Choosers of the Slain - John Ringo

Baen, Copyright 2006, 564 pages

ISBN: 978-1-4165-7384-5

Read: November 2011, at age 33

This is book three of a five book series.  Start at the beginning (Ghost) and go from there.  This book is less epically bad than the first, and has a better story than the second.  Still not for kids – this book deals with some pretty nasty stuff.

From the back cover:

Former SEAL Michael Harmon, also known as Ghost, has a pretty good life in the country of Georgia..  With his Keldara warriors keeping the area safe from Chechen raiders, and from the various other terrorists that want Ghost's head on their wall, he can settle back, relax in his harem and drink a few beers.

However, a US senator has a problem.  A "major financial contributor's" daughter has been kidnapped into the labyrinthian depths of the Balkans sex-slave trade.  The US government has been unable to find her and the Senator is very interested in changing that condition.  Five million dollars interested.  But as Ghost and his Keldara warriors blast a gaping hole through the middle of the trade, it quickly becomes apparent that there is more to the mission than a “poor missing waif”.  There’s a rot underneath, and the stench is coming from the very floor of the Capitol.

A war with Albanian gangs is deadly ground.  A war with the US Senate is suicide.  But innocents are caught in the middle and Ghost never believed in fighting fair.

My thoughts (spoilers!):

Characters:

The characters… well, I guess they had enough depth for me to survive reading yet another book about them.  A couple are showing a hint of depth, but mostly they’re pretty faceless competent soldier-types.  The bad guys are no better – mostly they get a short paragraph before they’re shot.

The main character, Ghost, is becoming much more “normal” than especially in the first book.  He still says that he’s a bad dude, but he’s not expressing it, well, ever in this book. 

Setting:

We move between the valley of the Keldara in Georgia-the-country-not-the-state, various loosely defined places in the Balkans, and Las Vegas. 

Las Vegas had a lot of wasted potential. It pretty much consisted of a conference hall, a hotel room, and a high-security airport.  It was pretty loosely sketched in, but laid some groundwork for future plot points, I’m sure.

Georgia consisted of the Kildar’s caravanserai – again, not much of a factor.  Most of the action took place in the Balkans, which was fine, but not particularly memorable.

Plot:

This book reads like a straight action thriller.  It’s set in some pretty rough environments, and involves a lot of slave-prostitutes, but the rough stuff is portrayed as really bad.  The rest of the sex is pretty tame for the series.  Basically the plot is “find the girl by breaking specific kneecaps” and then go in force to get her out.  There are a few cans of worms knocked over for future books to deal with, but it’s pretty straightforward.

Readability:

These are not difficult reads.  Like the rest of the series, these go by pretty quickly.

Overall:

It was a decent action-thriller, but I was expecting more “oh, John Ringo no!” moments.  The main character has gained some reserve, and that waters down a lot of the uniqueness of this series.  It was all right – I had fun – but I don’t think I’d recommend it on its own merits.  I’ll have to see how it stands as book three of five.

Rating: 3

Other Opinons:

As ever, read this: hradzka  
There are… apparently a lot more “Oh John Ringo No” than I’m even noticing at this time.  That’s somewhat concerning, really.