Book: Choosers of the Slain by John Ringo


Third book in a series of military thrillers that I like

John Ringo
Choosers of the Slain
Baen, 2006
ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-2070-3
ISBN-10: 1-4165-2070-8
427 pages
$25.00

Choosers of the Slain is a military thriller and it's the third book in John Ringo's somewhat hokily named "Paladin of Shadows" series. The main character is Mike Harmon, a former navy SEAL. He's a fearsome soldier but not a very nice person, at least in some ways. Since this is the third book in the series (reviews of the previous two are at: 1, 2) there's no reason that a person would start reading the series here, especially since the narrator gives summaries of the previous two books early on in it. It is probably nearly sufficient to say that if you liked the previous books, you're very likely to like this one as well. Like them, it's a bit improbable even by the rather relaxed standards of the genre, but the story is fun and exciting enough that that didn't bother me.

As the book begins, Mike Harmon is a pretty much a benevolent feudal baron in an isolated valley in the Eastern European country of Georgia. His retainers are completing some military training and are now pretty much a modern militia. They have a minor military engagement and then Mike wants to get to work on marketing the valley's excellent beer abroad. But someone high in the American government asks him to do him a favor that requires his unique skills and position. Of course, things are not just as they seem and that starts the main part of the story.

Some people may not care much for the violent sex in the book. But the story is fun and the ending is splendid.


There are a few editing errors in the book. There's a comma where an apostrophe is wanted (p. 14), "lintle" where "lintel" is wanted (p. 198), "extents and purposes" where "intents and purposes" is wanted (p. 210), "fights" where "fight" is wanted (p, 210), and "out-of-ground hover" where "out-of-ground-effect hover" is wanted (p. 384).

Posted: Wed - March 12, 2008 at 08:01 PM   Main   Category: 

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