The last centurion

Ringo's (Unto the Breach) latest tale of military sf adventure focuses on a soldier, identified only as "Bandit Six," who commands a battalion of mechanized infantry stranded in the Middle East after various disasters wreak havoc on the United States and the rest of the world. Duly acknowledging the precedent of the Greek soldier Xenophon who battled his way through enemy territory back to his homeland, he relates the tale of his battalion's fighting withdrawal to Greece and his later involvement in dealing with the domestic disasters that have afflicted the States. The military action is fast-paced and exciting, but foul-mouthed, jingoistic political screeds that will limit the book's appeal make up much of the novel. In Ringo's fantasy world, all liberals are clueless "tofu-eaters"; nonwhite immigrants are disease spreaders; small-town vigilantes are heroes; and women, especially nonwhite women, are chattels to be casually acquired and discarded. A thinly veiled analog of Hillary Clinton ("the nation's first female president") is portrayed as a hysterical, drug-addled "whiny bitch" whose political supporters, according to the protagonist, "deserve to die." Purchase according to local demand.--Bradley Scott, Brighton Dist. Lib, MI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.