The Last Centurion
John Ringo
Baen, Aug 2008, $25.00
ISBN: 9781416555537

The Hell Times confirmed what most thought about a Democrat in the White House, as this time when they got it wrong the cost was the planet. These idiots focused on preventing global warming only it was the Freeze that led to the pandemic environmental disaster and the bird flu global Plague in which the socialized medicine failed everyone. By 2021 worldwide famine has become the acceptable norm.

These leaders failed the military they deployed to the Middle East by abandoning the soldiers in Iraq after widening the mission to Turkey, Iran, and Kuwait. Survival means stealing from the locals who are also struggling for sustenance and looting artifacts to sell on the black market. On our side of the Holy War, few are willing to die for the cause; our adversaries have most of those who sacrifice their lives. Only in America will a TV show surface to showcase The Last Centurion unit as propaganda to patriotically bury the embarrassing defeats behind disinformation fog. While the Fat DC Cats talk of hundred year wars, weary soldiers write blogs so the truth may one day be known before the victors rewrite the history books.

Though well written the difficulty for the audience will be to accept the premises that the Liberal Democrats are at fault for the third decade of the desert war, avian flu and global freezing; as if the Bush years did not exist. However, if the audience accepts the shocking prejudicial strong beliefs of The Last Centurion who tells the story in his blog from his perspective as gospel 'historical facts,' the tale provides a compelling austere near future thriller. Those early sections provide the deep understanding of the military officer's mind through his blog writing. Though the ending is even more implausible, fans of Mr. Ringo and the Neocons busy rewriting the history books (at least their roles) will appreciate this cautionary tale in which the author implores bloggers to expose the lies of the power structure.

Harriet Klausner