To Sail a Darkling Sea

I've tried writing this a few times, but it doesn't come out right. Fuck it, I don't care.

I don't like John Ringo. His views on just about everything seem to be in direct opposition to mine. He's welcome to them, but it gives me a knee-jerk reaction to anything associated with him.

Even with that I thought this was a fantastic book. Once I started it I couldn't focus on anything else until it was done.

There are a few problems though.

Halfway through to book I thought maybe the wife (Stacey) died in the first book because she hadn't made an appearance. There was only one reference to her too. I understand he's giving her her own chapter in the dead tree version. Maybe that will help some, or maybe it will feel shoehorned in.

The Faith (Shewolf) Smith character is a kind of Mary Sue, or maybe she is an actual Mary Sue (idealized representation of the author). Whatever she is, she's just unbelievable as a character. If the character was a little older, say 17 instead of 13, she would feel more real for me. From the first book to this one she's seemed unbelievably mature. Sophia (Seawolf) is actually a much more realistic character. I can more easily buy into her, although it would be better if she were a few years older too. Maybe there's someone out there that's met 13 and 15 year old girls that have that kind of maturity; anything's possible.

The biggest issue and the one thing that really kept this from being a 5-star book is the lack of any real climax. I'm sure that this is just the second in a long series, but that's not a good excuse. There were any number of places in this book that could have made for an effective climax, John just decided not to go there. So the “climax” we were given was effectively... a medal ceremony? Speaking of, how bored are the people stuck in the hole that they have time to design medals?

Still haven't figured out why I like these books. Little or no regular plot, just a litany of day-to-day maneuvers, unrealistic characters and situations (seriously? on the water for months and months, and no STORMS?). But I do like them.