Into the Looking Glass (Looking Glass Series #1) » (Reprint)

John Ringo is author of the New York Times best-selling Posleen War series which so far includes A Hymn Before Battle, Gust Front, When the Devil Dances, and Hell¿s Faire, as well as the connected novels Cally¿s War (with Julie Cochrane), The Hero (with Michael Z. Williamson), and Watch on the Rhine (with Tom Kratman), and is the hottest new science fiction writer since David Weber. A veteran of the 82nd Airborne, Ringo brings first-hand knowledge of military operations to his novels of high-tech future war.

Baen now launches an exciting new science fiction adventure series by the New York Times best-selling author: When a 60-kiloton explosion destroyed the University of Central Florida, and much of the surrounding countryside, the authorities first thought that terrorists had somehow obtained a nuclear weapon. But there was no radiation detected, and, when physicist Dr. William Weaver and Navy SEAL Command Master Chief Robert Miller were sent to investigate, they found that in the center of the destruction, where the University¿s physics department used to be, was an interdimensional gateway to . . . somewhere. An experiment in subatomic physics had produced a very unexpected effect. Furthermore, other gateways were appearing all over the world¿and one of them immediately began disgorging demonic visitors intent on annihilating all life on Earth and replacing it with their own. Other, apparently less hostile, aliens emerged from other gateways, and informed Weaver and Miller that the demonic invaders¿the name for them that humans could most easily pronounce was the ¿Dreen¿¿were a deadly blight across the galaxy, occupying planet after planet after wiping out all native life; and now it would be Earth¿s turn, unless Weaver and Miller could find a way to close the gateways. If they failed, the less belligerent aliens would face the regrettable necessity of annihilating the entire Earth to save their own worlds. . . .

Publishers Weekly

At the start of Ringo's apocalyptic near-future SF novel, an experiment in creating quantum particles destroys much of central Florida, opening up gateways to other realities, some of which are inhabited by intelligent aliens intent on transforming our world into theirs. These new realities are as cosmically daunting as anything in the fiction of H.P. Lovecraft, to whom the author alludes, but a resilient humanity, instead of giving in to despair, fights back. Ringo (Hell's Faire) excels in the depiction of combat, managing to capture the carnage and horror while maintaining a sense of the absurd. The plot flows naturally from the implications of the scientific background, but with the kind of unexpected twists that Ringo has made his hallmark. While the ending smacks a bit of deus ex machina, this thoroughly enjoyable ride should appeal to techno-thriller fans as well as to military SF buffs. (June) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.