Islands of Rage and Hope (3) (Black Tide Rising) Mass Market Paperback – June 30, 2015

Black Tide Rising, is just a joy to read. John Ringo’s vision of the zombie apocalypse is surprising and educational. There’s so many great moments, but for me, three stand out: Shewolf clocking an infected while reading a map, without breaking stride; the women celebrities in lockup; and finally Mr. Walker revealing himself. Good stuff.

Despite many more books on my yet to read list than I will ever have time for, some must be re-read. I have thoroughly enjoyed this series, with book 3 being my favorite. The girls maturing. Other key characters growing into the changed world, and some wonderful wins. As always, an exciting ride, with more depth than what on the surface seems to just be gratuitous violence.

OK so I enjoyed it in spite of its flaws. This is the third novel about surviving and rebuilding civilization after a virus created mindless, flesh eating victims - zombies. There are some interesting super hero characters all of whom are impossible to take for real. At age 67, I personally like Walker who at age 70 is still fighting like a Seal, is brilliant and is actually a three star Special Forces general. Prince Harry, now king of England, is introduced at the end. I'm wondering where Ringo will take him in the next novel in the series.I shall not bore you by recapping the plot. This is a pure escape fiction for me. Ringo writes well and mostly held my attention. If I don't take the endless heroics, supplies found just in time, people surviving for months surrounded my zombies, etcetera seriously, it was a fun romp back to teenage fantasy.I rated it a 4. My scale is based on the genre and expectations of the writer. Ringo is case a well known, published fantasy author so my expectations are higher for him than a self published author. A 5 is the Honor Harrington series (Weber) or Starship Troopers (Heinlein). Any book I finish is a 3. 1 and 2 are unfinished degrees of bad. I give this a 4 mainly because of the overdone zombie slaughters etcetera I mentioned before. Tone those things down, give the characters some depth and make the events more believable and I would give it a 5.

MINOR SPOILERS: I can now say (after my last order before this one) that, to the best of my knowledge, I know own every book that John Ringo has written and had published. I had issues with the 'collaboration' with Ryan Sear, so I waited until that one was in paperback. So that gives you an idea of my mindset as far as his books - if you don't own them and read them, then you're probably (as Tom Kratman would say) a tranzi.I do not qualify for that label...Anyway, on to my review of this book.I titled my review as I did because during the course of this novel, Wolf Squadron manages to run into some Gurkha soldiers. In the novel by S.M. Stirling, 'The Peshawar Lancers' - which is an alternative history where the British Empire is now headquartered in India - there is an excellent description of how Gurkha soldiers are truly magnificent warriors ... if they have a proper leader. If you've read the other novels in this series, you remember how Captain Wolf ... er, Smith ... named his youngest daughter after the airplanes used in the British defense of Malta - and how even under the worst case situation, they always had Faith.Well, now the Gurkha warriors that are found in this novel also have Faith to lead them, Faith to guide them, and Faith to follow into war. You'd almost feel sorry for the Zombies ....If, of course, you've already read the other books in this series, what the heck are you still doing reading his review? Go buy the thing already, and read it. It showed up in my mail today, and I started reading it eating supper. Could not put it down - devoured it in one sitting. And will go back and re-read it. We've seen the idiotic movies, like World War Z, and we've had a lot of other movies and books regarding a Zombie Apocalypse. This series is probably the best one about the entire premise. And while you may not like that it's basically about a 13 (soon to be 14, unless she clears Arkansas first) Zombie Killer ... well, keep in mind that while this is fiction, it's a very plausible fiction, all things considered.And yeah, there are bits of expository in the book. I've seen some reviews discussing whether there's too much. Thing is - when it was small, less than really a couple of hundred survivors, then no one WOULD question Faith or Sophia and their rank. But through in some fobbits, and that's when questions start. Add in the general teenager angst that suddenly your peer group doesn't have trust in you .... yeah, the expository was needed.Oh, and one additional minor spoiler - figuring out the actual celebrities was fun. Is it too much that I enjoyed them killing Snooki? (Er, Snoopi ....)

Fast paced and a thrill ride. I have become captivated by this series. I read John Ringo's Aldenata books years ago and he is still the master of military SF.

I can’t say this enough. I really, really love this series. I’m 20 plus years Navy and learned what an SSGN is, just a couple minutes ago. Thanks !!

Zombies drool, teen girls rule. "Under a Graveyard Sky" introduced Sea Wolf and She wolf, the young teen daughters of Steve Smith.Smith, his wife and daughters Sophia and Faith were well prepared when the Zombie Apocalypse overcame our lovely planet. They escaped by sail boat. By the end of "To Sail a Darkling Sea", book two, the takes the growing band of sea going survivors all the way to the Canary Islands. With "Islands of Rage and Hope" we are back across the Atlantic and the slow, dangerous clearance of the tropical Caribbean can begin. I would say that Ringo has as his best talent the creation of vivid, accessible and likable characters but that might cause readers to slight his plotting. The story is always interesting. We have situations that the characters must think or fight their way through. And Ringo being Ringo we have some of the most exciting action scenes ever put on paper. This is perhaps the best in the Zombie series so far, and that is quite a claim. Both of the earlier books were page turners. "Islands of Rage and Hope" deserves the highest possible five star rating. Write faster Mr. Ringo. Now I have months to wait with what patience I can muster until the next installment.

Another storming story, but its stretching its own limits now. Dont feel there is much risk, though apparently lots of the survivors have died it never feels like there is much tension. More around logistics than survival.

Awesome, absolutely awesome! Lots of action, great characters and a very believable story line continue. Faith, our favorite 13 year old, is back in serious butt-kicking mode. Islands of Rage & Hope picks up cleanly from where To Sail a Darkling Sea left off. All our favorite people are back with some new additions. I like the way new characters are introduced and that readers aren't overwhelmed with them. Some authors add so many new people in every book it's difficult to keep track of them all. New characters have a purpose in these books. We'll be buying the ebooks soon as well as making certain to get Strands of Sorrow pre-ordered. Please keep up the great work but don't be in such a rush to get the next book out that the story suffers.

WOW! As expected from ringo, leaves you sweating from just reading! If they made movies this viscerally visual? They would have people fainting from both over excitement or nausea, lol!Progresses both wolf squadron and the smith girls along nicely, thy gain both troops and experience as the move through our zombie held world. Faith is once again my star performer, showing new sides to her character and becoming a little more fallible therefore more real! Sophia is growing in professionalism and is easily the more likely of the girls to live a normal life when they 'win' the support charectar outside of the smith family are still just that support!, a little two dimensional but seriously not a problem, if you've got this far in the series you know what to expect, faith kicking ass and Sophie taking names!Walker owns the end of the book with one of the coolest reveals in the history of bad assery! And just like that! Bang! Gives faith the backing of the highest active service officer in theatre, thus cementing her place as the premier marine on the planet! As if she needed it😉. Overall a great addition to the series!

This is edutainment at its best understanding the marines ethos and ways for that wrapping with great character development amazing can't wait to see this as movie Tarantino for sure with the amount of blood read it all 3. Best. You did good John

The Best Zombie Apocalypse Series" out there-IMHO- great fun read.