The Tuloriad

I say this affectionately: this is a piece of junk science fiction. Space opera. Rail guns and decapitations and swearing and space ships with boobs (really). Anybody who tries to critically deconstruct Ringo's militaristic science fiction probably doesn't get The Terminator movies either. I remember a movie reviewer complaining about the violence in those movies once (think ... Ahnold ... killer cyborgs ... apocalyptic end of the world - WHADDYA EXPECT!!!???). Same with Ringo's work.

The Tuloriad is actually one of Ringo's (and Kratman's) more "cerebral" pieces in that it takes on the morality of xenocide coupled with religions (plural). The last gasp remnant of the super killer alien Posleen are finally confronted by a Vatican show more sponsored intelligent space ship (with boobs) giving them the choice of religions to which to convert. The Jews have declined sending a representative since they wouldn't want to be coupled with the species that killed 6 billion humans. Islam sends an Imam who drinks vodka (it's made from potatoes so it doesn't count); the Protestants are represented by an apostate Posleen warrior who saw the light (and also had his genitalia chomped off by an alligator in Panama during the fighting against the humans); and the Roman Catholics get a Jesuit priest who is married to the physical avatar of the intelligent battleship.

And then there's the Swiss Guard contingent equipped with mono-molecular halberds, automatic weapons, and a predisposition to womanize.

This book isn't for everyone, but if you like your sci-fi junky, space opera-y, rude and crude, broad and irreverent, you might find this a fun read. show less

A Homeric odyssey back to Posleen home planets ends in a story paralleling the struggle between early Christianity and Roman theology.
The last band of Posleens are rescued by the Indowy, and the Bane Sidhe, and sent on a quest to visit planets that were significant to Posleen history and development. Meanwhile, the humans decide religion is the first step to creating a Posleen society they can work with instead of only fight against. The USS Salem is turned into a spaceship and carries a band of human missionaries with the idea of proselytizing to the Posleens. Before the humans catch up with the Posleens, the Posleens start to rediscover their old gods, whose place the Aldenata subsumed. The Posleens have started to create a a new show more civilization on their planet of origin when Sallie finally catches up to them. The old foes are initially suspicious of each other, but begin to see how similar to each other they are -- in vices as well as virtues.

The storyline focuses on the history of the Posleen. This book is not an action-packed war story with the Posleen. Low in action, military concerns, or battles. Tone is much more humourous than previously. Story doesn't take itself serious between revelations of how the Aldenata created the Posleens.

Christianity and the revived Posleen religion come into direct conflict. The one God King who was capable of learning from the humans -- Tulo'stenaloor. show less

Disclaimer: I received this book as an ARC from the Amazon Vine program.

The Tuloriad is an ancillary novel in the Legacy of Aldenata (Posleen) universe of John Ringo. The Tuloriad was written in collaboration between Ringo and Tom Kratman.

I only knew the basics of the Posleen universe and the premise before taking up this novel. In the Posleen series, alien races make first contact with man, in an effort to manipulate them as warriors against the galaxy-wide threat of the centauroid Posleen, an aggressive warrior species. The novels in the series, in its main lines and its side branches, explore the war between the Posleen and the humans, and other conflicts as well.

The Tuloriad is set after the Posleen have been evicted, with enormous show more damage, from their occupation of portions of the Earth.The novel follows two strands--a group of humans sent by the Pope to try and give the Posleen a human faith in order to try and civilize them, and a group of the Posleen fleeing after the disaster of the invasion of Earth.

While the military SF aspects of the book and some of the technological speculations and ideas are most interesting (high tech halberdiers for the win!), the rest of the novel is weak and underwritten. Although while I found the sentient embodied AI the most interesting single character, I didn't feel the human "mission" to the Posleen as interesting as the Posleen exodus thread. They were necessary to the finale, but otherwise could have been excised completely.

There was a good novel in here, or bits of one, but its hard to find.

The other problem with the novel is the afterword. Niven says that the technical term for someone who attributes the POV of a novel and its characters to its author is "idiot". However, the afterword makes it clear that the tone and themes of the novel is, indeed, a feature and not a bug.

There are novels and authors who manage to use their faith and religious beliefs in a positive and constructive way.

In this novel, and especially in its afterward, the authors instead use it like a bully club against anyone of divergent beliefs, Muslims and non-believers in particular. If I had read the afterword first, as I sometimes do, I would not have continued with the novel at all. Which is a shame because, despite the weaknesses I said above, there are a few things to find and enjoy in the novel and I would have missed them.

I find I have no desire to return to Ringo's Posleen universe, although I suspect devotees of the universe will enjoy this volume far more than I did. show less

In which a band of surviving Posleen go on a long, long voyage, a band of humans chase after them with a whole new sense of divine mission, the Posleen get religion, a decades old warship newly semi-mortal makes new friends and learns to forgive, and the authors reference Greek mythology, various ancient religions, Douglas Adams, and Star Trek.

I was interested to see the reviews aren't particularly strong. True, it's not as action-packed as most of Ringo's, nor as fast paced. The whole dual timeline thing takes a bit of getting used to. (I don't usually pay a lot of attention to chapter dates - but the plot makes a bit more sense if you do.) Polygamy, married priests and jabs at various religions, feminists, governments, and show more nationalities aside (and if you're going to take offense at those, why are you reading Ringo to begin with?), it's an enjoyable read. show less

This book's underlying premise isn't really my thing. The escape of the remnants of the Posleen works for me, and I think holds together. However, I'm unconvinced by a religious mission setting out after the Posleen to convert them to one of the Earth religions. That just seems a bit far fetched to me. However, this book is rescued by the insights into the Posleen's history that it offers. Its worth wading through the other stuff that isn't all that interesting just to find out a bit more about how the characters ended up in this state.

http://www.stillhq.com/book/John_Ringo/The_Tuloriad.html

A bit too preachy, but overall not a bad addition to the series.

Hmm an intelligent Posleen Commander with a group of smart centaurs trying to rebuild the posleen civilization, I like that, the romance part about the father and ship .. I don't like :DMore fighting and less romance , come on RINGOI've finished the book, and COME ON RINGOBlah Blah Blah , Religion, Blah Blah Blah Faith , a little battle, again the crap cycle continues.This book is crap, there are few battles once in a blue moon which are allright, mainly one battle was great on the Planet of Heemaleen ? or sth like that, the others sucked too.Don't waste your money buying it, or even your time if you get it as a gift or borrow it from a friend.