Cally's War (Posleen War Series #5)

I have to say I agree with others who posted negative reviews of this book. This is the 6th book in the series that I have read. I had already read:

"A Hymn Before Battle"
"Gust Front"
"When the Devil Dances"
"Hell's Faire"
"Watch on the Rhine"

I am trying to read them in somewhat of a chronological order which isn't easy because the series has jumped all over, and I think Yellow Eyes belongs in there somewhere. So far I have liked the series. My favorites were "When the Devil Dances" and "Hell's Faire" because of the character development and humor, you have to love the crew of Bun Bun! But what happened with Cally's War?

I do not mind the series going in a different direction with a different type of book, this supposedly being a spy novel and not a war one, but this one was so badly implemented that it didn't make it fun, but more annoying. First of all I say this is supposedly a spy novel because it reads more like a sleazy romance novel. What the heck did John do to the Cally character? How did she change from a tough, cute kid into a shallow tramp? It's not like she didn't have support of family (well her grandfather only but still he was there for her the whole time) and friends all those decades between books. It doesn't make sense that with loving family and friends in her life she would become so cynical and selfish. If there was supposed to be a reason she turned out this way it wasn't explained well at all except vague mention of all the dirty deeds she did over the years. It just seems like the protagonist in a book should be likable so you care what happens to him or her but Cally was really making me feel like I didn't care. Also is it really necessary to have so many sex scenes in a sci-fi book? One or two is fine but there had to be at least a dozen in this book, no I'm not going back to count the exact number. It almost seemed like it was used as filler because the book had to have a certain number of pages.

And that brings me to another serious problem with this book, the plot. It starts out good, then goes into a subplot, wastes a good amount of pages traveling in a van with a pothead who has no bearing on the story at all, kills a guy who has no bearing on the main plot, then half way through the book finally starts the main plot. That plot kind of meanders along and all of a sudden stuff starts to happen at the end, it's all rushed, then it's over. That is horrible plot development and pacing for a book. I did like the end because Cally does kind of redeem herself but it's too bad it was over 400 pages of boring to get to that point.

I really struggled to get through this book and did only out of stubbornness and loyalty to the series up to this point. I give it 2 stars instead of 1 only because it was nice to see a lot of the old characters again and because I like Tommy, who did have an important part to play at the end. I will likely read more of the series but have doubts if I should bother with Sister Time. Maybe if Cally has changed to be more likable and if Sister Time isn't written like it's a first draft I might stick with it after trying a few chapters.

I moved on to Cally's War after the Posleen Wars series with my eyes wide open. More cloak-and-dagger than power suits and antimatter, fine. I like a good intrigue. What I got, though, feels more like two half-books.

The plot doesn't really kick in until the second half of the book. The first half is a tour of post-war America for fans who last saw the southeast as a radioactive wasteland covered in orange dye. After recieving her mission, Cally makes her way to Chicago riding shotgun for a drug-smuggling surfer dude (in Charleston?...) named Reefer. This is where the half-book weirdness kicks in. We spend every bit of fifty pages getting to know Reefer, meet his friends and contacts, and experience the little bits of Americana that survived or sprung up in the wake of the war. Then he drives off into the sunset in a cloud of pot smoke and we never see him again. HUH? Perhaps the guy is intended to show up in a later book (the second half of this one, I suppose). I'll give John Ringo that much credit. But it feels like a Chekov's Gun that never gets fired; why did I bother investing any interest in the guy?

The second half finally gets around to the whole "intrigue" plot. What there is of it. Cally works in an office trying to figure out who's the mole ratting out the Bane Sidhe, while James Stewart tries to figure out who's the agent trying to find his mole. And yet, for all the "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" setup, they spend almost all their time stumbling around without any real conflicts or plans. Everyone but the main characters is faceless and largely interchangeable, so you don't even get the fun of guessing that the butler did it.
Oh, and the mole? Here's a hint: You know how on Star Trek, sometimes you see a guy on the bridge that you don't recognize, and you just know that he's either going to get killed or turn out to be an alien? It's kinda like that.

And then there's the sex. Oh boy. I'm no prude, but I could have got by with about half as many sex scenes. When Cally's not doing it, she's considering who she could screw to gain an advantage. Cally's so calculating about it, it's hard to even feel titillated rather than vaguely embarrassed.

That said, the book isn't terrible. It's readable for fans of the series, but if you're not, this book is unlikely to get you interested. Here's to hoping the next entry is better.

You start with a character that was shaping up to be really fun and full of potential at the end of Hells Faire. A girl with excellent bloodlines, training, and fun to boot. Cut to the beginning of the book and she has become a total tramp who uses her body like a garbage disposal and cannot be respected by the other characters in the book let alone the reader. Boy, her honorable dad and mother sure would be proud. Why, I think we all hope our daughters could turn out like her. Way to go Ringo, I dropped this dog after 60 pages.

I waned to (and expected to) like this book. After the disappointing side trip into the future with THE HERO, I was looking forward to getting back to the present day post-invasion world with the great characters we had come to love in the original 4-book saga. Here we are reintroduced to Cally O'Neal, a fine-tuned and multi-talented assassin working for the Bane Sidhe. Sexy, strong, and smart, Cally seems like an excellent character, but early on in the book you find that your expectations are way too high. Predictable, cynical, sardonic, and depressed, you find that the potentially great character of Cally O'Neal has been thoroughly ruined. A raging sex fiend and a binge-shopper, Cally is nothing like the professional and purpose-driven hero I expected. This is one protagonist that I came to like less and less as the story progressed. Her completely unhealthy and unemotional approach to sex is truly bizarre. I'm not typically one to complain about books being too graphic, but this one takes it over the top with mind-numbing, pointless, and violent sex. I mean, come on, Cally really doesn't even mind being gang-raped?? Just ridiculous and off-putting.

Also, the book does very little to further the story as a whole. You get a little detail about the way of the world post-invasion, and about intergalactic relations, but to a very limited degree. The plot of this book is of a very personal nature and doesn't have any major implications for the universe or the various peoples inhabiting it. Actually, while the book cover promises this to be "Cally's most important mission", she and the other characters are little changed by the end, and in essentially the same positions they were in at the beginning of the book.

A very disappointing read, hopefully Ringo can get some life back into this series... Certainly NOT recommended.

I chose this book to give Ringo a final chance. His first ones were great, and I've read a few others that I liked, but was sickened by the right wing racism in some of his later stuff. Because this was part of the Posleen series I thought we might get less of the political ranting, and this is true. The main problem is that this book is boring. I think I would prefer to read his political opinions, at least I could laugh at them. This boredom stemmed partly from the fact that I couldn't understand what on earth was going on. This could be because I have missed some intermediate book where this is all explained. But the main problem is that nothing much happens. There's a bit of action at the beginning as a sort of teaser, but then nothing until about page 279 when I gave up. I wasn't expecting mass slaughter, but if this is meant to be a spy novel, Ian Fleming did it better. Alistair Reynolds, Peter F Hamilton, and Neil Asher make this guy look sick. Between the politics and boredom, this is the last half of a Ringo novel I will read.