Book Review: Von Neumann's War by John Ringo and Travis S. Taylor

Once more, John Ringo gives us a science fiction novel that is so far above first rate it is not worth comparing to others. But in this one, he works with a newer author, Travis Taylor, to show both the human side he is so good at writing combined with the scientific side. So the story is technical without causing your brain to explode. The story is rich in both action and personal relationships, watching people grow into the leaders they can be as well as the defenders they should be.

Something has happened to Mars, and that something has some folks worried. Seems that the surface of Mars is no longer as red as it once was and every time we launch a probe, it is destroyed or disappears.  The surface of the planet seems to be covered in some sort of metal, and it is soon found that most of the other planets in our system are suffering from the same problem. And it is headed for Earth.

A team of rocket scientists and a Hooters waitress discover this and working with NASA come up with a way to send a probe to Mars to see if they can get any more information.  They build it in record time, launch it but it is destroyed after sending back only a small amount of data.

The book ranges across excellent rocket knowledge and design to military missions in Iraq and around the world. We get a brilliant look into a 'What If?': What if a race was effectively, by its inadvertent actions, destroying all life on earth?

Mankind has no weapons to defeat these creatures. There are billions and billions of them. They can create more of their own bodies out of material on the ground. Like the ancient Hydra, if you kill one, three more rise to take its place.

So the human race is left with only one weapon, the human mind. This is the only weapon you can truly depend on when facing an opponent as far advanced from you as we are from a spear-chucking cave-man.

As America and the world prepare to fight to the death against an inhuman and emotionless adversary, we still see life going on. People fall in love, get angry, live and die. Heroes are born while others people die.

Article Author: Larry Stanley

Raised in Arkansas and born in Tennessee, Larry Stanley is just a good old boy who still acts like a kid. He writes reviews of movies, books and videos and in his spare time works at inventing a time machine and proving the belief in Supeerman.
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