ince I now have $500 in store credit at a used bookstore, I decided I had to start spending, so yes, I got a new (used) book. The Last World War was published in 2003 by Dayton Ward. In it, aliens engaged in a civil war find a portal technology that allows them access to Earth (no messy spaceships or giant Martian guns to muck around with). Just walk on through like a door frame (more on this in a bit).

One of the portals pops open in a Marine training base in the midwest, where reservists are engaged in war games. Of course, they bump into aliens, first the good ones (the blues – named because of their numerous tattoos) and the grays – because of their non-tattoos). I did mention that this is a “civil war” right? So the aliens are brutes and have guns that can turn marines into jam. After a squad gets wiped out, the reservists fall back to their base and dig in (with their new, blue friends). Of course, marine tenacity and inexplicable (yet easily guessable) interference causes the alien weapons to fail. Still, it’s a near-run thing.

While, as canon for any kids-in-the-woods slasher movie, communications are down. A small squad does manage to get away and finally contact their superiors in Kansas City. But then, blip, the government is on the line. This raises the question – if the government knows of this alien portal–popping, why not send in elite units to relieve and reinforce the reservists. After all, it was critical in hoo-yah fashion to storm the local portal, why let the already-reduced reservists perform the assault?

And look, I’ve never been in combat, but I know the number one rule of air-to-ground attacks – no matter how shit-hot you are, never never never go around for a second pass. In the attack, their mission-critical chopper does just that. Tsk-tsk.

Anyway, you get the picture. After this, the battle ramps up with the Grays planning a three-way attack on DC, Moscow and Beijing. If you like combat-POV action, more or less replayed over and over, then this book is for you. I was a little dishearten to find that the war really didn’t end – sure smells like there was a sequel planned (just checked – yup).

Here’s what cooled my jets on this – every character, alien or human, when not in combat would reflect on the state of the world. Every character. And it was pretty much the same – if the Grays could establish a beachhead then it was over for humanity. Look, I got it. After a while, the constant reinforcement felt like nagging. Everyone would be briefed about how critical things were, there would be a battle, and then everyone would reflect (again) about how critical things were. Look, I wasn’t actually taking notes but I understood “how critical things were”.

So anyway, that’s the book. You down-the-barrel fans might like it. Wasn’t for me, I’m afraid.

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