Book Review: Beyond the Rift, by John Ringo, Lydia Sherrer
TransDimensional Hunter Book 4, The Final Round.
From the very first book, readers realized that the “augmented reality game” in the TransDimensional Hunter books were a little more real than presented to our heroine, Lynn Raven.
Over the course of the second book, we saw Lynn make connections and expand her influence over the gamer community, bringing people together to fight bosses that no one team could handle alone.
This culminated in a massive boss battle in a boss battle that took all of the best teams to defeat. It also ended in the truth: the monsters the gamers have been fighting are all real, and they’re slowly destroying the global infrastructure.
The Story
A week after the gamers of TransDimensional Hunter have be read in on the reality of the situation, all of the hunters have been sequestered for classified military training. The Hunters need to learn unit cohesion within a military structure. Because the army is leading the way, and the hunters are along for the ride.
From here, we get a lot of balancing act. Lynn has to figure out where she fits in this new structure. The military and politicians have to contain the threat before the public figures out what’s going on. While at the same time, they all have to figure out how to stop these creatures from another dimension once and for all.
Because in six months, the world is going to end.
Beyond the Rift is the best of the TransDimensional Hunter novels. Any of the high school nonsense of the first three books have fallen by the wayside. Lynn has graduated to real life now, and anyone causing trouble like that gets disappeared by the military to a private island. So, unlike most novels with teenage main characters, there is little in the way of teenage angsty nonsense. This is a John Ringo novel, the angst revolves around mortal stakes.
Sherrer / Ringo make good use of flashbacks for the first two chapters, discussing all of the various and sundry fallout from the end of book three. This series TransDimensional Hunter has a heavy dose of character driving the story, even though this is where the plot comes to a head. Heck, there are even running gags that came to a head in this book, as a plot point.
Also, this book may have one of the better explanations of quantum theory I’ve seen in fiction since Hans Schantz.
The fight scenes have improved greatly. I don’t know if that’s more participation from Ringo, more experience on Sherrer’s part, or if the fighting has now integrated the truth nature of the stakes involved. Either way, I enjoyed them more.
Also, when they directly reference Ender’s Game, it makes me happy. I guess I’m just easy.
And how can you dislike a book that can fit in a Victor Hugo joke, and expects the audience to get it without them explaining.
The Characters
Since TransDimensional Hunter is really just one long novel, book four has a good culmination of character development. All of the character arcs being built since book one come to fruition in a nice neat conclusion, from Lynn, her mother, her teammates, and even her high school nemesis gets a good scene. As in previous books, we spend most of the time in Lynn’s head, so we get to read her internal struggles. But her sidekick Edgar gets a lot of development. Even the AI Hugo has character development.
Some minor characters don’t get as big a conclusion as I would have expected after book 3, but we have a world to save, we must keep it moving.
I like some of the new characters. For example, Team Zahn Wars was fun (even if Ringo and Sherrer did project that Timothy Zahn would be dead by this point in the future). And we have dozens of new characters, many of whom are very vividly drawn.
The World
Funny enough, the world here is integral to the plot. The advances in certain technologies, such as quantuum computing, are key to this. And, like with any good mystery, Ringo / Sherrer have used the mystery to explore the world.
Politics
TransDimensional Hunter is the least political series with John Ringo’s name on it. Ringo and Sherrer make fun of commie anarchist idiots a little. There are some protestors who show up to be even bigger idiots.
Also, if you’re still angry about Covid (and yes, I am), there are some projected numbers here that I suspect may piss you off. (No, not at the authors.)
There’s a little political philosophy about the use of AI as a tool, but that barely counts. Though the idea of AI as “akin to the fae, who cannot tell an untruth. Instead, they hide the truth with truth.”
Content Warning
None. Really, none. I think I could give this to a teenager, maybe younger, without much problem.
Who is it for?
If you ever wanted to see Ender’s Game with infantry instead of a space navy, you should be reading this series.
Why buy it?
It is a well-written, fun read, with enough action to keep you reading and enough character to make you care what’s happening.