Don't Hate John Ringo

[rowyn]

Obligatory follow-up post to my last post:

John Ringo is a good author and I'd recommend all of the books I've read by him except for Ghost. Even Ghost wasn't that bad, overall; not as good as his other work, but I enjoyed the first two parts of it. The problem that I had with Ghost is, AFAIK, unique to that novel. Lut tells me it's not even an issue that comes up in the other books in the same series.*

Most of his novels are military sf; there's a lot of violence in them, and the antagonists are often despicable, nasty people who do appalling things, yes. But those are the actionsof the antagonists. The protagonists are generally likeable and decent people who do not randomly do evil things because they're having a bad day.

So please don't take my complaint about one character in one novel as condemnation of the man's entire body of work. I do like John Ringo's books. Just not, y'know, that one. So much.

* Conversation with Lut:
Lut: If you liked the first and second parts of Ghost, you won't have a problem with the later books in the series, really.
Rowyn: You don't understand. I don't like the protagonist any more. If the later books are just going to write off the events of the third novella as unimportant and irrelevant, just like the third novella doesn't make much reference to the events of the first two, then I don't want to read it.
Lut: You want closure.
Rowyn: ... no, I don't want closure, exactly. I don't want Ringo to make it all better, because you can't make that sort of thing all better. But I want acknowledgement that it happened and that it affects the character and his perception of himself. I want it to matter. Does it ever come up again?
Lut: Not that I recall.
Rowyn: Then I don't think I want to read any more of them.

(Although I am kinda curious about Unto the Breech after having two different commenters recommend it, so, I dunno. I'll probably read something else instead. It's not like I don't have dozens of other books I'd like to read some day.)

Comments

[octantis.livejournal.com]

Aw, man! I can return the pitchforks, but they won't let me return all these torches, and the gallows was already assembled. Now what am I supposed to do? >:(

[argonel.livejournal.com]

From what I recall the events that squicked you in Ghost do get referenced, but not as a significant plot point. Mike is remorsefull and becomes a less unsympathetic character. He does still do some pretty reprehensible things so you still have a difficult choice about reading more or not.

Not an easy character

[(Anonymous)]

Dear Rowyn:

Don't sweat it. Ghost was never intended to be an easy character. He really is a very bad man. The degree to which my readers are willing to overlook that because of some of the 'good guy' stuff that he does tells me more about human nature than I'd like.

Your reaction is much more consistent.

I don't like Mike Harmon. I respect him despite his flaws. I think that the world needs people like him. (Among other reasons to hunt people just like him that cause greater damage.) But I don't like him.

The book that might make it more comprehensible is Choosers of the Slain but he's just about as horrible in that one. He just admits he knows he's a horrible person and does what he can to keep from slipping fully into the abyss.

Mike is Hannibal Lechter. He just works for the side of angels.

[level-head.livejournal.com]

I'll bet Mr. Ringo, who commented below, was relieved! ];-)

The author noted below that "Mike is Hannibal Lechter. He just works for the side of angels."

I haven't read the Ghost books -- but I have read the Hannibal books by Thomas Harris. There seems to be a very large difference between the two characters: internal conflict.

From what I've read here, "Mike" is willing to do things he considers terrible, despite that knowledge -- and he has an internal struggle going on over such acts.

Dr. Lechter has no internal conflicts. He will weigh options in deciding what to do, and he turns out to genuinely like and respect Clarisse Starling -- but he never feels anything remotely like remorse. As psychopaths go, he's astoundingly well adjusted and happy. And fact, as portrayed in the books, he's more "well adjusted and happy" than most regular people, it seems, but whose thinking process are so very different from what we consider human.

Mike Harmon seems to be a mixed bag of humanity -- whereas Dr. Lechter is more like something completely alien in human form.

===|==============/ Level Head

[krud42.livejournal.com]

It bugs me when I can't like the main character of a book. Especially if the rest of the book is good. Unless I'm given reason to believe that the character will improve as books go on (a potential premise in the Harry Dresden series, which I've just started.)

RYN: Are they eliminating free ones? Or just not adding to the number?