![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
_Kildar_, John Ringo
_Princess of Wands_, John Ringo
_Ill Wind_, Rachel Caine
_Kildar_ is not SF. It's a sequel to _Ghost_, which is also not SF. These are present-day male power fantasies involving a superheroic ex-SEAL who slices, dices and screws his way through adventure after adventure, amassing wealth, women and loyal followers as he goes. Also notable for attempting to use the rec.sex.bdsm faq as a plot guide. If you like that sort of thing, at least these are competently written.
_Princess of Wands_ appears to be Ringo's attempt to do the same thing for a female audience. Though it is packaged as a novel, it's really two novellas and a short story -- well, _Ghost_ was similarly handled. The protagonist is an early-middle-aged conservative Christian mother of three who discovers that Jesus Has Given Her Incredible Sexual Prowess!!! Whoops, sorry -- I mean, she's channelling the might of the White God to defeat Evil. Interestingly, she is completely faithful to her incompetent beer-swilling, sports-obsessed whiny arrogant loserschmuck of a husband. And she kicks ass and takes names for the Lord. As all Ringo heroes currently do, she likes H&K SOCOM .45 pistols and Ford Expedition SUVs. I wonder what Ringo has bought in the past year...
On to something good. _Ill Wind_ is the first book in the Weather Warden series by Rachel Caine. The writing is smooth, characterization believable, and magic powerful but not demigodlike. Rules are established and followed. There is a bit of the same "I can't go to the Council of Magic Users 'cause they won't believe me" that you see in Jim Butcher's books, but it does make sense in context. I am awaiting the arrival of the other books in the near future.
Oh, and a reread: _The Virgin and the Dinosaur_, R. Garcia y Robertson. A fun time-travel adventure where the male viewpoint eventually decouples his brain from his gonads in time to notice that the Hot Bi Babe he is pursuing is also Smart and Competent. There's a slightly better sequel.
_Princess of Wands_, John Ringo
_Ill Wind_, Rachel Caine
_Kildar_ is not SF. It's a sequel to _Ghost_, which is also not SF. These are present-day male power fantasies involving a superheroic ex-SEAL who slices, dices and screws his way through adventure after adventure, amassing wealth, women and loyal followers as he goes. Also notable for attempting to use the rec.sex.bdsm faq as a plot guide. If you like that sort of thing, at least these are competently written.
_Princess of Wands_ appears to be Ringo's attempt to do the same thing for a female audience. Though it is packaged as a novel, it's really two novellas and a short story -- well, _Ghost_ was similarly handled. The protagonist is an early-middle-aged conservative Christian mother of three who discovers that Jesus Has Given Her Incredible Sexual Prowess!!! Whoops, sorry -- I mean, she's channelling the might of the White God to defeat Evil. Interestingly, she is completely faithful to her incompetent beer-swilling, sports-obsessed whiny arrogant loserschmuck of a husband. And she kicks ass and takes names for the Lord. As all Ringo heroes currently do, she likes H&K SOCOM .45 pistols and Ford Expedition SUVs. I wonder what Ringo has bought in the past year...
On to something good. _Ill Wind_ is the first book in the Weather Warden series by Rachel Caine. The writing is smooth, characterization believable, and magic powerful but not demigodlike. Rules are established and followed. There is a bit of the same "I can't go to the Council of Magic Users 'cause they won't believe me" that you see in Jim Butcher's books, but it does make sense in context. I am awaiting the arrival of the other books in the near future.
Oh, and a reread: _The Virgin and the Dinosaur_, R. Garcia y Robertson. A fun time-travel adventure where the male viewpoint eventually decouples his brain from his gonads in time to notice that the Hot Bi Babe he is pursuing is also Smart and Competent. There's a slightly better sequel.
