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The Lost Fleet Series

Sneezy

Sneezy

Well-Known Member
After the "everybody is good inside" world of Solar Clipper I am ready to charge my lasers and blow some suff :D up.

I have what is a sure bet sitting on my Kindle in the form of Readme but I am feeling reckless these last few weeks.

The Alliance has been fighting the Syndics for a century, and losing badly. Now its fleet is crippled and stranded in enemy territory. Their only hope is a man who has emerged from a century-long hibernation to find he has been heroically idealized beyond belief.

Captain John "Black Jack" Geary's legendary exploits are known to every schoolchild. Revered for his heroic "last stand" in the early days of the war, he was presumed dead. But a century later, Geary miraculously returns from survival hibernation and reluctantly takes command of the Alliance fleet as it faces annihilation by the Syndics.

Appalled by the hero-worship around him, Geary is nevertheless a man who will do his duty. And he knows that bringing the stolen Syndic hypernet key safely home is the Alliance's one chance to win the war. But to do that, Geary will have to live up to the impossibly heroic "Black Jack" legend.
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:sigh

I might as well just sign my pay packet over to Mr. Bezos and be done with it.
 
I am about a third of the way through book three and find myself pleasantly surprised.

If you like Hornblower style novels you will find it entertaining. Don't get me wrong, I do not believe the author to be on the same plane as Foerester, but he is more than competent.

There is nothing new about the storyline, old hero comes out of retirement and puts his knowledge, expertise and sense of duty to work saving the day. Meh, whatever. What makes the first two books fun and different is the author appears to have spent some time working out what a Napoleonic naval engagement would have looked like in four dimensions and at fractionally relativistic engagement velocities. I have found that grasping the maneuvers in my mind's eye to be challenging, much more so than while reading the history surrounding Trafalgar.

I also appreciate that the author avoids the usual trap of putting gallant, devil may care characters in single seat attack craft. I love Apollo and Starbuck too, and the thought of waves of these lovable rouges riding their Vipers against impossible odds with a smile on their face always warms the heart (and the modern Starbuck other bits as well :naughty) but let's face it, in a four dimensional battle they would be more of a liability than an asset. At the very least the craft would be unmanned drones. I hope he sticks to it throughout the series.

No, this is much more old school naval warfare where massive formations of ships-o-the-line square off and pummel each other until the process of attrition declares a winner.

Oh, there is also some political intrigue and minor sexual tension thrown in for good measure, but most of that part of the story is predictable at best. It's a fun read thus far.
 
Book three is draaaaaaagging. I blew through the first two in a few days without really trying. This one is taking effort to read a single chapter.

Must soldier on...
 
The middle third of Courageous was a bit slow. It gets better towards the end, thankfully.

On to Valiant.
 
And have caught up with the author.

Overall, if you like this sort of thing, it is worth the read. Nothing I would go too out of the way for.
 
I think The Lost Fleet is great for two reasons:

1) These seem like the most realistic space battles. No WW2-style dog-fights with space ships
2) The military politics and issues amongst the leadership are spot-on.

Having said that, just read the fisrt 6. After that it gets a little repetitive. Good luck!
 
Just finished Campbells - Dauntless.
His grammar is woeful and the book shifts from the first to the third person narrative inside a paragraph.
Not only that but two conversations are conducted on the same line!!
Very very poorly written, he is lucky to have made it in print,
verdict - avoid.
 
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