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East of the Sun, West of the Moon | Rating | |
| B | |||
| John Ringo | |||
| Series | Related Books | ||
| The Council Wars | There Will Be Dragons, Emerald Sea, Against the Tide, East of the Sun, West of the Moon | ||
The war between the United Free States and New Destiny factions over the fate of the world has lasted now for years, and neither seems to be quite able to get in a truly decisive blow. But now something is coming that promises to break the stalemate, possibly for good: the automatic mining ship is approaching Earth, full of fuel for the planet's reactors. If one side can manage to get all the fuel, or even a large majority of it, the other will eventually run out of power while they still have plenty, and at that oint the war will be a walkover. So it is essential that Herzer Herrick and a cadre of scientists and warriors take the ship. Of course, New Destiny has much the same thing in mind. It's Orcs versus Blood Lords again, but with one big difference: this time it's in space.
My first impression of this book was that it was short. Very short. There's over four hundred pages, which is above average, true, but compared to the previous volumes in the series, each running five or six humdred pages (or more), it felt thin.
It also wasn't exactly what I was expecting. Most of the book is mostly about training, not the mission itself. Only the last quarter is as I'd thought it would be. And while training can, under certain circumstances, be a great thing to add to a story, that's not entirely true, here. The mission is unusual and will be in a unique environment, and Herzer's forces perforce must jury-rig a lot of its equipment. That makes it interesting. But there's not much plot and zero character development on these pages, and frankly it isn't that interesting. Certainly not enough to warrant consuming well over half the novel.
Once the mission does get going and the story shifts into space, things get much better. Ringo has always been great at writing battles, and this one is pretty unique. The battleground is small, with elements that make it extremely dangerous and hot points that each side needs to control. In a lot of ways it makes me think of a good video game. The tactics each side devises is an excellent reflection of their respective mentalities, too.
This is definitely not the last book of the series, despite some rumors to the contrary. There is simply too much left for the UFS to do, and there's some elements left entirely open-ended. Even so, this makes for a wonderful break from the rest of the series, which is far more fantasy than science fiction despite its backstory. This is perhaps the best blending between the two genres since the series opener. But there was just too much to slog through in the first half of the book or more for me to think this is flawless. A secondary plot to provide something for readers to follow other than recruiting, training, and planning for the mission would have been welcome.
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