Tuesday ~ Book Reivew 35

Good Morning Everyone,

    Hope all is going well. Here is a book review of Apocalypse Unleashed by Mel Odom of the Left-Behind-Series. The book is No. 4 in the military part of the series and is continuation of the Apocalypse Burning.

    In the Apocalypse Dawn, First Sergent Goose Ganders is struck in a military skirmish between Turkey and Syria. He and his rangers are supporting the cause of Turkey and taking heavy causalities. At the same time, rapture occurred as told in the Bible and all the believers are taken alive into heaven by god. The world is in choas and Goose Ganders' wife tries to help as many teenagers cope up with reality as possible looking after her Joey (her son and a teenager) and overcoming the grief of loss of Chris (hear 5 year old son)

    In the Crucible, the story becomes a little more intense. War rises to new scale in which the enemy shoots through all the barrels, Ganders' wife is struck in a series of law-suits because she tried to help people. Dirty secrets about how the war started, who is behind the war, who is Anarchist and such start rising their ugly heads up. First Sergent Goose becomes the American hero at same time winning the wrath of not just enemies but also the CIA and his own Captain.

   In the Apocalypse Burning *Book 3*, a part of world understands and believes that rapture has actually occurred. First Sargent Goose Ganders is exposed to death by his Captain  himself *both of them are best buddies*. Murky secrets about Anarchist keep rising which the Anarchist becomes Secretary General of United Nations. 

    The fourth book, is awesome and brings a honorable yet terrific end to the story. Lots of military action, support to them by their families and lots of Christian stuff.

    Goose Ganders is placed under house arrest when he instead of providing cover for a transport convey leaves it unprotected in his attempt to help people in a village near-by which is set on fire. Though Goose Ganders successfully thwarts the bid to hijack the convey, he looses a few men and hence is placed under house arrest in Rangers Outpost at Harran. Ganders accepts the same, and is talking to Chaplin Miller about christian stuff when the Syrians throw out everything except kitchen sink at the outpost.

    The rangers evacuate from their outpost and start their journey to Sanilufa. The CIA hires assassins to kill Goose. The assassins fire at the chopper carrying Goose. Goose and a few others are thrown out of the chopper due to the blasts and they have to wade through a Jungle keeping both the Syrian Calvary and the assassins at bay. When Captain Remington understand this, his friendship with Goose kicks in and he decides to save Goose irrespective of anything else.

    The families of enlisted men at Fort Benning, put all their weight on the Commanding officers and thereby are given permission to enter the war as support staff. Mrs. Megan (Wife of Goose Ganders) plays very prominent role in convincing the Commanding Officer. When Goose Ganders is in very dangerous a position, when the Ragners are loosing the battle, the Anarchists sends reinforcements in form of UN troops and promotes Captain Remington to rank of Colonel.

    Goose Ganders looses his leg and is highly injured. Yet he finds god, gets a new knee and gains all that he lost. This is the end of the series.

    Hope I didn't spoil the book by giving away too many a details. Enjoy the military fervor and the presence of God which the characters find in the book.

with warm regards
Abhishek Boinapalli

Tuesday ~ Book Review 32

Good Morning Everyone,

    Hope all is going well.  This is Abhishek Boinapalli from Another Author. I do book reviews here on blue-bell-books bi-weekly. 

    Here is a book review of Apocalypse Crucible by Mel Odom of the Left-Behind-Series. The book is No. 2 in the military part of the series and is continuation of the Apocalypse Dawn.

    In the Apocalypse Dawn, First Sergent Goose Ganders is struck in a military skirmish between Turkey and Syria. He and his rangers are supporting the cause of Turkey and taking heavy causalities. At the same time, rapture occurred as told in the Bible and all the believers are taken alive into heaven by god. The world is in chaos and Goose Ganders' wife tries to help as many teenagers cope up with reality as possible looking after her Joey (her son and a teenager) and overcoming the grief of loss of Chris (hear 5 year old son). Find the complete review of Apocalypse Dawn here.
 
    In the Crucible, the story becomes a little more intense. Imagine the horrors of war when the enemy choose to use your dead as weapon against you, when the dead rain from the sky, when the enemies throw armor against you and all you have is the sacred duty to protect your rangers. Even in the aftermath of attack, all in not so well for the First Sergent. He got to take care of his people, fight raging fires, build defenses around the city and understand the complex situation the CIA has thrown them into. All the while, Danielle Vinchenzo of OneWorld NewsNet makes the story of Gander Goose live. Following him, trailing him and making him a Hero, whom the American Citizen worship and also exposing herself to war, to the CIA and to death.

    Back home, Mrs. Gander is in more and more trouble due to the law-suits on her. Due to the messing up of saving a girl from potential suicide. Here the author gives you personal touch of the heart and suffering of kids and people in chaos. Mrs. Gander unable to save the girl *shot by a MP*, facing law-suit for alleged kidnapping of a kid and lots and lots of emotional trauma thanks to her teenager who fled from home at this point of time.
    The Navy Chaplain Delroy Harte, who convinced the Joint Chief of Staff about rapture in the previous book of the series, tries hard to understand the rapture. He goes to extra lengths to find out if the body of his son *Who goes down fighting in another war* is still below the grave-stone / taken by god. He faces the Anarchist who tries to kill him, he is hurt, injured only to be taken into custody by the deputy Sheriff. What happens to him ought to be read in the book. At the same time, the church in the war-zone is growing bigger, more faithful than ever and is becoming one tight knit group.
    The story of Icarus, the secret CIA agent due to whom the war started is all getting murky. With the section - in - charge of CIA Alexander Cody trying to kill him, he is on the run and usually makes strange appearances before Sargent Goose Gander. The strange friendship between the both brings out murky secrets which enrage the commanding officer of Rangers. The remaining agents working hard only to make the entire plot interesting, ensuring that you hate the CIA, you get a glimpse of the Anarchist.

    Well Well, I think I am already giving away too much of the plot. Yet, I am sure you would like to read the book. The book isn't just about the plot. The book needn't rely on plot alone to survive. It got awesome narration, great picturesque description of every event, a humane touch and great characters.

    This book is a must read for every military fiction fan. Have you read this? Liked it? Do let me know.

with warm regards

Abhishek Boinapalli

Tuesday ~ Book Review 31

Good Morning Everyone,
    I am Abhishek Boinapalli (aka AllMyPosts) from Another Author. I am supposed to do bi-weekly fiction reviews on Bluebell Books but my scheduling went haywire. My apologies for the same and here is the review for this week.

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      Guns of Navorone by Alistair MacLean needs no introduction. A fictional story that takes place within real historical context of Dodecanse Campaing. The story based on Battle of Leros about the naval artillery guns of World War II used by Italians and Germany.

    Story revolves around the Allied Commando team, comprising of prized saboteurs *read Andrea*, demolition experts *Dusty Miller*, mountaineers *Keith Mallory* and few other helpers *Casey Brown, Andrew Stevens*
    The mission of Commando Team? To destroy heavy radar-controlled guns that are keeping every Royal Navy's attempt of rescuing twelve hundred men marooned on nearby island of Kheros at bay.

When I heard the book is a classic in military fiction, I lost half my interest. I am of opinion classics aren't for this generation *the generation of Matthew Reilly,  Marcus Luttrel, .. *. When I read in a review, that the book has frequent but non-graphic violence I felt its boring.

When I started going through, much of the book made a little sense. The scene, the set-up, the extra-cautions, the extra-good-mannerisms of the characters all made very little sense. I am accustomed to reading books, where in a single man goes, blows a chopper, destroys a submarine and such.

But what is intriguing about the book is the pain these men took. The pressure under which these men were working. The total disregard to self, the horrible truth about their lives, the way they cope up with themselves, the way they respect their brothers-in-arms, the way they respect their efficient counterparts, the way they don't hesitate to kick some ass, the way the can be co-related with you , me and every other military enthusiastic.
The book kind of feels good and bad at same time. When you understand that these men are kind of invincible, can take care of anyone and everyone, can scale impossible cliffs just by sheer will defying death and injury, can't be captured by well trained efficient German patrols and such is kind of .. you know what.

Added to that the set - up is kind of alien. This is World War II. No satellites, no radio clatter, very little technology used,  .. No enlisted-men vs officers brawl, No difficulties of modus-operandi when men of different nations work together, ...

In all, the book ends on happy note. The Commando Team somehow disable the guns *better say .. blow apart half the town* and provide safe passage to the destroyers attempting to rescue the twelve hundred men stranded on Kheros.

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I wouldn't suggest this book to someone who has just started enjoying the world of Military Fiction. I guess I wouldn't suggest this book to any of my friends either. Let me check what the movie says.

with warm regards

Abhishek Boinapalli  

Tuesday ~ Book Review 30

Good Morning Everyone,


    I am Abhishek Boinapalli (aka AllMyPosts) from Another Author. I am supposed to do bi-weekly fiction reviews on Bluebell Books but my scheduling went haywire. My apologies for the same and here is the review for this week

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APOCALYPSE DAWN: A Novel
Left Behind Apocalypse Series #1

Apocalypse Dawn by Mel Odom from the Left Behind series. Mel Odom is a full time writer with credit for many a books under his belt. Apocalypse Dawn is his first novel in this series.


Acolaypse Dawn is basically a military fiction book, regarding a war (better say hostilities) between Turky and Syria in which the 75th Ranger Regiment, UN peace keeping forces and the Turkish Military come under a surprise but anticipated brutal attack by Syrian Military.


The book feeds you a lot of action from the conflict and yet goes a lot beyond typical military book. In the heat of conflict, when the US Rangers are getting battered, nearly one third of the population of the world go missing. Suddenly dissaper, under the sky with their clothes, gear and such left behind, without any note / warning / time to say bye / ..


The world goes into frenzy and countries blame each other for the vanishings while a section of people understand that this is Rapture as described and find god in the battlefield, on the decks of USS WASP (the ship supporting the Rangers and the marines).  The Russians get ready for an all out war against America and demand that their people be returned.


Amid such choas, the world still keeps going on. The story revolves around U.S. First Sgt. Samuel Adams "Goose" Gander in the battlefeild, Chaplin Harte who tries to explain the concept of Rapture to Joint Chiefs of Staff, Corporal Baker who found god in battle-feild and does miracles, Mrs. Megan (Wife of First Sgt. Goose) who is a counseller and keeps helping the children left behind after Rapture, Captain Remington the Commanding Officer of 75th Regiment in the Turkey-Syria border


The book has all you need from stories of faith, enough of Christianity literature to raise your faith in leaps and bounds, military action, CIA, news reporters, death, struggle, doubts and Apocalypse

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    I do recommend this book for one and all. Got any more books that deal with apocalypse and yet have a little of military in them? Have any wonderful books on apocalypse alone? Do let me know!!

   

    Do I give good reviews? Is there anything I am missing with my reviews? Do I tell a lot of story before hand? Do let me know!! Kindly join me at Another Author


with warm regards
Abhishek Boinapali

TUESDAY ~ Book Review : 29

                    THE DELTA BY TONY PARK

                                                                     

Tony Park writes brilliant thrillers which have an environmental theme plus enough twists and turns to keep you riveted to the last page. His latest, The Delta, is set in Botswana Delta. After a failed assassination attempt on the president of Zimbabwe, mercenary Sonja Kurtje has to go on the run and turns to her childhood home in the Okavango Delta. But her beloved Okavango is under threat by the construction of a dam in Namibia. 
Sonja is recruited to work with an eco-terrorist group determined to stop the dam going ahead. All of this is complicated by the men in her life - her former childhood sweetheart and safari camp manager, Sterling; Martin, her mercenary commander; and a TV wildlife presenter called "Coyote Sam" who gets lost in the bush during a reality show gone wrong. A stunning and breathtaking finale is in store for the reader!