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59 of 70 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Kratman improves as Ringo's Posleen series gets darker, July 27, 2005
Tom Kratman's first book, A State of Disobedience was good but filled with first novel issues. Some of his characters weren't fleshed out, and some were intentionally cardboard. It was a didactic novel in the tradition of Robert A. Heinlein, but Kratman did not have the technical skills to bring it off at the level that the Master could.
Now, with John Ringo (it appears that Kratman did most of the writing), he has written a mature second novel, Watch on the Rhine.
His characters are excellently well drawn, and his writing style has matured considerably since his first book. He also stays unblinkingly <u>real</u> in his portrayal of humans in desperate straits.
His Greens and Watermelons are so bad that I kept asking myself, would they really do that? And I kept sinking back into the novel when my answer came back to me as "yes." And finally, his Posleen appear as more than evil BEMs...they have feelings, a culture, and are 'people' too.
I was very put off by the idea of resurrecting "Nazi Supermen" to fight the Posleen. Kratman and Ringo rang some surprising changes on the theme, with enough skill and daring to make you really think over what the Waffen SS really was, and if they were tarred with the Nazi brush somewhat mistakenly...and then they hit you in the face because even good people can fight for evil causes. When asked, one of the characters replies, "Oh, yes, there is one real Nazi here, and we all hate him, but he is a really good tank driver." Sometimes needs must, when the devil drives.
-----WARNING! SNERK ALERT!----
One subplot that just sticks with me, and is pivotal in the plot of the novel, is the death of Gudrun and especially the last scene in which we see her head. Kratman's writing is uncompromising and even though the scene bears all the hallmarks of the grotesque, it forces the reader to care about not only the humans, but in a strange sort of way, for the Posleen too. They are, after all, victims of the Aldenata and the Darhel, too.
Kratman (and Ringo, who must be an excellent teacher) have scored big this time.
Walt Boyes
The Bananaslug. at Baen's Bar
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44 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Four Stars, July 25, 2005
Watch on the Rhine is an excellent book for both veterans of the Posleen series as well as new readers. Far more graphic and dark than Ringo's four original books, and far more battle-intensive than Julie Cochrane's "Cally's War," Watch on the Rhine covers the German response to the evil alien invasion of the Posleen.
The story centers on the reconstitution of the SS after the events in Ringo's "Gust Front." Prompted by the destruction of Fredericksburg and the devastation of Washington, D.C. the German chancellor realizes that no measure is too great to defend against the aliens. Kratman writes from a viewpoint that may be too right-leaning for some readers, but his treatment of the SS is very even-handed, and and the larger story is executed quite well. The story is somewhat light on character development, and moves too quickly at times, attempting to cover too much, but the story definitely comes together at the end, with the characters becoming more rounded as the book allows character details to come through. Kratman isn't afraid to kill off characters, and in this story, it aids the story.
Overall, an excellent story, with elements thrown in to delight long time followers of the Posleen series. Although rough in places at the beginning, the story comes together at the end, and is well worth the read.
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15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Well-written but disturbing, April 15, 2007
If you have read other books in the Posleen war series, you know pretty much what you'll get--lots of gore, beautiful women, and incompetent leftist politicians, along with well-written military encounters with the ravening hordes of centaur-like Posleen. This book delivers more of the same. Unfortunately, Ringo has reached the point that his politics are interfering with his storytelling--even for me, and my politics regarding the military are probably right of center.
Ringo seems to assume that the most controversial issue in the book would be the reconstitution of the SS, but I thought perfectly logical under the circumstances. Ringo's assertions to the contrary, I don't think many Germans or Europeans would object either, particularly given that a recent poll showed that 52% of them favored armed intervention in Iran--a threat, surely, but hardly one of Posleen proportions. Rather I was bothered a great deal by the epilogue, in which many of the characters are back for a planetary bombardment of the Darhel, the intent being the extermination of the Darhel entirely. I can understand waging war against the Darhel, given their toying with human survival in the face of the Posleen hordes. But the idea of wiping out an entire species because of the actions of some of their members is too akin to Hitler's "final solution" for my comfort. The humans even shoot down civilian transports of Darhel, justifying it with the idea that the laws of war permit shooting civilians escaping from a siege, conveniently ignoring the fact that this principle of war was justified by the need to encourage surrender of the area under siege--and the humans would not accept a Darhel surrender. The fact that the Darhel are more or less incapable of fighting back due to their genetic programming makes it all the more appalling. Unlike the humans, who are described with some sympathy as the Posleen cut them down, the faceless Darhel remain unknown and unnamed, apparently undifferentiated in their collective guilt.
We know from Ringo's "Hero" story that the Darhel survive the attempted genocide, but the fact that the humans are unsuccessful makes the attempt to punish an entire species for the actions of some of its members no less disturbing. What point are Ringo and Kratman trying to make? In the afterword, they analogize the Posleen invasion to a war we won't acknowledge (presumably between the Western democracies and radical Islam). Are they suggesting the only solution to the East-West conflict is the eradication of all Muslims, whether or not complicit in terrorist attacks?
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