Deux ex maschinas

I've read the E-book version. Honestly, I'd recommend everyone just read the E-book version.

Since this is my first time through, I pushed Page Down through a lot of the human relationship stuff and just read the battles (I tend to catch up on everything else from 2nd reading onwards).

The brilliant part was the container ship carriers(effectively an extension of the WWII merchantmen conversion idea). They are large enough and allows China to get a more or less credible anti-US Navy capable naval force at least a decade before otherwise.

Nice idea, but somewhat squandered because changing from the current world alignment to even his initial alignment for the war will take years, and that's from 2007, not from 2002-2003 like his book. At the very least, it'd take years to get the T-80s, the Su-35s ... etc. But that's OK, because we want a real battle, right?

The battles with the ordinary equipment was handled fairly well. It is immeasurably better than Clancy - maybe it is the enemies actually using their brains and having something that is acknowledged as being capable of hurting Americans. Quite unlike Clancy from Executive Order onwards (and to a lesser extent before).

The whole story does reek of the typical "We are the good guys, as are a select few allies (not even the whole allied body). Enemies are utter evil (China and the Muslims this time). People that aren't our allies will absolutely be proven wrong (Russia, Japan, France ... etc)" But this is an American story.

However, the guy's engineering expertise does not show. For example, the entire IDEA of a VLS is to avoid the mechanical complexities, delay, and failures of mechanical loaders to-fire. Having reloads (even Russian style rotary) is a step BACK from the VLS concept - he should have described the Chinese ships as having 50 conventional launchers, not VLS.

But that is nothing compared to the unrealistic warp progression of tech. He gives the Chinese a supercavitating torpedo (hydrodynamics, propulsion...) far in advance of anything in service today, a "tai shi" gravitational anamoly detector (electronics, basic physics) with a ~200km range, as well as ground mobile anti-ICBM capability (aerodynamics, rocketry). But if China had the ability to develop ALL this stuff, the interlocking tech requirements of the breakthroughs actually would mandate the Chinese being AHEAD in much of the overall tech spectra

In fact, soon the Chinese pioneer so much stuff one wonders how the Americans can fight back. At this point, the author's tactical imagination breaks down, and he invents less and less plausible deux ex maschinas for the US to redress the balance.

And here we bring it to the unrealistically short developmental cycles. An entirely new family of supercavitators within maybe 5 years. In that time, satellites became space frigates. Even he sometimes realizes that this is too fast and rationalizes it by suggesting prototypes were being thrown into combat. But he then blows it by having those prototypes work perfectly nearly every time.

Come to think of it, the forces on both sides had few logistics problems either. The story has a lot of potential (tactical and technological) but not a lot of realistic restraint (logistics and real developmental cycles) to keep it under control.

The guy's Republican worldview is obvious, and he actually bothers to make up a theory just to "scientifically support" the idea illegalizing abortion. No expert here, but I think at this point, the evidence is actually the opposite until ~24 weeks, when the CNS starts operating or something.

In short, badly flawed. Read and dump.

an entirely believable Clancy-esque futuristic thriller

f" (Denver, PA United States) -

Having been intimately involved with this project from its inception several years ago, I have experienced something akin to birthing pains with the publication of each of the five volumes, and this collector's edition represents the end of a labor of love. :)

In all five volumes, Jeff exhibits a Clancy-like gift (actually in many aspects superior to Clancy, to my mind) that allows him to maintain as many as a dozen or more simultaneous story-lines, intricately knitting each separate piece of the larger puzzle together just often enough that the reader 'remembers' the common thread that runs through them all.

He also exhibits a masterful understanding of world history, current events, and military strategy, and a detailed knowledge of missile/ship/satellite/weapons functions, origins, capabilities and terminology.

The human element is also extraordinarily well portrayed. This isn't simply a cold, facts-and-figures account of World War III. During my attempts at editing, I came across many deeply touching, or deeply tragic, or deeply uplifting parts of the story that either brought me to the verge of tears, or left me with a major lump in my throat.

Yet, to my mind, the most appealing aspect of this series is its believability. Anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of the state of the world - especially the obsessive and violent nature of Muslim fanaticism - will be justifiably chilled by the realization that all of the horrors contained within the covers of these volumes are not out of the realm of possibility.

Yet (even more importantly), anyone with a belief in God, and the understanding that, no matter man's arrogant undertakings, He is always in control, will close the books, after reading the final chapter, reassured that, so long as we as a nation look to Him for the strength, wisdom and guidance to face any foe, He will provide us the necessary tools with which to prevail.

Jeff Head has written a superb account of possible catastophic future events, but has tempered it with an optimism that leaves the reader both recognizing the need to confront the evil in this world, and understanding just what it will take to defeat it.

Epic World War III Techno-thriller Saga

Having read and reviewed all five volumes of this series, I can truthfully say the entire tale kept me enthralled, interested and excited right up to the end.

As the freedom loving republics of the world engage in a seven year long struggle against the greatest tyranny, enslavement, and atrocity that the world has ever known...you find yourself wondering right up to the end if the enemy will not pull something out of the hat to reverse things. And they do pull horrific things out of the hat that come close to undoing all of the progress made thriller genre...but to anyone interested in an uplifting experience regarding the points I just made.

Thanks a lot Mr. Head...you provided me with days of great reading and left me with good feelings, despite the concerns raised political circumstance.