen of the central character, Dr. Ralph Eid. His intelligence, and enthusiasm in developing a network of nuclear medicine diagnostic centers would be inspirational if not for his diabolical goal. This is a very "textured" work I thought. We see many conflicted characters, hipocrosy in many of them, and some that at times, seem "cartoonish". I purchased the other two books in the trilogy after about the third chapter of this book thinking that I would not want any interruption in the flow of the story no matter where I was when I finished one of the books. This is a gravely scary but also very satisfying trilogy and I give it my unqualified reccommendation.

Author Lee Boyland puts his extensive special weapons background to use in spinning this completely believable tale of al-Qaeda's next step after 9-11. Leftover Soviet technology from the beginning of the Cold War falls into al-Qaeda's hands, and they establish an intricate network in order to place five atomic devices in five US cities. The US gets word of the attack, but will it be in time?
Boyland does a great job of mixing good character development with great technical background in order to create this story. Technical readers will appreciate his attention to detail as he relates and educates the reader on the workings of gun-type atomic weapons. Literature advocates will respect how he uses significant events to develop his main characters. Many new writers fall into the trap of trying to tell too much of the story, but Boyland avoids this by jumping sometimes a year ahead in the story in order to keep things moving.
A great action story that is just a bit too possible, this is definitely worth it for action and techo fans alike.

I really enjoyed this series and really sympathize with the message about Islam the series proclaims... below im reviewing all 3 books together.

However it has a few glaring problems you cant help but notice... As a conservative I despise political correctness and the world view it claims, I despise Islam, and I think most liberals are pretty naive. But did the author have to set up the liberals as Straw Men? It wasnt necessary to portray every liberal in the book as ugly and either stupid, wicked, or shockingly naive. The author hurts himself as well as earning a few snickers from moderates about just how conservative the author is. Come to think of it I dont recall their being a single conservative in the book portrayed as corrupt, naive, or simply expressing the worst features of the right.

Relationships in the books are stiff and lack substance... where romance is attempted it is laughable with cliches everywhere. The good guy conservatives and the people of the nation always have 'tears in their eyes' every time the author is trying to attempt something as solemn or inspiring.First Lady Jane is always being solemn and understanding with tears in her eyes and a 'May God help' us all in her head Every time you get to hear somebody's thoughts they are cliched to the max with the muslims and spanish speakers all using catch phrases a white guy would naturally think would be in their thoughts. Even without the cliches the thoughts are predictable in the themes of how nearly everyone thinks the new president is a hero and the liberals all with evil villain thoughts. Those liberals who convert to the other side have cliched thoughts about how they were wrong about everything. Universally every liberal character is shockingly naive about everything under the sun.

My biggest problem of all however was that the author condemns Islam rightly so as an evil religion but fails to see any problems with christianity and religion as a whole... Many of the things that make Islam a perversion make or could one day make ANY religion a perversion. Further the series will make dubious claims about the historicity of the bible and worst of all suggesting that the USA was founded upon christian principles... without going off topic too much people should be exposed to the fact that. Your founding fathers might include a statement about god pubicly because the masses have always needed myths to soothe them just as much today as in 1780. But in public virtually every single 'father' of our nation thought christianity was silly... a couple of quotes before I move on. ( a couple of good websites:[...])

Jefferson

"And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter. But we may hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away with all this artificial scaffolding, and restore to us the primitive and genuine doctrines of this the most venerated reformer of human errors"

"Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced an inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth."

John Adams

"Have you considered that system of holy lies and pious frauds that has raged and triumphed for 1,500 years?"

Franklin

"Lighthouses are more helpful than churches."
"The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason."

Washington

Historian Barry Schwartz writes: "George Washington's practice of Christianity was limited and superficial because he was not himself a Christian... He repeatedly declined the church's sacraments. Never did he take communion, and when his wife, Martha, did, he waited for her outside the sanctuary... Even on his deathbed, Washington asked for no ritual, uttered no prayer to Christ, and expressed no wish to be attended by His representative." [New York Press, 1987, pp. 174-175]

The point of this is that Boyland and most Americans themselves are guilty of making the US a christian nation when the men who founded it thought it dimwitted. Had Alexander pushed religion period from government he would have been a better man. It is infuriating to see Islam exposed for what it is and then see the author himself is blinded by his own silly faith. He even uses a sick minded preacher to later expose Muslims to the error of their own beliefs while ignoring all the fallacies and contradictions in the bible the author obviously believes is historical and free from the gold mine of insanity that rivals the Koran.

Along with the above notions I also think that how America was 'fixed' is a simplistic set of ideas founded upon the idea that handing over the reigns of leadership and rewriting the constitution to a bunch of conservatives will fix everything. This black and white view of liberals as idiots and the conservatives as wise sages is so far from reality that it gave me a mild headache. Im really mostly on the side of the conservatives but much of this is over the top... Hell i supported the nuking of Mecca wholeheartedly.

On the other hand the book is fantastic with weapon's technology and properly describes nuclear weapons tech. The military side of the book is the real fantastic thing about it. In general if you can overlook the cliches and the above issues the books are very much worth reading.

I enjoyed the book and am working my way through the next two in the series. However, there are more than a few spelling errors. The most egregious of which is calling Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque Kirkland AFB. Not once, but dozens of times. Well, at least he spelled Albuquerque correctly. This book really needs a good editor. The science is accurate.

This book, unfortunately, reads like a loser in a bad-Hemingway writing contest. Don't let that deter you, however! It is rife with accurate technical details and a great plot-line.

Scan quickly through some of the more intricate descriptions of arcane details if you must, but read this book. I almost gave up on it a quarter of the way through, but by the time I reached the ending, I quickly downloaded the second book in the series, "Ashen Horse", onto my Kindle.

Great run-up about how the US could be at risk for nuclear bombs by terrorists. Just seemed too techincal for me to follow at times