Customer Reviews
Mike's war on terror, book 5, and it's back in the USA - By: Marshall Lord, 21 Aug 2008 
This is the fifth & currently (August 08) most recent bookin the series which began with "Ghost" & continued with "Kildar." I have seen the series described by the names of both those books & also "Paladin of Shadows." In this book Mike Harmon & his team return to the USA at the request of the President to try to stop a terrorist attempt to attack various soft targets such as Disneyworld with lethal nerve gas.
All the booksin this series feature either counter-terror operations or actual pitched battles against Islamic extremists, & have most of the characters vocally expressing very right wing views. All five of the books have villains who enjoy inflicting sexual violence against women, up to & including rape & murder, & the central character also has sexual tastes which range from the kinky to the completely out of order, so none of the books are suitable for anyone squeamish. "A deeper blue" has rather lessin the way of sex than the first few booksin the series, but the central character appears to like shocking people, for example by openly referring to another character as his "harem manager."
(The reader who has not read the previous books will be thinking "What! Does that mean what I think it does?" The answer is yes.)
"A Deeper Blue", like the second, third & fourth booksin the series, is less outrageous, & a bit better written, than "Ghost" but still pushes the envelope hardin several places. It also, for the first timein the series, presents one of the Muslims caught upin the activities of the terrorists as a decent human being who tries to limit the harm caused by his co-religionists. Nevertheless, as a rough litmus test, if you were strongly against the Iraq war, are very pro-feminist, or even slightly prudish, do your blood pressure a favour & refrain from touching this entire series with a ten foot barge-pole.
Former SEAL Mike Harmon, codename Ghost, after fighting & defeating a number of terrorist plots, has settled downin a remote valleyin the country of Georgia where he bought the local castle.
The area concerned does not actually exist, but if it did, Russian tanks would have been rampaging through it while I was reading this book. I couldn't help thinking "Typical - as soon as Mike & his troops are offin the states Putin invades!"
It turns out that the castle & associated farmland which Mike bought came with some feudal retainers, the Keldara, who accept him as their liege lord or "Kildar" - & if that sounds wierd & anachronistic at the start of the 21st century you ain't read nothing yet.
Since Chechen terrorists are a major nuisancein the area on both sides of the Georgian/Russian frontier, Mike Harmon has trained some of his Keldara as an anti-terrorist militia with the knowledge & support of the Georgian, Russian, & US governments. (This was written at a time when relations between Russia & Georgia were merely bad, which is reflectedin the book, but before they deteriorated into war & invasion.)
During the previous book, an anti-terorist operationin search of stolen WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction) led that militia into a pitched battle with a brigade of 4,000 Chechens which resultedin heavy casualties on both sides. The Keldara won, but at the start of the book Mike has locked himself away, grieving because a girl he wasin love with was one of those killed.
Mike & the Keldara had previously smashed a criminal conspiracyin which senior figuresin the governments of most of the world's most powerful governments were implicated. The guilty individuals concerned have been quietly removed from power, but now Mike Harmon has both friends & enemiesin all those governments. The pricipal effect of thisin "A deeper blue" is that John Ringo can fantasise about his characters being able to say exactly what they think to assorted idiots, stuffed shirts, liberals & left-wingers (I am not associating these concepts, but the book does) & any appeal to higher authority on the part of those outraged at such comments hits a brick wall.
Initially Mike Harmon does not want to respond to the request to go back to the USA & hunt for nerve gas, as he is too busy grieving. But he allows some of his people to go, & when two of them walk into a trap meant for Mike, anger snaps him back to himself: the terrorists soon won't know what hit them.
One or two of Mike's old friends from "Ghost" also make an appearencein this book.
The full "Paladin of Shadows" series currently consists of
Ghost
Kildar
Choosers of the Slain
Into the Breach
A Deeper Blue
John Ringo normally writes military SF & most of his offeringsin that genre are extremely good. This series is about a freelance war on terror. In places, & especiallyin the first book, Ringo seems to bein grave danger of crossing the line between challenging the reader & going out of your way to see how many people you can offend. That goes even for his existing fans among military SF readers, who are probably neither the most prudish or left/liberal of audiences.
In fact the funniest part of "A Deeper Blue" & all the other booksin the series from "Kildar" onwards is not part of the main text - it is the disclaimer at the start of the books which at least demonstrates that Ringo understands & has a sense of humour about the controversy "Ghost" stirred up. That disclaimer is worth quotingin full, it reads as follows:
"This is a work of fiction. All the characters & events portrayedin this book are fictional, & any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental. This book & series has no connection to reality. Any attempt by the reader to replicate any scenein this series is to be taken at the reader's own risk. For that matter, most of the actions of the main character are illegal under US & international law as well as most of the stricter religionsin the world.
"There is no Valley of the Keldara. Heck, there is no Kildar. And the idea of some Scots & Vikings getting together to raid the Byzantine Empire is beyond ludicrous.
"The islands describedin a previous book do not exist. Entire regions describedin these books do not exist. Any attempt to learn anything from these books is disrecommended by the author, the publisher & the author's mother who wishes to state that he was a very nice boy & she doesn't know what went wrong."
Incidentally, that line about "any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental" is a classic example of a blatantly false statement which escapes being a lie only because both author & reader know that it's a legal fiction which he has to write & makes no attempt to fool anyone. Osama Bin Laden & Vladimir Putin appearin these books under their real names, certain other characters will instantly be recognised by any politically aware reader as corresponding to real world US politicians.
As mentioned, all five booksin the series contain a great deal of violence, strongly expressed & very right-wing political views, & references to sex which are always utterly politically incorrect & sometimes fairly explicit. My copies of these books are stored where my children can't get at them & will be until they are adults.
Provided you are not offended by the sex, violence & non-PC attitudes, these books can be quite exciting & entertainingin places. But I would advise feminists, left-wingers, & anyone even slightly prudish to save your money for something else.
Just not as good as the others. - By: D. G. Tierney, 18 Jul 2007 I love John Ringo books, one of the few authors I pre-order. I have really enjoyed the previous Paladin of the Shadows novels, but this was just not as good. Don't get me wrong from any other author this would be a solid 5 star book, but I expect more from Ringo.
Ghost seems to try to take on all the bad guys single handed, despite the presence of the Keldara; there is less 'sex', less babes, less believable action, less conflict, less good action, on the whole its just less than the previous books, & less than Ringo can do.
