Cally's War: Legacy of the Aldenata

Ringo sucked me in to the Posleen War series in the first book--I thought it was terrific, a new world with loads of aliens and intrigue, great space opera stuff. The second book still had me going; the third and fourth less so--they pretty much consisted of 'slaughter the stupid alligator centaurs' and not much more. But the fourth book ended with the Posleen basically defeated on Earth, although how that is I don't really understand, since they were just defeated on the East coast of the US. Still, future books seemed to promise more of the intrigue, and less of the slaughter, and so I approached Cally's War with hope. It was a forlorn hope--not because the book is filled with slaughter, it isn't--but because the book really doesn't do much of anything. Cally's an assassin, and she kills a couple of guys. She takes a very long time to kill them, and her hits are interspersed with shopping and sex, but this is NOT what I want from a Posleen War book. Apparently it's not what John Ringo wants, either, since he didn't bother to write it. None of it is particularly well written--the first two sex scenes are practically identical, even to the use of the same descriptive words, nor is it well plotted nor are the characters three-dimensional. Before I read Cally's War, I bought three more in the series; now I'm not sure I'll even read them.

I'm having trouble finishing this book. While reading it, I have also finished 3 Jim Butcher Dresden books, a couple of non-fiction, and a historical book. I keep going back to it, though, as I enjoyed the Posleen books by John Ringo.I think the book is better if I do not try and compare it to the previous Posleen books. This is completely different, from a very different perspective. This is more about what life is like some years after the end of the Posleen war. It's almost like an eyewitness account of what people do in their daily lives after the war, how the country is functioning, what is going on with those underground Urbs and the people in them, etc.And the Cally we knew so well in the earlier books is long gone. She is now (grown up)++ and is an assassin. A lot of time is spent on how she will switch personalities, costumes, appearances, all kinds of things that she does to go undercover. And there is a long part where we have to deal with, like, surfer dude speak maaaaan. You don't know what i'm sayin, you know what i'm sayin? Argghhhh i'm glad to be apparently past that part.This is not necessarily bad, but it is not the rollicking adventure that I was expecting. I'm going to keep plodding through, but at about the half way point, I haven't really found the hook of the story yet.

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.

The first four boooks tell of the alien invasion and relief of earth. (Number 5 is the oddball of the series and takes place long after the rest of the series? This book moves the series in a different direction. It takes place decades after the war. Characters have grown up and the war has changed. Assasination is common, politics increase and the Posleen are barely mentioned. Cally, the warrior child, has grown. She suffers burnout, has trust issues, and lives a complicated life. The new cast inject fresh blood, new plots and trouble.

Cally was pretty much my favorite character, next to Iron Mike and Mike Sr. and all the guys of the Triple Nickle. Finally getting to read some of her story after a long break from the series was exciting. I may have to go back and read books one to four all over again ☺

This is not a sci-fi story. J. Ringo just put his name on it. Julie Cochrane needs to stick to romance novels and John needs to read what he is putting his name on. When I read about Cally in the first novels #1-4 of the Posleen Wars, I liked the character. She was definitely a daddy's girl. She shows she can take care of herself and her "granpa," fighting assassins and 'posties,' even surviving a nuke dropped on her head. She has strong family ties and later strong female influences. But all that is for nought, when she is portraited as a psychopathic slut assassin in this novel. There is all kinds of room for character developement and storylines from the first novels to get an excellent novel. But, JC obviously went for the teenage male hormone raging reader. I don't recommend this novel at all. Unless, you're a teenage male hormone raging reader.