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| The Last Centurion | 
 enlarge | Author: John Ringo
Publisher: Baen
Category: Book
List Price: $25.00
Buy New: $14.50
You Save: $10.50 (42%)
New (37) Used (13) Collectible (2) from $12.48
Avg. Customer Rating:  59 reviews
Sales Rank: 22288
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 448
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.4
ISBN: 1416555536
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9781416555537
ASIN: 1416555536
Publication Date: August 5, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
In the second decade of the twenty-first century the world is struck by two catastrophes, a new mini-ice age and, nearly simultaneously, a plague to dwarf all previous experiences. Rising out of the disaster is the character known to history as “Bandit Six” an American Army officer caught up in the struggle to rebuild the world and prevent the fall of his homeland—despite the best efforts of politicians both elected and military. The Last Centurion is a memoir of one possible future, a world that is a darkling mirror of our own. Written “blog-style,” it pulls no punches in its descriptions of junk science, bad strategy and organic farming not to mention all three at once
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| Customer Reviews: Read 54 more reviews...
 Moral History of the Next Decade July 28, 2008
60 out of 72 found this review helpful
The Last Centurion (2008) is a standalone SF novel of the near future. It is set about a decade from the present when two natural disasters hit simultaneously: a virulent disease and solar cooling. It is presented as the draft of an autobiography by the main character, but also has a few comments by his wife (whom we never meet, although some hints are given).
In this novel, Bandit is the scion of farmers. He grows up on a farm in southern Minnesota, is the captain of the high school football team and goes to agriculture college on a football scholarship. Since pocket money was scarce, he joins Army ROTC and receives a small stipend.
Bandit graduates with a degree in Agronomy and is commissioned as a Second Lieutenant. The Army sends him to Infantry Officer Basic course and then to the Third Infantry Division in Savannah, Georgia. Soon his unit is deployed to Iran. He enjoys the tour, although two of his troopers are killed in action.
Returning to Savannah, Bandit is promoted to First Lieutenant and attends the Advance Course and Jump School. Then he is sent to the Ranger course. When he returns to his unit, they are preparing for another deployment. Since he is too senior for a line platoon and too junior to be an Executive Officer, Bandit is assigned as the Assistant Operations Officer of his battalion.
The S-3 himself is a wuss, so Bandit does all the work. He learns a lot about training and operations while holding down the job, but this tour is not as much fun as the previous one. Returning to Savannah, he is still the Assistant S-3, but his new boss knows what he is doing and passes on his knowledge to his subordinates.
The next time he is sent to the sandbox, Bandit is given command of the battalion Scout Platoon. Since the battalion commander is using this platoon as his own special ops unit, Bandit has a really fun tour, kicking down doors and ambushing insurgents. He returns with scars and a Purple Heart.
In this story, the weather is turning cold. Although the President's party is still crying global warming, the Army meteorologists have gotten word that the Sun is cooling down. They start planning for another (hopefully not full blown) ice age.
The Army has also gotten word of a new form of Asian Bird Influenza that can be spread via humans. It can lie latent on doorknobs or other surfaces for up to four days and then show no symptoms in the infected individual for another three days. It is spreading as fast as the refugees from the infected zones.
Worst, the flu mutates rapidly and all current vaccines are mostly ineffective. The Army inoculates all its troops, despite their griping, with an experimental vaccine that uses a different and more effective approach. When the flu hits the USA, almost every soldier (and every other American serviceman) is immune to the disease.
This story is written in the first person, so most of the story is an expression of Bandit's opinions on the Army and politics. And his POV is pure Army, raw and unforgiving. It is also filled with expletives, but what can you expect from Army veterans?
The tale describes the ineffectual approach of the President of the USA in great detail. Unless the reader likes this level of exposition, these segments are going to be boring. In fact, much of the story is filled with such detail.
The President is a female and obviously based on a specific liberal politician. Naturally, this story is fiction, so the author can craft his plot any way that he prefers. However, hardcore democrats may well be offended by this tale. Note that some Democrats are presented as savvy and responsible leaders.
This tale presents a set of theories about politics, cultures and personalities within the story. Bandit's judgment tends to be moral rather than philosophical or political; that is, he judges other persons by how they act toward their fellow human beings rather than by their words. Of course, most sensible people do the same.
The terms "grasshopper" and "ant" -- as told in the wellknown fable -- are used to describe the behavior of some people. Bandit seems to be referring to the two extremes in a moral continuum of relationships, ranging from self-centered to universally acceptive. Bandit tends to overlook the majority in the middle. In this regard, he is very like commentators on talk radio.
Every living human acquires a moral sense after birth (or is not likely to live very long without intensive care). In the beginning, each infant discovers that they are helpless to provide for themself and thus is fully self-centered. This basic state of morality may expand over time to include other people (see The Psychology of Moral Development).
Such moral development is learned, usually from the parents and other significant persons. Thus, morals reflect cultural influences. Of course, morals differ between cultures and even between subsets and individuals within each culture, but the basic pattern is much the same throughout each culture. Indeed, such beliefs define the culture.
Many readers may be very uncomfortable with the level of action and polemic in this story. Although one may agree with much that the author says, the tale is packed with political and moral commentary (as is this review.) The reviewer is obviously a fan of the author, but this work may be a little too much exposition for fiction.
However, this work has exemplars. It is very much like an updated version of Starship Troopers, both in the action and the polemic. If you like Heinlein, you will probably love this book. Enjoy!
Highly recommended for Ringo fans and anyone else who enjoys tales of close combat, moral persuasion, and political fables.
-Arthur W. Jordin
Dead Bang Winner July 31, 2008
35 out of 44 found this review helpful
I knew absolutely nothing when I picked this one up. In fact I hadn't ever read anything by Ringo, nor had I any desire to. It was because of this that I was completely blown away by The Last Centurion. Right from the beginning the narration is an in your face, upfront and honest account of one soldier's opinions, experiences and ultimate effect on various countries during an apocalyptic near future in 2019-2020.
Initially I was reading greedily, not even knowing where the book was going. This was because the book is broke into three sections. The first is a background story to establish the foundation to Bandit Six's experiences in the army in 2019. Very honest and upfront, section 1 is a scathing commentary on the world and, more importantly to American readers, the United States from today, mid 2000s, to the time of the Bird Flu breakout. Using today's issues as the source, Bandit 6 comments and explicates on such issues as Global Warming, Gulf War, Middle East Relations, Hurricane Katrina and so on. There is so much history and information packed in that I couldn't help googling a lot and reading up on these subjects as well. As great as the brutally honest commentary was, after a while I started to wonder if this was the whole book, which if it was then I no longer wanted to keep reading another 300 pages of just that. And Ringo's transition into section 2 came exactly then, well placed, and led to such a great account of Bandit 6's exploits in the Middle East.
Section 2 was the meat of The Last Centurion and it was a wild ride. One scene in Iran, when Bandit came out to attain some "help", was a classic scene of a no fear soldier in the midst of bullets whizzing all around him. I will remember that scene for a long time to come. Without revealing anything, the plot from here on out, coupled with the unique narrative style, completely draws the reader into the story. Emotions are evoked, pages are greedily turned, and the plot is so action packed that I was sad to have finished the last page and there wasn't any more to read.
I will most certainly look into more of Ringo's books and see if I can find some similar writing style and narrative to this one. A definite recommend for all readers.
5 stars.
 Centurion fails on style August 8, 2008
21 out of 37 found this review helpful
As I'm a huge fan of Mister Ringo's work, so this really hurts me to say. This book was the worst by him that I've ever read.
Don't get me wrong. He remains one of my favorite authors but the style, not the substance, of the storytelling in this book was a huge turn-off. The substance of the story, told more actively, would no doubt have been better for me.
To be clear, my comments are not meant to be an attack on Mister Ringo or to tell him what to write. As a reader, that's not my place. What I will do is say what didn't work for me as a reader and why.
The majority of the book is narration rather than the protagonist doing something. That made every character seem two-dimensional, even the protagonist. The protagonist spends the first third to half of the book telling the reader what has happened in the world to set the scene for the protagonist's plight in a blog-like manner and detailing the world-wide disaster. By setting up, I mean having the protagonist rant and preach against the evils of liberalism and how it almost destroyed the world.
I can live with the far-right rant, as it is a character's point of view and thus biased. I even agree with many of the flaws attributed to liberals. What I don't agree with is the preachy tone of a narrator telling me how liberalism is the cause for all the world's ills for chapter after chapter. It gets old real fast.
Readers can figure out what causes issues for a protagonist and what to think about the actions of the characters in the book. That is what a reader does.
All that being said, I'll still be waiting for his next book with bated breath, hoping its back to the style and quality I love, but I have to recommend people pass this one by.
Stop - you will be disappointed August 14, 2008
20 out of 52 found this review helpful
If you are a John Ringo shoot up the aliens fan don't buy this book. If you are a science fiction fan don't buy this book. If you are a scientist or an engineer don't buy this book.
Who should buy this book? Good question, perhaps those that think Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter have gone soft on the liberals?
So far, I have made it though 109 pages and it possibly the worst book I have ever read. Imagine 109 pages of free verse. Bad free verse.
Mr Ringo posits that a woman has become the President of the United States. Guess who? Yep her. The entire world falls into ruin because of her, millions die,etc. Why - well she is some sort of feminist, dyke or something like that and she doesn't listen to men. I am sure he wrote about this scenario as it seemed likely to occur as he wrote his first draft (I am not sure if he ever edited his first draft?). The erroneous scenario is likely due to the publishers deadline. I imagine Mr Ringo is even more appalled by the current political candidates.
I have read many of his earlier works and enjoyed them for what they were, modern shoot 'em ups. This book is strictly a political diatribe and was unworthy of being published. Shame on me for buying this book, I have inadvertently supported this drivel and he may write another one like this
Save your self some money, it would be better to just donate a few bucks to whatever fringe right wing cause you support. Don't support fringe right wing causes? Well, write a book to contrast Mr Ringo's position, because after wading through this it is clear, anyone can write a book and get it published.
Damn Good Story... August 1, 2008
17 out of 21 found this review helpful
What more can be said?
Written very much "blog style" by "Bandit Six", "The Last Centurion" is a story in three parts. The first part is the "framing" story, of how bad the world gets. The triple-whammy of a plague, a fast-upcoming global ice age, and utterly clueless White House very nearly destroys things and wrecks the nation.
The second part is the Thrilling Heroics-basically the 10,000 with tanks. Trapped deep in Iran due to a foolish White House, with the crap getting deeper and deeper, Bandit Six pretty much drives from Iran to Iraq to Turkey, and reshapes the Middle East. All with a touch of very black humor and very sardonic comments on the nature of the area. The little anecdotes have the feel of somebody that has actually Been There and Done That.
The third part is the "cleaning of the temple" portion of the book. The black humor is very, very apparent and Bandit Six has a good level of navigation of the whole "Puzzle Palace" that eventually culminates in the last battle of the book.
If there is a issue to the book, there are so many statements that Bandit Six makes (references, for example) that a Tom Kratman or Michael Crichton-style set of endnotes of his cites would be very useful, since the book does not have hyperlinks.
Good reading, I recommend.
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