The War After Armageddon
by Ralph Peters
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Book Reviews of The War After Armageddon
Book Review: First book that I've ever quit reading half way through
Summary: 2 Stars
This book was the first book I've ever read, where I didn't actually finish reading it. Frankly, I got sick of it around 2/3rds of the way through. While many of the things that happen in the book are quite plausible, the two main plot points are taken so far to the extreme as to become absurd.
1. The US turns into a Christian version of equally as bad as radical Islamic states. Okay, I can believe we'd herd every Muslim in the US into camps if a couple of our cities got nuked (it happened in WWII), and I MIGHT even believe that we'd embark on a campaign to rid the world if Islam, but declaring ourselves a Christian Nation, and creating a military unit called the "Maternal Order of Brothers in Christ" is frankly absurd. Seems like the author thinks we're a bunch of bible-thumping hicks in this country.
2. Most electronic technology becomes useless on the battlefield because of jamming and cyber attacks. Seriously, does the author even know how this stuff even works? Okay, on the cyber attacks thing, I think he's seen one to many Hollywood productions. Sorry, you can't just hack into some random system just because there's a computer there. I expect more out of my novels than I do from Hollywood. As for the constant jamming, jamming works by broadcasting another more powerful signal on the same frequency your trying to use. If it happened as often as it does in the book, well, someone would just fire off a bunch of radio seeking missles. If we can do the same thing today if a RADAR transmitter is left on for too long, you can be damn sure we would do the same in an environment like that described in the book.
Book Review: Cumbersome and disappointing.
Summary: 2 Stars
The latest novel by Ralph Peters is set in the not-too-distant future. The details on exactly what's just happened (and exactly who did it) it are not quite covered, which is interesting since we're supposed to give enough of a damn to actually read the book. Instead we get a vague sketch of terrorist attacks and a war, at least some of which is taking place in an around for the former State of Israel. Many of the scenes -- particularly the battle scenes -- are written anemically, with vague descriptions that leave you in the dark as to the scale and detail of the action that just took place. For example, you might find out mid-way through a battle scene that it takes place on a hill at night. Better late than never. Peters seems to think the average reader is a fan of over-reliance on military slang and acronyms instead of a forthright description of what's taking place. On the relatively rare occasion that the scene is set before you're taken into it, Peters does so with sentence fragments. Actually, that's not fair: he uses sentence fragments almost throughout the book, all the way to the end, which is more a cessation of writing than a proper ending (you know, with a climax, or anything else decent to tie it all together). The surprise ending is a first: it's the first surprise ending I've come across about which I could not bring myself to give a damn. I guess if you don't mind not having the stage set for you, a writing style that has the feel of sloppy notes, and so many flaws that it appears he got his first draft published, you might enjoy this book. On the other hand, if you don't like things that suck, you might want to stay the hell away.Book Review: A Dark Side of Humanity Warning for Us All
Summary: 5 Stars
Ralph Peters is one of the most accomplished of current writers: fiction, non-fiction, essays, reportorial, and opinion, he does it all with professionalism and aplomb. His previous essays reflect much of what he has set to fiction in Armageddon as a warning for what could come if we are complacent about our future.
In this book Peters sees through a glass darkly, but the scenario is not at all far-fetched, a thought that ought to energize all readers to become more involved.
This book - a forecast of a world after nuclear strikes from terrorists and rogue states - may be less a flight of imagination than a harbinger of terrible days to come.
Some reviewers have mis-cast this work as somehow being anti-Israel and nothing could be further from the truth. Peters is one of Israel's most loyal supporters, and selecting that ground as a setting for a culmination of a terrible confrontation - on many levels - is absolutely germane to the world we face today.
Regardless of the implications for today's world, Peters has produced yet another page-turner in his long string of successful works. Even if one overlooks the highly germane geopolitical implications,the sheer suspense and adroit plotting and character development will entertain and enthrall almost everyone.
Readers will be hooked from the opening sentence to the close, with only one regret: how unfortunate that it had to end! That to me is the mark of an extraordinary work.
I recommend this book to everyone and warn you beforehand: set aside some time to read it because you will not want to put it down!
Book Review: A Brisk Read with Fanatics on Both Sides
Summary: 3 Stars
I have read Peters' War in 2020 three times since it came out in the early nineties. That effort which envisions the U.S. battling an alliance of Japan, South Africa and militant Islamic states has become more doubtful with every year. The War After Armegeddon makes Islamic states the opponent but cleverly creates a new America with fanatic Christians as the country's other enemy. The 'good guy' is epitomized in Lt. Gen. Gary 'Flintlock' Harris whose simple values are meant to cut through the clutter of history, religion, politics and personal ambition.
The backdrop for the conflict is a nuked Israel, dirty bombs in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and most of the major European cities, a radical Christian government, and a reorganized National Guard as the Military Order of the Brothers in Christ (MOBIC). Incredibly all parts hang well together: the premise, the political and religious intrigue, the strategic and tactical conflicts, and even the character development and their reaction to rapidly unfolding events. The prologue and epilogue are used as a device to introduce and solve a mystery which could have been better constructed.
A fun and fast read even though is very dire in its fictional view of the future. One can only hope that in another twenty years this scenario will look as farfetched as Peters' earlier work. Once again, Peters has ably demonstrated his command of military affairs and produced a book which would work well as a graphic novel.
Book Review: This Could Happen -- Scary
Summary: 5 Stars
An old Army Ranger I, and one who dabbled in Congressional politics as a General Election party nominee for the US House, was "captured" by Peters' "The War After Armageddon." This slow, though carefully analytic, reader was fascinated by the correctness of military jargon and hardware, the insightfulness into the world's "great religious struggle," the intrigue of powerful, though not always well-meaning, men, and the crispness of the tale. I simply could not put this read down until I had drunk its fill. And, fill it did indeed.
We are invited to the decisive initiation of the final Crusade which erupts in the near future after a worldwide (including LA and Las Vegas) nuclear holocaust. The Holy Land once again is the scene of a no-quarters-offered conflict between the Muslim East and the Christian West, this time represented by the neo-Crusaders, America's powerful religious far right.
Blending in the events of the last 3-4 years, the reader is crushed by realization that this scenario is well within the realm of possibilities. Peters' on-the-ground, in-your-face experiences over the last 30 years uniquely qualify him to spin such a yarn. I pray he is wrong, but the warning is there.
As one becomes deeply immersed in this tale, he wonders more and more then begins to doubt if "truth, justice and the American way" will be served. Only the reader will know.