Gust Front (Posleen War Series #2)

I eagerly picked up Ringo's second effort in the Posleen series. I love his fast and action packed pace of writing, his ability to always keep the story moving and hold the reader's interest. Gust Front is certainly not the exception to the rule.

Ringo's structure is a bit different, though, than Hymn. It starts with O'Neal and you are happy, loving the action that he brings to the story. But just as much and as sudden as he was there, he was gone, leaving the middle part of the story without any of the oh so familiar characters. This was a little disorienting and at times it was hard to keep track of the numerous characters that came and died just as quick. Then, poof, there is O'Neal again with the action associated with him.

This isn't to say there wasn't action in the middle. The complete opposite. The middle portion was all action as the Posleen landed on Earth with, of course, the resultant mass destruction that the Posleen bring with them. I think the action and novelty of Hymn was because of the alien world of Diess, so seeing the Posleen on Earth, although anticipated, was not as jaw dropping. As well there wasn't as much character or plot development because of the huge amount of action, but Ringo more than makes up for this with awesome and powerful battles.

I enjoyed Gust Front a lot and couldn't wait to pick it up again. The battles: Amazing. O'Neal: Amazing. Additionally, we see Generals Horner and Taylor in action. But the added bonus was seeing Cally and O'Neal Sr. and adding them to O'Neal Jr., Duncan and Pappas as amazing and fun characters to read about. True nuggets. Definite recommend.

5 stars.

Ringo's second novel is much improved over his first, A Hymn Before Battle (Posleen War Series #1). The writing style is much more concise and the story flows more smoothly throughout. This is also a much longer book than the first, being 780+ pages in the mass market paperback. Similar to HBB, Gust Front starts out by setting up the scenario, with very little action in the first 300 pages or so, and ends with non-stop and intense action sequences that take up the last 400 or so pages. The title of the book refers to the billowing wind that comes before the storm, being a metaphor for the initial (and relatively small) alien invasion of Earth that takes place in this book. I don't know why Baen's publishing releases so many books with such retarded looking cover art, but don't let it scare you off. This book is better and more mature than you'd think by glancing at the cover. In fact, the cover doesn't even fit with the book at all and I doubt the artist read it.

Gust Front chronicles the initial alien probe into Earth that proceeds a much larger Posleen force that will assumedly come in a later book. The unprepared defenses of Earth are badly bruised and the people are brutally awoken to the threat as this relatively small force (maybe around 10 million) terrorizes the globe. The principle storyline here follows the actions of a number of heroes in the United States military as they attempt to stall the alien advance in Virginia and D.C. Old characters and new are nicely developed, with Mike O'Neil and his family playing a major role. The Posleen are also further developed here, where we learn more about their culture and get a glimpse at the thought patterns of a couple of specific aliens. Difficult alien words are used quite a bit, but Ringo placed a glossary at the end that comes in handy quite a bit. Subplots involving the other alien races and secret societies are hinted at but not developed significantly here.

Overall, I thought this book was extremely pleasing, with rip-roaring action taking up the majority, and great character/scenario development taking place that should lead to very interesting future books. Highly recommended, can't wait to read the next.

Great characters involved in fast action military battles. Go for this one and the whole series!

John Ringo's "Hymn Before Battle" was a none-stop introduction to the War Against the Posleen Universe that glued your fingers to the cover; and, "Gust Front" picks up where the first book left off - preparing to defend Earth from a certain Posleen invasion. "Gust Front" follows O'Neal as he returns to Earth and his youngest daughter Cally, who he left with his father when he went off world to fight the Posleen.

This book is as good as the first - possibly even a little bit better! The preparation for a Posleen invasion lead up to a worldwide battle to hold Earth for humans. The book spends most of its time in the eastern United States as O'Neal and the US Army struggle to hold the Atlantic seaboard. Ringo's description of the battle is intense and well detailed. There are number of new characters that stand out; from an artillery unit to the Army Corp of Engineers, the human face of battle is well represented.

While the book focuses on O'Neal and the American front, it spends some time documenting the battle against the Posleen in other areas of the planet such as Russia and the Khyber Pass. These vignettes are a nice interlude that fleshes out the human struggle against the Posleen.

Beyond the battles, we get to know Cally and O'Neal's father a bit better as he teaches Cally to take care of herself. We also learn more of the intrigue that is going on in the background on Earth as well as with the human "allies": the Indowy, the Tchpth, and the Darhel. We don't know where this is going yet, but Ringo is doing a good job of setting up how this will play out in the future.

Like "Hymn Before Battle", Gust Front contains a single story arc within the larger multi-book story arc of the series.

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A Guide to my Book Rating System:

1 star = The wood pulp would have been better utilized as toilet paper.
2 stars = Don't bother, clean your bathroom instead.
3 stars = Wasn't a waste of time, but it was time wasted.
4 stars = Good book, but not life altering.
5 stars = This book changed my world in at least some small way.

I definitely enjoy sci-fi books, alt-his books, soldiers' war memories books and historical battles books.
Well believe it or not John Ringo's "Gust Front" is a tasty combination of all these genres and writing styles, as the previous volume in the series!

I've already read some books of what is usually known as "military sci-fi" and with the exception of Joe Haldeman's "Forever Peace" the rest of them range from "very boring" to "just so-so".
That is NOT the case with the present volume.

Mr. Ringo instills a strange sense of reality in all battle accounts (they really made me remember Lt. Wells "Give me fifty Marines not afraid to die" prose describing his Iwo Jima experience).
When he portrays the general picture of a battle or campaign they come so true as if you were reading Toland or Beevor or even Hastings.
In this second volume of the series, the energetic "Mighty Mite" returns to endangered Earth and continue his exploits.
Even if he still is the main character, the novel follows other characters' adventures expanding action focus and enriching the plot.

If you haven't read the first volume, I'll encourage you to do so in order to fully enjoy this tale.
The story is as follows: after Diess experience and having the best trained human troops entangled in planet Barhown, Earth is faced with the first Posleen's disembarkments.
Planetary and national Armed Forces are unprepared, short of training and with little or inexistent practice with new weapons and tactics.
Worst of all Posleens has sent greater forces than expected catching humankind out of balance.
The novel explores three different levels of conflict: political decisions, military decisions and galactic intrigues.

This is an action packed story with a very smart plot. Well written and even if it is a step in a series it is a whole tale by itself.

"Gust Front" is a high quality sci-fi novel deserving to be read by every true buff! Do not let the series pass by!
Reviewed by Max Yofre.