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Islands Of Rage And Hope (2014)

by John Ringo(Favorite Author)

4.31 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1476736626 (ISBN13: 9781476736624)

languge

English

genre

Horror

publisher

Baen

series

Black Tide Rising

review 1: I read the first two books in the series,and Ringo's latest doesn't disappoint. This must have been a fast print because there were a few minor typos, but the humor and action were intact, and since he is former 82nd airborne, you learn a lot about military command structure and practices while reading about teenage girls killing zombies. Spoiler alert: Ringo had some humorous swipes at several celebrities, as the Wolf Squadron clears from Gitmo to the Caribbean to jolly old England. At the end, the vaccine production has begun, so the survival of the species looks more certain. I WILL read the next installment, if and when it comes out. Oorah!
review 2: Well the Zombie story builds on.. After awhile-- it is more about rebuilding for mankind than it is fightin... moreg zombies... Still, after awhile, some of the zombie fighting action does seem a bit silly..In the three books I've read of this series only one zombie fighter has died-- and that was from falling into the ocean and being consumed by sharks on a feeding frenzy from zombie bodies. One marine is wounded by friendly fire (remarkable given some of the circumstances)-- Ringo's reliance on a thirteen year old heroine as the super zombie fighter of all time continues to annoy and defy reality. In the last book, we saw signs of her teenage psyche showing a few cracks and making her more human.. but, alas, in this one, she's back to being Wonder woman, the terminator, super-girl and G.I. Joe all in one. I get the impression Ringo wrote this character for a daughter-- and forgot about any semblance of realism and\or reality.To be fair and balanced, Ringo is focusing on those who are doing something to help rebuild-- the lazy, the insane, the injured or infirmed who are shuttled away from the story (with the exception of several marines and I won't spoil that part of the story for you) -- with a sentence of two and never mentioned again. Ringo is trying to write about the rebirth of the human race-- climbing back out of the pit of despair, assessing what might be left and making the best of it. However, I think Ringo forgets that even those who are working diligently to rebuild sometimes lose it. The 13 year old comes close but then pulls it together, because, by God, now she is a marine. Ringo paints a military logistic picture, but the human element continues to be the missing element in this series. All of these people are dealing with their great loss with hardly a tear shed. Nobody sits around morosely drinking or moping-- nobody contemplates suicide-- nobody wonders about their own sanity after killing hundreds of zombies-- I was telling my friend that the thing that makes "The Walking Dead" so awesome is the human emotion in the midst of an apocalypse. His response was "This is not the walking dead!" and I agree..it's not! Ringo has a different picture to paint-- most of it revolves around those who are military\former military or military wannabes who are willing to come together and rebuild. He wants to paint a picture not of complete hopelessness, but of man's ability to react and rebuild after ALL is lost. It is a story about survival and man's ability to rise to the challenge.However, with that said-- Ringo forgets that part of that challenge is dealing with the overwhelming sense of loss. He forgets the human element by creating superhuman marine types. He leaves behind the reality of emotion by forcing his characters to just keep building-- just keep killing-- just keep sailing-- just keep planning-- without giving them time to respond to their loss. If you want to read a military-heavy textbook for rebuilding after a zombie plague-- this series is for you. If you want to find real human people dealing with the terror and tragedy-- it is sorely lacking here... Is this a good series.. I think with the window of hope in the third book it is improving. Ringo introduced some more characters and some sunshine rays of hope that lightened it and I'll keep going.. but I hope Ringo-- somewhere along the line-- allows his superheroes a chance to respond emotionally to the death and loss around them... less

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