Gust Front

John Ringo

Apr 2001 · Legacy of the Aldenata Book 2 · Baen Publishing Enterprises

About this eBook

The aliens had arrived

With gifts, warnings, and an offer we
couldn't refuse....

Our choice was simple: we could be cannon fodder, or we could be ... fodder. We could send our forces to fight and die (as only humans can) against a ravening horde that was literally feeding on its interstellar conquests¾or remain as we were¾virtually weaponless and third in line for brunch.

We chose to fight.

Thanks to alien technology and sheer guts, the Terrans on two worlds fought the Posleen to a standstill. Thank God there was a moment to catch our breath, a moment, however brief, of peace¾.

Now, for the survivors of the Barwhon and Diess Expeditionary Forces, it was a chance to get some distance from the blood and misery of battle against the Posleen centaurs. A blessed chance to forget the screams of the dying in purple swamps and massacres under searing alien suns.

For Earth it was an opportunity to flesh out their force of raw recruits with combat-seasoned veterans. Political, military and scientific blundering had left the Terran forces in shambles-and with the Posleen Invasion only months away, these shell-shocked survivors might be the only people capable of saving the Earth from devastation.

If the veterans had time to lick their wounds.

Because the Posleen don't read schedules.

At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).

Ratings and reviews

Another great book in the series. The first third has a lot of old friends from the first book and moves somewhat slowly compared to the first book and the rest of this book. But, the next half of the book bounces around among mostly new characters in various units and locations as they do battle with the invaders. The final sixth of the book details the defense of around DC and unites several of the new characters with some of the old. We finally see some of the thinking behind the tactics of the Posleen, which made their part of the story more interesting. I'm getting the distinct impression that the Darhel are actually behind the Posleen, maybe as an experiment that got out of hand or something. I really don't trust the Darhel at all. The Indowy and the Himmit I think are trustworthy, but not the Darhel. Ringo did a good job with the battle scenes and the troop interactions. He glossed over the politics, but I'm not into politics that much and the cloak and dagger stuff was kept to a minimum. There was an extraneous chapter about an Iranian defense of a pass that should have seen the cutting room floor. All in all, it flowed well and didn't seem to be as long of a book as it actually was. The eBook was formatted well with no obvious errors. The maps are all at the back, which I didn't realize until I was done reading. Thanks to Baen for the free library and CDs.

Takes over where Heinlein left us in Starship Troopers. a whole solid coherent most excellent universe with a very difficult alien enemy. Excellent writing

Fucking awesome, few books get my blood pumping like this one did. Truly a great read, I highly recommend to anyone who loves Mil Sci-Fi.

About the author

John Ringo is author of the New York Times best-selling Posleen War series which so far includes A Hymn Before Battle, Gust Front, When the Devil Dances (New York Times best seller), and Hell's Faire (New York Times best seller), and is the hottest new science fiction writer since David Weber. Among his other novels for Baen are Into the Looking Glass, the fantasy adventure Princess of Wands, the Council Wars series, which began with There Will Be Dragons, and the Kildar techno-thriller series, which began with Ghost.

His collaborative novels include Von Neumann's War with Travis S. Taylor, Cally's War (New York Times best seller) and Sister Time with Julie Cochrane, the New York Times best selling Prince Roger series with David Weber, which began with March Upcountry, and The Road to Damascus with Linda Evans.

A veteran of the 82nd Airborne, Ringo brings first-hand knowledge of military operations to his fiction. He had visited 23 countries and attended 14 schools by the time he graduated high school.