A Hymn Before Battle

Legacy of the Aldenata

By: John Ringo

Narrated by: Marc Vietor

Length: 14 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

With Earth in the path of the rapacious Posleen, the Galactic Federation offers help to the backward humans - for a price. You can protect yourself from your enemies, but God save you from your allies!

©2001 John Ringo (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

Just Plain Fun

I listened to this book while I was recovering from the flu and it was amazingly fun. John Ringo delivers the story in a way which is satisfying for the sci-fi enthusiast the gun geek and arm chair generals alike.

Combined with the masterful reading delivered by Marc Vietor. While I wish there could have been a bit more of range in the voices Marc Vietor did an awesome job of delivering the gruff battle toughened voice of the main character and the click-clack sounds of the "Tchpth".

While I wish I could say I saw the ending coming I did not, however it was immensely satisfying. The action pace combined with intrigue that was woven into the story definitely has me coming back for more!

Enjoyable but not engrossing

I found this novel to be overall pretty enjoyable. The narrator is solid and it seems well written but it hasn't struck any chords with me personally. At the end of it, I'm left not really feeling it's whether I go on with the series or not. Actually, instead of getting the follow-up to this novel I decided to switch gears and listen to The Hunger Games...

I can't recommend the book as a "must read" but it's a solid military scifi novel. I actually really do like the concept of the battle-armored M.I. which is obviously an homage to Starship Troopers but it's unique enough to breathe new life into the concept and very well executed in that regard.

I'll likely wind up listening to the sequels at a later point.

Good story bogged down in details.

I think that for the average reader the details that may have added to the story line for military buffs, got in the way just a little. Other than that, it was pretty good. I guess I was just left wanting more story and less detail about mundane military facts, jargon, and inter-services relationships. Still worth listening to.

Good fun sci-fi

The characters are definitely stock brawny military archetypes, which is to be expected in military sci-do, but the story is a lot of fun and held my interest for sure. The author had very vivid descriptions of action scenes that sucked me in, and seemed to actually have some knowledge of military tactics and structure, which helped make the story credible. The story definitely relies heavily on the trope of humanity as savage, superior warriors, but I found it enjoyable. Would recommend if you're looking for a simple story of sci-fi action.

I listen to the whole series svery Halloween

great series just wish he would write again about the hedren invasion and Michael O'Neil

warning, story never finished.

I like this series but I would never have started it had I known the author has not finished it. That left me feeling ripped off.

Great science fiction writer!!!

John Ringo is one of my favorites and this series is not to be missed.
Great characters, great tech, great enemies excellent reader.

Fan-f#&king-tastic!

this was a fantastic sci-fi war story. I read John Ringo years ago, and forgot how much I enjoyed it. I am looking forward to the next installment.

Pretty good

It’s my first on the ground sci-fi series so I might not have as much to compare with as I should but I really enjoyed the Honorverse and while this doesn’t have as much political appeal and it’s way more bloody the military aspects are all there. It’s solid… it’s not full of unnecessary gore and well written and researched especially given it’s date of publication.

Definitive Ringo

This is military SF written by an author with military experience. If you judge books by PC standards, skip this one. It's violent, pro-military, pro-US, hilarious in places, and extremely satisfying. It's thick with rank, tradition, jargon, and tactical detail, but even if you don't like that it's still worth the listen just to get to the "Immigrant Song" scene.