Reviewed by Larry Stanley

Once more, John Ringo gives us a Science Fiction novel that is so far above first rate it is not worth comparing to others. But in this one, he works with a newer author, Travis Taylor (http://www.penguincomics.net/Book_Reviews/warpspeed.html) to show both the human side he is so good at writing combined with the scientific side that makes the story both technical without causing your brain to explode the way so many other writers do that Taylor brings to the table.
The story itself is rich in both action and personal relationships, watching people grow into the leaders they can be as well as the defenders they should be.
Something has happened to Mars, and that something has some folks worried. Seems that the surface of Mars is no longer as red as it once was and every time we launch a probe, it is destroyed or disappears.
The surface of the planet seems to be covered in some sort of metal, and it is shortly discovered that most of the other planets in our system are suffering from the same problem. And it is headed for Earth.
A team of rocket scientists and a Hooters waitress discover this and working with NASA come up with a way to send a probe to Mars to see if they can get anymore information.
They build it in record time, launch it but it is destroyed after sending back only a small amount of data.
The book ranges from excellent rocket knowledge and design to military missions in Iraq and around the world. We get a brilliant look into a 'What If?' a race set out to inadvertently destroy all life on earth?
Mankind has no weapons to defeat these creatures. There are quite literally, billions and billions of them. They can create more of their own bodies out of material on the ground. Like the ancient Hydra, if you kill one, three more rise to take its place.
So the human race is left with only one weapon, the human mind. This is the only weapon you can truly depend on when facing an opponent as far advanced from you as we are from a spear chucking cave-man.
As America and the world prepare to fight to the death against an inhuman and emotionless adversary, we still see life going on. People fall in love, get angry, live and die. Heroes are born while others people die.
Choices are made, not always in time and not always for the best but it always comes down to a few well defined lines, the chief of those being if you mess with the human race, you might win but the butchers bill will probably break you in the end.
A good distant cousin to War of the Worlds, The Thing, and any one of a couple of dozen films since the early 1950's, the film conjures up images of John Wayne or Lee Marvin leading commandos against the enemy or Luke Skywalker blasting Imperial fighters over the Death Star, while still remaining amazingly original.
But the best part? The material the good guys have to use to come up with ideas on fighting the invaders. Does a Fan Boy good to know our knowledge won't be wasted.
Once more, a first class Science Fiction story delivered by a reliable Master and a new written word Artist.

John Ringo is author of the New York Times best-selling Posleen War series which includes A Hymn Before Battle, Gust Front, When the Devil Dances, and Hell's Faire), and is one of the finest new science fiction writers in years. A veteran of the 82nd Airborne, Ringo brings first-hand knowledge of military operations to his fiction. He had visited 23 countries and attended 14 schools by the time he graduated high school.
Travis S. Taylor is the author of Warp Speed and The Quantum Connection for Baen. He has worked on various programs for the Department of Defense and NASA for the past sixteen years. He presently is at work on varying advanced propulsion concepts, very large space telescopes, space-based beamed energy systems, and next generation space launch concepts. "Doc" Travis is also a black best martial artist, a private pilot, a SCUBA diver, has raced mountain bikes, competed in triathlons, and has been the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of several hard rock bands.
Larry Stanley is a guy who reviews books and lives in California. He once jumped out of a third story window, but that is another story.