Vorpal Blade

Looking Glass Series, Book 2

By: John Ringo, Travis Taylor

Narrated by: L. J. Ganser

Length: 14 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

One of the unquestioned masters of military science fiction, New York Times best-selling author John Ringo teams with real-life rocket scientist Travis S. Taylor for this action-packed sequel to Into the Looking Glass. The alien Dreen are still a terrifying menace across the galaxy, but Earth has a new weapon - the first human warp ship. Aboard the Vorpal Blade, America's tough-as-nails Force Recon Marines seek the Dreen, hoping to bring the fight directly to them.

©2007 John Ringo &Travis S. Taylor (P)2009 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"... deals with the arcane mysteries of quantum mechanics, lending ... an absurdist twist appropriately reminiscent of Lewis Carroll." - Publishers Weekly

Enough already

Enough already with the made-up "alien" swear words. I'd rather hear shit, damn, fuck, crap, and asshole than the idiotic sounding "near-misses" supposedly meaning the same things in a fictional alien language. Especially when such words are being uttered by our own American military personnel! Seriously, in 7 years since first contact with aliens *all* our own swear/curse words have disappeared, and suspiciously similar sounding but not quite the same alien terms have become the societal norm? Now, *that's* stupid.

Aside from that complaint, the story is decent, not as good as the first book so far. But, I'm only a couple hours in. (Which should say something about the overuse of the stupid alien swear words issue too, if you think about it.)

The Blade that slices

Would you listen to Vorpal Blade again? Why?

Yes I would the story continued on from Into the looking glass, not just in story but the funny scenes with Bill weaver and Miller. and the added character of Two gun just seems to fit, an he story was good it made you think did and try to figure out did they find the bad guys or some new bad guys.

What other book might you compare Vorpal Blade to and why?

I would compare it to a Hymn before Battle, Only because its 1. a space story, and 2. because it has its funny moments as did A hymn before battle.

Have you listened to any of L. J. Ganser’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have to admit that at first I didn't care for L.J. Ganser I was so used to Marc Vietor reading for John Ringo's books, but now that I have read into the Looking glass and Vorpal Blade it seems fitting that a different voice do the different saga Ganser does a good Job.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

the banter between Two gun and the other Space Marines and between Bill Weaver and Chief Miller I always seem to laugh at them

Any additional comments?

again John Ringo hits a home run and it seem that the character is Ringo's Co- author Travis Taylor I seen a video of him and as soon as I heard him speak I said out laud that has to be were Bill Weaver comes from.

I highly recommend reading both into the Looking Glass an Vorpal Blade if you Like military space stories you will not be disappointed in This book or this Saga

tthis was a great story to listen to and i greatly enjoyed it and hope to enjoy the other's.

Reader needs to understand navy terms.

I love the book. I love the story. I do not like how the reader messes up every time the Chief of the Boat is mentioned. It is not C O B! It is pronounced COB, like the corn cob you would get in an uncomfortable place if you messed up like that in front of him.

Still a great story.

One of my all time favorites...except for..

I love this series and have listened to it several times. John Ringo is my favorite military SciFi guy. So I am assuming it was Travis Taylor who decided to invent the slang for this book and the rest of the series. It drives me nuts and takes me out of the story every time some character says, "Mauk this", or "Grap that". It's not even a future SciFi story it's discovered tech so where did all the ridiculous slang come from? The main protag did not use any of the terrible slang in the first book so why is he using it all the time in the later books? He even throws in a few "shiney" which I thought everyone knew it belongs to Firefly and should be off limits. Still well worth the listen.

great story

2 gun mojo. loved the book. love the performance. love the characters. I hope there are more sequels

really a sub, really?! but its works

Hello young marine sit behind the scientist and other new characters. wow just a fun series he brings in some new charaters that are real fun and brings the old back in as well. its just fun

More of Ringos great writing

Well this is a little slower then the first book and it takes a while to pick up but once it gets going it stays going all the way to the end, the beginning is sorta a catch-up on what has happened since the end of the first book and quickly introduces characters that are going to be big in the book so its needed.

The Vorpal Blade is actually the A.S.S. (Alliance Space Ship) Vorpal Blade named by Aliens that dont understand acronyms but no one wanted to piss them off by rejecting the name so thats what it is - oh, yea, and the ship has a huge blade sticking out of the front of it, hence its name.

My major complaint is that all the swear words are replaced with "Grap" and "Maulk", like "You mother-grapper" or "Grap you" and "Thats bull Maulk" this is just stupid as ever, the first book wasnt like this at all so I just dont understand it, maybe its Travis Taylor he wasnt named in the first book.

Other then that my only complaint is that its a little strange as in the dreen arent really in here seeing how they were the only actual enemy in the last book this is strange, yea the whole story is about them going out looking for them and they only find these huge crabpuss creatures that are like crabs and octopuses and the ship gets captured and you wont believe how it gets away.

There is something that is happening that isnt explained but its a one or two line phrases about cold and heat, it makes sense in the next book so make sure you get Maxome Foe and the last one Claws that Catch

Checking out the neighborhood

Writing duo John Ringo and Travis Taylor’s Vorpal Blade is their second installment in the Looking Glass series. With Earth having fended off an alien invasion, they elect to send out a scouting mission to scope out the local planetary systems. With a state-of-the-art spaceship, the combined military / sci-ence teams explore multiple worlds in most cases finding nothing, occasionally primitive life forms. They end with an inhabited planet that appears to possess a mechanism to retard technological development.

Ringo / Taylor craft an engaging and enjoyable sci-fi space tale with a good mix of scientific elements as well as respectable military action with numerous heroics. All the main characters from book #1 are back in action with each being major contributors.

The narration is quite good with solid character distinction. Pacing is smooth and aligned with the pace of action.

Great but has some quirks.

Any additional comments?

Good book but fake "bad words" were over used. I read a post talking about this issue but dismissed it as whineing. When the Marines were talking or yelling you would hear "Holy gunk!" and a couple other words over and over. Marines while deployed may use foul language. Get used to it. If real words can't be used then I understand. Bottom line, omit false words or use real ones.