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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Out-freaking-standing!, 8 Dec 2006
Captain Coleman "Cole" is assigned as the new aide for Major Reuben "Rube" Malich. However, Rube never comes into the office and never calls. His secretary, DeeNee, says she cannot help him. According to DeeNee, who has no way to contact him, Rube seldom shows at the office except to pick up messages and leave again. No one knows what Rube does or where he goes. DeeNee assures Cole that Rube knows he has arrived, but all he can do is stand around and wait for what could very well be days or weeks. Within minutes of Cole finally meeting Rube, chaos comes storming in! The Vice President is killed in an "accidental" car wreck. Only few minutes later, the President and the Secretary of Defense dies when a rocket hits the west wing of the White House, at the very section the two were in a meeting. Everyone is calling Rube and Cole "heroes". Had they not been there and acted immediately, it would have been much, much worse. But the two heroes know that Rube is being set up to take the fall.
Rube has his wife and kids move in with a relative in West Windsor, New Jersey. Before joining them, Rube and Cole must meet up with Rube's old buddies from Special Ops for some serious brainstorming. The men have not been in New Jersey with the family half a day before chaos comes stomping (literally) back in. This time it is fourteen-foot-tall, bulletproof, heavily armed globes on mechanical legs. The mechs, along with gunmen on individual hovercrafts, succeed in seizing New York City and establishing the "Progressive Restoration". They claim to be restoring the government to what it should have been and even invite other cities and states to join them. It looks as though a second American Civil War has erupted. One side has high tech weapons. The other side has militia footmen, Rube, and Cole.
***** Author David Weber is diabolical in writing books with military tactical maneuvers. Author Tom Clancy is clever in writing books with espionage. But author Orson Scott Card is brilliant in a way that is difficult to define. Card loudly attacks your physical senses, while at the same time; he silently infiltrates your mind and twists your very way of thinking. The most horrifying part is that as I read, I could detect no flaw in the strategies. It is all perfect...and very possible. I strongly recommend ordering pizza to be delivered and unplugging the phones before you even open the cover of this military/political thriller. Stellar! *****
Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Weak, Silly and Below Standard for This Author, 19 Aug 2009
Orson Scott Card has written many excellent books. This is not one of them.
It is clear from the author's Afterword, that the book was contrived to fit with a video game, and that roughly describes the sophistication of this plot which is well below Card's normal standard.
Reuben Malich is a major in the US Army working on secret assignments in Washington. He is joined by captain Bartholomew Coleman (Cole) just as an act of treachery takes a plan he wrote for the president's protection to carry out an assassination on the same. The success of this and other operations triggers a civil war, where members of the American democratic party, still smarting over the appointment of George Bush as president, when Al Gore won the vote - start a civil war.
In his afterword, Card indicates that it was all to easy to conceive of events that would lead to a civil war - but like "Shadow of the Hegemon", we see in this book that Card does not really do politics too well. For him, great events can be flawlessly shaped by the outrageous plans of a few. Compare with Tolstoy who says that those few are merely puppets of the greater circumstances, and you see the flaws in this plot laid bare. Frankly the whole plot is preposterous, and lacks the depth and strength of feeling required to make the preposterous plausible.
Could a stable democracy like the USA have another civil war? Certaily it is possible - but not over anything so petty as in this book! Civil wars have to be fomented over a period of time, a sharp division, and a growing sense of outrage that allows people to conceive of actions that are otherwise treasonable. The mistake that Card makes is to think that the differences between American Republicans and American Democrats are large enough for anyone to fight over. For anyone to destroy their deomcracy and country over. Much as they may dislike the other side, it is clear that the deomcratic ideal trumps the other ideology in their mind.
He almost recognises this early in the book, where in a university class discussion, Major Malich makes that very point in a voice we recognises as one of reason. He simply ignores the "conservative v liberal" debate and answers more intelligently as though those distinctions have no real existence of themselves. But then Card blows it by making the issues something that people really are willing to fight with bullets over - and it is not all clear why! To me there is a fundamental misunderstanding of the American political situation there.
I was reminded of "Shadow of the Hegemon" that read more like a game of "Risk" than anything close to real politics. And thus this book might make a reasonable game plot, but its not an intelligent book plot.
But so what? If it makes an enjoyable plot, what does it matter if the politics in Card's books are so black and white - so simplistic?
But there are other problems with this book too. One annoyance for someone who has probably read all of Card's books and short stories, is that he has recycled language, characters and plot elements from other works - and to poor effect. For instance, for me the word "jeesh" now refers to battle school kids - not a mature army combat unit. Ideas such as the double password on the PDA came from the short story "Dogwalker". And it went on!
Someone new to Card though would miss those references, but might still hate this book because the dialogue is so unconvincing. They might hate it because the plot is rather predictable (other than the odd choice to kill off ... well maybe I shouldn't say to avoid spoilers - but anyone reading the book is likely to know what I mean and agree it's an odd choice).
One of the things I have historically liked about Card is the way he focuses his books widely, incorporating foreign languages and cultures. Also the way he makes you think about issues. But in this book his cultural references are right out of an American right wing chat room, and show a remarkable lack of critical thinking!
When I read "European news media tells you what to think. American news media shows you enough so you make your own opinions", I was flabergasted, as should any other european who has numbed their mind watching the news on visits to that country! Not that I have a vested interest in news media, and not that I have any rosy spectacled view of European orgaisations. It just made me think that I was reading some American neo-con and not the Orson Scott Card who I have respected for very many years.
It seems to me that in recent years there has been a marked decline in the quality of Card's output. I suspect that this is an excellent writer with just too many projects with too short deadlines on the go.
Card completists (like me) will read this book whatever I say. Anyone else - avoid this one.
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4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Given Enders Game..... a real disappointment, 11 Jan 2008
Enders Game was a fantastic read, a real gem in the SF area, and it inspired me to read more of OSC books. I saw this book in the shop and bought it instantly on that fact. I know OSC knows how to write but I have to ask myself after finishing it, how long did he actually spend on writing this story. He could have made so much more out of it, the idea is sound but the story is wooden, lame and even the characters were totally unbelievable. Its back to 2nd hand books for any future OSC stuff. I read it in a day as I had 24 hours travelling on planes and in airports so I give it 2 stars because it kept me going wanting to know the ending but even that was a disappointment. Sorry OSC but please dont just chuck any old stuff out there to make money, read your stuff before you publish it and try and keep your standard......
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