Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I read this book over a weekend and was pleasantly surprised by it. I read "Not a Good Day to Die" a couple months ago and was waiting for this book to be published so I could compare the two. Of course, "Day" goes into much more detail regarding Operation Anaconda while "Ridge" focuses on the events on a single mountaintop, but I think both were well-written.
I prefer MacPherson's writing style in that he doesn't personalize the story at all. There is no reference to "me" or "I," only the story as told to him by the people involved. I feel that adding one's own voice to a work of non-fiction just makes the writer sound like a braggart and sometimes even discredits the account.
I do think that the target audience for this book is either military-related, or just very quick, because much of the terminology is not explained, especially when it comes to the "slang" style terms and phrases that the branches use in so much of their work.
As a book focusing on the events of Takur Ghar, it was great. However, if you have no idea what Operation Anaconda was about, I would recommend reading "Day" first, because "Ridge" does not go into the set-up of the Operation at all. "Ridge" is a wonderful way to delve further into the seventeen hours of combat operations of so many service members, and the characterization is much deeper than "Day" simply because there are fewer players involved.
I highly recommend this book, but read "Not a Good Day to Die" first if you have no frame of reference for Afghanistan or Operation Anaconda.
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