01-25-2014, 10:30 AM | #1 |
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Black Tide Rising: YA Zombie Apocalypse from John Ringo
First two volumes:
UNDER A GRAVEYARD SKY - Amazon reviewed at 4.5 over 130 reviews TO SAIL A DARKLING SEA - Amazon reviewed at ~5 so far. Lots of fun. John Ringo does a zombie apocalypse with his trademark real world military expertise but a young adult focus. Basically it is his "Heinlein juveniles" equivalent. Highly recommended. Nominal hero is Steven John Smith, ex-aussie paratrooper, high school history teacher. Husband to "unsung" electrical and mechanical genius Stacy. Brother to ex-aussie SAS Tom, currently security chief for one of the biggest banks in the world. Father to bickering daughters Sophia--15, inherited her mother's brains and height--and Faith--13, inherited daddy's height and mother's looks. The real protagonists are the girls. About two-thirds of the narrative follows them around. The first third of volume one details the spread of the synbio virus that renders the infected into rabid, very bitey, nearly mindless quasi-zombies and the attempts to combat the pandemic. The rest of the series details what it would take to survive such a catastrophe and begin to, maybe, bring humanity back. Ringo has a reputation for dialing the action to the limit and beyond, often with a wink and a nod tongue-in-cheek sensibility. Here he mostly stays well within plausibility limits, almost as a "zombie apocalypse procedural", with the occasional spike high into video game territory. Cultural and historical references abound, with nods to both historical precedents and pop antecedents such as RESIDENT EVIL, HALO, ZOMBIELAND, EVIL DEAD and more. Language can get military-salty but otherwise there is nothing in the series, so far, that is not suitable for a PG-13 movie or a gaming teenager. The themes are mature and realistic but accessible to young folks and adults. Downsides? Volume 2 devotes a bit too much time to rescue operations so the pace flags a bit. Volume 3 is due in late summer. And the series will likely go longer... Available from BAEN, NOOK, and Kindle. The latter offers up samples so give it a try if blowing away mindless "zombies" in style fits within your idea of "fun adventure" reading. Miriam Moon now has a challenger for the title of most amusing female in the Ringo realms. |
01-26-2014, 03:55 AM | #2 |
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I actually just started Under a Graveyard Sky yesterday (I had an eARC from NetGalley that I'd been neglecting for too long, as I was a bit overdosed on zombie books at one point).
So far - I'm about 20% in - it's okay but it's not fully grabbed me. I can't help but make comparisons to Mira Grant's Feed, which has a similar zombies-as-an-engineered-virus premise and which I found better written, with more interesting characters. |
01-26-2014, 06:39 AM | #3 |
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I have the first since it was included in a monthly bundle that I bought from Baen. I haven't read it yet. I kind of burned out on Ringo a while back, but I'll have to give it a try now. I must confess that my mind boggles at seeing the words "John Ringo" and YA used in the same sentence.
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01-26-2014, 09:37 AM | #4 |
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He's using the tried and true Heinlein formula: make the protagonist a teen and write her like an adult.
When the bulk of the "screen time" goes to two teenagers and the violence is video game cartoonish, with only occasional lip-service to the cruel reality behind the action... Well, Young Adult is a very broad collection of genres, anyway. That seems to be very profitable these days. And all publishers are trying to get in on that action, BAEN included. (Witness the Weber treecat series.) My take on Ringo has always been not to take his stories too seriously. A lot of what he does is clearly tongue-in-cheek. Like the Anime Zone. Or the sky-surfing giant chinchillas. Other times, he's just rattling chains to see what happens. Both are things the genre needs more of. I'm actually surprised nobody is making a stink over his portrayal of Faith. Yet. |
01-26-2014, 05:39 PM | #5 |
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Did he manage to restrain inserting his politics into this one?
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01-26-2014, 06:12 PM | #6 |
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My primary objection to Ringo isn't so much his politics, but the overt racism in many of his books. Of course one shouldn't fall into the trap of mistaking the views expressed by fictional characters as being representative of the views of their author, but nonetheless I find it distasteful to read.
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01-26-2014, 06:36 PM | #7 | |
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Zombies bad.
Lucid good. As of volume 2, that's the extent of the editorializing, aside from a dig at conspiracy theorists of all stripes. Quote:
I do remember him spoofing islamist terrorists in the early PALADIN OF SHADOWS volumes but those are equal opportunity offenders. He rips every race, one way or another. Well, except for lost tribes of Georgian mountain folk. Check the Kindle samples, they really are representative of the tone. Last edited by fjtorres; 01-26-2014 at 06:52 PM. |
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01-27-2014, 01:37 AM | #8 |
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There's been a number of "stupid Liberals" remarks in the first book so far and at least one person who was presented as clearly delusional as blaming the Bush administration for this or that, but it's at a level that, if I hadn't previously been aware of the issue, I might not have noticed.
Re: racism in the first book... Spoiler:
Other than those things, it's ... well, it's a very, very, very gun-happy book, with paranoid semi-sociopaths with a home arsenal being basically the heroes, but then again, it's a zombie apocalypse book and paranoid semi-sociopaths with a home arsenal may well be the people best equipped to deal with such eventualities, so I don't really have any quibbles with that. (Although I have to say that I just really don't like Faith. There's kickass girl protagonists and then there's people I'd really like to punch in the face, and Faith belongs in the latter group. I keep waiting for her to grow on me, but so far, she just irritates me. A handy person to have around in a zombie apocalypse, mind you...) I'm about 80% into the first book now and in spite of those few issues I have (and they're things I really don't care for), it's actually kinda fun in a really brainless way. I've liked the second part, once they escaped New York, a whole lot more overall. |
01-27-2014, 01:53 AM | #9 |
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In several of his books he has characters refer to Arabs as "ragheads". As someone who spends a lot of time in North Africa and the Middle East and had many Arab friends I find this extremely offensive. Perhaps it doesn't represent Mr Ringo's own views, but I don't think this kind of racial slur enhances his books.
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01-27-2014, 07:58 AM | #10 | |
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Quote:
Ringo is a soldier and a military expert. Everything he does is going to be colored by what he sees. And I suspect this series exists because he can't help but roll his eyes at most of the "surviving a zombie apocalypse" books out there. He's saying, "This is what it takes to survive a zombie apocalypse. Good luck all you Resident Evil and Zombieland fans..." And, at that, he is purposefully understanding the horror to stay within the bounds of the target audience. The whole Trixie thing, for instance... |
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01-27-2014, 09:17 AM | #11 | |||
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Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
bernie Last edited by gbm; 01-27-2014 at 09:27 AM. |
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01-27-2014, 09:34 AM | #12 |
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01-27-2014, 09:36 AM | #13 |
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So, calling somebody a "raghead" isn't a racial slur so long as they are "inconfident (sic) soldiers or terrorists"? Even leaving aside the fact that there is no such word as "inconfident" that's just nonsense.
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01-27-2014, 09:39 AM | #14 |
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I think it was a typo for "incompetent". But I agree that it seems like a racial slur, no matter who it's applied to. That's one of the reasons I've stopped reading Mr. Ringo's standalone books.
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01-27-2014, 10:05 AM | #15 | |
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Quote:
bernie |
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