A review by thiago
Citadel by John Ringo
4.0
Great sequel. The first book showed capitalism saving Earth from an alien attack (TL;DR: sell maple syrup to other aliens, use the money to buy their technology and build defense systems). This second book shows capitalism+democracy saving Earth from another alien attack (e.g.: aliens kill our world leaders, hoping to cause wars of succession, and are utterly confused when succession happens peacefully and lawfully in most countries). Lots of fun and delightfully offensive passages (and blondes keep going into heat, thanks to that alien biological weapon from the first book). Also, this has to be the best military psych eval of all times:
"I've got a picture of your sister here", Mr. Monaghan said. "Cute. Clarissa, is it?"
"I've got a sister named Clarissa, Mr. Monaghan."
"So why'd you have a naked picture of her on your iPod, Butch? Don't you know that's child pornography."
"I don't have one, Mr. Monaghan," Butch said.
"Well, I'm looking at one," Mr. Monaghan said. "Cute. Nice little picture Nice girl. You think she's hot?"
"She's six, you sick bastard!" Butch said.
"She's six, Mr. Monaghan," Mr. Monaghan said.
"I've got a picture of your sister here", Mr. Monaghan said. "Cute. Clarissa, is it?"
"I've got a sister named Clarissa, Mr. Monaghan."
"So why'd you have a naked picture of her on your iPod, Butch? Don't you know that's child pornography."
"I don't have one, Mr. Monaghan," Butch said.
"Well, I'm looking at one," Mr. Monaghan said. "Cute. Nice little picture Nice girl. You think she's hot?"
"She's six, you sick bastard!" Butch said.
"She's six, Mr. Monaghan," Mr. Monaghan said.