Customer Reviews

The Tuloriad (Legacy of the Aldenata Series)

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

The Posleen are defeated, finally. They are waiting for the final attack by the Humans when they are offered an out by the Indowy, Aelool. The out takes them on a pilgrimage back to their beginings. The small party of Posleen led by the God-King, Tulo'stenaloor are hi-jacked by a virus and led to where they are wanted to be. Planet after planet they see until they find the one they came from.

On Earth the religions led by father Dwyer and the AID, Sally who is now human, gather some of Earth's different religions and decide to find the Posleen and save their souls. They are sure the Posleen has souls. They will follow the Posleen through space.

However, someone else seems to be leading both expeditions, someone very powerful and all-knowing. No one really knows who, or why but we get some answers. The humans led by Dwyer, Guano, a god-king who was saved in a church and is now a priest, Sally, The Switzers, Guano's mate and son, and a host of others, are dedicated to saving the Posleen.

I found the story enthralling, the concept and the revelations really caught me and I was rooting for the Posleen all the way. I enjoyed it and I think it is a fitting ending to a very long and torturous saga. The religious aspect may not be to your taste but it was fasinating to me.

Once upon a time the Earth was nice, uncomplicated, and normal. Then the Galactics showed up. They said the Posleen were coming, and the Posleen were hungry. Earth was chosen to provide the armies that would stop the Posleen from eating everyone in the known Galaxy.

Unfortunately, the warriors the Galactics unleashed did their jobs too well...you see the Posleen and the Humans were supposed to kill each other off. But the Humans won.

So there he was, one of the last remaining Posleen GodKings on Earth. All the rest of the Posleen hordes had been killed. Can he save the Tulor Posleen from complete annihilation, or will his struggle to overcome the nature that the Aldenata built into the Posleen be futile?

This is a book that is both full of action and thoughtful. One thinks of Ringo and Kratman as mow-'em-down, high body count mil-science fiction writers, but both are pigeonholed as that too much, I think. Even though Tom's nickname is "Genghis" and Ringo's is "Oh, No, John Ringo, No!" both of them are easily capable of fine storytelling with some significant deep thinking behind the writing.

The first books in the Aldenata series make the Posleen into the epitome of horrible alien invaders...not only do they want Earth, but they want to eat Humans..."thresh" they call them. In fact, Posleen will eat anything... even each other.

But that's what the Aldenata, a vanished race of superbeings, made them into, not what they want for themselves.

The Tuloriad is the story of the Posleen's search for racial redemption. And it is a whacking good story, too.

Go buy this book.

Walt Boyes
Associate Editor
Jim Baen's Universe magazine
[...]

First off, this book starts well before the "Eye of the Storm" book. So if you are looking for a straight-forward continuation of the Aldenata cycle, this is not it. Also, this is not a smash and bash book. There are no vast armies clashing with artillery and death at every turn.

What this book does is ask: How, in relief from the genocide we faced, do we regain our humanity? Is there redemption? Most of the book is the travels of a small group of Posleen as they try to rediscover their roots and attempt to find a new Path for their species. There is also a significant section dealing with human survivors of the invasion trying to deal with a new reality. Can you be true to your religon after what has happened?

I think this book was a necessary step towards bringing the Posleen into the 'new' fight alongside of, rather than against, humanity. I DO reccommend this book for anyone who follows the Legacy of the Aldenata universe. I must say that I would NOT reccommend this as a first book or introduction to the world of the Posleen. Of course, I may be a bit snobbish about it, having read all of the books in the series...

The primary heroes of this novel are Posleen - savage, man eating aliens that make Nazis and USSR style Communists look like nice guys. The remnant of a defeated people, universally loathed, they fly around the galaxy and try to see if there is any way they could survive, maybe by returning to what they were before they were genetically manipulated to become the monstrosities that they are.

I won't bother with the details of the plot, other reviewers already did that. At the end of the day redemption is possible, and it is helped by a human agency which believes itself responsible for redeeming souls. This is an important factor in the book, it is not really about God, but about religion. There are no overt miracles, but the various religious beliefs in the book give the characters (Posleen and human) the strength they need to deal with the difficulties of life. Since we're talking about a Tom Kratman book, life has difficulties a plenty.

This isn't a classical Tom Kratman book. The characters aren't really functioning as soldiers, and there are only few battles. Yet on a deeper level, it is a Tom Kratman book because it discusses a factor that makes people strong or weak, which effects their ability to survive.

Tuloriad (2009) is the sixth SF novel in the Legacy of the Aldenata series, following Eye of the Storm. However, it takes place after Yellow Eyes. In that volume, the Posleen were devastated and disorganized. They were hotly pursued by human forces.

In this novel, Tulo'stenaloor is Lord of the Sten clan and the former warleader of the Posleen hosts. Now he leads a ragtag band of survivors as well as a few human thresh.

Brasingala is Tulo's son and bodyguard. He has been guarding his sire's back throughout the war.

Goloswin the Tinkerer is a Posleen genius. He is capable of innovative ideas.

Aelool is an Indowy clan chief. He is also a Bane Sidhe leader.

Father Dan Dwyer is a Jesuit priest. He is also a Captain in the USN Chaplain Corps. Lately he has been the Captain of the USS Salem and engaged to Sally, the ship's avatar.

Shalomit Bat Bet-Lechlrm-Plada Kreuzer is a light cruiser. Sally is also an AID and a human body. This troika is also Dwyer's fiancee. It is difficult to be engaged to your captain, particularly if you are a warship.

Guanamarioch is a Posleen convert to Christianity. Guano is also an ordained minister in both the Baptist and Episcopalian denominations. He now has a family, including a cosslain that he bought on eBay and a young Kessentai.

In this story, Tulo meets Alelool on a battlefield and is offered escape from the humans. Aelool is backed up by a large number of humans and artillery rounds are creeping closer. All it will cost the Posleen are their thresh. Since the human fodder wouldn't fit in the Himmit spaceship, they would be little loss in the long run.

Tulo examines the ship from nearby and agrees to the terms. After all, there is not much else he can do other than die. He, Brasingala and Goloswin are the last to enter the ship.

The ship is not challenged until it reaches space. When three light cruisers intercept the Himmit smuggler/scout, they find orders in their computers to let the ship pass. The Himmit ship takes them to another star system containing a boneyard with many airless Posleen ships.

Tulo has his troops refurbish a C-Dec and prepare it for a long voyage. When they activate the engines, nearby human cruisers are alerted and chase the C-Dec and almost destroy it. The Himmit and Indowy watch the hotly pursued Posleen ship flee the system.

After they tunnel out of the system, the Posleens discover that a virus has taken control of the ship. It takes them to long forgotten Posleen worlds.

Meanwhile, the Pope forms a mission to convert the Posleen. He also convinces the US Navy to lend him the USS Salem and its captain. Then the Indowy convert the wet navy cruiser to a starship. Sally hates her new body.

The Pope includes other religions in the mission, including Islamics, Hindus, Buddhists and Shintoists. The Jews bow out at the last minute, but Sally can represent Jewry. In addition, they have Guano and his family. Dwyer is rather hesitant to expose the Posleen to such a mixture of religions, but who knows what will appeal to the aliens.

Then Aelool appears wearing a spotted jacket and Sally has him stopped, defrocked, and is having his neck stretched for a final chop. But Dwyer intervenes and asks what is going on. After hearing both sides of the issue, Dwyer confiscates the coat and puts Aelool in the brig.

Aelool makes a deal and has an Artificial Sentience exposed to the virus. The AS acts as a guide as the Salem follows Tulo's clan through space. They gradually catch up to the Posleen exodus.

This tale is a religious romp. A Posleen Rememberer reconstructs a version of the original Posleen religion. The humans come bringing everything from Christian revivals to animism.

By internal chronological order, this story is the first of the postwar tales. Yet, most of the characters mentioned above have appeared in previous novels, including Honor of the Clan and earlier works.

Incidentally, it really would be satisfying to have a Dramatis Personae in each book. The authors have produced a plethora of characters and one loses track of many minor characters during the stories. Surely such lists are compiled by the authors for their own use.

Highly recommended for Ringo & Kratman fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of xenopsychology, armed combat, and religious concepts. If anyone has not previously read this series, the initial volume is A Hymn Before Battle.

-Arthur W. Jordin

First off, I will state that I enjoyed this new addition to the Legacy of the Aldenata series immensely. The approach taken is altogether different in it's focus from the previous 10 novels (i'm excluding "The Hero," as I see it as a sidebar effort), in the development of the characters central to the plot.

Readers should recall at the end of the 4th installment, "Dance With the Devil," the highly intelligent battlemaster of the P'ooslenar, Tulo'stenaloor, was confronted by the exceptionally brave and forthright Indowy, Aelool, and given an "offer that you can't refuse." The offer of an escape form the sure annhilation by the humans in the hills of the Appalachians given to the old Posleen war leader was too tempting to refuse. The present work takes up it's story line at that point.

Indowy Aleool is a member of the Bane Sidhe, an ancient group of humans, Indowy, and other species opposed to the predations of the Darhel, the galactic corporate sharks (think: lawyers, bankers, and other rapacious callings). The Bane Sidhe makes an offer of escape from Earth via an Himmit stealth ship to the orbiting junkyard surrounding the planet Diess, and assisting the Posleen in stealing one of the interstellar-capable craft left there for salvage by the Darhel. Indowy Aelool manages to infect the guidance system of the stolen ship with a computer virus that is designed to take the remaining Posleen on an "Iliad-like" journy through the galaxy (Hence the title" The Tuloriad").

Parallel to the Bane Sidhe arranged escape of the remaining Posleen, we are re-introduced to Father Dan Dwyer, S.J., Captain, USN, formerly Chaplain of the USS Des Moines a.k.a. "Daisy Mae." ("Yellow Eyes," Kratman)Dan and his now paramour, "Sally" the avatar of the USS Salem are now romantically involved and are planning marriage. A visit to Rome and an audience with the Father General of the Jesuits and subsequently an Papal audience leads to sending forth a Missionary expedition to the remaining Posleen. The Mission combines a wide variety of Early religeons in order to give the aliens an choice of Godly paths. The USS Salem is assigned the task, after conversion to a space cruiser, to carry forth the Mission.

We are again introduced to "Guano" (Guanamarioch) as the "Reverend Doctor Guanamarioch," after his ordination as a Baptist minister of God. Guano has become very human in his lifestyle, having taken a monogamous cosslain "wife" and having a single sentient male offspring, Frederico. Guano and his earthly family are invited to join the Mission to the Posleen, along with Father Dwyer and Sally. A Moslem cleric, Al Rashid, is included along with some animists from Africa, Shintoists, Buddhists, etc. to form a representative "Mission," from the variious religions of Earth.

A small contingent of the Vatican Swiss Guards is sent along by the Pope for Father Dan Dwyer' protection. We are introduced to many of these guards in due course of the subsequent tale.

The remainder of the story unfolds as Tulo'stenaloor's group of refugees wander from planet to planet, following a Posleen trail of tears. Ultimately the virus takes the remnant back to the Posleen home world, where Tulo decides to take his followers in a new direction--one leaving behind the warlike heritage and attempting to find their own destiny aside from the machinations of the now-despised Aldenata.

As expected, the humans make contact and the missionary work progresses.

I'm going to leave the readers hanging in suspense here--don't really want to spoil the ending; let me conclude with a 2-thumbs-up recommendation, however. This IS a different tack for the Ringo/Kratman collaboration, and it does conclude the epic of the Posleen/Human wars very well. It's a pretty upbeat and satifying read! A five star effort.

As the title of this review says, I got what I wanted from reading this book and am happy. What did I want? Enjoyment. I picked up a book in the Ringo Posleen universe and just sat back and read and was happy to be lost in this space.

The book deals with religion in a number of ways and has views which were interesting, but not compelling. As usual for a Ringo story, the dialog was engaging and fun and fed the plot nicely. While the book is not a "shoot them up" Ringo book, which I knew going in, I thought the characters were interesting and really liked the new nuggets of information and insight into the Posleen universe provided. Seeing things from the Posleen side was fun for me. That and having yet another new mystery players thrown in was nice.

My nit to pick is that the converging stories on two different time lines was not clear to me and took me way to long to pick up upon. (even though the chapter headings point this out, it didn't pop for me).

This book isn't on the same level of some of Ringo's early writing (There Will Be Dragons)... but it is a good book and it achieved what I wanted out of a book... I enjoyed the time spent reading the story. Success.

The idea of this book sat uncomfortably with me. I did however read it because as the author of the one star review says it was sure to be full of additional cannon. In the end i wasn't surprised. I don't like the catholic church, i have my own reasons, they are personal and not be gone into here. Let me only say that i believe them to be valid, but that i also recognise the good that faith and religion has had and does have on the wider base line of society.

So then what about the book. It was typical Kratman(excluding state of disobedience) engaging characters, straight arrow plot with understandable(but defiantly not likeable) bad guys. All taking place in a universe that we know and love, and answering one of the big questions from Johns last books "who was that masked Posleen"

That said the veneration of the catholic church (albeit one with many changes) makes me (personally) uncomfortable. BUT. Thats me, objectively this book is a good kratman book. Its not as good as his ADCP stuff but he is obviously working with a child of passion in those books, but this is still a rip roaring read. The best part of the book in my (not asked for) opinion was the characterisation of the Posleen, and the greater back story of the Aldenta (god save me from all powerful left wing liberals).

There's quite a bit of trash talk here about the inclusion of religion in The Tuloriad.

Is this a novel with religion as a theme and plot device?

Yes.

Is it therefore a novel with a religious bias, proselytizing and endorsing a particular religion?

No. At least, no more so than it is biased toward Greek Mythology because it uses the Illiad/Odyssey as a theme.

In prior "Legacy of Aldenata" (Posleen-verse) books, John Ringo and co-authors established that the Posleen were aggressive, ravenous and thoroughly unsympathetic. However, Ringo's Hell's Faire introduced us to Tulostenaloor, and Tom Kratman & Ringo's Yellow Eyes introduced Guanamarioch, and suddenly we find that Posleen may be smart and even sympathetic (poor Guano, he just wanted. Out. Of. That. Swamp!).

In the current book, Kratman and Ringo's major plot explores the redemption of Tulo and his clan following their defeat. In a trip reminiscent of The Odyssey (or even the Illiad, as implied by the title), the Sten clan are just trying to find home, that lost world that birthed the Posleen race. Or perhaps the trip recounts The Exodus and the search for a fabled paradise where the Posleen can live in peace and come to terms with their history.

Some decades later, when the human race learns of the Posleen Exodus, they are still recovering from near extinction and the accompanying social upheaval. Some argue that an expedition should be sent to follow and exterminate the Posleen once and for all; however, a missionary expedition is sent instead to determine whether the Posleen can be redeemed and incorporated into civilized society.

Starting from a point of view not unlike a "foxhole conversion" The Tuloriad explores the simultaneous role of faith in society and the obligation of leaders to look after the psychological and spiritual welfare of their followers. Sure, this means there is considerable discussion of religion in the book, but rather than a bias to *endorsing* religion, it explores the *civilizing* role of moral faith in society.

For those who, upon reading this book, are disturbed by the religious content, please, Please, PLEASE read the afterword. Like many Kratman and Ringo novels, the Afterword puts so much into perspective.

Enjoy the book, read with an open mind and consider this - who is more close-minded? The author that dares to incorporate religion in his plot? or the critic who refuses to consider it?

This is the latest in the Legacy of the Andenata Series but sort of goes on a tangent from the rest of the series. The Posleen are not the complete villains that they are in the others but are seen to have some redeeming features and some rather interesting history. Since the usual theory in the other books of the series is that the only good Posleen is a dead one, you will see that this twist is a major one.

It might be confusing to read this book without reading the earlier ones but the very fact of the different approach might make it possible to enjoy it alone, although quite a few references will be confusing. It would probably be best to read at least a few of the earlier ones.

The use of human religion as a major factor in the humanization of the Posleen is certainly a different twist. But this is one idea I find a bit illogical and is the reason I didn't give the book the highest rating.