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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9781416555308
ISBN number: 1416555307
Label: Baen
Manufacturer: Baen
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 576
Printing Date: February 26, 2008
Publishing house: Baen
Sale Popularity Level: 397053
Studio: Baen
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
New series. Mars is changing. Seemingly overnight the once 'Red' planet is turning to gray. Something is happening, something unnatural. A team of, literally, rocket scientists figure out a way to send a probe, very fast, to Mars to determine how and why it is changing. However, when the probe is destroyed well short of the formerly blue planet, it's apparent that Mars is being used as a staging ground. The only viable target for that staging ground is Earth. Ranging from rocket design to brilliant paranoids to “in your face” fighting in Iraq, Von Neumann’s War is a fast paced look at what would happen if the earth was attacked by a robot race that, quite accidentally, was bent on destroying civilization.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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A new military SF-yarn by the master of this genre - but it doesn't reach the depth (and level of humor) of his Ghost/Kildar series. Still, a very good read.
Rated by buyers -
More science than most. This should not be a forgotten Ringo book as I enjoyed it. But is it just a pleasant afternoon diversion.
Rated by buyers 
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Interesting concept - von Neumann's theory of interstellar colonization - and good action descriptions. But there's too much blah blah among the characters in-between. I actually fell asleep reading the book last night. One book can stand only so many cutesy scenes. I'm about 2/3 finished with the book. Often these days, I don't even finish books, but I will finish this one because some of Ringo's other stuff is excellent (maybe this one will turn around) and I want to see what the characters do to solve the problem.
Rated by buyers 
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I love end-of-the-world scenarios and so I decided to read this book because the idea of machine bots intent on attacking Earth seemed an intriguing idea.
Boy, was I *wrong*! I have read one or two other John Ringo books and so I thought this would be one of his military sci-fi type books. *Wrong*. This book was co-authored with Travis S. Taylor, and I have never read a book by Taylor, so I can only come to the conclusion that Taylour had more of a hand in writing this book than Ringo.
It was pages and pages of scientists coming together to talk about design and build specs for a spy satellite and sending it to Mars to get intel on the aliens. Quite dull, and honestly, unless you are an expert or have an interest in it all the descriptions of rocket launchers, core boosters, and the like, it will confuse you. I found myself re-reading sentences and paragraphs to try to understand what was actually being said because terms that an ordinary lay-person wouldn't know were utilized.
The second half of the book was better once the action picked up and there were no more mind-numbing descriptions about how to build a rocket, but the second half of the book wasn't enough to make up for what I found was a poor effort at the whole "alien invading Earth" scenario.
Other problems I had with the book:
The government is portrayed as hopping right to it and working together without a hitch or problem to combat this alien menace. There was no skepticism or doubts from anyone that Mars changing colors could be anything other than aliens come to invade Earth. Everybody, from the President to the scientists to amateur astronomers all come to the conclusion that it's alien invaders and had little need of convincing otherwise. No one panics and chaos doesn't reign even when the general population at large learns of it (there's a few scenes of two of the scientists teenage daughters and they don't even panic or get fearful, they just go along calm and unruffled!). All POV was told from those in the "know", you don't get a glimpse of what's going on in the streets (how *is* everyone handling this??) Everything goes so smoothly that it was hard for me not to laugh at how unbelievable that was.
Okay, I know one is supposed to suspend disbelief on how things work in the "real" world and not compare to how things work in the "fictional" world, but some of the reactions and behaviors of the characters were so *not* realistic behavior that it distracted me from the story-line. I've read plenty of apocalyptic scenarios. From viruses, nuclear war, alien invaders, comets, asteroids, etc. One common aspect running throughout each book I've read is this: humans will panic and will be skeptical and may even deny there *is* a problem that needs to be solved.
That's the whole fun in reading apocalyptic books! The chaos, uncertainty, fear, and panic that humanity goes through when they realize "Uh oh, this could be the end!". This book had none of that at all.
Oh, another eye-rolling moment for me was the lead scientists all meet at the local Hooter's restaurant to brainstorm their ideas of saving the world. Yah, like that would really happen.
I felt this book didn't take anything seriously, maybe it was meant to be a parody on end-of-the-world books. I mean, guess where they get the idea that it's machine bots invading and not some regular flesh and blood alien? From a cartoon that one of the scientists was watching with her teen daughter that had super-heroes battling machine bots invading from space. So the scientist goes back to her colleagues and says, "You know, it could be Von Neumann probes we're dealing with because I saw it on Cartoon Network!". Everyone is in awe and says, "You know, you're right!". That is how everyone figures out what kind of alien invaders they're dealing with.LOL.
Anyways, this book must have been a satire, it's the only reason I can think of why I wanted to laugh out loud so many times when I read this book. Even if this wasn't a parody on apocalyptic themes, it was still one bad book. If you are looking for some good end-of-the-world-for-humanity scenarios try David Weber's In Death Ground, Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, or Moonfall by Jack McDevitt.
Rated by buyers -
Okay, I'll admit up-front that John Ringo and Travis Taylour are two of my guilty pleasures. In spite of their reprehensible politics (where else in recent literature can you find such a sympathetic portrayal of GWB?) and Ringo's issues about whips and leather, they reliably deliver strong plotting, vivid characterizations, and enough action to keep you up all night. Ringo, additionally, writes with a lot of wicked redneck humor. Von Neumann's War seems patched together compared to either author's previous work. Now, I realize that series are de-rigeur in publishing these days, so maybe my complaints will be resolved in the sequel, but I thought this book stopped both abruptly and unconvincingly. I mean, all through its 400+ pages, the mechanized alien hordes come on relentlessly but mindlessly. They totally ignore the humans (except accidentally) UNTIL the very end of the friggin' book. THEN the Master Computer suddenly shows up and the aliens suddenly get smart. Ten pages later, the book is over! This was a rude change that left me gasping and the authors didn't even try to explain it. In summary: If you're new to either author, you'll do better starting with some of their many other, excellent reads. Diehard fans should try to find Von Neumann's War in the library 'cause this one's not a keeper.
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