The Rods and the Axe (Carerra Series Book 6)

Tom Kratman's "Carrera" series is one of the all-time best military SF novel series ever. Not only does he get the little details right, not only does he write a powerful story, not only does he have in depth character analysis of many characters, but this series is a Serious study in Political Theory, and Military Science. If you want to know how the Left kills countries and destroys the military from within, if you want to know how we SHOULD be fighting terrorism, READ THIS SERIES! Sometimes in a series the sequels do not measure up to the first book. Not so with Kratman! Each book is as good as or even better than the previous volume. The SF part of the book is lightly done, it is in the background to the main story, but it is DEEP as well, maintaining three distinct levels in the SF portion alone. I HIGHLY recommend this book to our military members past and present, and to those in Congress or the defense industry. Kratman is not just entertainment, he is a serious thinker offering important ideas for our society...some of which I disagree with, but all of which are well thought out.

There are a few, scattered, bits from previous novels which I was able to skip over in this one, but they did serve the purpose of tying the series chronology together. Since the series flips flash-forward and flash-back as well as introducing and caring side-stories, this sometimes accumulates to a necessary evil.At this time, I'm mostly wondering when Tom Kratman is going to get back to the Carrera series. No problem if he still needs to storyboard it, the logic, math, and thinking are what carry this series (not that the characterizations are bad--they're actually very good); I suspect most of the storyboarding is long done and either got wiped out somehow or Mr. Kratman is working on voicing his newer characters into their roles.

I love this series. Kratman takes all the liberal looneyness in the current world and works it out in a logical progression to a totally dysfunctional, amoral, impotent society of the future. His heroes are characters forged in the same type of frontier circumstances that created many once-thriving nations and he pits them (again logically and historically) against the crumbling empire. The brutality is sometimes hard to take - even understanding his logic, I find myself skimming details in places - but it is never gratuitous. Like everything else, it builds logically from the beliefs of the characters and the circumstances in which they find themselves. The entire series is thought-provoking on any number of levels. I look forward to the next book.

Gets a little wordy in explaining the intricate details of the makeup of every combat unit and fighting position. The author is obviously very knowledgeable bout military matters, but for those who are just looking for an entertaining read, knowing the specific capabilities of each weapon system, its proper use and placement and the exact makeup and deployment of each unit involved in a battle is probably a little much. It actually got confusing because there was so much information it was hard to remember which unit was being discussed at a given time.But the battle scenes are vivid and exciting, the personal interplay is well written and engaging, the characters are well developed and interesting...overall a very good read.

I like these enough that I'm buying them in hardback because I'll be rereading them over time.I lose track in all the detail about certain things especially discussion about Balboan military units or groups for example. I have no idea of their actual sizes based on the descriptive words used...so I have to fight a tendency to let my eyes track to the right and down when those details appear and I can't really process them.In this particular book, I kept waiting for the Prologue scene to be played out. What was up with that?I can only assume it was implied toward the end?Enjoyable book with, for me, minor issues.

Tom Kratman's "Carrera" series continues to delight me. HIs obvious command of military strategy and tactics paired with his shrewd observations on modern society and its ironies is something not to be missed. In using this hybrid of science fiction and alternate history with heavy doses of contemporary commentary through his characters and the nature of the conflict they are engaged in, Kratman succeeds in holding the reader's attention while stimulating thought on the nature of war and on our own shortcomings as wa fighters. I have read this entire series and continue to be surprised at how relevant and thought-provoking his work is.

A continuation of the Carrera series that focuses on the Zhong Empire's involvement in the attack on Balboa. This volume fills in detail of actions that were briefly covered in earlier volumes. Finally got around to reading this volume just in time for the next volume to come out.

I really like this series and it's actually getting better with age. It's a near parallel world to our own, with the important word being "near" although it happens in the future. He is taking a long time to settle this thing though, which makes it short of great. If you want to read another really, really good military series by Tom Kratman, check out the Countdown series. Also, check out his website. It has got some funny quotes. Boy, does Kratman love the Euros, and especially the French.

I have now read this with great enjoyment as the author is now leading things onwards and, hopefully, upwards to deal with the spy in the sky. Very good, just a couple of nagging points, one that the Zhong Invasion battle is a bit sketchy as to naval losses, presumably the next Volume will deal with what exactly the Balboan Submarine service can do to help. The other niggle is that , much as you can, perhaps, sympathise and empathise with the description of the unsympathetic "Tauran Union" character named "Elizabeth", it would be better if she could retain the same surname-to avoid any unpleasantness....associations.... But,of course, any resemblance to actual persons is, merely,a figment of the Author's fantastically well researched, detailed ,and vivid imagination.On 12th February 2018,Amazon posted the VERY welcome news that Vol & will be published in November 2018,a very long wait but it gives us something to wait for and live for! A very good addition to a series that is one of the better such currently available, roll on the next couple, as these are good value, well written and worth the wait. so long as Mr. Kratman can be persuaded, by whips, scorpions, filthy lucre or Balboan Techniques, to keep uo with BOTh of his current series as quickly as possible!!

Excelent read

L'avventura di questo mondo lontano ma "stranamente" identico al nostro odierno, con le sue politiche, le sue contraddizioni, i(dis)valori diffusi e le ipocrisie della società moderna. Un eroe d'altri tempi, e l'intero popolo panamense (improbabile protagonista di una epopea bellica, vista la sua storia), continua la sua lotta per affermare i valori di indipendenza e dignità nazionale, realizando una "rivoluzione conservatrice" che instauri una società al contempo sociale e meritocratica. Una splendida Utopia descritta senza nascondere niente della natura umana.Da non perdere (come, sinceramente, molti dei libri di Kratman).

An entire book, expanding on the ways the Axe supports the Rods, and vice-versa. Planning ahead sure beats making assumptions, eh?

This is a sequel to "Come and Take Them". A well-told war story.