Baen, 2002, $7.99, ISBN: 0-7434-3602-4, paperback, 688 pages

In this third book, the humans have been battling the Posleen for five years, holding the Appalachians and Rocky Mountains and some points north, although Rochester, NY was lost and recaptured. And lots of Posleen are killed, and they are still incredibly stupid. They do get to Washington DC, but are defeated, although the President dies in defense of the Washington Monument.

There's a timeline in the front, with the following salient dates:

Oct 9, 2004: 1st five globes land
July 28, 2005: 1st Wave (62 globes) lands
April 12, 2006: 2nd Wave (45 globes)
March 27, 2007: 3rd Wave (73 globes)
December 18, 2007: 4th Wave (65 globes)
August 28, 2008: 5th Wave (64 globes)
December 1, 2008: Human population: 1.4 billion, Posleen population 12+ billion

So the five waves over a generation (from the first book) come in relatively short time. And it's looking bad for the humans, but the if Posleen are not quite dead yet, they are being contained. The trouble is, one Posleen commander finally gets some smarts about airmobile operations and supporting fire. This takes out the US' biggest artillery piece, the nuclear-powered Shiva, blowing a hole in the Great Wall of Georgia (my term, not Ringo's) and opening up the entire interior.

That's when the humans really get nasty, and although bent, they are not broken, and thanks to a timely nuke in the right spot (well, multiple nukes), millions of attacking Posleen do a real flashdance, and the humans stabilize the line, and even make some advances back to the Catskills of some such place.

This book was better than the first two, if only because it shows the BEMs actually doing something remotely smart. I still have a problem wrapping my mind around millions of centaurs milling about in one area, but that's what you need a nuke for.

I like the scope of the book, although the timeline flies by in the pages a little too quickly to absorb, but since it's already 688 pages, you have to make cuts somewhere. There's a fourth book coming, so stay tuned.

The Posleen Series

Ringo, John: A Hymn Before Battle (Book 1)
Ringo, John: Gust Front (Book 2)
Ringo, John: When the Devil Dances (Book 3)

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