• Cally's War

  • Legacy of the Aldenata
  • By: John Ringo
  • Narrated by: Marc Vietor
  • Length: 13 hrs and 19 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (853 ratings)

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Cally's War  By  cover art

Cally's War

By: John Ringo
Narrated by: Marc Vietor
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Publisher's summary

Cally O'Neal, from Ringo's best seller Hell's Faire, stars in this New York Times best seller - a fast-paced interplanetary adventure that finds the trained killer locked in a battle to reclaim her lost soul.
©2006 John Ringo (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Cally's War

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    453
  • 4 Stars
    218
  • 3 Stars
    116
  • 2 Stars
    43
  • 1 Stars
    23
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    491
  • 4 Stars
    144
  • 3 Stars
    47
  • 2 Stars
    8
  • 1 Stars
    3
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    375
  • 4 Stars
    171
  • 3 Stars
    88
  • 2 Stars
    40
  • 1 Stars
    21

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

My favorite of the spin-offs

I've read virtually all of the Legacy of the Aldenata/Posleen War books (save for The Hero, which is next), albeit somewhat out of sequence, due to a combination of Ringo's website being down and the Wiki article being frankly confusing. Consequently, after the initial 4 books of Mike O'Neal's main storyline, I went through all of the ancillary spin-offs prior to hitting the Cally's War storyline.

First off, let me disabuse you: this is most certainly NOT graphically racy or lewd. Yes, there are some sex scenes, but they are tastefully portrayed, and not terribly graphic in their description. Laurel K. Hamilton, George R.R. Martin, or hell, even Piers Anthony have much more graphic sex scene portrayal. Maybe I wouldn't give it to a 10 year-old, but my 13 year-old son is welcome to try his hand at it.

This book is a Posleen War cum Femme Fatale (pun intended)/James Bond espionage/spy adventure. It's a bit more fun that the others in the series, less heavy in a way, as it deals with Cally O'Neal's adult life as an agent for the Bane Sidhea, a secretive organization opposed to the Darhel. She is assigned to go undercover on Titan Base under cover of working for a Fleet Strike general, in order to determine out who's been betraying the Bane Sidhe to the Darhel.

If you're looking for more hardcore war sci-fi, with epic battles and military deployments, this is not the book for you. If, however, you want to learn more about the bad-ass Cally had emerged as by the end of Hell's Faire, and you're into the James Bond/Bourne Identity type plots, you'll dig this.

Oh, and to the other reviewer: she's rejuve'd to about 22-23, but her actual age appears to be around 50-ish. The other ages you're complaining about are flashbacks and memories, and are clearly described as such.

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Better than the reviews

I could have purchased this book a month ago but other reviewers were saying that it was heavy on the adult material. thinking that it was a romance novel by another name i passed on it. out of desperation for a book on a long drive i picked it up, i found it to be a good book yes there is a small bit of adult topic here but nothing over the top and nothing i dont think of a real life. how ever as a fan of the series i wanted to know what happend to cally and papa oneal and its here all here as well as the start of some of the background stuff that was hinted at in the original four. i like the author i love the narrator and i give it four stars only for its length. also there is allot les sir yes sir in this book. enjoy!

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Cally's War shag them all

33% porn 33% boaring 33% forwarding the story. When you consider how short these middle books are anyway not much bang for the buck. Under the circumstances pardon the pun. I am disapointed in a series I have liked very much up to this point. I bought all the books I hope the rest get back to how good the first four books of the series was that I hoped was going to continue. Horrible book.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Cally's Breasts

Would you try another book from John Ringo and/or Marc Vietor?

Yes, this the weakest book in the series, but I still like the characters and the universe.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I've been an Audible customer for at least ten years. This is the very first book that I have resorted to the speed up modes to get through the boring parts. The sex scenes get very old very quickly. They aren't that graphic, but some of them go on and on. And Cally has a lot of sex in this book. It wasn't long until I was using 2X mode to get through the interminable sex scenes.Cally has very large sexy breasts. Her breasts are always the center of attention in every scene that includes Cally, which is most of them.About the 97th time the story stopped while some guy drooled over Cally's breasts for a few minutes I really got frustrated. John, John, John. You like big breasts. You like big breasts even more than you like smoking. You like to hang out in smoky bars. Cally has big breasts, smokes, and likes to pick up guys in smokey bars. OK, great John, she's your dream girl.JOHN WE GET IT!!!! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!!

What about Marc Vietor’s performance did you like?

I perceived the narration as being kind of slowly read, but that may have been the story itself. Vietor is an excellent narrator and the overall production value of this audio book is excellent.

Was Cally's War worth the listening time?

Yes, if you like the other books this book is still worth the listening time. The things that made the first books great are still there, just diluted by Cally's sex life and huge breasts.In particular, the last third of the book is far better than the first two thirds. The best scenes are those that don't include Cally. I do wish Ringo would dial back Cally's super powers just a notch, as written Superman has nothing on Cally.

Any additional comments?

The book starts with a very graphic torture scene, one that would make Hannibal Lector pause. There other torture scenes that are almost as graphic.They are part of the story and need to be there, but be warned.This is not a book for kids!!!

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Amusing and entertaining!

I thought the book was pretty well done. It was not all that racy and it was pretty amusing. I would point out that the things Cally does kept the storyline where it needed to be with the type of role her character has taken on. Far too many people complained about it being explicit but it would seem that this was simply the wrong type of book for them rather than any problem with the book itself. The main thing I enjoy about John Ringo's writing is the directness and allowing the books to go to the place they need to rather than placating political correctness. The world is what it is and though the story is fiction much of Cally's behavior is well within the ugly realities of life.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Cally the Assassin or Cally the slut?

I loved all the Aldenata series so far. But Cally's War was 20% killing and 50% her having sex with just about everyone, and the last 30% was just boring. They could have toned down her sex life and added more action. It wasn't nearly as good as it should have been.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Not so much a "war", its more of a "spy novel"

Well this is what should be book 5 but if you count watch on the rhine and yellow eyes but you can skip those if you want to - there is some sex scenes that are described in detail, this doesent make much sense to me for a book but if it were a movie it would be normal, as it is its sorta strange to here and could have been replaced with a small few sentences.

If you read the other 4 books where Cally is a little girl this is pretty cool since you sorta already know the character and what she has done so you know she's a "bad ass" and the fighting scenes go as expected for someone like Cally.

The story is good but I kept thinking that there was something wrong with Cally that was going to be explained in the end of the book, but as it turns out she was fine except for maybe she was in love so maybe thats why she was acting the way she was.

I didnt think that any parts should have been left out except for maybe the sex scenes could have been shortened or changed, I know what they are doing and I have no problem with it but it was just wierd like your dad explaining sex to you or something like that - but everything was well done.

Now on to Sister Time, check my reviews for that book after I finish it, but I bet its going to be good

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

War?? What war??

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I love the other books, but what happened to the war? This book read more like a romance book. If it was not for my love for the author I would of stopped the book after the second or third romance part. The book could of been much better without all of that. The underline story is good, but it is still missing a war.

Would you ever listen to anything by John Ringo again?

without a dough

Was Cally's War worth the listening time?

Yes, and no. Yes because there are parts info that I am sure will be important later on the books. No, because I was more then ready for it to be over with.

Any additional comments?

Please let this be the last of this type War, and Cally love life. Oh, I hope that not a Cally's baby war in later books.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

1/2 of book is dedicated to Cally getting laid

I really liked the other Legacy of the Aldenata series. This book however is a bit "over the top" when it comes to Cally and her sex life. The 2nd author in this book is a woman named
Julie Cochrane.

Cally in this book has sex with every one of the single main charactors, and then a few side people. In one part even her grandpa gets a boner when holder her.

It seems the authors focused on getting Cally laid more than the story line. I find myself thinking - please move this story along and stop all the sex.

Now if you like A LOT of sex in your sci-fi then this is a good book for you.

If not you can skip this book.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

the many ages of cally

how old is Cally what year does this story take place? Did Ringo and Cochrane read what one another wrote, was the editor asleep. who knows but this is one choppy story and I can only hope that the next one will be less jumbled.

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2 people found this helpful