Michael

I liked the pace and structure of this book. So many battle stories I've read are so long and drawn out that I lose the flow. This was quick stories, to the point, and clear. I also liked the reader. All the details about the weapons was lost on me but I'm sure gun lovers can really get into that. What I had trouble with was the authors personal beliefs about God and country, marriage, child rearing, and the like. Yes, I know it really was the whole point of the book, and I don't have trouble with it being included. But it requires the reader to deal with his attitude toward war, his marriage, etc. And personally I found I didn't like the guy much.

I realize there are these type of people out there - and I'm glad they are on our side, but I would not choose him as a good friend - and I'm sure he wouldn't like me much either. I respect him as a soldier. I honor his sacrifice. But I wouldn't want his type of person making up the rules and running things. There are just other things to consider in war besides "killing the savages." I don't consider these type of people as heros. They join the military because they like to fight, they like to kill. I don't see that as heroic. His story of the soldier that jumped on the hand-grenade to save his buddies - that was the hero. Someone who goes into harms way because he likes war and likes to kill people, for whatever reason, is a soldier doing a job. Conversly, I see this guy as so humble that he would probably be the last person to call himself a hero. I wouldn't call him a savage brut. He seems to be introspective, humble, teachable, caring and even quite sensitive about many things. It is just hard for me to see both sides of these characteristics in a single person. I guess that's just my narrow thinking.

I thought this one was so much more entertaining than the previous books of the series. Good action, love the cliffhanger, the twists and turns seem to never end.I so like that this is not some Rambo type story.

I can't really say. I liked them all - well, some I liked hating! Okay, actually I don't care much for the main character's wife. Too bossy. But, I guess he needs a wife like that - you know, more like a mother.

He is a great reader. I will look for his other books. He really brings the story to life.

Only thing I don't like is that so many of the characters have the same wittiness as the main character. That's a bit annoying.

This is more a collection of "happenings" in the liffe of a safari guide. And they are great. Each are told very well - not too many details, not too long, not too fantastic to make me think he was telling a yarn. I love that he includes his stupid mistakes and was honest about his own limitations. I couldn't put it down and was sorry when I finished. I will listen to this book again soon.

Good story. McCammon has a wonderful writing style. I don't normally like detailed descriptions as so often it just interrupts the flow of the story for me. I can only say his writing feels "silky" to me. Wierd, but that's the only word that comes to mind. I can't stop listening to this book.

What makes this audio book so much more exciting, is the reader. Stechschulte is the best I've heard. I will look for his work for my future selections.

I really enjoyed the first couple books in this series. But this one has gonet far afield. Hey Steele, the series is about colonizing a new planet, remember? This book should have been a couple chapters in the last book, though it wouldn't have helped that one either. It came across as another infantile rant against organized religion. But his solution is so silly that it makes the whole effort worthless. The characters have all merged into two radical camps - the enlightened and the brainwashed. It's been done to death and this treatment adds nothing.

In a word - boring. I'm sure there was an okay story in there somewhere but nothing set this story apart from the million others like it. Long, drawn-out details about the most superficial things had me hollering at the narrator to "get on with it." In the end it just semed more like a documentary. Educational to be sure - but I was hoping more for a thriller.

First time reading Stephen King. Good story, well written. Characters are a bit one-dimensional though. And why the heck throw all that anti-Christian, anti-Republican garbage in there??? The only character labeled a republican was more liberal than many liberals I know. And of course all the Christians and conservatives were either terribly dishonest or crazy. Very disappointing. Made a good read tiresome at times.

There is not enough ways to thank Marcus and all the others that put their lives on the line for the American people. I admire them greatly and tell that to every soldier in uniform that I meet. I have several family members serving in Iraq, all with tremendous stories of heroism and survival that they tell.

But this book is more than just a heroic war story. It revealed the intense moral conflict Marcus struggled with over whether to “execute” the goat herders for his own safety or to do the “Christian” thing and release them. I cannot imagine having to make this kind of decision. For that reason alone, that he faced that dilemma and made a decision, I consider him a hero. And I am certainly not one that believes I could judge him no matter which way he decided. I will recommend this book to all my college students in hopes they will get a glimpse of what it really means to be on the “front line.”

But I do have one discomforting issue with the way this story is told. This writer sometimes comes off to me as a mindless parrot spouting off silly military and Christian propaganda slogans. I understand in every war each side portrays the other as heartless, pagan, warmongers. We dehumanize them and they do it to us. That way we’re not killing people, just inhuman scum. Some of the naive comments about the atrocities of the enemy and the syrupy “God and Country” speeches read like WW2 American propaganda stories. Surely Vietnam taught us that the American public can handle the tough moral issues that are interwoven into any conflict. Surely we know this conflict, this war, is not going to be won by trying to kill all the bad guys and argue over whose god is the strongest. As we kill the terrorists we need to come to grips with the causes of this conflict and try not to let history repeat itself. Sure, that’ll happen!

Nothing new. Nothing really insightful. Spends way too much time criticizing the present administration. Just couldn't make myself listen the entire dribble.

I didn’t really need another snobby “intellectual” smacking the face of anyone that doesn’t believe his/her way. The hypocrisy of this man was too much for me. I listened to most of it but finally gave up. I’ll probably try again some other time because he had some very good arguments. But his attitude gets in the way of his message. He rants on and on just like my fundamentalist father, using most every opportunity to denigrate non-atheists and portraying extremist’s activities as the norm. I guess I finally had enough when he equated parents bringing up their children in a religious home to child abuse. How absurd.