Don't Hate John Ringo
Mar. 12th, 2008 03:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rowynObligatory 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.)
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.)
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no subject
Date: 2008-03-12 09:13 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2008-03-12 09:38 pm (UTC)Not an easy character
Date: 2008-03-13 07:52 pm (UTC)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.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-19 04:48 am (UTC)RYN: Are they eliminating free ones? Or just not adding to the number?