Emerald Sea

Herzer, Duke Edmund, Bast, Daneh and Rachel are back and ready roll - literally. On the waves, not wheels. The UFS has a new weapon - dragon carriers - and if all goes well, a new ally against New Destiny. The merfolk who inhabit the coastal waters of Flora are not particularly open to allying themselves with either side, but unlike the UFS, New Destiny comes prepared NOT to take no for an answer.

Not so riddled with typos as There will be dragons, the action is fast enough to keep sleepy eyes reading long past what should be lights out.

This series is an imaginative page-turner marred by some not-even-thinly-veiled politics and a weirdly adolescent take on sex. Nevertheless, Ringo has a great grasp on military techniques, culture, and history that makes me forgive him. I still think men would probably enjoy this more than I did, since they wouldn't have to keep overlooking his, I have to say, offensiveness.

I hate how a series will start off so promising and immediately take a detour to the Land of Fantasy Cliches. Not that this is necessarily a bad work, it is just that there's nothing unique or uniquely interesting about this book. Bit of it were entertaining enough to keep me turning the pages, but you knew who was going to win, who was going to die, and pretty much when all this was going to happen. The work also screams out for hardcore editing. The dialogue, yeecch. Would've made Robert E. Howard embarassed.

The question: will I pick up the fourth book in this series? Dunno. Just dunno at this point.

This book is really a book (Emerald Sea) and a novella (In a Time of Darkness) both of which follow on from There Will Be Dragons. Emerald Sea is more self-indulgent than the previous book, and isn't as strong as the first. It is still quite readable. In a Time of Darkness has a very awkward set of subject matter (the keeping of a harem girl against her will), which will make many readers uncomfortable, and isn't as strong a story as either of the first two stories in this series.

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

Herzer and Co go south to some islands to make an alliance with mer-people to take preventative action against Paul's plans to invade across the ocean.
Ok, no more of this series for me. It was a naval story with dragons. And lots of sex, that didn't have anything to do with the story other than to try to spice it up. Bleh. And mer-maid almost rape. By Orcas. Can you say Bestiality?

This continues the fantasy post apocalyptic story from There Will Be Dragons. In the previous novel combat was focused on Roman legion style land warefare.

Now we move to sea.

With a Dragon carrier and mermen.

Still interesting characters in interesting situations.

Sample Chapters: http://webscriptions.net/chapters/0743488334/0743488334.htm