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The Last Centurion
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.
403 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 2008
163 people are currently reading
897 people want to read
About the author
John Ringo
97 books1,835 followersJohn Ringo is a prolific author who has written in a wide variety of genres. His early life included a great deal of travel. He visited 23 foreign countries, and attended fourteen different schools. After graduation Ringo enlisted in the US military for four years, after which he studied marine biology.
In 1999 he wrote and published his first novel "A Hymn Before Battle", which proved successful. Since 2000 Ringo has been a full time author.
He has written science fiction, military fiction, and fantasy.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
In 1999 he wrote and published his first novel "A Hymn Before Battle", which proved successful. Since 2000 Ringo has been a full time author.
He has written science fiction, military fiction, and fantasy.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 228 reviews
May 24, 2009
First of all I want to say to the people that complain that the first 120 pages of this book are nothing but political rantings: Kick rocks. I think the response of the fictional "President Warrick" (the main protagonist often uses a different, much less Christian word for this obvious caricature of Billary Clinton) would have responded in EXACTLY the same fashion when faced with the two crises described in the book.
The book describes how a the world is decimated by first a "The Plague", as the author describes not really a plague, but a mutated strain of the H5N1 "bird flu" that is now able to transmit from human to human. When the first breaks out, the President orders that the vaccine be delivered to county health offices and that people go there to get immunized. Yes those first one hundred pages may be rantings against the left-wing people in this country (or tofu-eaters) but I personally agree that the way Mr. Ringo describes is pretty much how this would play out. Mrs. Clinton/Warrick would panick, over-compensate with the "I'm in charge, and nobody is going to tell me different" reaction and cause many needless deaths in the process.
And yeah once it gets to the part of the US infantry company getting left behind in Iran and using situational ethics and then doing the whole 10,000 bit across the Middle East, the story is a whole heck of a lot more interesting. But I personally think that you can't have one without the other in this story.
Once again, if you don't liike it don't read. For me, I think it's a great read.
The book describes how a the world is decimated by first a "The Plague", as the author describes not really a plague, but a mutated strain of the H5N1 "bird flu" that is now able to transmit from human to human. When the first breaks out, the President orders that the vaccine be delivered to county health offices and that people go there to get immunized. Yes those first one hundred pages may be rantings against the left-wing people in this country (or tofu-eaters) but I personally agree that the way Mr. Ringo describes is pretty much how this would play out. Mrs. Clinton/Warrick would panick, over-compensate with the "I'm in charge, and nobody is going to tell me different" reaction and cause many needless deaths in the process.
And yeah once it gets to the part of the US infantry company getting left behind in Iran and using situational ethics and then doing the whole 10,000 bit across the Middle East, the story is a whole heck of a lot more interesting. But I personally think that you can't have one without the other in this story.
Once again, if you don't liike it don't read. For me, I think it's a great read.
August 10, 2015
Oh good grief. Look, I like John Ringo in general. Most of his books have been up there in at least the 4 star range when I've read them. AND I'm just about as politically conservative as they come. I'm more a libertarian than a conservative in some ways...but come on.
This book presents itself as a story of survival in the face of future disasters, a post apocalyptic world. He's done some good fiction written from a conservative political position before. Sadly unlike what it presents itself as this book is nothing more than an excuse for Mr. Ringo to carry on about his beliefs. In this case even when I agree with those beliefs I just couldn't take any more. It goes on and on ad nauseam. The story never seems to kick in.
There are of course a lot of places I don't/can't agree with the opinions laid out here. (for example I hope to see a book written by Mr. Ringo when he hits 65 as this is the second book where he expresses the opinion that older people [old farts in his words] are pretty much worthless. They "can't" rebuild, they'd just starve as would the kids. If only the young and the old survive why civilization would never get rebuilt. It would disintegrate. The possibility that in some cases the old might lead and the young to rebuild never seems to have occurred to him. He's big on killing off the "old farts").
Anyway, disappointing book. A certain lack of understanding of the conservative point of view is also here.
Very, very sad. Don't care for this one. Can't recommend this one.
This book presents itself as a story of survival in the face of future disasters, a post apocalyptic world. He's done some good fiction written from a conservative political position before. Sadly unlike what it presents itself as this book is nothing more than an excuse for Mr. Ringo to carry on about his beliefs. In this case even when I agree with those beliefs I just couldn't take any more. It goes on and on ad nauseam. The story never seems to kick in.
There are of course a lot of places I don't/can't agree with the opinions laid out here. (for example I hope to see a book written by Mr. Ringo when he hits 65 as this is the second book where he expresses the opinion that older people [old farts in his words] are pretty much worthless. They "can't" rebuild, they'd just starve as would the kids. If only the young and the old survive why civilization would never get rebuilt. It would disintegrate. The possibility that in some cases the old might lead and the young to rebuild never seems to have occurred to him. He's big on killing off the "old farts").
Anyway, disappointing book. A certain lack of understanding of the conservative point of view is also here.
Very, very sad. Don't care for this one. Can't recommend this one.
August 6, 2018
If you are a dyed in the wool liberal, this book is not for you. If you love apocalpytic science fiction that has a conservative bent from a grunt's point of you, read on. Essentially, the world has a mini ice age combined with a deadly flu epidemic. BTW, this book was written prior to the swine flu hit.
It's set about ten years in the future with a female president that may or may not be a parody/satire of Hilary Clinton (you decide), and the flu hits when the main character is in Iran. It's blog style, so it is bogged down in explanation and a bit preachy from time to time. The blogger is a bit high on himself, but he's damn good at his job, so I guess he can be arrogant.
Anyways, it made me think and too few fiction books do that these days.
It's set about ten years in the future with a female president that may or may not be a parody/satire of Hilary Clinton (you decide), and the flu hits when the main character is in Iran. It's blog style, so it is bogged down in explanation and a bit preachy from time to time. The blogger is a bit high on himself, but he's damn good at his job, so I guess he can be arrogant.
Anyways, it made me think and too few fiction books do that these days.
August 31, 2009
A fellow Sci-Fi reader loaned this to me which is to say THANK GAWD I didn't spend $25 buying it in hardcover. This was a bloody awful book and I only managed to make to page 100. The narrative, supposedly written as a survivor's personal blog was really choppy and I knew it wanted really bad to be a war-porn type "techno-thriller" disguised as mercenary sci-fi yet it was ultimately was going devolve into some contrived battle scenes at the expense of actually engaging the reader into its pandemic-apocalypse premise. The Red-Stater stereotypes were nearly nauseating.
Stay away... stay F-A-R away.
Stay away... stay F-A-R away.
August 8, 2010
Well...oh dear...ahem...how to begin? Admitting loving this book is like slapping a scarlet "C" on your chest and bellowing into the grand canyon, "I AM A CONSERVATIVE." The book itself does pretty much that with an additional, "HEAR ME ROAR." Does that mean a liberal minded individual wouldn't find anything in this book to appreciate? To be perfectly honest, pretty much, yeah. Which is, to a degree, a real shame. The reason I continue to read Thomas Frank is because I truly want to know how "the other side" thinks. Having been "the other side" for most of my adult life I feel it necessary to keep up (though admittedly my Libertarian leanings occasionally put me on the opposite bank of the Red C). So I'd say this to any liberal thinker readying themselves to fling a single star at The Last Centurion with Shuriken like precision: If you want to know how conservatives think, read this book. It exposes our darkest fears about what we believe the "for your own good" laws will do to society. Now before you get all, "look how screwed up things got _before_the Dems took over," know you'll brook little argument from me (see "Red C" above). And that's the beauty of Ringo's writing. He lays into all politicians with a surgeon's precision. But let's be honest - he saves his sharpest blades for the left. Mind you, if all the book was was a rant I'd have dropped it. I prefer my rants to have the imprimatur of actual facts (as opposed to the spittle of a passionate screed). Back to T. Frank - he can be annoying as hell but he shmears his vitriol with layers of facts you can't ignore - Excellent; he's forced me off my knee jerk into a "let me look that up"...jerk. So too, Ringo. His protagonist is a disgruntled soldier named Bandit Six - trying to stay alive (and keep his troops alive) while navigating the twin disasters of a realized bird flu plague and an oncoming ice age (yes, a not so subtle dig at global warming). Add to that the political bureaucracy of the army itself and a left-leaning government and you have yourself a hearty helping of conservative stew.
Amazing how long it took me to get to the actual story, eh?
So if you're at all adversarial (and I am), like a smartass who's actually pretty smart, and are down for an "Into Thin Air" kind of survival story in which you wonder how the hell is the smartass gonna survive yet another impossible situation? - well, then you'll probably enjoy this book. If however you're decided on your politics, thank you very much, and don't want a sneak peak into conservative literary porn, move on - this isn't the droid you're looking for.
Amazing how long it took me to get to the actual story, eh?
So if you're at all adversarial (and I am), like a smartass who's actually pretty smart, and are down for an "Into Thin Air" kind of survival story in which you wonder how the hell is the smartass gonna survive yet another impossible situation? - well, then you'll probably enjoy this book. If however you're decided on your politics, thank you very much, and don't want a sneak peak into conservative literary porn, move on - this isn't the droid you're looking for.
November 22, 2008
Liberal democrats who really, really like Hillary Clinton should stear clear of this book. It will make your head explode. I loved it! Not because I'm a conservative, just liked the writing style, flow and speed of the story.
February 2, 2009
A barely disguised political rant.
Not nearly as readable as his other books-this one covers the march of a group of soldiers home as civilization on Earth seems to be breaking down due to the Evil Liberals in charge.
Seriously.
It's not the plagues or global climactic changes that cause all the problems, it's those darned liberals.
The style of the book is more like a blog, which could have worked, but it seems to be in response to a season of reality TV episodes following the soldier's trek. The downside is that the actual plots of those episodes is not present in the book, and barely summarized on the book's website. The book feels like listening to one side of a telephone conversation-various bits of information are missing, and if you draw your own conclusions you're never sure if you are correct or not.
I've been a John Ringo fan for several years, and this book cost me buying any of his books in hardback. Nearly paperbacks, too, and if the ranting on the liberals spreads past this series and the Ghost series, it probably will mean I don't ever buy any of his books again.
He's certainly entitled to his perspective, and can write what he wants, but as a liberal I'm beyond irritated by being painted with such a wide brush. Just as all conservatives aren't bible thumping abortion clinic bombing fanatics, nor are all liberals tree hugging lack of personal responsibility idiots.
Not nearly as readable as his other books-this one covers the march of a group of soldiers home as civilization on Earth seems to be breaking down due to the Evil Liberals in charge.
Seriously.
It's not the plagues or global climactic changes that cause all the problems, it's those darned liberals.
The style of the book is more like a blog, which could have worked, but it seems to be in response to a season of reality TV episodes following the soldier's trek. The downside is that the actual plots of those episodes is not present in the book, and barely summarized on the book's website. The book feels like listening to one side of a telephone conversation-various bits of information are missing, and if you draw your own conclusions you're never sure if you are correct or not.
I've been a John Ringo fan for several years, and this book cost me buying any of his books in hardback. Nearly paperbacks, too, and if the ranting on the liberals spreads past this series and the Ghost series, it probably will mean I don't ever buy any of his books again.
He's certainly entitled to his perspective, and can write what he wants, but as a liberal I'm beyond irritated by being painted with such a wide brush. Just as all conservatives aren't bible thumping abortion clinic bombing fanatics, nor are all liberals tree hugging lack of personal responsibility idiots.
September 25, 2010
Enjoying this book has a couple prerequisites.
First, you must believe that liberals are evil and out to destroy America and the world. This will allow you to enjoy the first 120 pages of the book instead of reading them in growing disbelief that it got published. This is also the only way to have any sort of suspense of disbelief with regards to the awful world-building in his history of the near future.
Second, you must be able to endure an extremely sloppily executed first-person viewpoint and a story which escapes being generic only because it is bombastic and over-the-top at every opportunity.
This is the second-worst book I have ever finished.
First, you must believe that liberals are evil and out to destroy America and the world. This will allow you to enjoy the first 120 pages of the book instead of reading them in growing disbelief that it got published. This is also the only way to have any sort of suspense of disbelief with regards to the awful world-building in his history of the near future.
Second, you must be able to endure an extremely sloppily executed first-person viewpoint and a story which escapes being generic only because it is bombastic and over-the-top at every opportunity.
This is the second-worst book I have ever finished.
December 1, 2010
1.5 stars. Just not a very good book in my opinion. A few parts of it were interesting, but only a few. I also found myself drifting away from the plot a bit too often and more than once becoming pretty annoyed by the dialogue. A disappointment because I had high expectations going in.
One final note for those that listen to audiobooks. The narration by Dan John Miller was pretty good. Not good enough to save a sub par book but I would listen to other books read by him.
One final note for those that listen to audiobooks. The narration by Dan John Miller was pretty good. Not good enough to save a sub par book but I would listen to other books read by him.
August 26, 2018
I think this is the first book I’ve ever hated by the first page. According to Goodreads I should like this because I’m a conservative, but one thing I can’t stand, no matter what you believe, is condescending arrogance. This whole book is just one long political rant, and if I wanted to read that I’d just go on Facebook.
June 25, 2010
1.5 stars. Just not a very good book in my opinion. A few parts of it were interesting, but only a few. I also found myself drifting away from the plot a bit too often and more than once becoming pretty annoyed by the dialogue. A disappointment because I had high expectations going in.
April 13, 2010
Standard Ringo book, Word of warning if your a liberal do not read as it will make you see red. He puts all the fav Lib talking points (Global Warming, greenies, incompetant politicans) on trial and kicks their butts.
February 20, 2021
I read some reference to this book, probably because of the Covid pandemic, and was curious to read it (I think the reference might have referred to how prescient it was).
Well, I regret reading it because it is also prescient (not really the right word in this context) in describing the thinking of some people, in view of George Floyd’s death at the hands of the police and of the Black Lives Matter movement.
This book’s tone so horribly reflects the thinking of and justifications of so many wrong-minded people. As a non-American I am constantly appalled and confused by what some in the US seem to believe. Reading this book felt like listening to one of these types yelling at me about wearing a mask and their rights (it has happened- and they were here in Canada, telling me we were now on the first step to a communist state!!!). Tired of hearing them on TV, the internet and even in person, I was very sorry to find myself now reading words by one of them. Yes, I could have put the book down, but I have this stupid rule of finishing most books out of respect for the author’s efforts.
This one should have been one of my very rare exceptions, in hindsight.
P.S. The author referred constantly to ‘the Bitch’, very unveiled reference to Hilary Clinton. Instead the antagonist in our real life pandemic turned out to be one if his own, no need for a vilifying name, ‘Trump’ now will qualify as its own slur in the future. And the author vilified the ‘do-gooders’, the left or liberals, etc. Turns out to be the mask-hating, gun toting, ‘other’ hating hordes who sound an awful lot like the narrator in this screed.
A sad and unintentionally mocking picture of the present reality.
Well, I regret reading it because it is also prescient (not really the right word in this context) in describing the thinking of some people, in view of George Floyd’s death at the hands of the police and of the Black Lives Matter movement.
This book’s tone so horribly reflects the thinking of and justifications of so many wrong-minded people. As a non-American I am constantly appalled and confused by what some in the US seem to believe. Reading this book felt like listening to one of these types yelling at me about wearing a mask and their rights (it has happened- and they were here in Canada, telling me we were now on the first step to a communist state!!!). Tired of hearing them on TV, the internet and even in person, I was very sorry to find myself now reading words by one of them. Yes, I could have put the book down, but I have this stupid rule of finishing most books out of respect for the author’s efforts.
This one should have been one of my very rare exceptions, in hindsight.
P.S. The author referred constantly to ‘the Bitch’, very unveiled reference to Hilary Clinton. Instead the antagonist in our real life pandemic turned out to be one if his own, no need for a vilifying name, ‘Trump’ now will qualify as its own slur in the future. And the author vilified the ‘do-gooders’, the left or liberals, etc. Turns out to be the mask-hating, gun toting, ‘other’ hating hordes who sound an awful lot like the narrator in this screed.
A sad and unintentionally mocking picture of the present reality.
April 4, 2009
Well, ... ... I generally like John Ringo's writing. It is pure escapist reading - and usually violent, but good, solid, fun.
However, the first 120 pages (or so) of this book were very hard to complete - and I almost set the book aside unread because of them. Though I do not necessarily disagree with Mr. Ringo's politics - and I think we both share the same opinion regarding the Clintons, democrats in general, and left-wing politics of all types: I. did. not. enjoy. reading. about. his. views. for. 120+ pages.
After the story arrived in Iran, where the protagonist was abandoned by the Army when the world went to hell, the story got interesting. The last two thords of the book were a pleasure to read.
So, be warned - you have to listen to his political views for over 100 pages, but then the story starts getting interesting and the reading is enjoyable.
However, the first 120 pages (or so) of this book were very hard to complete - and I almost set the book aside unread because of them. Though I do not necessarily disagree with Mr. Ringo's politics - and I think we both share the same opinion regarding the Clintons, democrats in general, and left-wing politics of all types: I. did. not. enjoy. reading. about. his. views. for. 120+ pages.
After the story arrived in Iran, where the protagonist was abandoned by the Army when the world went to hell, the story got interesting. The last two thords of the book were a pleasure to read.
So, be warned - you have to listen to his political views for over 100 pages, but then the story starts getting interesting and the reading is enjoyable.
June 10, 2014
I am a fan of John Ringo's work. This book is just godawful. It's a right wing political screed that makes Atlas Shrugged seem both moderate and subtle. Ringo's normally charming, (if overtly conservative) third person voice is abandoned for a shrill, ultra-right wing first person narrator so annoying that I found myself quickly rooting for the plague.
I gave up a bit over 100 pages in, when the tone just continued to get worse and worse...I can't imagine it ended well enough to justify finishing it.
Stay away unless you think Alex Jones has good points.
I gave up a bit over 100 pages in, when the tone just continued to get worse and worse...I can't imagine it ended well enough to justify finishing it.
Stay away unless you think Alex Jones has good points.
April 2, 2013
I've been a fan of John Ringo for some time now. No, I've not read all his books, but quite a few of them. I wasn't too sure about this book after reading the reviews but decided to take a chance on it.
Boy, am I glad I did. Yes, the first 100 pages or so were pretty much a rant. In his previous books, Ringo would let slip a few times or so his conservative viewpoint. In this book, he let it all out with some serious face-smacking of liberals fantasy outlook. He face-smacks the Global Warning idiots, he face-smacks those that think Government should do everything, and he face-smacks the media.
Some have written reviews that criticizes the style of the book. It was deliberately written in a blog style sort of. I say sort of, because not many bloggers will write such extensive posts. Personally I liked the style.
Ringo's main character "Bandit Six" is over the top as a hero, but most people will agree that "James Bond" is over the top also. It's refreshing to see a character that is portrayed as an out and out hero. Plus it helps that the character face-smacks quite a few liberal beliefs.
The main premise of the book is that twin disasters occur worldwide. The first, bird flu that mutates into human to human transmission is very believable. Just today in China they reported 4 deaths and 7 others sick with a new strain and they aren't sure how all but one got the virus.
The second disaster is an ice age. For those that believe in global warming this is part of the book they will have the most problem with. Fortunately, Ringo spells out in pretty clear cut scientific terms how we just might be headed for another ice age.
I've read Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" and while you might compare it with The Last Centurion, there are quite a few differences. Ringo spells out the doom that is coming from our misguided political masters in a way that almost anyone can grasp. Ayn Rand on the other hand almost requires one to be highly educated. Plus Ayn Rand's characters acted in a very selfish way which was hard to identify with.
In contrast, Ringo explores voluntary random associations in a very down to earth way. Of course, he face-smacks liberals quite a bit with this, much to my enjoyment.
Sprinkled throughout the book are references to various historical events that are pretty relevant to the book and also to the present times. He never explained them, but told people to look them up. I did and they were like finding Easter Eggs.
Lastly, he also exposes media biases and slants in a pretty neat way. He gave a real world example and shows how media takes a picture but doesn't show the context or the full picture. Liberals if they get to this point in the story will howl in protest as their beloved media gods will be shown to be nothing more than propagandists of the worst order.
All in all, this is a great book that I almost read straight through if not for the lateness of night. I finished it in two sittings. I highly recommend this book for anyone who has liberal friends as it may give you great examples of how to face-smack your idiot friends. Even if you don't have liberal friends, you may be unfortunate to run into a liberal. When they spout their nonsense, use the information in this book to face-smack them with a vengeance.
Boy, am I glad I did. Yes, the first 100 pages or so were pretty much a rant. In his previous books, Ringo would let slip a few times or so his conservative viewpoint. In this book, he let it all out with some serious face-smacking of liberals fantasy outlook. He face-smacks the Global Warning idiots, he face-smacks those that think Government should do everything, and he face-smacks the media.
Some have written reviews that criticizes the style of the book. It was deliberately written in a blog style sort of. I say sort of, because not many bloggers will write such extensive posts. Personally I liked the style.
Ringo's main character "Bandit Six" is over the top as a hero, but most people will agree that "James Bond" is over the top also. It's refreshing to see a character that is portrayed as an out and out hero. Plus it helps that the character face-smacks quite a few liberal beliefs.
The main premise of the book is that twin disasters occur worldwide. The first, bird flu that mutates into human to human transmission is very believable. Just today in China they reported 4 deaths and 7 others sick with a new strain and they aren't sure how all but one got the virus.
The second disaster is an ice age. For those that believe in global warming this is part of the book they will have the most problem with. Fortunately, Ringo spells out in pretty clear cut scientific terms how we just might be headed for another ice age.
I've read Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" and while you might compare it with The Last Centurion, there are quite a few differences. Ringo spells out the doom that is coming from our misguided political masters in a way that almost anyone can grasp. Ayn Rand on the other hand almost requires one to be highly educated. Plus Ayn Rand's characters acted in a very selfish way which was hard to identify with.
In contrast, Ringo explores voluntary random associations in a very down to earth way. Of course, he face-smacks liberals quite a bit with this, much to my enjoyment.
Sprinkled throughout the book are references to various historical events that are pretty relevant to the book and also to the present times. He never explained them, but told people to look them up. I did and they were like finding Easter Eggs.
Lastly, he also exposes media biases and slants in a pretty neat way. He gave a real world example and shows how media takes a picture but doesn't show the context or the full picture. Liberals if they get to this point in the story will howl in protest as their beloved media gods will be shown to be nothing more than propagandists of the worst order.
All in all, this is a great book that I almost read straight through if not for the lateness of night. I finished it in two sittings. I highly recommend this book for anyone who has liberal friends as it may give you great examples of how to face-smack your idiot friends. Even if you don't have liberal friends, you may be unfortunate to run into a liberal. When they spout their nonsense, use the information in this book to face-smack them with a vengeance.
June 19, 2012
This near future novel starts with a major plague that wipes out over half the planet’s population. Then there’s global cooling as the Earth enters a mini ice age. Our hero Bandit Six, who tells the story from a first person perspective, is a US Army Captain with a farming background. He becomes stuck in Iran (invaded by the US before the story started) with one company of infantry guarding an enormous amount of supplies left behind as US forces pull out. Meanwhile, the Us is crumbling due to the disasters and inept political leadership. Bandit Six has to pull of a heroic extraction of his men to get back to civilization, but he becomes more than that. A symbol of hope in a “time of suckage”.
Right up front, I should tell you that this novel is right-wing, very pro-America, racist (but only if you misinterpret it), anti-liberal, pro-military and littered with the f-word. Bandit Six tells the story in the first person, using a blog style tone. In your face doesn’t even begin to cover it. Bandit Six is old school conservative (not the same as “modern Republican"). He truly believes in good old Americans and good old American know how and perseverance. He believes that people should be treated like adults and not be coddled. Liberals, the press and “tofu-eaters” (organic food eaters who don’t want to know where their food comes from) are roundly criticized for being short sighted and just plain stupid. Now, I may not be as right wing as Bandit Six, but I have a hard time disagreeing with most of what he says. His theses are well argued. He is right about a lot of things. Ringo does his usual great job of using dry humor to tell a story. And it is a very good story. Gripping, exciting, humorous despite the enormous tragedy and suffering suffusing it. The Centurion metaphor, setting America as the new Rome, a beacon of civilization in a barbarian world, with the military defending it, is well done. Even if you don’t agree with the book’s views, do read it. The salient points are better argued than what you will hear on the conservative news or by conservative politicians. That alone makes it worth it.
http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=51
Right up front, I should tell you that this novel is right-wing, very pro-America, racist (but only if you misinterpret it), anti-liberal, pro-military and littered with the f-word. Bandit Six tells the story in the first person, using a blog style tone. In your face doesn’t even begin to cover it. Bandit Six is old school conservative (not the same as “modern Republican"). He truly believes in good old Americans and good old American know how and perseverance. He believes that people should be treated like adults and not be coddled. Liberals, the press and “tofu-eaters” (organic food eaters who don’t want to know where their food comes from) are roundly criticized for being short sighted and just plain stupid. Now, I may not be as right wing as Bandit Six, but I have a hard time disagreeing with most of what he says. His theses are well argued. He is right about a lot of things. Ringo does his usual great job of using dry humor to tell a story. And it is a very good story. Gripping, exciting, humorous despite the enormous tragedy and suffering suffusing it. The Centurion metaphor, setting America as the new Rome, a beacon of civilization in a barbarian world, with the military defending it, is well done. Even if you don’t agree with the book’s views, do read it. The salient points are better argued than what you will hear on the conservative news or by conservative politicians. That alone makes it worth it.
http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=51
September 28, 2009
I really wanted to enjoy this book. A great premise with a lot of places to go with it.
And then I ran headfirst into the bigotry of the character. Fine, no biggie I thought. I've read Ralph Peters when he's on his meds and Tom Clancy. We don't agree politically but if they can weave a yarn without pounding the reader over the head with their views, then whatever.
John Ringo isn't Clancy or even Peters. Every third page or so is some anti-government rant. Or some gay bashing. Or "women are dumb and have periods" BS. And hey! education is bad and so is not being white.
Only the "L" states would have survived (which is funny as you watch Georgia scrambling for federal dollars this week after just a little rain).
Apparently Midwesterners can't handle disasters though flooding and tornadoes happen there constantly. Democratic cities like Chicago, who can efficiently handle massive heat by dragooning refrigerated trailers for thousands of corpses can't keep some simple vials cold.
And boy does Bandit (or Ringo) have a hard-on for hating the West Coast and Hillary Clinton.
Face it, the same mentality that figured out how to get out of the Great Depression, beat the Nazis, and make it to the Moon could manage to fumble through an epidemic. Not with flying colors, but nowhere on the order of stupid we're supposed to buy as a plot point. As if, somehow, the party of Iraq and Katrina (yes, EVERYONE was at fault in that fiasco, not just Nagin) could do better.
I especially love the argument that MORE government intervention would have fixed the plague and more government spending would have fixed the wars.
I didn't finish the book, after a hundred pages I realized I was just getting pissed at either Bandit or Ringo or both. I know military folks, been around them my whole life. Guys like Bandit top out at Staff Sergeant. If they make O they do it alone. Our military is far more professional and coherent than this.
Sadly, as much as I wanted to tough it out, I discovered I had much better things to do than read this book.
And then I ran headfirst into the bigotry of the character. Fine, no biggie I thought. I've read Ralph Peters when he's on his meds and Tom Clancy. We don't agree politically but if they can weave a yarn without pounding the reader over the head with their views, then whatever.
John Ringo isn't Clancy or even Peters. Every third page or so is some anti-government rant. Or some gay bashing. Or "women are dumb and have periods" BS. And hey! education is bad and so is not being white.
Only the "L" states would have survived (which is funny as you watch Georgia scrambling for federal dollars this week after just a little rain).
Apparently Midwesterners can't handle disasters though flooding and tornadoes happen there constantly. Democratic cities like Chicago, who can efficiently handle massive heat by dragooning refrigerated trailers for thousands of corpses can't keep some simple vials cold.
And boy does Bandit (or Ringo) have a hard-on for hating the West Coast and Hillary Clinton.
Face it, the same mentality that figured out how to get out of the Great Depression, beat the Nazis, and make it to the Moon could manage to fumble through an epidemic. Not with flying colors, but nowhere on the order of stupid we're supposed to buy as a plot point. As if, somehow, the party of Iraq and Katrina (yes, EVERYONE was at fault in that fiasco, not just Nagin) could do better.
I especially love the argument that MORE government intervention would have fixed the plague and more government spending would have fixed the wars.
I didn't finish the book, after a hundred pages I realized I was just getting pissed at either Bandit or Ringo or both. I know military folks, been around them my whole life. Guys like Bandit top out at Staff Sergeant. If they make O they do it alone. Our military is far more professional and coherent than this.
Sadly, as much as I wanted to tough it out, I discovered I had much better things to do than read this book.
June 26, 2011
I enjoyed the blog style the book was written in. It's different, yet familiar to anyone who has spent any time in the blogosphere. Like a lot of blogs, it's more of the author engaging in a (one-sided) conversation with his readers. Instead of sticking to a rigid plot, the protagonist routinely has to pull himself back from asides and gets ahead of himself. The details of the battles (not all of which involving weapons) were great.
A very interesting and enjoyable read, but be warned, Bandit Six is abrasive in that "I'm 6'6" of rawhide and spring-steel and I eat nails and piss fire" style of a John Wayne set in the 21st century. In other words, he has no problem expressing the idea that he's right and will most likely express his positions laced with f-bombs.
A lot of sacred cows get gored in 'The Last Centurion'. If you believe in man-made globalwarming climate change, that modern farming methods should be outlawed, that a balkanized America filled with hyphenated multiculturalism is superior to the "melting pot", go in for political correctness and in general look down your nose at the folks living in "flyover country"... Well, you get the idea. You are so not going to enjoy this book. The author does a great job of illustrating how well those beliefs do when they encounter the harsh reality of the non-theoretical world of, well... reality.
Of course, the people who "the shoe fits" will no doubt get their knickers well and truly twisted, climb upon their pseudo-intellectual high-horse, and one-star the batsnot out of this book. Railing about how this is some Fox News addicted troglodyte calling "Liberals" evil. He's not. He's saying that, well... to paraphrase Ronald Reagan, "The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are evil, it's that they know so much that isn’t so."
A very interesting and enjoyable read, but be warned, Bandit Six is abrasive in that "I'm 6'6" of rawhide and spring-steel and I eat nails and piss fire" style of a John Wayne set in the 21st century. In other words, he has no problem expressing the idea that he's right and will most likely express his positions laced with f-bombs.
A lot of sacred cows get gored in 'The Last Centurion'. If you believe in man-made global
Of course, the people who "the shoe fits" will no doubt get their knickers well and truly twisted, climb upon their pseudo-intellectual high-horse, and one-star the batsnot out of this book. Railing about how this is some Fox News addicted troglodyte calling "Liberals" evil. He's not. He's saying that, well... to paraphrase Ronald Reagan, "The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are evil, it's that they know so much that isn’t so."
August 13, 2008
Quite fun, definitely written from a military point of view. The story of what happens when a serious plague hits the world and how some places cope better than others.
April 16, 2020
Well dishes didn't get washed. Laundry didn't get folded.
I couldn't put this book down! It was written in 2008, but damned if there weren't times I thought Johnny Ringo didn't have a crystal ball regarding current events in 2020. This book was well thought and well written.
I wouldn't definitely recommend this book to everyone.
I couldn't put this book down! It was written in 2008, but damned if there weren't times I thought Johnny Ringo didn't have a crystal ball regarding current events in 2020. This book was well thought and well written.
I wouldn't definitely recommend this book to everyone.
September 21, 2009
John Ringo is a great sci-fi/military writer with an actual military background that often comes across in the subtext of his stories and in the attitudes of some of his characters.
With Bandit Six in The Last Centurion, you get a short range double barreled dose.
The funny thing, as you read it, is that you KNOW the people he's aiming the slings and arrows at aren't going to get it. And just read a couple of the one star reviews here on goodreads, and you'll see that.
"Ooh, he's a conservative"
"Wah, he's attacking liberals."
"Boohoo, he's blaming liberals for global warming!"
As is so very true of the folks that would feel attacked by his points in the first place: you lack the intelligence and understanding of complex events and realities to see the trees because that damned forest is in the way.
Ringo includes real-life, historic examples of his points, so that you can get the cautionary tale side of his story full force. He's not blaming liberals for global warming. He's blaming them for damaging our country's ability to deal with real problems because they refuse to look dispassionately at them. Katrina, one example he uses in the book, is very well laid out and common knowledge amongst people who actually study disasters and disaster response, rather than trying to score political and racial points from the misfortunes of others.
Added to that is his fantastic sense of humor and the very real characters he builds, and you've got both an awesome story AND a frightening glimpse into one possible future, where those in power care more about their ideological positions and less about solving real problems.
God help us if anything remotely like the natural disasters in the book ever hit us, but if they do, let's hope the Powers that Be pay attention to the scientists and professionals whose jobs it is to keep us safe, rather than seeing every disaster as an opportunity to prove their latest pet theories on social evolution.
If you dont entirely agree with Ringo's positions, or you find them curious or confusting at best, skip the first 140 pages or so, and then a bunch of pages towards the end. There's a great little near-future military adventure story in the middle no matter WHO you voted for in the last election, and even for someone who completely agrees with him, Ringo and his protaganist can, at times, beat the drum loudly enough that you might find yourself skimming a page or two.
God bless John Ringo, and HooHagh for a great book!
~Craig
PS-save your responses, if the name George Bush came into your head ONCE while reading this. He's only mentioned once or twice in the book and not generally in a good way. The man's not president anymore, folks, and you'll EVENTUALLY have to take responsibility for the country again. He was EITHER the greatest criminal mastermind the free world has ever seen, or he's the dumbest lump to ever come down the pike. He can't be both.
With Bandit Six in The Last Centurion, you get a short range double barreled dose.
The funny thing, as you read it, is that you KNOW the people he's aiming the slings and arrows at aren't going to get it. And just read a couple of the one star reviews here on goodreads, and you'll see that.
"Ooh, he's a conservative"
"Wah, he's attacking liberals."
"Boohoo, he's blaming liberals for global warming!"
As is so very true of the folks that would feel attacked by his points in the first place: you lack the intelligence and understanding of complex events and realities to see the trees because that damned forest is in the way.
Ringo includes real-life, historic examples of his points, so that you can get the cautionary tale side of his story full force. He's not blaming liberals for global warming. He's blaming them for damaging our country's ability to deal with real problems because they refuse to look dispassionately at them. Katrina, one example he uses in the book, is very well laid out and common knowledge amongst people who actually study disasters and disaster response, rather than trying to score political and racial points from the misfortunes of others.
Added to that is his fantastic sense of humor and the very real characters he builds, and you've got both an awesome story AND a frightening glimpse into one possible future, where those in power care more about their ideological positions and less about solving real problems.
God help us if anything remotely like the natural disasters in the book ever hit us, but if they do, let's hope the Powers that Be pay attention to the scientists and professionals whose jobs it is to keep us safe, rather than seeing every disaster as an opportunity to prove their latest pet theories on social evolution.
If you dont entirely agree with Ringo's positions, or you find them curious or confusting at best, skip the first 140 pages or so, and then a bunch of pages towards the end. There's a great little near-future military adventure story in the middle no matter WHO you voted for in the last election, and even for someone who completely agrees with him, Ringo and his protaganist can, at times, beat the drum loudly enough that you might find yourself skimming a page or two.
God bless John Ringo, and HooHagh for a great book!
~Craig
PS-save your responses, if the name George Bush came into your head ONCE while reading this. He's only mentioned once or twice in the book and not generally in a good way. The man's not president anymore, folks, and you'll EVENTUALLY have to take responsibility for the country again. He was EITHER the greatest criminal mastermind the free world has ever seen, or he's the dumbest lump to ever come down the pike. He can't be both.
June 15, 2011
Good story over all for an end of civilization as we know it epic. What brought on the disaster, how people survived it, what contributed to the disaster and the recovery or the lack of recovery. A little preachy, especially the section Book 3, The New Centurions. About how the last Centurion or Bandit 6, had to fix American society just he had the Middle East, in order to get from Iran to the Mediterranean at Istanbul Turkey. How he so cleverly overcame the American media biases and got the truth out to the American citizens, managing to open the eyes even of the "tofu-eaters"(ecologists/environmentalits) to reality. He made some good points, like how organic agriculture can't feed the millions of people that current mass ag does and how we should be taking more care of Americans than we do of everyone else in the world. He made a less valid point about the US media being so liberal and slanting the news from that angle to the point that we know nothing of what's really going on. Yes our media is liberally slanted. However Fox News is just as slanted, not just conservatively, but racist and sexist, so it is NOT the one to turn to for the "truth". America's media slant is distinctly US centric, and usually only reports International news if it is about America. American media is also sensationalist and seems all too often to focus on things like whether or not Obama died his hair and the trials and tribulations of Arnold and Maria instead of real issues: like how there is no longer a real ideological diffence between Democrats and Republicans; just different views on how to divide federal tax dollars.
Ringo also went to great lengths to justify the stranded American troops in Iran's taking on of local women "concubines" - as if rescuing them from almost daily rape, beatings, and feeding them and being nice to them can ever make getting sexual favors from these women, non-coercive and therefore not "rape".
OK, I ended up doing more of a rant. I think a lot of Ringo's other novels are alternative history and so far I've found little of that to be interesting.
Ringo also went to great lengths to justify the stranded American troops in Iran's taking on of local women "concubines" - as if rescuing them from almost daily rape, beatings, and feeding them and being nice to them can ever make getting sexual favors from these women, non-coercive and therefore not "rape".
OK, I ended up doing more of a rant. I think a lot of Ringo's other novels are alternative history and so far I've found little of that to be interesting.
March 26, 2020
OMG, I loved this book. Even though it's probably not a great choice of read right at this moment in time. I mean, it starts out with the narrator talking about a plague hitting in 2019. That's maybe a little too close to real life at the moment.
Told from the perspective of Bandit Six, as he explains what happened in his past that made him such a famous person. While it takes place in the future, it's told as a first person history. It includes quite a bit of actual history as well. It also has a definite political bias. Or, perhaps not so much a political bias, as much as an anti-stupidity bias. It pokes A LOT of fun at the absurdity of certain views that bear little to no relationship with reality. And during a crisis, such as described in the book, it's almost obscene what some people will foist on others in the name of political correctness.
The book is not only a thrilling military adventure, but quite hilarious in parts. I especially like the "Wife edits" that are randomly inserted throughout the narrative. It's pretty fast paced considering the extended history lessons to give the events context. He kept it very interesting, so the history didn't take away from the action taking the place.
The motivation for events in the latter half of the book, helping open an oil pipeline so that the US would have access to oil, doesn't make sense in today's reality with frakking opening up so many more productive oil fields in the US that we are now one of the top oil exporters in the world. The book came out in 2008, which is the same year that ND starting rocketing up the list of domestic oil producers. And TX just kept putting out more and more as well. Those are now the top 2 oil producers in the US.
The eBook was formatted well with no obvious spelling or grammar mistakes.
Told from the perspective of Bandit Six, as he explains what happened in his past that made him such a famous person. While it takes place in the future, it's told as a first person history. It includes quite a bit of actual history as well. It also has a definite political bias. Or, perhaps not so much a political bias, as much as an anti-stupidity bias. It pokes A LOT of fun at the absurdity of certain views that bear little to no relationship with reality. And during a crisis, such as described in the book, it's almost obscene what some people will foist on others in the name of political correctness.
The book is not only a thrilling military adventure, but quite hilarious in parts. I especially like the "Wife edits" that are randomly inserted throughout the narrative. It's pretty fast paced considering the extended history lessons to give the events context. He kept it very interesting, so the history didn't take away from the action taking the place.
The motivation for events in the latter half of the book, helping open an oil pipeline so that the US would have access to oil, doesn't make sense in today's reality with frakking opening up so many more productive oil fields in the US that we are now one of the top oil exporters in the world. The book came out in 2008, which is the same year that ND starting rocketing up the list of domestic oil producers. And TX just kept putting out more and more as well. Those are now the top 2 oil producers in the US.
The eBook was formatted well with no obvious spelling or grammar mistakes.
December 6, 2020
This is a novel about a plague and climate change hitting in 2019-2020 written back in 2008, from the perspective of an infantry captain in the U.S. Army. This is a flawed book but still great. Probably the best post-apocalyptic near-term book I've read. Strangely prescient in some ways, strangely flawed in other ways -- a few things were exactly backwards, possibly due to changes in the world between 2008 and today.
It doesn't fall into the weird right-wing novel trap of being a manual for revolution (with lots of detailed instructions, product placements, out of place monologues about philosophy, etc. There's some of that, but it's in-context and appropriate.
Book was written in 2006-2008. There's an obvious Hillary Clinton character as President in 2016-2020. The irony is most of the negative things ascribed to her turned out to be bipartisan (Trump did them as well, and some were Obama-type actions); you could have had the same novel with only insignificant changes written as a left-wing post apocalyptic novel. I guess there are universal forms of bad governance.
There were a lot of really unbelievable situations in the book which were somehow explained and made plausible through the story through other implausible situations, but it was consistently entertaining.
A fair number of technical errors throughout the book -- the author had some military background but only up to E-4, and didn't have really extensive personal knowledge of the geography of the areas involved in the novel, but it was still entertaining.
It doesn't fall into the weird right-wing novel trap of being a manual for revolution (with lots of detailed instructions, product placements, out of place monologues about philosophy, etc. There's some of that, but it's in-context and appropriate.
Book was written in 2006-2008. There's an obvious Hillary Clinton character as President in 2016-2020. The irony is most of the negative things ascribed to her turned out to be bipartisan (Trump did them as well, and some were Obama-type actions); you could have had the same novel with only insignificant changes written as a left-wing post apocalyptic novel. I guess there are universal forms of bad governance.
There were a lot of really unbelievable situations in the book which were somehow explained and made plausible through the story through other implausible situations, but it was consistently entertaining.
A fair number of technical errors throughout the book -- the author had some military background but only up to E-4, and didn't have really extensive personal knowledge of the geography of the areas involved in the novel, but it was still entertaining.
June 5, 2013
A near-future SF about an American Army officer stranded in Iran after international crises (bird flu epidemic and global climate change of the new-mini-ice-age variety) cause various levels of societal breakdown. It's written in a breezy, foul-mouthed, funny conversational style which is a good thing because if it wasn't there would be no way I would have finished the thing. It was initially time-suckingly readable despite the (conservative) political ranting (and there were issues that I did and didn't agree with the narrator about there)--but then as things went on I realized the narrator was one of those annoying people who always thinks they know everything and Ringo set up the plot situation so that he was also Always Right and you know how irritating that can be. And there's some pretty vicious stuff here thrown at liberals and at Hillary Clinton (present under a thinly disguised pseudonym as "the B*tch" who destroyed the US Mao-style. I did wonder at one point whether the narrator was being set up as unreliable because of some remarks he made about his Persian concubine (don't ask) which seemed contradictory, but no, I think Ringo expects us to think this jerk is the ultimate hero.
September 29, 2010
Well, this book gets a 5 stars for interesting and compelling, in the action sequences. It evens gets a 4 stars for the parts where he explains things like how farming works. You'd think those parts'd be boring, but they're not. However, when he gets into the politics parts, and even though I agree with almost all of his political beliefs, sometimes it's just too much. I mean, I get that he really doesn't like Hilary Clinton. Fine. But I do believe he crossed the line from where it adds to the story, then crossed the line from where it doesn't help but doesn't hurt the story, and then blew past the line where it is simply distracting.
After I read this the first time, I read another one of his books, which also had amazing action sequences. Unfortunately, that book also had a topic that was woven throughout the story, the way this book has politics, and the topic was, um, an adult topic. And after about a third of the way through, I just couldn't take it. Had to put it away. So, this is likely the only John Ringo book I'll ever read.
After I read this the first time, I read another one of his books, which also had amazing action sequences. Unfortunately, that book also had a topic that was woven throughout the story, the way this book has politics, and the topic was, um, an adult topic. And after about a third of the way through, I just couldn't take it. Had to put it away. So, this is likely the only John Ringo book I'll ever read.
September 23, 2012
I loved this book! In the beginning, you have to wrap your mind around a good bit of military speak. Once you've navigated through that part, the rest of the book is one staggering, geo-political adventure of epic proportion. Banditsix is super cool and twice as smart as most people. I loved the way they filmed the battles they fought and made it into a reality TV show. It is basically a very cleverly written commentary on what would happen if the worst types of politians were in charge when the world goes very crazy in a short period of time. It is shuddering to think that so much order and peace rides on the decisions of our leaders. There is a very conservative tilt to the political aspects of every subject covered. But I have to say, Mr. Ringo is very persuasive in his arguments against organic farming. My eyes were opened a few times to many things I've never considered. I will definitely read this book again!
August 4, 2010
I both enjoyed and really hated this book. It was really different. Very rugged with an interesting perspective and interesting events.
What I didn't like was its incredibly unsubtle political message. That made me rage. RAGE.
What I didn't like was its incredibly unsubtle political message. That made me rage. RAGE.
September 12, 2016
I think this book is a classic. I read this novel while I was in Afghanistan. EVERYTHING they talk about is SO characteristic of the US military and the government. Read this book and think, "Yeah, I could see this happening..."
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