Cally's War

by Julie Cochrane and John Ringo

Book Overview

Cally O'Neal was trained from childhood as a premier killer. Officiallylisted as dead, for the past forty years she has lived a life of aliases, randomlovers and targeted assassinations. This has led... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743488458
• ISBN13: 9780743488457
• Release Date: October 2004
• Publisher: Baen
• Length: 326 Pages
• Weight: 1.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

An excellent collaboration

Ringo fans should be warned -- John and Julie have some differences from John by himself. John tends, when writing alone, to write for the body-count audience. Any boy-girl stuff tends to be off-camera and PG or PG-13. "Cally's War" is different. It's somewhere between PG-13 and R, for starters. It's also not a war novel - it's a spy / secret agent novel. The body counts are lower, although the action scenes are just as intense. Some Ringophiles will be turned off by the emotional and personal content -- "Fergit the feelings, I wants me some antimatter bombs!". Personally, I figure that if I'm going to be reading a novel with a viewpoint inside a female character's head, I'd expect her to think like a female. I suspect that I see Julie's hand in the better insights, there. When all's said and done, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I'm in the middle of a re-read, having finished the first read-through in about 48 hours. The intrigue is sneaky, the plot complex, and the action will get your blood pumping. I can't wait for the sequel.

Julie Cochrane channels John Ringo -- amazing!

For thirty years, Cally O'Neal has been the greatest assassin of the Bane Sidhe...the secret organization fighting against the Darhel's takeover of Earth after the Posleen War...and she's getting tired of it. Nearly dead tired. Even the benefits of Galactic medical technology can't give you back your soul. Julie Cochrane and John Ringo do a series of changes on the ways that even the good guys (or gals) are damaged by violence and war. The question is whether Cally will figure out some way to be saved, or if she is doomed to one day not care enough to survive that last mission. Like many Baen collaborations, it is very hard to see where John leaves off and Julie begins. Once again, Baen has managed to bring out a newbie author with much more authority and voice than the average, by pairing her with a much more experienced author. Waiting patiently for the next one. Walt Boyes, Bananaslug at Baen's Bar

I liked it :-)

Wow, there are some ticked fans out there. First of all, I created the plot to Cally's War so don't bother blaming Julie. What people have been complaining about is "all my fault." No, it's not Posleen Carnography. Neither are the TWBD books, and the future Mike O'Neal books won't be either. Deal. I'd originally envisioned doing the book myself, but having dealt with Julie Cochrane for a time and being booked up (pardon the pun) I gave it to her. I think she did a better job than I could have, if for no other reason than the very real female touch in her writing. Second, yeah, it's a love story. Wah. My favorite Shakespeare is the Taming of the Shrew, not Henry the Fifth. Reactions have been mixed, from very good to very terrible without much in between. I never promised to do all Posleen all the time (in fact, I don't think I've ever _promised_ to do anything but try to write good books that people enjoy) and I won't. Into the Looking Glass in June or July 2005 will be close but mostly I'm going in directions that don't involve huge quantities of bodies being blasted into yellow goo. (Shrugs) I can only write what _I_ like. If you want more yellow goo, write it yourself. Oh, speaking of which, Watch on the Rhine (sometime 2005) is a good old fashioned Posleen carnography story by someone that's maybe a tad better at it than I, Thomas Kratman, LTC, USAR, currently an instructor at the War College. Of course, it's about the German response which is to, among other things, rejuvenate and recreate the Waffen SS. So I'm sure the reviews to that will be mixed as well. If you read nothing else in the book, be sure to turn to the end and read the Author's FAQ. :-) Y'all take care now. John Ringo Commerce, GA Oct 2004 As I said above, in response to further reviews, I don't agree. I liked Cally's War, both in detail and in spirit and the other books in the spin-off series will be similar. (Perhaps with a bit less sex, for reasons that make sense.) And I'll also say that if Cally's War truly turned your stomach as a "John Ringo" book, then like the gentleman who was throwing fits on Megan's Tale, you're probably better off reading the Webscriptions or picking it up, used, in PB. I don't guarantee _anything_ in my writing except writing what _I_ enjoy reading. I enjoyed writing the Posleen carnography, but the term is "past tense." As of a conversation this evening, there may _may_ be some additional carnography books coming from myself and Tom Kratman. We'll have to see. John

Outstanding!

Cally O'Neal had always lived in danger. By the age of eight she'd killed her first person. While her father, Iron Mike, was off fighting the invading Posleen she had been raised by her grandfather, practically on the front-lines of a war that had erased five billion humans from the face of the earth. By the end of the war she had been listed as dead. In truth, she'd been recruited into the elite ranks of the Bane Sidhe, a group of underground warriors dedicated to breaking the strangle-hold of the elf-like Darhel. For forty years Cally has gone on mission after mission. She completely changed her appearance and personality more often than others changed their socks ... and seemingly much easier. Now, in the year 2047, Cally goes to Titan Base, hunting a mole. The team take out the real Captain Sinda Makepeace and inserts Cally. But she never expects to fall in love with one of the enemy. ***** Cally is one of the best assassins I have read in Sci-Fi thus far. She reminded me at times, especially while being tortured, of Robert A. Heinlein's main character in the book titled "Friday". She does whatever it takes to get the job done. Killing comes as naturally to Cally as breathing. Authors John Ringo and Julie Cochrane did an excellent job in teaming up to create a story for the little girl I recall from previous books. This is not the first of the series and you do not HAVE to read the others to thoroughly understand all that is going on. Outstanding! ***** Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

Cally's War - a solid entry from newcomer Julie Cochrane

Apparently unlike my esteemed colleague, I have actually read this book in it's entirety through Baen's Webscriptions service. "Cally's War" is the story of Cally O'Neal, daughter of Mike O'Neal, the hero of John Ringo's "Legacy of the Alldenata" series. It picks up perhaps 40 years after her supposed death at the end of that series. We find Cally operating as a highly capable assassin with an underground movement. While she is the consumate secret agent, she has, well, issues... This story strives to tell how a deadly woman regains some sense of her humanity while struggling for her life in a deadly race against the opposition. Cally's War is not for the faint of heart, but is a very well written and excellently characterized tale. I highly recommend it.