Act of War: A Novel

Book Description

From the corridors of power in Washington to the frontlines of the war on terror, Dale Brown takes you to the heart of the action and introduces his most exhilarating character to date

In Act of War, Dale Brown goes beyond anything he's done before, taking readers deep into the new world of intelligence-focused warfare, and introducing a cutting-edge new hero: thirty-two-year-old Army Major Jason Richter, designer of a whole array of futuristic infantry weapons and devices created to hunt down a new breed of enemy with unmatched speed and lethality. With all the thrilling battle scenes and expert military maneuvers that have become the hallmark of this New York Times bestselling author, this is an intense, action-packed spectacle that combines geopolitics, terrorism, and warfare.

Near Houston, Texas, an oil refinery belonging to one of the world's largest multinational energy companies is destroyed by a "backpack" nuclear device. This is just one of many attacks being perpetrated against the company around the world by a group whose mission is to stop global corporations and government organizations from plundering the world's natural resources in the name of profit.

Before this group strikes again, Jason Richter is called in with his top-secret high-tech military unit, code-named Task Force TALON, a special joint military and FBI unit set up by the national security advisor to track down and defeat terrorists around the world. Richter believes there is only one strategy in which to snare his opponents -- find, pursue, engage, and kill. And the only way to do this is to play them at their own game: Be unconventional and swift, hit-and-run and brutal enough to strike fear into the heart of the most dedicated terrorist. Richter must also lead the way through a series of unexpected turns that eventually uncovers a mole high up within the government who is in pursuit of his own personal revenge.

If Richter fails, it won't be just the lives of his team that are lost, but America itself.

Download Description

From the corridors of power in
Washington to the frontlines of the war
on terror, Dale Brown takes you to the
heart of the action and introduces his
most exhilarating character to date

In Act of War, Dale Brown goes beyond anything he's done before, taking readers deep into the new world of intelligence-focused warfare, and introducing a cutting-edge new hero: thirty-two-year-old Army Major Jason Richter, designer of a whole array of futuristic infantry weapons and devices created to hunt down a new breed of enemy with unmatched speed and lethality. With all the thrilling battle scenes and expert military maneuvers that have become the hallmark of this New York Times bestselling author, this is an intense, action-packed spectacle that combines geopolitics, terrorism, and warfare.

Near Houston, Texas, an oil refinery belonging to one of the world's largest multinational energy companies is destroyed by a ""backpack"" nuclear device. This is just one of many attacks being perpetrated against the company around the world by a group whose mission is to stop global corporations and government organizations from plundering the world's natural resources in the name of profit.

If Richter fails, it won't be just the lives of his team that are lost, but America itself.

Customer Reviews:

Suspension of disbelief is key.......2007-09-11

This book is not real high on plausibility, but if you can stop looking at all the many loose ends, it really is a pretty entertaining read. If you're a stickler for details, pass it by. If you want to read a fast-paced action thriller for the fun of it, this might be for you.

Oh my.. bad, bad, bad..........2007-02-14

And Suddenly, there was a flash.. and so starts at least 4 battle scenes. We never learn how the task force gets it's intelligence to be where the terrorists turn up, how they get into position, what planning is done or if there is any plan. Each time, they just suddenly appear at the right time and surprise the terrorists.

The action in each of the battles is slow. You can almost count the minutes that the task force is standing around idle whilst the terrorists are firing away.. and of course, most of them get away each time.

The dialogue between characters is incredibly weak and could easily have been written by a 14 year old. That is not to insult any 14 year olds, just a comparison to the language that you would expect from a young teenager of today.

Overall, extremely poor written book and boring cartoonish action.

Dale Brown is the technothriller master........2007-02-09

I merely added this to my dale brown collection.

Really bad writing.......2007-01-22

This was one of the few books I just could not get through. Managed about 2/3 and just gave up. At least to the point where I called it quits, the plot was just goofy.

WAR ON THE HOME FRONT........2007-01-05

The plot is very feasible considering the state of the world at present. Modern technology is advancing at such a rate that all the fancy gimmickry mentioned is feasible, however I don't fancy being in command of what can only be described as a one man tank! I always enjoy his books.

Average customer rating:

weak story drawn well
Yoda to Windu: within your rights you are to screw up!
Good battle, not much else
Empty story good for action scenes, continuity
Far from good

Star Wars - Jedi Council: Acts of War
Randy Stradley , Davide Fabbri , and Christian Dalla Vecchia
Manufacturer: Dark Horse
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1569715394
Release Date: 2001-08-07

Book Description

Even in the days before the shadow of the Phantom Menace falls upon the Republic, the rule of the Senate is no guarantee of peace. When conflicts arise, it is the duty of the Jedi Knights, under the guidance of the Jedi Council, to protect the innocent and restore order. When the warlike Yinchorri threaten the stability of the Republic, a Jedi task force led by Mace Windu and including Qui-Gin Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi is sent to the Yinchorri system to settle matters, and they soon find themselves facing overwhelming odds on three different worlds. Collecting the four-issue series.

Customer Reviews:

weak story drawn well.......2003-07-20

For this graphic novel of the Jedis battling a lizard-like group known as the Yinchorri, I would give an A for inking, a B for artwork and a C for writing. The pictures and colors are brighter than usual and I liked that, and though the drawings show less detail than is typical, I liked the artwork too. The weakness here is the story. Mace Windu makes several errors of judgment (and is even reprimanded by Yoda for not consulting the Council); also, there is a LOT of fighting, which I consider the last resort of the Jedi, not the first, yet no attempt is ever made to deal with the Yinchorri other than fighting with them. It makes you wonder how the Jedi are any different than anyone else. The character of Master Giiett is interesting and we do get more information about members of the Jedi Council, which is always welcome.

Yoda to Windu: within your rights you are to screw up!.......2003-06-24

Even though Mark Cox has been associated with some very mediocre artwork and inking, I like the work done in this comic. I place this comic on my time line at 33.5 years before NH and the artwork is tremendous. Released in june 2001, this is one of the comics that received the new, higher quality production. The cover by Beck is almost photographic.

A couple of other reviewers that I respect didn't care for the art and coloring. I liked it a lot. But they also liked the story more than I did. I also don't see what they didn't like about the light sabers. Oh well. The story had problems, but most dark horse writing is mediocre. But, what we do get is wonderful new material about characters that appear in the movies. I couldn't help but wonder with each new jedi that I meet, how they were going to die when vader and sidious wipe them all out. We also learn more about yoda. We learn about some of his abilities. But we never do learn why he could never master the basic language.

The real test for me was: did my 9 year like it when we read it together, He Did! But then he is a visual

Good battle, not much else.......2003-03-15

With the Republican Senate becoming increasingly impotent, a new threat to peace appears in the form of the Yinchorri; a reptilian race whose resistance to Jedi mind control, and possession of a shield against light sabers makes them particularly worrying. But, when Mace Windu leads a group of Jedi to investigate, they find that the Yinchorri are more dangerous than they could have expected. And, unknown to either side, there is one other player in this game, Darth Sidius.

Admittedly, this book suffers from two very real weaknesses. First of all, it has a very weak story that just kind of begins and ends, without having the feel of being a complete story. And secondly, the illustrations of this graphic novel are not of a very high level.

That said, though, my nine-year-old son enjoyed the exciting battle scenes that (for the most part) make up the story of this book. He enjoyed this book, and highly recommends it to you. As for me, I give it a more guarded recommendation.

Empty story good for action scenes, continuity.......2002-01-03

'Acts of War' is a pretty empty Star Wars read. The Jedi pretty much get messed up with a race of violent aliens and the comic turns into one big fight after another as the Jedi intervene. One reviewer was right in the fact that the Jedi - normally peaceloving and fighters only when need be - step way out of character and pretty much act trigger happy. A few positives about this book is the artwork, which is nice and clean, and the fact that it nicely fits into the Prequel era, seguing right into the next book, 'Prelude to Rebellion'. For Star Wars continuity buffs only.

Far from good.......2001-11-30

What better way for peace-loving Jedi MASTERS to act than to go on a genocidal killing rampage against an alien race! The whole mindset of the Jedi Order is thrown in the garbage in Acts of War and it is one of the biggest disappointments in the Star Wars universe. The art work is absolutely horrible, looking more like cartoons than ART. The dialogue is bad, what little of it that there is when the Jedi aren't hacking off limbs and heads. The storyline goes absolutely nowhere. Each page is the same as the last, with the Jedi acting as murderers more than noble peacemakers. Certain little things added to my frustration in this book, like going through hyperspace THROUGH a planet and emerging on the opposite side???? Come on now! Any rookiee fan can disabuse you of that notion very quickly, so I don't see how the writers could have possibly slipped that in. Oh yeah, and in the end they gave Darth Sidious this goofy looking smile that totally made him seem like a baby with a lolli. If you are seeking outstanding artwork, a good storyline and better character development seek out Prelude to Rebellion or Outlander. Those are outstanding in all of those three attributes. If you want cartoons with the intelligence of the mighty morphin power rangers, buy Acts of War.

Average customer rating:

great for Catch up!
Simpy Styled but Remarkably Effective
Casualties Mount

Batman: War Games, Act Two - Tides
Ed Brubaker , and Bill Willingham
Manufacturer: DC Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1401204309

Book Description

The middle act of the cataclysmic story that alters Batmans world forever! In this second volume the truth behind the criminal activity is revealed, one of Batmans agents is beaten, another killed and a new player emerges on the sceneone assumed gone for good but now ready to seize control over Gothams underworld. The Dark Knight may be powerless to stop the streets from running red with blood, and the police are losing their trust in him and his colleagues.

Customer Reviews:

great for Catch up!.......2007-09-27

I was out of comics for a while, and picked this series up in Graphic Novel form, great way to catch up!

Simpy Styled but Remarkably Effective.......2006-10-18

The War Games crossover suffers from problems carried over from most large stories: way too many characters thrown in to one expansive tale just for the sake of having them there. But ignoring this, War Games actually stands as a very strong Batman story in many ways more interesting and imaginative than the extremely entertaining but somewhat hollow "Hush" storyline by the great Jeph Loeb. In this volume the premise kicks into a higher gear with the storyline's main nemesis, Black Mask, who has proven in his Red Skull inspired revamp to be a truly sick, great villain in Batman's rogues gallery. The volume's most captivating and disturbing scenes involve the deliciously evil madman torturing the misguided Stephanie Brown with power tools. But it never steeps into all too common and often ridiculous splash panels page after page in a desperate attempt to try and evoke some emotion. The story carries itself as dramatic utilizing simple technique. It comes with a high reccomendation.

Casualties Mount.......2005-09-05

Literally taken place the evening after the first War Games, War Games: Tides is the continued story of the battle facing Batman and his allies in the face of gang reprisals following the death of many of the city's key underworld leaders.

War Games: Tides provides an answer to who is responsible for that fateful meeting, and has fatal consequences for one of Batman's allies as others try to gain advantage in the ensuing chaos. It also highlights Batman's weakness of playing his cards too close to his chest and underestimating the ramifications of his plans in the hands of others.

Average customer rating:

Good follow up to war Games

Not a bad book, despite the art

Bats Aplenty

Totally Out Of Character Storyline

Batman, as dark as it comes

Batman: War Games, Act Three - Endgame
Ed Brubaker , Andersen Gabrych , Devin Grayson , Dylan Horrocks , and A.J. Leiberman
Manufacturer: DC Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Batman: War Games, Act Two - Tides

Batman: War Games, Act One - Outbreak

Batman: War Drums (Prelude to War Games)

Batman: Under the Hood, Vol. 1

Batman: Under the Hood, Vol. 2

ASIN: 1401204317

Customer Reviews:

Good follow up to war Games.......2007-09-27

I was out of comics for a while, and picked this Graphic Novel, great way to catch up! Batman finally gets some answers following the WAR GAMES saga

Not a bad book, despite the art.......2007-02-13

This tale of the aftermath of Rha's al Ghul's death is great for fans of the character. It provides some excellent insights into his motivations and origins. I don't think it will be spoiling things to tell you he was always nuts! The tale is told between flashbacks to the past and scenes in modern Gotham, where people have become mysteriously unable to die. Besides an overly brisk pace, my problem with this book is the art. The artist does not have a good understanding of the human body, resulting in many panels where people have oversized heads. Look for it and you'll see it. Also, despite the "Year One" in the title, there was no direct connection with Batman Year One, a disappointment. Anyway, still a good read if those quibbles don't bother you.

Bats Aplenty.......2006-03-28

WAR GAMES -- a year-plus serialized event in the history of Batman -- was a terrifically compelling yarn. Everything that could've gone wrong WENT wrong: alliances were forged and fell apart, enemies were made that shouldn't have been made, and people died. That's rare in the comic book universe, but it's one of the traits that strongly separates the Batman and his stories from most other DC "superhero" tales ... Batman is human, and, as a result, he's bound to make mistakes, just like any other character within the Bat-universe.

WAR CRIMES -- at the most basic level -- is about just that: mistakes. Gotham City is well on the road to recover now that the games have ended, and yet the Batman finds himself looking back in order to try to continue piecing together much of what still doesn't quite add up. In doing so, he uncovers a startling secret that sheds light on the disappearance of one of his oldest confidantes, and this discovery shakes him to his foundation.

Compared against the entirety of the WAR arcs, CRIMES fits nicely but perhaps the shock that such discovery should've sent through the Batman wasn't significant enough for my tastes. While I've always appreciated any tale of the Bats largely because of the human factor, there's still a larger-than-life presence to some of his villains (such as the Black Mask) that borders on immortality. CRIMES has a terrific, almost cinematic feel to most of it, and some of that payoff is sacrificed in the conclusion involving the Joker and the Black Mask taking on one another and then involving Batman because the Black Mask has been impersonating the Dark Knight. In cases such as this, I'd rather Batman pull up his sleeves a bit more and rough'n'tumble these two blokes instead of arbitrarily turning them over to the police: sometimes, that solution just grows a bit too safe for my tastes, and it feels out of touch here especially given all that's happened in the past year with these two villains.

Still, it's a solid reliable effort all around.

Totally Out Of Character Storyline.......2006-03-19

I'm not sure why the two previous reviewers thought they were reviewing War Games. This book actually collects the War Crimes arc from the regular Batman and Detective comics series. It's like an aftermath to War Games, but it doesn't measure up to the books that precede it.

In this book, we learn that one of Batman's most devoted allies...someone who had been elevated in recent years to be at the same level as Alfred in terms of mentoring Batman/Bruce Wayne...allowed a key character from the War Games books to die. (This is lifted from Batman#644 in the regular comics.)

It was, without a doubt, one of of the stupidest comic book endings I've read in a long time. I'm all for surprise endings, but not at the expense of a character we know would never do a thing like this based on years and years of back story. In the end, the character is exiled to Africa or somewhere and warned by Batman never to return.

Is DC really this hard up for creativity? No, they aren't, because many of their other products are very satisfying in terms of plotting and characters. They just dropped the ball on this one.

Batman, as dark as it comes.......2006-03-01

Yes, the Bat is struggling to stop the damage that happened in the beginning of the story line, Hush came and go just to remind us about him, so that an introduction for Hush returns takes place.
I was very sad when a certain member of the bat family was killed, but it was logical to happen since that member has done his role, and has no other thing to add.
DC insists that people used to treat him as an urban legend, as if no one knows about JLA or about what he has done in his previous storylines, but any how that is not a big issue, and is not related to this volume.

Average customer rating:

Good for catch up!
Graphic SF Reader
Hold on there
Disappointing
War Games...game on

Batman: War Games, Act One - Outbreak
Ed Brubaker , Andersen Gabrych , Devin Grayson , Dylan Horrocks , and Bill Willingham
Manufacturer: DC Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1401204295

Customer Reviews:

Good for catch up!.......2007-09-27

I was out of comics for a while, and picked this series up in Graphic Novel form, great way to catch up!

Graphic SF Reader.......2007-09-03

This is pretty good. Batman's paranoia is revealed to indirectly cause a large problem. All the usual suspects are running around, except for Robin. A gangland bloodbath of the highest order is happening. The artwork is perhaps a little erratic in style, to be top of the line, however.

Hold on there.......2007-05-28

I was never initially a Batman fan and have always been skeptical of the overall basis of his becoming, but seeing a volume with the entire batfamily gave me the impression that it might actually be a worth reading. Buying this was one of the better decisions I've ever made. It updated me in the recent happenings in the Batman universe and left me wanting for more. Although the relationships between all of them seemed to be awkward and stiff, you can plainly see the emotions expressed by each character as they desperately run around Gotham, trying to reassemble order (most especially Oracle, who is left completely frustrated by her screens). A must-have for any Batman, Robin, Birds of Prey, or Nightwing fans out there.

Disappointing.......2006-11-14

I am really disappointed with this serie of Batman War. You don't have the thrill of the writing of a Jeph Loeb or a Greg Rucka. You see Batman endlessly running from one point of the city to another with a lot of cross over characters. This is confusion not a tale. It seems the authors want to place as much characters as possible in this serie just for commercial reasons. Also it reminds me of the No Man's Land period in worse. These books are to be avoided.

War Games...game on.......2006-10-20

What happens when you get all the criminal bosses together for a meeting with their crew, yup, you get a free for all shootout in which most of the heads of the criminal underworld are killed, thus leaving a power vacuum. Chaos ensues as the underlings scramble to take power during this vacuum. Who can stop this, Batman! At least he will try along with his Bat crew, you know, Nighting, Oracle, Catwoman, Tim Drake (he is retired from being Robin) etc. This 1st arc deals with the criminals trying to wrest control and establishing themselves, which includes the assassination of rival family members. This targeting of family members eventually spills into Tim Drakes high school and its up to Batman and the Bat crew to rescue Tim. Since there are so many different artist and writers in the book, the stories jump around a bit. But overall, this compilation is a decent read.

Lone Star Preacher: Being a Chronicle of the Acts of Praxiteles Swan, M.E. Church South Sometime Captain, 5th Texas Regiment Confederate States Prov (Texas Tradition)

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"Lone Star Preacher"

Lone Star Preacher: Being a Chronicle of the Acts of Praxiteles Swan, M.E. Church South Sometime Captain, 5th Texas Regiment Confederate States Prov (Texas Tradition)
John W., Jr. Thomason
Manufacturer: Texas Christian University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Gone to Texas

ASIN: 0875651062

Customer Reviews:

"Lone Star Preacher".......2000-07-20

"Lone Star Preacher": Being a Chronicle of the Acts of Praxiteles Swan, M.E. Church South Sometime Captain, 5th Texas Regiment Confederate States Prov. (Currently available on Amazon.com)

This one was written by none other than Capt. John W. Thomason USMC (author of "Fix Bayonets"). The story is a compilation of a number of short stories written for the Saturday Evening Post back in the 20s and 30s. "Praxiteles Baby" (actually a thinly disguised story of Thomason's Grandfather) is a transplanted Virginian who is a Hell Fire and Brimstone Preacher in Texas at the beginning of hostilities. His wife (also a firey Southern lady) is depicted reading "Uncle Tom's Cabin" by firelight and casting the volume into the fire muttering about that "Stowe Hussy"... Praxiteles seeing that his flock will need guidance in the coming hostilities, joins up with the 5th Texas as a Chaplain to see to their spiritual needs. After the first battle, he is found in the woods with a clubbed musket dripping with some sort of gray matter and is made a Captain of the 5th Texas by a general who sees his actions. The rest of the book is an entertaining and in many ways factual story of the Southern Texans in the late War of Northern Aggression. Thomason's narrative style is much like his graphic descriptions of the Marines in Belleau Wood and is definitely worth the read. An extremely talented artist, he illustrates his own books. Examples of Thomason's WWI sketches can be found illustrating the Poem "Rifles" in the Rifle Poetry section of this site - I got permission from the Marine Corps Association to use his sketches - great stuff!

Thomason is a great historian (specializing it the Civil War) and has written very entertaining biographies on such as JEB Stuart. You can no doubt tell he is a man of Southern extraction and sympathies. I had a copy many years ago and loaned it to one of our chaplains and never got it back! Hee, hee... it's that good! I didn't know it was still in publication, but stumbled across it while surfing Amazon...

Book Description

Postwar British novels have rarely been read in the meticulous, theoretically informed way that seems to be reserved for the classics. The objective of these readings of five postwar British novels (Evelyn Waugh: 'Brideshead Revisited', John Fowles: 'The French Lieutenant's Woman', William Golding: 'Sea Trilogy', Jeanette Winterson: 'The Passion', Ian McEwan: 'The Innocent') is to turn to wellknown contemporary texts with exactly the kind of sustained attention that they are usually denied. Drawing upon the insights of various poststructuralist theories, the interpretations concentrate on the entanglements of figurativity and narrative in five very different texts. By identifying and exploring the narrative tropes of remembering, seduction, Bildung, desire and initiation, the readings offer new insights into the relationship between figure and narrative, and also reveal the perhaps unsuspected richness of these novels.

The Avengers #311 : The Weakest Point (Acts of Vengeance - Marvel Comics)

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The Avengers #311 : The Weakest Point (Acts of Vengeance - Marvel Comics)
John Byrne
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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