When the Devil Dances

After five years of battling the Posleen invaders, human civilization is down to this: A handful of valleys in the Rocky Mountains, the Appalachians, Fargo, North Dakota and the Cumberland Basin. The scattered survivors in the Andes, the Himalayas, the Alps and the Gujarat can't be defined as civilization. They're just meat in a lobster-leg; tasty but too much bother to pull out.
Only in the Cumberland Basin and the Ohio Valley do humans retain culture, philosophy and learning. Only in the Appalachians and the Rockies do the humans hold onto their shattered defenses. Only there do they create larger aud larger engines of war to oppose the hated Posleen. Only there do they have hope. As they wait for the return of their forces. As they pray for survival.
After five years of battling the Humans, the Posleen are tired and angry. Humans don't fight fair. They hide and borrow like the pestiferous abat. They strike from above with their hated artillery and from behind with their long range reconnaissance. After five years of hammering their crocodilian heads on the Appalachian Wall, the Army Corps of Engineers, the armored combat suits of Fleet Strike and the steel-hard veterans of the Ten Thousand, even the Posleen are ready for a change. And the name for that change is Tulostenaloor. He was beaten in Aradan V. But he has learned. And this is his day.

This latest in a series depicting the invasion of our galaxy by a rapacious alien species isn't as much fun as its predecessors, A Hymn Before Battle and Gust Front. Unfortunately, as Ringo, a military affairs adviser to Fox News, indicates in his afterword, what was escapist entertainment before 9/11 no longer provides the same escape. Five years after the Posleen made their first landings, most of the world lies under their control. By squandering precious resources, the leaders of North America have contained the enemy to several bridgeheads. Major Mike O'Neal commands the only force capable of engaging the Posleen in a war of maneuver. Even "Mighty Mite" O'Neal despairs of victory, as clueless politicians and self-serving "allies" cause his soldiers to die in battle against hopeless odds. We were living in a Golden Age, muses O'Neal, before the Posleen came, and he struggles to prevent his troops from becoming mere killing machines by keeping alive the memory of what was once and might be again. Despite the novel's somber tone, there's hope that the schemes of our supposed allies to see the Posleen and us destroy one another may fail. For thoughtful readers, Ringo raises some tough and highly relevant questions about the conflicts of interest between Americans and allies who don't share our ideas of individual dignity and freedom and about our leaders' inability to advance beyond narrow parochial interests toward the common good. Military SF fans should be well satisfied.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

The third installment of Ringo's series, begun by A Hymn before Battle (2000), about the war between humanity and the centaurlike Posleen opens with humanity holding on by its collective teeth. The last major military stronghold is in the U.S., between the Alleghenies and the Rockies, and the alien invaders are doing their best to break through the passes in the eastern mountains. Resisting them are Major Mike O'Neal, his father, and his daughter, Cally, a compelling character on the verge of turning from child to woman without losing any of her proficiency with weapons. They are accompanied by a large human supporting cast, involved in such fascinating things as 7,000-ton tanks and underground cities, as well as the Posleen, some of whom are emerging as differentiated characters, most of whom in turn are unhappy with the way the fight is going. Ringo remains a writer who throws in everything, but since his imagination, clearly influenced by Kipling and rock and roll, is fertile, the book is irresistible. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

The invasion of Earth by the Posleen, a vicious alien race, results in the conquest and devastation of much of the world; in the United States, however, a few enclaves of humans make a stand along the Appalachian Mountain range using guerrilla tactics, modern weaponry, and a host of dirty tricks. Major Mike O'Neal and his forces, used to fighting the Posleen in space, now wage a desperate battle for survival on their home ground. Continuing the story begun in A Hymn Before Battle and Gust Front, Ringo demonstrates his flair for fast-paced military sf peopled with three-dimensional characters and spiced with personal drama as well as tactical finesse. A strong addition to most libraries' sf collection.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.