A new addition to the Paladin of Shadows military adventure series by multiple New York Times best seller John Ringo and Ryan Sear. Sequel to Ghost, Kildar, Choosers of the Slain, Unto the Breach and A Deeper Blue.
After saving America from Middle Eastern terrorists, even Mike Harmon and the Keldara could use a vacation. Of course, the Kildar's idea of a vacation includes taking down pirates in the Singapore Straits. But when he finds computer chips designed to run nuclear reactors in the pirate booty, Harmon has a new mission thrust upon him—discover how bottom-feeding thieves got their hands on top secret technology.
The chips are headed for newly democratic Myanmar, a country vital to American interests in the region. Now Harmon finds himself in a desperate race to learn who stole the chips and why. From glittering Hong Kong to the slums of Thailand to the swamps of Myanmar, Harmon and his Keldara team follow a trail of death and deceit across the glittering underbelly of Southeast Asia.
And as the path winds through dark jungle and slave labor camps to the heart of newborn democracy, Harmon must devise a way to prevent the nasty overthrow of a nation's capital by totalitarian tyrants. But if there's one thing Mike and the Keldara specialize in, it's doing what it takes to give freedom a chance.
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Product ReviewThis is a series-killer of a book. Sigh, and I so enjoyed the rest of the books in this series.
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Product ReviewNot only this is by far the worst book of the series, but it also makes the main character an evil person (as noted by kevin) in fact a monster. He uses a torture chamber, rapes prisoners, tortures and kills with glee or indifference, etc etc. I understand the difference between reality and fiction and was able to enjoy the cowboy truculence of the previous books of the series, albeit with some qualms. But this is disgusting.
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Product ReviewExpected better
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Product ReviewFirst let me say that it really pains me to write a negative review of a John Ringo novel, since I've really enjoyed ALL of his series, and his Bolo novel "The Road to Damascus" is one of my favorite books EVER! He's co-written at least 17 books, with authors such as David Weber, Tom Cochrane, Julie Cochrane, and Travis Taylor (More "Looking Glass" books PLEASE!) so it's clear that he CAN collaborate well. Unfortunately, this effort with Ryan Sear resulted in a book that reads like a tourist guide and jumps through an ever more unlikely chain of events as if one author outlined the plot and left the other to fill in the blanks.
I like the Ghost series so much that I bought the music by DragonForce listed in "Unto the Breach" so I'd know what Kacey the helicopter pilot was playing when she "went nuts" on the enemy bunkers. When it comes to the Kildar, I'm a FAN!
Unfortunately, "Tiger by the Tail" is by FAR the weakest of the "Paladin of Shadows" books, or ANY book with John Ringo listed as an author. At times I wondered if I was reading a Ghost novel or fanficton. It's painfully obvious that for the first time in this series John had a co-author, and it's easy to tell which parts that co-author wrote. Every weapon introduced seems to be followed by a sales pamphlet describing its abilities, and the scenery and geography are presented like someone looked at each city using Google Earth, then tossed in a tourist guide or two. We don't need pages of details regarding each location's history and architecture, every weapon's capabilities, and the invention and use of every piece of nifty equipment. (Not to mention my pet peeve: an exhaustive description of what everyone is wearing a la "Wheel of Time" novels by Robert Jordan!)
We're several books into this series and those of us who read this sort of book are familiar with pointy things that go bang, even if we don't have a cache of them in our basements. Yet at times I felt the author(s) didn't think their audience knows what end the round comes out of.
Back to the story, Mike isn't a stupid guy, yet we find him strung along for a good part of this book without a clue that he's got a spy on his hands, despite it being blatantly obvious who that spy is. He should have been properly suspicious of the Chinese "hooker" they pick up early in the book, and they had no reason to keep her around given their need for tight operational security.
The plot simply lost all believability at times - Bad guys: "Let's let the foreigners do all the dangerous but lucrative stuff and let them in on all our secrets along the way!" U.S. Government: "Let Mike go ahead and repeatedly sell top-secret stuff that could lead to nuclear weapons!" Really? There were times where this simply stretched the reader's credulity beyond belief, as a chain of events are presented with a straight face in which evil criminals take outsiders into their confidence, pay them big bucks, then kick them up the chain in the conspiracy. That's not how bad guys survive or become richer bad guys.
I've enjoyed the series even with the graphic sex and S&M, but I found myself skipping over every sex scene in this book. Perhaps it was because I simply had no sympathy for the woman involved, plus she and Mike were both trying to use each other so there was no emotional attachment. I fully understand that Mike can be a very bad man and has a dark side he's not proud of - afterward. In this case the sex scenes were distasteful and boring. The torture scenes were graphic and brutal beyond what Mike has ever done to a prisoner before - onstage at least. The water-boarding was tame by comparison, but at least we readers learn what the term entails.
If Baen were looking at this book cold, they'd never sign the author or publish it. I wish the editor had dug in his/her heels and pointed out the logical fallacies. Give me a tight, tense, BELIEVABLE plot and I LOVE this series. Unfortunately, "Tiger by the Tail" doesn't have any of that. It desperately needs further editing, so I hope the eARC is drastically revised before the book is published. At the very least I hope the tourist guides, fashion statements, and product placement ads are removed.Posted on
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Product ReviewIf it was possible to give this book a no-star rating, I would. It was a waste of US$15.00. It reads like the worst sort of fanfiction, produced by someone who had maybe read a single book in the series.
BAD Bad bad plot, poorly researched locations and a total lack of continuity with the rest of the Paladin of Shadows series demonstrates clearly that John is over the Kildar. I hope that Baen's current editors either ****can its release or insist on a complete re-write. Otherwise, demand the advance(s) back.
There is no way that Jim Baen would EVER have published crap like this.Posted on
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Product ReviewReally looked froward to the continuation of this serries was very disapointed in this work. Should have waited for the cheaper edition.
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