Claws that Catch (Looking Glass, Book 4)

            Working off of a piece of intelligence from the alien Hexosehr, the Vorpal Blade is dispatched to investigate rumors of an ancient and powerful civilization that may have been the creators of the ?black box? that drives humanity's only space ship. Any remnant technology would be nice but what the Blade finds is much more than they bargained for. Worse, the ship is infested by an alien species of scorpion-like arachnoids that has the potential to wipe out a world. Worst of all, instead of being Astrogator, Captain William Weaver is now the XO and he is not getting along with the new commander. And the new commander does not get along with Weaver, the ship's female savant-linguist or most of the rest of the original crew. And what is that weird noise the ship makes every time it's in hard maneuvers?

            Leave it to the oddball geniuses of the Blade to sort it all out. And the Dreen are not going to like the answers.

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

A Bit of Ringo's Mojo Returning, 2008-12-29
This is number four in this series. For some time Mr. Ringo's quality of work has been waning. The criticism of his "There will be Dragons" series made him outright quit the series. The last two books in this series shows evidence of his old self coming back again. Thanks to the use some of the character templates that brought him to the forefront of military sci-fi. Oops I meant Science Fiction. This story advances the series along slightly leaving subtle clues to what's coming next. Its mostly just short story with page fillers: political stuff here, day to day life there. Non the less I cant wait to see what happens next.


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

What Happened to Vorpal Blade?, 2008-12-26
I truly have enjoyed the series so far. That is, until I hit this book.

In the past two books (Vorpal Blade and Manxome Foe) the focus of the characters have shifted from Dr. William Weaver (Into the Looking Glass) to a character not even mentioned in the first book, with the new character Eric "Two Guns" Bergstresser taking over as the star. While this in itself wouldn't normally bother me, the fact that Dr. Weaver becomes a cardboard caricature of what made him so cool in book 1 really gets me down.

There were parts of it I really enjoyed, such as when the space spiders eat the Dreen and the taking of the Dreen "mother ship" by the space Marines. The action scenes, when they do occur, are marvelous and fast paced. The romance behind "Two Guns" and his new wife is superb, though she seems quite mature for a teenager fresh out of high school. Maybe that was just the impression I got...

However, my enjoyment of these scenes was dampened by the Tum Tum tree and the subsequent anime change. It was confusing and slowed the story down immensely, not to mention it was just plain odd. I understand the inspiration behind it, but I felt it was placed into the book to fill space until the action could start for real.

Also, the authors left out Tuffy and Mimi in this book, shifting instead the main "oddness" factor onto Miriam. The voice in her head, while interesting, really can't replace what Tuffy and Mimi as a duo brought to the series. Miriam was a known genius that was played up in earlier books, but Mimi and Fluffy brought a feeling of innocence and power that the character Miriam seems unable to duplicate. I hope that Tuffy and Mimi make a triumphant return later.

One major quibble: Poertena. He was, to me, annoying in the Empire of Man series Ringo coauthored with David Weber. To bring him into this universe, with the same accent, personality and everything, smacks of laziness and arrogance. It's as though the authors suggest that it doesn't matter what they do in the book or how lazy they can be, people will buy it nonetheless.

The problems in this book can and probably will affect the later sales of this series. I'm hoping that the series can go back from "anime" scifi to "hard" scifi that made it so promising initially.


1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Should have been better. Too little action, very slow, 2008-12-22
This is probably the shortest book in the series, and as hardcover's go, very short. Too little time spent on the primary characters, too much time spent on new characters. None of the engaging battles we're used to, just a couple that seemed more like poorly thought out fillers. The primary complaints with the first book: too much time on politics and trying to force-feed us math and physics. Both of those are back with a vengeance.

The books are now following a predictable plot line. Ship explores unknown space. Ship discovers a new [insert world/BDO/Race here]. Ship defends said discovery from Dreen. Just when all seems lost [BDO/new race from recently discovered world/another Ship] saves the day. Same plot in every book in the series. Yes, they are well written, but as the series continues it becomes more boilerplate, and the characters more one dimensional.

In case you don't know, BDO is SciFi speak for Big Dumb Object.

Unless the plots, character development and action improve - and improve quickly - this series is doomed. Doomed I say!



0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

The Vorpal Blade Rises Up One More Time, 2008-12-18
The fourth book in the "Looking Glass" series, "Claws that Catch" continues the story of the spaceship Vorpal Blade (well, Vorpal Blade 2, because the first was so damaged in the previous book, "Manxome Foe," that it had to be replaced) and its crew. The bad news about this book is that it is not a stand-alone book. The good news? All the previous books are very good. The series was begun by John Ringo (the "Posleen War" series) in "Into The Looking Glass," where an experiment in quantum physics goes wrong, destroying much of central Florida, and opening gateways into other realities, many with residents more interested in taking over our world, and seeing humans as simply a annoyance in the way.

Books two and three were co-written with Travis S Taylor, and, together, they tell a good story. Ringo is at his best when telling action sequences, and all four books give him plenty of opportunity to shine. Yet another series to add to your "must follow" list.


1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Now this is John Ringo, 2008-12-11
Why did I use the title I did. Read my review of Kildar. This book as well as the others in the series just makes me more convinced that someone else using John Ringo's name wrote Kildar.

While this book differs a bit from the first three and many Mr. Ringo's other series is that the major mayhem and blood letting is pretty much confined to the last couple of chapters it doesn't hurt the book or series one little bit.

I can't argue with the many reviews that name Mr. Ringo a master of action/war novel but what makes his books and the delay in the action in this particular one a non issue is his characters and the ideals of those characters.

What can I say other then to offer my personal highest compliment by favorable comparing the richness of his characters and the ideals they aspire to to W.E.B. Griffin and Robert Heinlein. Well, at least the early Heinlein.

Yes, sometimes the hero's saving the day in impossible situations may come out seeming more then a little contrived but the fact is Mr. Ringo makes his people so real and interesting you really don't care and you are right there rooting for them.

MikeG

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