This Hardcover Book item from Baen was reviewed on 7-Nov-2008.
Search ISBN:1416555536 offer from Abebooks or used books from Alibris. The Last Centurion Reference Book. Classifications : General AAS Qualifying Textbooks Custom Stores Specialty Stores Books Action & Adventure Genre Fiction Literature & Fiction Subjects Books Contemporary Literature & Fiction Subjects Books General AAS . Click the following link to view the cover of The Last Centurion. Related topics: General AAS. Custom Stores. Specialty Stores. Books. Action & Adventure. Genre Fiction. Subjects. Books. Contemporary. Subjects. requestid: 77cfc048-43b5-471f-a144-8ebd18f3c02d
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1) Hardcover Book The Last Centurion by Baen. Other reviewers have said this is a political rant very poorly disguised as an adventure novel. That´s not quite fair; it´s legitimately both an adventure novel and a propaganda piece. But a propaganda piece it is, and as subtle as a brick. Red states good, blue states bad. Republicans good, Democrats bad, Hillary Clinton (the thinly disguised President) very very bad. Corporate farming good, organic bad. Christianity good, Islam not (and secularism gets slammed a bit as well).
That said, if you can stand getting hit over the head with this stuff, the adventure novel is entertaining. There´s two main parts to it, one the story of the US during a one-two punch of a flu plague and a "little ice age", and the other the story of a military company abandoned in Iran and trying to get home. The latter story is a bit lighter on the propaganda. It´s also totally over the top, which isn´t necessarily a bad thing. The former story is (between propaganda dumps), at its best, realistic and chilling.¤ 2) Hardcover Book The Last Centurion by Baen. It matters little that almost every statistic, study and test cited by the author turned out to be true. Yes, multicultural societies are burdened with trust issues and more violence. Yes, a switch to organic farming would mean mass starvation due to poor yields. Yes, many climatologists are worried about increased sunspot activity. Yes, markets are more efficient and cheaper than anything run by the State. Yes, Yes, Yes. But the author is insistent on hitting the reader over the head with a sledge hammer throughout the book. He has either never heard nor learned the meaning of subtlety and nuance.
It´s been done before - a conservative bookster tries to be chic by mangling the English language while using the "F" word every other breath. I found zero (0) literary quality and except for the rather outlandish story, the plot was pretty weak. Hilllary (the Bitch) came off as a caricature rather than character and the hero (quote unquote) sounds about as heroic as Mickey Mouse.
The action was confusing in the extreme. From Iran to Syria to Turkey and Greece and then Detroit? Ringo couldn´t decide between a political tome or an action novel. In the end, he failed on both counts. My Grade: C¤ 3) Hardcover Book The Last Centurion by Baen. All in all, not a bad story. It´s entertaining and reasonbly good sci-fi / alt history. The basic premise of the story seems to be all too possible, indeed, likely as things go to today.
All that said, several items picked at me throughout the story:
1 - Bandit 6´s career does not really follow the Army model for an Infantry Officer; he does jobs and attends schools somewhat out of order, for no reason that I can tell other than the author is either unfamiliar with the commissioned side of Army ife, or he needs to switch things up for no apparent reason. There are always exceptions to the standard career model, but I can not tell why Bandit 6 should be one of them.
2 - the author uses the Bush name for former presidents, but uses the name "Warrick" clearly as a substitution for the Clintons. I don´t understand this. The presumption is that the author (as well as Bandit 6) does not like the Clintons, but is afraid / reluctant to actually use their name for some reason. I do not care if you don´t like the Clintons, but at least man-up and use their name. Additionally it actually became a story-telling distraction reading the hate agsint the Clintons / Warricks.
3 - the same love / hate issues come up in regards to the Press. Fox / Murdoch are gods, all other Press are left-wing, subversive, idiots. Can we be any more stereotypical? If Bandit 6 was as smart and educated as indicated, I think that he would have a little more common sense approach to the idea of the Press and not follow the right-wing party line.
4 - virtually all of Bandit 6´s superiors, in or out of uniform, are idiots and not worthy of his respect or followership, those that are not worthless are those who agree with him; nothing more needs to be said about this silly story telling device.
I´ve read a fair amount of Ringo lately, and most of his books have similiar type plot points as noted above. As long as you overlook Ringo´s belief that virtually all officers are idiots, most politicians are criminals, the Press is bad, only the English-speaking peoples of the world are worth comment, and that the French are beneath contempt (well maybe this one is spot on!), then his stories are good light, escapist reading, that sometimes even have something interesting to say about historical events.¤ 4) Hardcover Book The Last Centurion by Baen. I really enjoy most of the Military Fiction that Ringo puts out there. It´s fun, it´s exciting, it´s like a James Bond movie. Last Centurion was not.
The basic storyline sets thing far enough in the future to play with politics, environmental conditions etc. without worrying too much about things being unrealistic. The main character is a uber-Officer in the Army who has a unique set of qualities that enable him to save his troops and accomplish an almost impossible mission as the rest of the world collapses around him. It´s an interesting storyline. My main concern was that it felt like I was reading a book by some Foxnews-type political commentator and not a Fiction novel. That´s not what I expected from Ringo.
Ok, so the book is a bit dry and extremely egotistic. It´s not far wrong and it hits dead-on with a lot of very strong opinions that are not being well represented in the United States today. I liked that, but it was not what I wanted to be reading about in a Ringo Military Fiction novel.¤ 5) Hardcover Book The Last Centurion by Baen. This is an extreme political rant very poorly disguised as an adventure novel. I´m very sorry I ever bought it and kept reading. I really enjoyed the Prince Roger books with David Weber but John Ringo has getting more and more political and less and less action oriented. I´ll never read another book by John Ringo alone again.¤ 6) Hardcover Book The Last Centurion by Baen. In the second decade of the twenty-first century the world is struck by two catastrophes, a new mini-ice age and, nearly simultaneously, a plague to dwarf all previous experiences. Rising out of the disaster is the character known to history as “Bandit Six” an American Army officer caught up in the struggle to rebuild the world and prevent the fall of his homeland—despite the best efforts of politicians both elected and military. The Last Centurion is a memoir of one possible future, a world that is a darkling mirror of our own. Written “blog-style,” it pulls no punches in its descriptions of junk science, bad strategy and organic farming not to mention all three at once ¤ Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 5-Dec-2008, 14165555369781416555537, 970-890-170-181-361-701-191-8 
The Last Centurion, Book, Image © Baen
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